New York
CNN
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In a stunning downfall for the leader of one of the world’s most prestigious universities, Liz Magill, the president of University of Pennsylvania, voluntarily stepped down from the helm of the Ivy League school on Saturday following a torrent of criticism for her testimony about antisemitism on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Board Chair Scott Bok also resigned Saturday.
“It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution,” Magill said in a statement. “It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”
Magill will remain on Penn’s faculty as a tenured professor at Penn Carey Law School.
“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,” Bok said in a statement. “Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep — consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her — after five hours of aggressive questioning before a Congressional committee. Following that, it became clear that her position was no longer tenable, and she and I concurrently decided that it was time for her to exit.”
Magill will stay on as interim president until a new interim leader is appointed. Penn did not have a succession plan in place despite a flood of calls for Magill’s resignation this week, a source told CNN.
The resignation marks a sudden and surprising downfall for the longtime academic. Although Magill had been under fire for months over her handling of antisemitism on campus, the final straw was her disastrous testimony before Congress on Tuesday.
Magill struggled to answer questions about whether calls for genocide against Jews would violate UPenn’s code of conduct. She and other university presidents failed to explicitly say calls for genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying and harassment on campus. The exchange went viral and prompted a flurry of business leaders, donors and politicians to demand Magill step down.
“It was time for President Magill to resign,” said Vahan Gureghian, a former Penn trustee who stepped down in October in protest of the school’s handling of a controversial Palestinian literature festival held on campus. “The opportunity to demonstrate leadership was two months ago.”
Gureghian on Saturday had also called on Bok to resign, noting he was “where the buck stops.”
Magill and Bok’s resignations come a day before the University of Pennsylvania’s board of trustees planned to gather virtually Sunday, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Penn student newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, and the Philadelphia Inquirer had earlier reported the news of the emergency board meeting, which was set to take place at 5 pm ET Sunday.
It was not clear whether Magill’s future was to be discussed at that meeting, but considering the flood of rebuke, it’s hard to imagine that Magill’s future wasn’t set to be a central focus.
Bok said he had been asked to remain in his role to help with the presidential transition but believed “now was the right time to depart.” Penn Saturday night named Julie Platt, the vice chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s board of trustees, as interim board chair.
Bok called Magill “a very good person and a talented leader” and “not the slightest bit antisemitic.”
A bipartisan group of more than 70 members of Congress sent a letter to board members of Penn, Harvard and MIT on Friday demanding Magill and her counterparts get removed.
“Given this moment of crisis, we demand that your boards immediately remove each of these presidents from their positions and that you provide an actionable plan to ensure that Jewish and Israeli students, teachers, and faculty are safe on your campuses,” the lawmakers wrote. “The university presidents’ responses to questions aimed at addressing the growing trend of antisemitism on college and university campuses were abhorrent.”
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Read More: UPenn president Liz Magill and Board Chair Scott Bok resign after disastrous