UPenn President, Board Chair Resign Amid Antisemitism Hearing Scrutiny

PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania's president voluntarily resigned, and its board chair has stepped down, after widespread criticism of the president's remarks on Capitol Hill about antisemitism.

Calls for president Liz Magill's resignation exploded after her testimony in a U.S. House committee on antisemitism on college campuses, where she floundered in answering questions about whether calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate Penn’s conduct policy. In a statement Saturday, the Pennsylvania Board of Trustees said Magill agreed to stay in the position until an interim president is appointed.

She will remain on Penn's faculty as a tenured professor at Penn Carey Law School, said board chair Scott L. Bok in a statement — shortly before he also announced he would resign, as the Daily Pennsylvanian and Associated Press reported Saturday.

The Ivy League university hired Magill, 57, as its ninth president last year.

“It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution,” she said in a statement. “It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”

Bok, a supporter of Magill’s, defended her through several months of criticism over the university’s handling of various reported acts of antisemitism.

He called Magill a good person and talented leader who is not “the slightest bit antisemitic,” but gave a legalistic and wooden response after being worn down by months of criticism and hours of questioning in the congressional hearing.

“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,” Bok said in a statement also announcing his resignation.

Two Penn students have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the school's trustees, alleging it has allowed antisemitism to flourish on campus.

Students Eyal Yakoby and Jordan Davis, both of whom are Jewish, allege in the suit that Penn "enforces its own rules of conduct selectively to avoid protecting Jewish students from hatred and harassment, hires rabidly antisemitic professors who call for anti-Jewish violence and spread terrorist propaganda, and ignores Jewish students’ pleas for protection."

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, including tuition refunds, from the university.

News of the suit broke the same day Magill testified before the committee, appearing with the presidents of Harvard University and MIT.

When asked by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), if "calling for the genocide of Jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment," Magill responded with an answer that left some, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, angered.

Magill said if the words are "directed and severe pervasive" they constitute harassment. She also said the context of the words matter.

“If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment, yes,” Magill said. Pressed further, Magill told Stefanik, “It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman.”

Shapiro called Magill's response "shameful" in media interviews outside Goldie, the Philadelphia restaurant at which protestors stopped recently after it reportedly fired employees for wearing Palestinian flag pins and hosted a fundraiser for a group that has supported the Israel Defense Forces.

Shapiro, Sen. John Fetterman, President Joe Biden, and other elected officials denounced the protest, calling it antisemitic.

In a video released by Penn Wednesday, Magill said her response was in line with the school's policies, which are in line with the United States Constitution.

"We say that speech alone is not punishable," she said in the video. "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 terrible violence human beings can perpetrate. It's evil, plain and simple."

Universities across the nation have been accused of failing to protect Jewish students amid rising fears of antisemitism worldwide and fallout from Israel’s intensifying war in Gaza, which faces heightened criticism for the mounting Palestinian death toll.

Penn is also one of two Pennsylvania institutions of higher learning that are under investigation by the United States Department of Education for possible civil rights violations, following complaints of antisemitism.

Patch's Max Bennett and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related article:

• Civil Rights Lawsuit, Congressional Hearing Have UPenn Under Scrutiny