Three university presidents criticized for "absence of moral clarity" after antisemitism hearing

University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill "has voluntarily tendered her resignation," in the wake of criticism of her comments about antisemitism at the school," the board of trustees chair said in a note on Saturday.

Magill was one of three university presidents who came under fire from U.S. lawmakers after testimony given at a hearing about antisemitism on campus this week.   

Claudine Gay of Harvard and Sally Kornbluth of MIT also testified before a House of Representatives Committee about their schools' handling of increasingly contentious pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

More than 70 lawmakers found their answers less than stellar. In a letter, they called for the presidents' ousters or their schools would risk "an act of complicity in their antisemitic posture."

Magill and Gay's responses appeared to cause the most backlash. When lawmakers asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the code of conduct at their institutions, neither gave a definitive "yes" or "no" answer. 

Magill has apologized for her testimony and said she should have focused more on the "evil" of advocating genocide, rather than framing the matter as an issue of free speech. Gay also clarified her testimony. 

"What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged." Gay told Harvard's student newspaper.

The board of Penn's Wharton Business School demanded Magill's resignation. And a donor said he would retract a $100 million contribution if Penn's leadership did not change. 

MIT's executive committee said Kornbluth still had its full support.

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