by Magill resignation this weekend came just days after a House Education Committee hearing last week. She and Harvard President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth faced intense backlash and called for their resignations after a clip of their responses to the representative’s questions. Elise Stefanik (RY) went viral shortly after the hearing.
“Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct, yes or no? Stefanik asked Magill on Tuesday, to which Magill responded: “If speech turns into behavior, that could be harassment.”
Stefanik criticized the response, saying: “Conduct that amounts to committing an act of genocide? Isn’t speech harassment? This is unacceptable.”
The other presidents responded similarly to the question, saying that while they did not personally agree with the rhetoric used, they were committed to preserving free speech on campus.
Gay walked back her testimony in a statement the day after the hearing and has since apologized for her remarks. “When words amplify distress and pain, I don’t know how anyone can feel anything other than regret,” she said in an interview Friday with the Harvard Crimson.