Monday, December 11, 2023

Penn President is Fired for Antisemitism

NBC news:
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned from her post Saturday after facing intense criticism from the White House, lawmakers and alumni for appearing to dodge a question at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism. ...

In a five-hour House hearing Tuesday, Magill and her counterparts at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were grilled over how their institutions responded to the rise in anti-Jewish hate since Oct. 7.

In their testimonies, the three university leaders each condemned antisemitism. The outcry centered on a contentious exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate each school’s code of conduct.

Instead of directly replying to Stefanik’s yes-or-no question, Magill said that decision would be “context-dependent.”

The hearing was bizarre. These colleges have women presidents who do not express themselves very well, and should have been able to explain the difference between bullying and expressing a political opinion.

Penn continues to try to fire its excellent Jewish professor Amy Wax.

1 comment:

CFT said...

I would have thought that calling for genocide wasn't really a statement you had much room to quibble about the context at all...I am trying to actually just conceive of such a context where it might be considered perfectly acceptable. Outside of very dark satire I got nothing.