UPenn students and donors DEMAND president Elizabeth Magill resign after 'unacceptable' statements at congressional hearing - as Jewish students describe fear on campus and she offers groveling statement

University of Pennsylvania students and donors have demanded president Elizabeth Magill resign after her 'unacceptable' statements at a congressional hearing.

Elizabeth Magill was one of three university chiefs who failed to answer for the antisemitism on their campuses - as she told Congress that reprimanding students who call for a Jewish genocide was not paramount, but 'context' specific. 

A petition calling for Magill's resignation had grown to more than 10,300 signatures by Thursday morning. 

Students, faculty members, and donors alike have vocalized their disdain towards the president - saying her words and actions have shown her lackluster desire to stop the rabid antisemitism on UPenn's campus.

Marc Rowan, the board chair at the Wharton School of Business at Penn, asked the board of trustees to rescind their support for Magill.

He wrote: 'How much damage to our reputation are we willing to accept?'

The petition against her said she 'has created an environment where such bigotry feels tolerated, if not endorsed, by the university leadership.' 

When Magill was nominated to take over as the institution's president in 2022, she ran on the ticket of flexing her 'passionate commitment to academic excellence, diversity, equity, and inclusion.' 

She pledged to promote campus free speech. Part of that 'free speech,' it has transpired since Magill's astonishing words in front of Congress, includes the lack of discipline for Penn students who call for the genocide of the Jewish people.  

Before joining Penn, Magill was the Dean at Stanford Law School for seven years. Her legacy at the West Coast college was 'expanding and redesigning student life initiatives' with a 'strong emphasis on diversity and inclusion.'

Magill has been an academic and visiting professor at the University of Virginia, Cambridge University in England, Harvard Law School, and Princeton University.

She started her education at Yale, completing a History degree in 1988.  

Magill is married to Leon Francis Szeptycki, who also works at Penn, and they share two children together.  

Senator Bob Casey said in response to Magill's congressional appearance: 'President Magill's comments yesterday were offensive, but equally offensive was what she didn't say.

'The right to free speech is fundamental, but calling for the genocide of Jews is antisemitic and harassment, full stop.'

Senator John Fetterman also described the testimony as 'a significant fail.'

He wrote: 'There is no 'both sides-ism' and it isn't 'free speech,' it's simply hate speech. It was embarrassing for a venerable Pennsylvania university, and it should be reflexive for leaders to condemn antisemitism and stand up for the Jewish community or any community facing this kind of invective.'

Magill's later released a groveling video statement where she attempted to explain her failure to condemn calls for the genocide of Jewish people on campuses - but stopped short of apologizing.

The UPenn leader had argued in front of Congress that disciplining antisemitism depended on context.

In the video, she said she was not 'focused' on the issue, and wanted to 'be clear' that calls for genocide were 'evil, plain and simple' - although she said the blame lay with her university's policies and the constitution, rather than with her.

Magill said: '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 say that speech alone is not punishable.

'I was not focused on, but I should have been, 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. It's evil, plain and simple.'

Magill said she hoped to draw a line in the sand, and clarify her position. 

'I want to be clear: a call for genocide of Jewish people is threatening, deeply so,' she said.

'It is intentionally meant to terrify a people who have been subjected to pogroms and hatred for centuries, and were the victims of mass genocide in the Holocaust.

'In my view it would be harassment or intimidation.'

But, Magill said, it was not officially classed as harassment - a policy she said was outdated and needed review.

Magill pledged to work to update the existing rules. 

'For decades under multiple Penn presidents and consistent with most universities, Penn's policies have been guided by the Constitution and the law,' she said.

'In today's world, where we are seeing signs of hate proliferating across our campus and our world in a way not seen in years, these policies need to be clarified and evaluated.

'Penn must initiate a serious and careful look at our policies.'

She concluded that she was 'committed to a safe, secure and supportive environment so all members of our community can thrive. We can, and we will, get it right.'

Harvard also attempted to limit the damage from remarks by their president, Claudine Gay.

Gay, asked the same question, also equivocated.

On Wednesday, the university published a statement from Gay on X.

'There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students,' she said. 

'Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.' 

All three said on Tuesday calling for the genocide of Jews was anti-Semitic hate speech but didn't necessarily break their school rules. 

They would act, they said, if such hate speech crossed over into 'conduct'. 

An incredulous Elise Stefanik asked: 'Conduct being committing genocide?'

Billionaire hedge funder Bill Ackman - who gave $26million to Harvard in 2014 - is now calling for the resignation of all three women. Elon Musk agreed that it is time for their departure, and said the hearing crystalizes their liberal bias. 

