Posted on 12/09/23
| News Source: CNN
In a stunning downfall for the leader of one of the world’s most prestigious universities, Liz Magill, the president of University of Pennsylvania, voluntarily stepped down from the helm of the Ivy League school on Saturday following a torrent of criticism for her testimony about antisemitism on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Board Chair Scott Bok also resigned Saturday.
“It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution,” Magill said in a statement. “It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”
Magill will remain on Penn’s faculty as a tenured professor at Penn Carey Law School.
“On behalf of the entire Penn community, I want to thank President Magill for her service to the University as President and wish her well,” Bok said in a statement. “Magill last week 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. 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 will stay on as interim president until a new interim leader is appointed. Penn did not have a succession plan in place despite a flood of calls for Magill’s resignation this week, a source told CNN.
The resignation marks a sudden and surprising downfall for the longtime academic. Although Magill had been under fire for months over her handling of antisemitism on campus, the final straw was her disastrous testimony before Congress on Tuesday.
Magill struggled to answer questions about whether calls for genocide against Jews would violate UPenn’s code of conduct. She and other university presidents failed to explicitly say calls for genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying and harassment on campus. The exchange went viral and prompted a flurry of business leaders, donors and politicians to demand Magill step down.