Penn’s leadership resigns amid antisemitism controversies

The president of the University of Pennsylvania, M Elizabeth Magill, resigned on Saturday 9 December, four days after she appeared before the United States Congress and appeared to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide of Jews should be punished, write Stephanie Saul, Alan Blinder, Anemona Hartocollis and Maureen Farrell for The New York Times.

Support for Magill unravelled after her testimony. Influential graduates questioned her leadership, wealthy contributors moved to withdraw donations, and public officials besieged the university to oust its president. By Saturday evening, a day before Penn’s board of trustees was expected to meet, Magill said that she would quit. Scott L Bok, the board’s chairman, said in an email to the Penn community that Magill had “voluntarily tendered her resignation”. Less than an hour later, Bok announced that he, too, had resigned, deepening the turmoil at one of the nation’s most prestigious universities.

Magill is the first university president to step down in connection with the uproars that have engulfed campuses since the Hamas attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza. Other presidents remain under pressure. But Magill’s resignation has alarmed faculty members worried about academic freedom. In response to Magill’s resignation, a group of Penn professors denounced what they saw as outside interference that imperilled the university’s integrity.
Full report on The New York Times site