At Penn, Vacancies in Leadership, and Anguish on Campus

One day after the president of the University of Pennsylvania resigned over criticism that she did not condemn antisemitism forcefully enough, state leaders showed solidarity with Jews at a Philadelphia rally, while students and professors lamented the ongoing rift on campus.

Speaking at Rodeph Shalom Synagogue on Sunday, Gov. Josh Shapiro denounced antisemitism and voiced support for the decision by the university president, Elizabeth Magill, to step down. Penn’s chairman of the board of trustees, Scott L. Bok, also announced his resignation on Saturday.

“I have seen Pennsylvanians take actions big and small, and both matter, to combat antisemitism,” Mr. Shapiro said at the synagogue, where he was joined by Senator Bob Casey and other local leaders. “I’ve seen it here in Philadelphia, where students raised their voices, where students made sure they were heard in the halls of power at their university, and leadership was held accountable.”

Ms. Magill had come under heavy criticism from donors, politicians and alumni over her testimony in front of a House committee last week in which she and the presidents of two other universities — Claudine Gay of Harvard and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — appeared to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide of Jews would be punished under the school’s code of conduct.

The person in the photo – Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania speaking at a news conference in Yardley, Pa., last week.Credit…Matt Rourke/Associated Press

By Anna Betts and Jon Hurdle|Dec. 10th, 2023

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