From Le Figaro with AFP
Published 2 hours ago, updated 36 minutes ago
Congress launched a parliamentary investigation Thursday into what it called “rampant anti-Semitism” at American universities. KEVIN DIETSCH / AFP
Elizabeth Magill told Congress that calls for genocide against Jews could violate her university's rules “depending on the context.”
The president of the renowned American private university Pennsylvania UPenn in Philadelphia and the chairman of the board announced their resignation on Saturday evening after a criticized hearing before Congress in Washington about anti-Semitism on campuses in the USA.
“It has been an honor to serve this remarkable institution,” wrote Elizabeth Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania since summer 2022, in a brief “statement of resignation” released by the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. Founding, Scott Bok.
“Former President Liz Magill made an unfortunate misstep last week – as did her two pairs of university presidents (Claudine Gay of Harvard and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT) after five hours of aggressive testimony before a congressional committee,” Scott Bok said in a statement Statement explained. “It was then clear that her position was no longer tenable, and she and I decided it was time for her to leave,” he wrote, also announcing his own resignation “effective immediately.”
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Congress launched a parliamentary investigation Thursday into what it called “rampant anti-Semitism” at American universities. Since Tuesday, the three university presidents have faced calls to resign, especially from dozens of lawmakers, after they had to resign before a congressional commission on the issue of increasing anti-democratic hearings – considered “absolutely shameful” by Pennsylvania's Democratic governor. Semitism on campus since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7th.
Excuse me
The three women responded to questions Tuesday from Republican Assemblywoman Elise Stefanik, who compared the students' calls for an “intifada” to a call for “a genocide of Jews in Israel and around the world.” When asked by the elected official whether “calling for genocide against the Jews violates Harvard harassment rules, yes or no?”, Claudine Gay replied, “It can, depending on the context,” and then added, “If it does directed against “a person.”
On Friday, the Harvard boss said she was “sorry” that her “words have increased the distress and pain,” and Elizabeth Magill released a video message of regret after a donor threatened to give $100 million to the to withdraw from university. In that message, she acknowledged that calls for “a genocide against the Jews” constituted “harassment or intimidation,” in her opinion.
Since Hamas's bloody attacks on Israel on October 7, followed by deadly Israeli retaliation, the conflict has rocked East Coast universities such as Harvard near Boston, UPenn in Philadelphia and Columbia in New York.
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