Days after University of Pennsylvania president Elizabeth Magill’s much maligned remarks at a congressional hearing on antisemitism cost the Ivy League school a $100 million donation, the board of Penn’s Wharton school of business is calling on Magill to step down with “immediate effect.”
“[The Board] has been, and remains, deeply concerned about the dangerous and toxic culture on our campus that has been led by a select group of students and faculty and has been permitted by University leadership,” the board’s letter to Magill read. “As a result of the University leadership’s stated beliefs and collective failure to act, our board respectfully suggests to you and the Board of Trustees that the University requires new leadership with immediate effect.”
When asked by the House Committee on Education & the Workforce on Tuesday if student calls for genocide of the Jewish people constitute harassment, Magill declined to give a straightforward answer, saying only that “if the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment.” Magill also said repeatedly that it is “a context-dependent decision” as to deciding whether such calls violate Penn’s code of conduct.