University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigns

In his statement, Scott Bok acknowledged that the university president erred during her disastrous testimony, describing a “dreadful 30-second sound bite” following a lengthy hearing.

“Former President Liz 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,” said the outgoing chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania. “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.”

Bok said he wishes Magill “well in her future endeavors” and praised her as a “good person and a talented leader who was beloved by her team.” 

“She is not the slightest bit antisemitic. Working with her was one of the great pleasures of my life. Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday,” Bok said. “Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong.”

In response to Magill’s resignation, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, said in a statement that Magill and her peers on Tuesday were underprepared before the House committee.

“University leaders have an elevated duty to fortify the truth and protect their campus communities from hate, threats, and violence. Freedom of expression is NOT an absolute right anywhere in society. Hate speech is different from speech,” he said. “These college leaders were over lawyered but still underprepared and show an absence of judgment.”

Scott Bok, chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania, submitted his resignation effective immediately.

In a statement, Bok said: “Today, following the resignation of the University of Pennsylvania’s President and related Board of Trustee meetings, I submitted my resignation as Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, effective immediately. While I was asked to remain in that role for the remainder of my term in order to help with the presidential transition, I concluded that, for me, now was the right time to depart.”

Former University of Pennsylvania trustee Vahan Gureghian told CNN that Scott Bok, chair of the embattled school’s board of trustees, needs to follow in Liz Magill’s footsteps by stepping down next.

“It was time for President Magill to resign,” Gureghian said in a statement Saturday evening minutes after UPenn announced that Magill tendered her resignation. 

Gureghian, a charter-school magnate who quit the board in protest of the university’s handling of antisemitism, said the opportunity to demonstrate leadership was two months ago. 

“The responsibility for the University’s future direction, where the buck stops, is set at the Board level. Transformation of this broken institution requires Scott Bok to resign,” Gureghian told CNN. 

Although the House hearing was the catalyst for Liz Magill’s resignation, the Penn president had been under immense pressure from some wealthy donors for weeks amid a heated debate over free speech and antisemitism that escalated following the Hamas terror attacks against Israel. 

Wealthy donors pulled their support for the Ivy League school and vowed to keep their checkbooks closed until Magill stepped down. 

The donor backlash was triggered by a Palestinian literature festival hosted on campus in September. 

To the dismay of some alumni and support of others, Magill allowed the Palestine Writes Literature Festival to go forward even as she acknowledged it would feature some speakers with a history of making antisemitic remarks. 

Donor resentment about the event escalated rapidly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.  A week after the attacks, Magill further distanced the university from the festival and acknowledged it should have more forcefully and quickly condemned the speakers’ statements. 

Magill’s presidency lasted barely a year, crumbling amid a firestorm of criticism that hit a crescendo after a disastrous hearing before US lawmakers.  

Wealthy donors, CEOs, lawmakers and even Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro condemned Magill’s testimony on Tuesday in Congress where she struggled to say whether calls for genocide against Jews would violate the school’s code of conduct on bullying or harassment. 

Magill attempted to clarify her widely criticized response, but the damage was done.  

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.

“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,” board chair Scott Bok said in a statement.

Liz Magill, the president of University of Pennsylvania, voluntarily stepped down from the helm of the Ivy League school on Saturday, according to an announcement from board chair Scott Bok.

In a short video released December 6, a day after her disastrous testimony, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill said the university would immediately review and clarify its policies on hate speech.

“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 in a video posted on X. “I want to be clear: A call for genocide of Jewish people … would be harassment or intimidation.”

Magill noted antisemitic speech is designed to threaten and terrify Jews and remind them of the Holocaust, pogroms and other recent acts of violence against them.

“As president, I’m committed to a safe, secure and supportive environment so all members of our community can thrive,” Magill added. “We can – and we will – get this right.”

Numerous college presidents faced criticism about their responses to antisemitism on their campuses. But none more than University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill.

Some have called for the resignations of Harvard University President Claudine Gay and MIT President Sally Kornbluth after they testified along with Magill before a House committee December 5 about campus antisemitism, and the presidents did not explicitly say that calling for the genocide of Jews would necessarily violate their code of conduct on bullying or harassment. Instead, the school leaders explained it would depend on the circumstances and conduct.

But Penn’s campus has been roiled by controversies about the conflicts in the Middle East for longer than other schools – and Magill’s multiple unsuccessful attempts to satisfy critics have resulted in an uproar from donors and tumult on the school’s board.

In September, weeks before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the University of Pennsylvania allowed speakers that Penn’s administration acknowledged had a history of making antisemitic remarks to participate in the “Palestine Writes Literature Festival” on campus.

In response to the criticism of the university’s decision to allow the controversial speakers, Magill and other top university administrators issued a statement that tried to satisfy both sides of the controversy but ended up angering both supporters of Israel and Palestinians.

In response, 36 members of faculty at the school, before the festival was held, signed a letter criticizing that statement and Magill.

Numerous donors also approached Magill and the school about the festival and Penn’s tepid response. Weeks later, when Hamas attacked Israel and killed at least 1,200 people, that simmering resentment turned into a boil of anger.

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Among the most prominent voices calling for University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill’s ouster was Ross Stevens, a major donor who threatened to rescind stock, costing the university $100 million if she didn’t step down.

The CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings sent a letter on December 7 to Penn, threatening to take steps that would cost the Ivy League school approximately $100 million if Magill stayed on as president.

Stevens, a Penn alum, argued he had clear grounds to rescind $100 million worth of shares in his company that are currently held by Penn. He specifically cited Magill’s disastrous testimony before Congress on December 5.

“Absent a change in leadership and values at Penn in the very near future, I plan to rescind Penn’s Stone Ridge shares to help prevent any further reputational and other damage to Stone Ridge as a result of our relationship with Penn and Liz Magill,” Stevens said in a note to his employees.

Lawyers at Davis Polk, representing Stone Ridge, wrote a letter to Penn that cited an agreement between the school and the firm. That agreement, according to Stone Ridge, gives the firm the ability to retire the shares for cause, including potential damage to Stone Ridge’s “reputation, character, or standing.”

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The House Education and Workforce Committee launched an investigation with full subpoena power into Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik announced December 7.

“We will use our full Congressional authority to hold these schools accountable for their failure on the global stage,” Stefanik said in a statement. “After this week’s pathetic and morally bankrupt testimony by university presidents when answering my questions, the Education and Workforce Committee is launching an official Congressional investigation.”

Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the committee, called the testimony “absolutely unacceptable.”

“Committee members have deep concerns with their leadership and their failure to take steps to provide Jewish students the safe learning environment they are due under law,” Foxx said in a statement.

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