University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School Board of Advisors is demanding president Liz Magill resign after she made disturbing antisemitic remarks in Congress Tuesday. Alongside Harvard University president Claudine Gay and MIT University president Sally Kornbluth at a hearing called “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism,” the school leaders were asked if “calling for the genocide of Jews” was in violation of school code of conduct. “If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment,” Magill said, taking the stance that genocidal comments against Jewish people are “context-dependent” and would only be a violation if they were “directed, pervasive, and severe.” Her remarks, made before the House Education and Workforce Committee, cost the school $100 million in donations, as one of the biggest donors, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management Ross Stevens, pulled out upon hearing what the president said. The school’s board of trustees held an emergency hearing Thursday to investigate Magill’s comments. In a written statement addressed to Magill, the board said it “has been, and remains, deeply concerned about the dangerous and toxic culture on our campus that has been led by a select group of students and faculty and has been permitted by University leadership.”.“As confirmed in your congressional testimony yesterday, the leadership of the University does not share the values of our Board. Nor does it appear to understand the urgency to address the safety of our students on campus and the ongoing reputational damage to the University by the University’s policies and actions,” the letter continued. “As a result of the University leadership’s stated beliefs and collective failure to act, our Board respectfully suggests to you and the Board of Trustees that the University requires new leadership with immediate effect.”.Stevens and Stone Ridge’s donation was intended to bolster Penn’s financial innovation center, but they cancelled the agreement, having attorneys deliver a letter to the school stating it had violated Stone Ridge’s limited partnership agreement’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rules. “[We] are appalled by the University’s stance on antisemitism on campus,” the letter said, adding the school’s “permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and laissez faire attitude toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students would violate any policies of rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge.”The letter specifically called out Magill for her comments, and back-pedalling on social media afterwards, when she “belatedly acknowledged — only after her Congressional testimony went viral and demands for her termination amplified — that calls for genocide of the Jewish people constitute harassment and discrimination.”
University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School Board of Advisors is demanding president Liz Magill resign after she made disturbing antisemitic remarks in Congress Tuesday. Alongside Harvard University president Claudine Gay and MIT University president Sally Kornbluth at a hearing called “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism,” the school leaders were asked if “calling for the genocide of Jews” was in violation of school code of conduct. “If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment,” Magill said, taking the stance that genocidal comments against Jewish people are “context-dependent” and would only be a violation if they were “directed, pervasive, and severe.” Her remarks, made before the House Education and Workforce Committee, cost the school $100 million in donations, as one of the biggest donors, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management Ross Stevens, pulled out upon hearing what the president said. The school’s board of trustees held an emergency hearing Thursday to investigate Magill’s comments. In a written statement addressed to Magill, the board said it “has been, and remains, deeply concerned about the dangerous and toxic culture on our campus that has been led by a select group of students and faculty and has been permitted by University leadership.”.“As confirmed in your congressional testimony yesterday, the leadership of the University does not share the values of our Board. Nor does it appear to understand the urgency to address the safety of our students on campus and the ongoing reputational damage to the University by the University’s policies and actions,” the letter continued. “As a result of the University leadership’s stated beliefs and collective failure to act, our Board respectfully suggests to you and the Board of Trustees that the University requires new leadership with immediate effect.”.Stevens and Stone Ridge’s donation was intended to bolster Penn’s financial innovation center, but they cancelled the agreement, having attorneys deliver a letter to the school stating it had violated Stone Ridge’s limited partnership agreement’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rules. “[We] are appalled by the University’s stance on antisemitism on campus,” the letter said, adding the school’s “permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and laissez faire attitude toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students would violate any policies of rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge.”The letter specifically called out Magill for her comments, and back-pedalling on social media afterwards, when she “belatedly acknowledged — only after her Congressional testimony went viral and demands for her termination amplified — that calls for genocide of the Jewish people constitute harassment and discrimination.”
