Received widespread backlash for saying advocacy of the genocide of Jews required “context.”
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has resigned as president of the university Saturday following backlash over her failure to condemn advocating for the genocide of Jews on campus.
The board of Penn’s Wharton business school sent a letter on Friday to the university’s board of trustees after receiving no reply to a letter they sent on Thursday to Magill requesting her resignation.
“Dear members of the Penn community,” the university began in its announcement. “I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania.”
And just like that pic.twitter.com/Ku8BXei5Ac
— Lydia Moynihan (@LJMoynihan) December 9, 2023
“She will remain a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law,” the school added.
“On behalf of the entire Penn community, I want to thank President Magill for her service to the University of Pennsylvania and wish her well,” the university concluded.
Magill faced calls to resign after refusing to directly answer questions about whether antisemitism was permissible on campus during a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.
When asked if calling for the genocide of Jews on campus was acceptable, she replied, “It is a context-dependent decision.”
University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill resigned Saturday after facing backlash from her congressional testimony earlier this week on antisemitism on college campuses. Here’s the exchange. pic.twitter.com/EVrAMy33qh
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 9, 2023
Magill quickly walked back her comments in a subsequent video after a major donor threatened to pull out $100 million from the university.
“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,” she said.
A Video Message from President Liz Magill pic.twitter.com/GlPE3QZU4P
— Penn (@Penn) December 6, 2023
“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. It’s evil, plain and simple,” she added.
