University of Pennsylvania president resigns over comments on anti-Semitism on campus

Liz Magill’s departure caps a tumultuous week at the Ivy League school, stemming from statements she made at a congressional hearing.

Liz Magill, president of University of Pennsylvania, testifies before a congressional committee hearing last week. Picture: AFP

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has resigned, capping a tumultuous week at the Ivy League school stemming from statements she made about anti-Semitism at a congressional hearing last Tuesday.

Ms Magill will stay on until an interim president is appointed, and afterwards will remain a member of the law school faculty, according to a letter from the university’s board of trustees.

Ms Magill faced widespread calls to resign in recent days, from members of the business school’s board of advisers, alumni, donors, and members of congress.

Jewish students at the school, as well as at other universities around the country, have said they don’t feel safe on campus amid pro-Palestinian rallies.

Soon after announcing the resignation on Saturday afternoon, board chairman Scott L. Bok tendered his own resignation, effective immediately.

“Former President Liz Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep – consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her – after five hours of aggressive questioning before a Congressional committee,” Mr Bok said in an email.

“Following that, it became clear that her position was no longer tenable, and she and I concurrently decided that it was time for her to exit,”

Ms Magill and Mr Bok faced widespread calls to resign in recent days, from members of the business school’s board of advisers, alumni, donors and members of congress. Jewish students at the school – and at other universities around the country – have said they don’t feel safe on campus amid pro-Palestinian rallies following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October.

“It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution,” Ms Magill said, in a statement that was sent in Mr Bok’s letter to the Penn community. “It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”

Ms Magill has been Penn’s president since July 2022. Mr Bok, chief executive of investment bank Greenhill & Co, became chairman of Penn’s board in July 2021.

Many university presidents found themselves under scrutiny after speaking out on Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, struggling to balance the free-speech rights of pro-Palestinian protesters with the safety of students on campus.

Rallies often featured chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, which many interpret as a call for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish country. Attendees have carried posters likening Zionism to Nazism and accusing Israel of pursuing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

But Ms Magill appeared to face more hostility than most university leaders.

While opposition mounted sharply in recent days, Wall Street heavyweights and other powerful donors expressed frustration with Ms Magill publicly even before the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

A Palestinian literary festival took place on the school’s campus in September, and critics said the guest list, and the administration’s decision to allow the event to proceed, showed the university was tolerant of anti-Semitism.

Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, ho chairs the Wharton School’s advisory board, said in October he would halt further donations to his alma mater unless Ms Magill and Mr Bok were removed. Diplomat Jon Huntsman Jr, said his family would halt contributions, and cosmetics tycoon Ronald S. Lauder sent a letter in October saying he was reconsidering future gifts.

On Thursday, financier Ross Stevens said he would rescind a $US100m donation made in 2017 unless Ms Magill was ousted.

The board first stood by Ms Magill, overwhelmingly expressing continued support for her in a virtual meeting on Thursday, according to a person in attendance. But they were increasingly at odds with others in the school community and the broader public, especially after Ms Magill testified before congress.

During the hearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, representative Elise Stefanik asked the presidents of Penn, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology if calls for the genocide of Jewish people would constitute harassment, and none of their responses provided an unequivocal “yes”.

“If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment, yes,” Ms Magill said at the time. “It is a context-dependent decision.”

“The world should know that Liz Magill is a very good person and a talented leader who was beloved by her team. She is not the slightest bit antisemitic,” Mr Bok said on Saturday. “Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong.”

In a video message posted online on Wednesday evening, Ms Magill walked back the comments, but the damage was done.

“In that moment, I was focused on our university’s longstanding policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable,” Ms Magill said in the video message. “I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate.”

Ms Magill said on Wednesday that calls for genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment and intimidation in her view, and that Penn would immediately evaluate and clarify the university’s policies on this matter.

The Wall Street Journal