Harvard Hillel, the school's leading Jewish organization, said it was 'appalled by the need to state the obvious'. 

The Harvard Alumni Association and the school's Board of Overseers are yet to address Gay's remarks. 

The Hillel said: 'President Gay's refusal to draw a line around threatening antisemitic speech as a violation of Harvard's policies is profoundly shocking given explicit provisions within the conduct code prohibiting this kind of bullying and harassment. 

'We are appalled by the need to state the obvious: A call for genocide against Jews is always a hateful incitement of violence. 

'President Gay's failure to properly condemn this speech calls into question her ability to protect Jewish students on Harvard's campus.

'President Gay's testimony fails to reassure us that the University is seriously concerned about the anti-Semitic rhetoric pervasive on campus. 

'We call on President Gay to take action against those using threatening speech that violates our community standards.'

The three universities have been roiled by a series of pro-Palestine marches on their campuses in the wake of the October 7 attack, with students blaming Israel for Hamas' terrorist outrage, and saying the country deserved it.

Some academics have expressed rabidly anti-Israel opinions, and threats have been made against Jewish students on campus.

All three presidents have admitted they were slow to distance themselves from student groups justifying the October 7 massacres.

But they insisted that they wanted to preserve an environment of free speech - and refused, to Stefanik's fury, to give a 'yes or no' answer to questions about condemning certain rhetoric.

'I am asking, specifically calling for the genocide of Jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment?' asked Stefanik.

Gay told her that it depended on the context.

Stefanik responded that it was 'the easiest question', then answered for them: 'The answer is yes.'

Stefanik pressed Gay over whether Harvard would punish students or applicants who advocate for the murder of Jews.

Gay replied: 'That type of hateful, reckless, offensive speech is personally abhorrent to me.'

She said the university had 'robust policies' that hold individuals accountable when speech crosses into conduct, such as bullying, harassment or intimidation.

'We embrace a commitment to free expression and give a wide berth to free expression even to views that are objectionable, outrageous and offensive,' Gay said.

At one point, Gay said: 'I've sought to confront hate while preserving free expression. This is difficult work, and I know that I have not always gotten it right.'

But Stefanik said their answers were 'unacceptable', and demanded all three resign.

Ackman said he was horrified by the testimony.

'This could be the most extraordinary testimony ever elicited in the Congress, certainly on the topic of genocide,' he wrote on X.

'The presidents' answers reflect the profound educational, moral and ethical failures that pervade certain of our elite educational institutions due in large part to their failed leadership.'

He said that the trio's answers would be unacceptable in the business world.

'If a CEO of one of our companies gave a similar answer, he or she would be toast within the hour,' he said.

'Why has antisemitism exploded on campus and around the world?

'Because of leaders like Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth who believe genocide depends on the context.

'To think that these are the leaders of Ivy League institutions that are charged with the responsibility to educate our best and brightest.'

His criticism of Gay comes just days after the billionaire posted an open letter on X accusing Harvard of discriminating against 'straight white men' and railing against the university's equity and inclusion efforts. 

The Jewish student organization, Harvard Hillel, said that Gay's 'refusal' to 'draw a line' on threatening antisemitic speech is 'profoundly shocking.'

Harvard Hillel said that they questioned the president's 'ability to protect Jewish students on Harvard's campus.'

'We are appalled by the need to state the obvious: A call for genocide against Jews is always a hateful incitement of violence. President Gay's failure to properly condemn this speech calls into question her ability to protect Jewish students on Harvard's campus,' the Harvard Hillel said.

'Chants to 'globalize the intifada,' an endorsement of violent terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli civilians, and 'from the river to the sea,' an eliminationist slogan intended to deprive Jews of their right to self-determination in Israel, have become tragically routine at Harvard.'

Magill, the UPenn president, was questioned over her school's participation in a 'Palestine Writes Festival' in September.

A complaint filed with the Education Department against Penn cites the festival as a catalyst for antisemitic incidents on campus. Speakers included several with a history of making antisemitic remarks, such as Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.

She said antisemitic speech at the event was 'abhorrent' to her and that the institution put safety precautions into place.

'Why in the world would you host someone like that on your campus?' asked Jim Banks, a Republican congressman for Indiana.

'Antisemitism has no place at Penn,' Magill began to answer.

Banks interrupted, and asked: 'Why did you invite Roger Waters?'

She concluded: 'I think canceling that conference would have been very inconsistent with academic freedom and free expression despite the fact that the views of some of the people who came to that conference I find very, very objectionable because of their antisemitism.'