The president of the University of Pennsylvania is facing increasing pressure to resign after testifying before a U.S. House of Representatives committee Tuesday about anti-Semitism on college campuses, which Gov. Josh Shapiro called “absolutely disgraceful.”
Elizabeth Magill appeared before the House of Representatives Education Committee along with the presidents of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The three were peppered with questions by the GOP-led commission about what kind of speech violates their schools’ code of conduct.
At one point, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) asked Magill whether “specifically calling for Jewish genocide, does that constitute intimidation or harassment?”
Magill initially responded: “If it’s targeted, severe and widespread, then it’s harassment.”
Stefanik said: “So the answer is yes.”
Magill responded, “That’s a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.”
IN video published In a statement on the university’s website Wednesday, Magill tried to clarify her testimony.
“I didn’t focus on, but I should have, the indisputable fact that the call for genocide against the Jewish people is a call for the most horrible violence that human beings can commit,” she said in the video. “It’s evil — simply.”
While visiting Goldie’s restaurant in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Shapiro called Magill’s statement “unacceptable,” adding, “It shouldn’t be hard to condemn genocide.” Pennsylvania politicians on both sides of the aisle criticized Magill’s statements, with Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman calling them “embarrassing” and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) demanding her resignation.
Donor and University Graduate apparently it was canceled The $100 million donation made Thursday cited Magill’s comments to Congress as the reason.
Also on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education Committee he said in a statement that it “is launching a formal investigation into the educational environments at Harvard, UPenn, and MIT and their disciplinary policies and procedures.”
Foxx called the university presidents’ testimony “absolutely inadmissible.”
The University of Pennsylvania did not respond to the Capital-Star’s request for comment on Thursday.
