Penn President Resigns After Remarks At Congressional Hearing

Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned on Dec. 9, four days after her response to a question about antisemitism posed to her and two other university presidents at a congressional hearing on Dec. 5. Her response angered many Jewish students, alumni and donors, and drew rebukes from Congress and the state’s Jewish governor.

Magill was the first college president to resign after protests and counter-protests over the Israel-Hamas war began roiling college campuses two months ago. The former dean of Stanford Law School, Magill was inaugurated as Penn’s president in 2022, and promised to protect free speech on campus. But like many college presidents, she has struggled since Oct. 7 — when Hamas attacked Israel and prompted a war in Gaza — to balance supporting free speech with concerns that some speech has gone too far.

At the House committee meeting on antisemitism, Magill had a chance to quell anger over her handling of protests on campus, as well as a Palestinian literary festival the university sponsored in September, which included a highly controversial guest list, many believe. Throughout the fall, many Jewish students and parents charged that anti-Israel rhetoric had created a hostile environment for Jews on campus, and had at times crossed the line into hate speech.

But in a moment that went viral, Magill hedged when asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) whether calls for genocide against Jews would constitute harassment on Penn’s campus, according to the university’s code of conduct. Stefanik asked the same of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, and also the president of MIT, Sally Kornbluth. All three presidents said the answer to Stefanik’s question would depend on context. The remarks by all three came off as insensitive.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, both of whom are Jewish, were among those who criticized Magill for her statements in front of Congress, although neither said she should lose her job. “Frankly, I thought her comments were absolutely shameful,” Governor Shapiro said on Dec. 7. “It should not be hard to condemn genocide.”

“Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania,” Scott Bok, chair of the university’s board of trustees, said in an email to university alumni. He also said that Magill would remain a tenured faculty member at the university’s law school.

McGill’s resignation followed days of calls for her ouster, including from the board of Wharton, the university’s business school. Additionally, more than 70 members of Congress called for the trustees of Penn — as well as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — to fire their presidents over their responses to antisemitism on campus, according to Reuters. All three faced enormous backlash from high-profile donors when they failed to condemn calls for the genocide of Jews.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said on social media that Magill’s resignation was a “wake-up call.” “Campus administrators must protect their Jewish students with the same passion they bring to protecting all students,” he said.

In additional fallout, the president of Harvard apologized in a statement published in the student newspaper. “ I got caught up in what had become at that point an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures,” Claudine Gay said. “What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was to return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged.” Harvard expressed support for president Gay.

Additionally, Rabbi David Wolpe, a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School, who has built a reputation as one of the country’s most prominent rabbis and Jewish thinkers, resigned from an advisory committee on antisemitism Harvard had created in November. He cited “events on campus” and Gay’s “painfully inadequate testimony.” Harvard Hillel’s leadership also expressed a lack of trust in Gay’s ability to protect Jewish students on campus.

Sally Kornbluth of MIT responded to Stefanik’s question about whether a call for genocide against Jewish people would constitute harassment on MIT’s campus. Kornbluth said harassment would have to be targeted at individuals and pervasive, as well as require an investigation.

MIT’s governing boards released a statement on Dec. 7 standing behind the institute’s president amid backlash to her testimony.

[Pictured, from left, Claudine Gay, Harvard; Liz Magill, Penn; Sally Kornbluth, MIT. Axios photo]

A nationwide swatting spree [generating a law enforcement response under false pretenses] targeting nearly 200 synagogues and Jewish institutions over the weekend of Dec. 15 and 16 appears to have been a coordinated effort by an entity based outside the United States, FBI spokesman Cathy Milhoan said in a memo to law enforcement agencies.

A record number of incidents and false bomb threats were tracked by the Secure Community Network across multiple states, including California, Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado and Washington. None of the email threats involved any explosive devices or harm to congregants.

According to SCN, swatting incidents are up over 540% from 2022, with about 450 taking place this year. Thirty FBI field offices are investigating the threats.

German chancellor Olaf Scholtz and Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal attended the ceremony to light the first candle of the Hanukkah menorah at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday, Dec. 7.

AP Photo/ Markus Schreiber

Rabbi Gadi joined massive crowds of mostly Jews from across the country on Nov. 14 at the “March for Israel” held on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The march is believed to be the largest U.S. show of solidarity with Israel since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages. The demonstrators denounced antisemitism, and many speakers expressed sympathy for innocent Jews and Palestinians and their families suffering during the conflict. President Joe Biden said later that a deal was forming to release the hostages.

Just as the December issue of The Shofar was readied for distribution, news came of a breakthrough in the tense situation of the long-awaited release of hostages held by Hamas.

In exchange for the two dozen released from Gaza, Israel released 39 imprisoned Palestinians, completing the first exchange brought about during the temporary truce that halted the fighting after seven weeks, The New York Times reported.

The hostages released included 13 Israelis, several children among them, as well as 10 Thais and one Filipino.

Israel has said it would extend the cease-fire by a day for every 10 additional hostages that Hamas releases.

This is a developing story. Readers are advised to follow the news media for updates.

Photographs of Israelis being held by Hamas militants are projected on the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, November 2023.                                                       AP Photo/Leo Correa

Brandeis University has banned a student chapter of National Students for Justice in Palestine from its campus. The university notified the student group on Nov. 6 that it will no longer recognize it “because it openly supports Hamas, which the United States has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

Brandeis is one of hundreds of universities roiled by demonstrations and counterdemonstrations in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,400 Israelis and the subsequent Israeli military strikes in Gaza that have killed an estimated 10,000 Palestinians. The tense atmosphere on many college campuses has led to spikes in both antisemitism and Islamophobia. The organization has 200 chapters at U.S. universities across the country according to its website.

The decision from Brandeis came two weeks after the Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to 200 universities, asking them to investigate the activities of SJP chapters for potential violations of the prohibition against supporting a foreign terrorist organization. The ADL, which tracks antisemitism and hate speech, alleged in its letter that “SJP chapters are not advocating for Palestinian rights; they are celebrating terrorism.”

As a result of Brandeis University’s decision, the SJP will no longer receive funding or be allowed to conduct activities on campus or associate itself with the Brandeis name or logo.

In a notice sent to the student organization, the university stated that Brandeis was dedicated to upholding free speech principles, but “…the university may restrict expression…that constitutes a genuine threat or harassment…or that is otherwise directly incompatible with the functioning of the university.” The letter added, “SJP has called on its chapters to engage in conduct that supports Hamas in its call for the elimination of the only Jewish state in the world and its people. Such expression is not protected by Brandeis’ principles of free speech.