She was, as the headline at Politico puts it, "the first casualty in the war against elite universities." The reference is to Liz Magill, who resigned as president of the University of Pennsylvania after she (and leaders of other universities) were grilled during a 2023 House hearing about anti-Israeli campus protests. When asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik, "Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn's rules or code of conduct?" Magill ultimately answered, "It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman." She resigned four days later amid the hearing's fallout, and she discusses the controversy for the time publicly in an interview with Politico's Evan Mandery. For starters, she regrets that answer.
"I wish I could've done it again because this harmed Penn's reputation," she says. "I just didn't seem like a person with common sense and humanity, and I am." The story details the day-by-day fallout before Magill's resignation and the personal toll it exacted. "I felt like I was in a maelstrom," Magill says. "It was a remarkable thing to experience." For the record, Mandery notes that there's no record of any protesters at Penn calling for the genocide of Jews. Despite how everything played out, Magill did not display even a "hint of anger or resentment" during two days of interviews, writes Mandery. "It may have been an impossible situation," says Magill, "but it was my job to steer Penn through." (Read the full story.)
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