Liz Magill's Resignation Sparks Celebrations, Outrage

The resignation of the University of Pennsylvania's president has prompted mixed reactions on social media, with some celebrating her departure and others decrying the alleged censorship of pro-Palestinian voices on college campuses.

Liz Magill's departure came amid pressure and criticism following her testimony at a congressional hearing where she appeared to evade a question on campus antisemitism. She appeared alongside Harvard President Claudine Gay and MIT President Sally Kornbluth before a U.S. House committee hearing on antisemitism on college campuses on Tuesday.

Universities have faced accusations of failing to protect Jewish students amid rising fears of antisemitism and the fallout from Israel's war in Gaza. Incidences of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate have skyrocketed in the United States and abroad since the October 7 attack by Hamas against Israel, and as Israel's intensifying war in Gaza faces growing criticism for the mounting civilian death toll in the besieged territory of 2.3 million Palestinians.

The three university leaders condemned antisemitism in their testimonies, but Magill prompted an outcry because of an exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, who questioned whether "calling for the genocide of Jews" would violate Penn's code of conduct.

"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."

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," Scott Bok, the former chairman of the Ivy League School's board of trustees, said in a statement, obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian. Newsweek has contacted the university for further comment via email.

Bok announced his own resignation during a trustees' meeting on Saturday evening due to the furor, shortly after Magill said she would step down. The university said Magill will remain a tenured faculty member at the university's Carey Law School.

In his statement, Bok praised Magill as a "very good person and talented leader" who is "not the slightest bit antisemitic." He referenced the furor several times, but did not explicitly state it was the reason for him stepping down.

Magill had been "worn down by months of relentless external attacks," Bok said, 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."

Bok said that "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."

Magill had 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."

Her resignation was welcomed by Stefanik and others.

"One down. Two to go," Stefanik said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter. "This is only the very beginning of addressing the pervasive rot of antisemitism that has destroyed the most 'prestigious' higher education institutions in America."

She said Magill's "forced resignation" is the "bare minimum of what is required," and called on Harvard and MIT to "do the right thing."

StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit organization, wrote on the platform that it was "great news" that Magill resigned after "allowing the once prestigious University to fall into a chaotic cesspool of Jew hatred this past year!"

Bill Ackman, a hedge fund billionaire who has called for Magill, Gay and Kornbluth to "resign in disgrace," responded to Magill's resignation by writing on X that "morality has spoken."

However, others said that Magill's resignation came amid efforts to censor pro-Palestinian voices. Magill had come under fire even before Tuesday's hearing for allowing a Palestinian literary arts festival to be held on Penn's campus in September.

The event sparked a backlash, with donors and Penn officials accusing some speakers of antisemitism due to their past statements about Israel—a characterization that organizers and attendees rejected.

"The president of @Penn 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," wrote journalist Laila Al-Arian.

"The efforts to shut down and censor Palestinian voices are relentless."

Alex Kane, a reporter with Jewish Currents magazine, wrote on X that the story is "not solely" about Magill.

"The main story is a McCarthyist atmosphere consuming college campuses over calls for Palestinian liberation," Kane wrote. "Magill tepidly defended free speech for Palestine advocates, then made a big PR misstep and fell into a right-wing trap."

The Associated Press has reported how a popular chant at pro-Palestinian rallies has been misrepresented in recent months as a call for "Jewish genocide."

The chant—"Israel, we charge you with genocide"—is a typical refrain heard at such rallies, including ones held at Penn and other universities, but has been misquoted by some as "we want Jewish genocide." Both Jewish and Palestinian supporters have acknowledged that protesters are not saying: "We want Jewish genocide."