PHILADELPHIA (NEWSnet/AP) — The University of Pennsylvania’s President Liz Magill has resigned amid pressure from donors and criticism over her testimony at a congressional hearing.
The departure of Liz Magill, in her second year as president of the Ivy League school, was announced by the school late Saturday afternoon.
The statement said Magill will remain a tenured faculty member at the university’s Carey Law School.
[Related: Harvard President Apologizes For Remarks on Antisemitism]
Calls for her resignation exploded after Tuesday’s testimony in a U.S. House committee on antisemitism on college campuses, where she appeared with the presidents of Harvard University and MIT.
The three presidents were called before the committee to answer those accusations. But their lawyerly answers drew renewed blowback from opponents, which focused on a line of questioning from Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who repeatedly asked 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,” Pressed further, Magill told Stefanik, “It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman.”
Criticism rained down from the White House, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, members of Congress and donors.
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