University of Pennsylvania President resigns amid criticism over comments on antisemitism

(MENAFN) On Saturday, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned following several days of criticism and pressure. The decision came in the wake of her comments during a Congressional hearing on campus antisemitism.

"I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania," Scott Bok, head of the university's board of trustees, stated in a declaration psoted on the university website.

Bok stated that Liz Magill will retain her position as a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law. Additionally, Magill has agreed to remain in her role until the appointment of an interim president.

"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," he noted.

During a contentious congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses on December 5, three prominent American university presidents, namely Claudine Gay of Harvard, Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Magill, took center stage.

Bok, who also declared his own stepping down in a different declaration, stated Magill “made a very unfortunate misstep” but that she “is a very good person” as well as a “talented leader” and “not the slightest bit antisemitic.”

“Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday. Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong. It made for a dreadful 30-second sound bite in what was more than five hours of testimony,” he further declared.

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