A growing group of Jewish students at the University of Pennsylvania have expressed concerns about campus life in the wake of now-former university president Liz Magill’s controversial testimony earlier in the week.
UPenn student Kevin Bina said FOX 29 that his fraternity mates “don’t even feel comfortable walking outside our house in their kippahs just because they don’t know if they’re going to be harassed.”
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill testifies before the House Education and Workforce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on December 5, 2023 in Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Another student, Leah Weinberger, said many Jewish students are reconsidering their application to UPenn after Magill’s testimony.
“Even the people who are thinking about running — Jewish students from the Northeast, where I’m from, and everywhere — aren’t even applying,” Weinberger told the outlet. “They are choosing other schools simply out of fear.”
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Another student, Eyal Lubin, said Magill did not show “humanity what is really behind what is happening here at Penn.”
His comments come after controversial congressional testimony by Magill and his counterparts at Harvard and MIT about anti-Semitism on campus. Incidents of this type have proliferated after the war between Israel and Hamas.
During a heated line of questioning, Magill was questioned during a five-hour hearing, along with Harvard President Claudine Gay and MIT President Sally Kornbluth, about how their institutions have responded to anti-Semitism on campus.
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The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)
Much of the reaction centered on questions from Rep. Elise Stefanik, R.N.Y., who repeatedly asked Magill whether “calling for the genocide of the Jews” would violate each university’s code of conduct.
Magill said whether hate speech crossed the line and violated Penn policies depended on context.
“If speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment,” Magill said.
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His comments, and similar ones by Gay, sparked a swift international reaction. On Wednesday, Magill apologized and retracted some of her comments, but calls for her resignation, including from high-profile donors, quickly grew.
The university’s board of trustees held an emergency meeting Thursday, and Magill resigned on Saturday.
“I am writing to share that President Liz Magill voluntarily He quit as president of the University of Pennsylvania. “He will remain a tenured member of the Penn Carey Law faculty,” board chair Scott L. Bok wrote in a statement.
Fox News Digital has reached out to UPenn for comment.
Adam Oyes of FOX Business and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
