UPenn President Liz Magill steps down after controversial testimony on antisemitism

Magill faced major backlash after her testimony during a congressional hearing

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University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has resigned Saturday after widespread public outrage over her testimony to Congress on antisemitism.

The announcement came after days of intense pressure from Penn alumni and elected officials following Magill's botched Capitol Hill testimony earlier in the week. After refusing, along with the presidents of Harvard and MIT, to unequivocally condemn calls for genocide of Jews, Magill reportedly faced the likelihood the school's board of trustees would fire her as soon as Sunday.

“I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania. She will remain a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law,” Board of Trustees Chairman Scott L. Bok wrote in a statement.

Bok said that Magill agreed to stay on until an interim president is appointed.

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Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, during a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. Lawmakers on the education committee will grill the leaders of Harvard University, (Photographer: Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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

Magill resigned days after major donor Ross Stevens rescinded a $100 million gift to the school in protest of the college's handling of antisemitism on campus and her leadership. The board of Penn's Wharton business school also asked Magill to resign and the university's board of trustees held an emergency meeting Thursday as the school faced backlash over her comments.

Both Stevens and the Wharton board pointed to Magill's disastrous Congressional testimony in statements explaining the reasons for their respective actions.

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Magill will keep her position as a tenured faculty member at the university's law school.

At issue were remarks Magill made before the House Education and Workforce Committee this week in which she refused to outright say that antisemitic chants and calls for the genocide of Jewish people violate the school's code of conduct.

Liz Magill, president of University of Pennsylvania, testifies before the House Education and Workforce Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on Dec. 5, 2023 in Washington, D.C. The Committee held a hearing to investigate antisemitism on col (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images / Getty Images)

During the hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., asked Magill if “calling for the genocide of Jews violate[s] Penn’s rules or code of conduct? Yes or no?”

“If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment. Yes,” Magill responded, later adding “It is a context-dependent decision.”

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Dr. Claudine Gay of Harvard, left, Liz Magill of UPenn, center, and Dr. Sally Kornbluth of MIT, right, during testimony Tuesday. (Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“This is unacceptable. Ms. Magill,” a stunned Stefanik responded. “I’m gonna give you one more opportunity for the world to see your answer. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s code of conduct when it comes to bullying and harassment? Yes or no?” she asked again.

“It can be harassment,” the University of Pennsylvania president replied.

Those comments set off a firestorm of scathing condemnations of the university and extracted clarifying remarks from Magill posted on X a day later.

“There was a moment during yesterday's congressional hearing on antisemitism when I was asked if a call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies. In that moment, I was focused on our university's long-standing policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which says that speech alone is not punishable,” Magill said. “I was not focused on, but I should have been, on 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.”

FOX Business' Sarah Rumpf Whitten and Eric Revell contributed to this report.