The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) president and Board of Trustees chairman both announced their resignation on Saturday.
UPenn President Elizabeth Magill faced widespread criticism following a hearing of the House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee on Dec. 5, where she refused to say that calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the university’s policies.
Scott Bok, the chairman of UPenn’s Board of Trustees, announced that Magill had resigned from her position in a community message before later announcing he would also step down.
“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,” Bok said in the statement, obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian. “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.”
Magill will remain at her position until an “interim president is appointed,” Bok said in his original announcement. She will also “remain a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law.”
“It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution,” Magill wrote. “It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”
Magill’s testimony prompted one donor to UPenn, Ross Stevens, to withdraw around $100 million donation to the university. The board of the university’s Wharton School, its well-renowned school of economic and business studies, also explicitly called for her resignation.
UPenn’s board held an emergency meeting to discuss the fallout from Magill’s testimony on Thursday.
Over 70 members of Congress issued a letter calling for her removal, alongside that of Harvard University President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Kornbluth. Gay has since apologized for her testimony.
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