Penn President Resigns Amid Controversy Over Congressional Testimony

The University of Pennsylvania’s president has resigned after pressure from donors and criticism of her testimony at a congressional hearing. She was unable to say that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.

The chairman of the Ivy League school’s board of trustees, Scott Bok, also resigned during a trustees meeting Saturday evening. This came just hours after he announced Liz Magill’s departure as president in just her second year.

Mr. Bok defended Magill through criticism over the university’s handling of acts of antisemitism but gave a legalistic and wooden response after being worn down by months of questioning.

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

The university said Ms. Magill will remain a tenured faculty member at the university’s Carey Law School and will continue to serve as Penn’s leader until the university names an interim president.

Calls for Ms. Magill’s firing came after her Tuesday’s testimony at a U.S. House committee on antisemitism on college campuses. She appeared with the presidents of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Harvard President Claudine Gay and MIT President Sally Kornbluth gave similar responses to Ms. Stefanik. Ms. Magill 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.

Still, criticism of Ms. Magill rained down from the White House, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, members of Congress, and donors. One donor, Ross Stevens, threatened to withdraw a $100 million gift because of the university’s “stance on antisemitism on campus” unless Ms. Magill was replaced.

A day later, Ms. Magill addressed the criticism, saying in a video that she would consider a call for the genocide of Jewish people to be harassment or intimidation and that Penn’s policies need to be clarified and evaluated.