UPenn President Liz Magill steps down after controversial testimony on antisemitism

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has resigned after widespread public outrage over her testimony to Congress on antisemitism. 

"I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania. She will remain a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law," Board of Trustees Chairman Scott L. Bok wrote in a statement.

Magill resigned days after major donor Ross Stevens rescinded a $100 million gift to the school in protest of the college's handling of antisemitism on campus and her leadership. The board of Penn's Wharton business school also asked Magill to resign and the university's board of trustees held an emergency meeting Thursday as the school faced backlash over her comments.

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Both Stevens and the Wharton board pointed to Magill's disastrous Congressional testimony in statements explaining the reasons for their respective actions. 

At issue were remarks Magill made before the House Education and Workforce Committee this week in which she refused to outright say that antisemitic chants and calls for the genocide of Jewish people violate the school's code of conduct.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., asked Magill if "calling for the genocide of Jews violate[s] Penn’s rules or code of conduct? Yes or no?"

"If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment. Yes," Magill responded, later adding "It is a context-dependent decision."

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"This is unacceptable. Ms. Magill," a stunned Stefanik responded. "I’m gonna give you one more opportunity for the world to see your answer. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s code of conduct when it comes to bullying and harassment? Yes or no?" she asked again.

"It can be harassment," the University of Pennsylvania president replied.

Those comments set off a firestorm of scathing condemnations of the university and extracted clarifying remarks from Magill posted on X a day later.

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"There was a moment during yesterday's congressional hearing on antisemitism when I was asked if a call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies. 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," Magill said. "I was not focused on, but I should have been, on 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."

FOX Business' Adam Sabes, Sarah Rumpf Whitten and Eric Revell contributed to this report.