Former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill’s resignation has been met with celebration — and calls for the heads of Harvard and MIT to also resign over their failures to condemn antisemitism on campus.
Many saw Magill’s resignation on Saturday as the beginning of woke university presidents facing consequences for failing to condemn student calls for the genocide of Jews — though others believed it was a win for the censorship of pro-Palestinian voices.
“One down. Two to go,” New York Rep. Elise Stefanik posted on X following Magill’s announcement.
“Harvard and MIT do the right thing,” the Republican said, pleading for the presidents there to step down as well.
Stefanik made a name for herself after asking Magill point blank whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the university’s code of conduct at a congressional hearing last week, where the UPenn leader testified alongside Harvard University President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth.
Magill infamously replied that “it is a context-dependent decision.”
Stefanik said Magill’s resignation “is only the very beginning of addressing the pervasive rot of antisemitism that has destroyed the most ‘prestigious’ higher education institutions in America.”
Harvard President Claudine Gay also is facing calls to quit. AP
MIT President Sally Kornbluth also is a target of critics after her testimony before Congress. AP
She warned that Harvard and MIT can now “anticipate a robust and comprehensive Congressional investigation of all facets of their institutions’ negligent perpetration of antisemitism including administrative, faculty, funding and overall leadership and governance.”
The organization StopAntisemitism also called Magill’s resignation “great news.”
It said her ouster came after Magill allowed “the once prestigious university to fall into a chaotic cesspool of Jew hatred this past year.
“Let’s hope Harvard’s President Gay is next,” StopAntisemitism posted on X.
Billionaire Bill Ackman, who has called for Magill, Gay and Kornbluth’s resignation, meanwhile, celebrated the news of Magill’s resignation by saying that “morality has spoken.”
He previously said there is “hope for UPenn” if Magill resigns.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned on Saturday following her disastrous Congressional testimony. AP
But others saw the push for Magill’s resignation as censorship for pro-Palestine protests, which have persisted on the Pennsylvania campus with protesters chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a chant many claim is calling for the elimination of the Jewish state of Israel.
Alex Kane, a reporter with “Jewish Currents” magazine claimed that the push for Magill’s resignation is “not solely” about her, posting that: “The main story is a McCarthyist atmosphere consuming college campuses over calls for Palestinian liberation.
“Magill tepidly defended free speech for Palestinian advocates, then made a big PR misstep and fell into a right-wing trap,” he claimed.
“Al Jazeera” reporter Laila Al-Arian noted that Magill had been facing criticism for months — ever since the university hosted a “Palestine Writes” festival, which featured a speaker who called for “death to Israel” and another who had worn a Nazi-inspired outfit.
Rep. Elise Stefanik’s subjected the college heds to repeated questioning. ZUMAPRESS.com
“The President of [UPenn] Liz Magill was under attack for months for simply allowing a literary festival called ‘Palestine Writes’ that featured writers, scholars and artists to take place on campus,” Al-Arian wrote. “The efforts to shut down and censor Palestinian voices are relentless.”
In announcing his own resignation Saturday night, University of Pennsylvania Chairman Scott Bok also defended Magill, saying she simply “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.
He went on to praise the ousted president as a “very good person and talented leader” who “is not the slightest bit antisemitic.”
Bok also claimed Magill was “worn down by months of relentless attacks” and “provided a legalistic answer to a moral question” that “made for a dreadful 30-second sound bite in what was more than five hours of testimony.
“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,” he said in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
The Post has reached out to other board members for their reactions as well.
Jewish leader Julie Platt is now taking over as chairman of the board of trustees until a permanent replacement can be found.
“As current vice chair, Julie was the clear choice for agreeing to serve in this capacity during this time of transition,” the executive committee of the Board of Trustees said in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
In her acceptance, Platt touted her work to end antisemitism on campus
“As vice chair of the university’s board these past several months, I worked hard from the inside to address the rising issues of antisemitism on campus,” Platt said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“Unfortunately, we did not make all the progress that we should have and intended to accomplish.”
Platt — the mother of actor and singer Ben Platt — also stressed that she would only serve as an interim chair, as her position as chair of the Board of Trustees for Jewish Federations of North America takes precedence.
“As chair of the Jewish Federation of North America, we are leading the largest mobilization in our history in support of Israel’s right to protect its citizens and against the rise of antisemitism in North America, including staging the largest Jewish rally in American history on the National Mall.
“We will continue this fight with all of our energy.”
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