University president resigns after anti-Semitism questioning
Three presidents of prestigious universities in the USA do not clearly position themselves in a questioning before the US Congress regarding the classification of anti-Semitic incitement at demonstrations. Liz Magill, who heads the University of Pennsylvania, is now resigning voluntarily.
In the USA, the President of the University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, has voluntarily resigned following accusations of anti-Semitism. This was announced by Scott Bok, Chairman of the University's Board of Trustees. However, the university president will continue to serve as a permanent faculty member at the university's law school, Bok said. Magill, along with two other female presidents of top US universities, had previously been accused of anti-Semitism by Jewish students, their families and former Jewish students for allegedly tolerating anti-Semitic remarks by pro-Palestinian protesters on campus.
Magill, together with the presidents of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was summoned to a hearing in the US Congress on Tuesday, which was also related to the Gaza war and the debate surrounding it. The women refused to answer Republican Representative Elise Stefanik's question about whether "calling for the genocide of Jews" violated their schools' codes of conduct on bullying and harassment.
In the days following this statement, there were increasing calls for the resignation of Magill and Claudine Gay, who is president of Harvard University. Magill published a video on Wednesday in which she expressed her regret, Gay apologized on Friday.
According to US media, the chairman of the board of trustees, Bok, said that Magill was "not the least bit anti-Semitic". However, he regretted her questioning tactics and described them as wrongly prepared and too legalistic in a question that would have required a moral response.
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In light of the controversy, calls for the resignation of president Liz Magill from the University of Pennsylvania, who is based in the USA, echoed, due to her handling of anti-Semitic incidents during protests related to the Gaza situation. Despite this, the situation in Gaza continues to be a contentious topic in the US Congress, with prominent university leaders, including Liz Magill, being questioned about their stance on anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Source: www.ntv.de
