Elizabeth Magill has stepped down, university says.
Elizabeth Magill has stepped down as president of the University of Pennsylvania, the university announced on Dec. 9.
Ms. Magill “has voluntarily tendered her resignation,” the school said.
Calls for Ms. Magill’s termination increased after she and other college presidents downplayed anti-Semitism that has been seen on their campuses following the Hamas invasion of Israel in October. Ms. Magill said during a hearing before a U.S. House of Representatives committee on Dec. 5 that calling for the genocide of Jews in some situations did not violate the university’s rules or code of conduct.
A day later, she changed her position.
“In that moment, I was focused on our university’s long-standing policies, aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which says that speech alone is not punishable. I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate. It’s evil, plain and simple,” Ms. Magill said in a video statement.
“In my view, it would be harassment or intimidation,” she added.
The testimony came as protests over Israel’s actions have taken place on major