The remaining members of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees are ‘unanimously’ standing behind embattled President Liz Magill as she fights for her job amid an uproar about how the school has handled antisemitism on campus.
In a letter sent to Penn alumni Thursday morning, the President of the Penn Alumni Association Michael Barrett – who is also a member of the board – issued a statement of unequivocal support for President Magill.
‘As a Trustee, I have witnessed firsthand Liz’s steadiness and focus, even in the face of the most personal type of attacks these past weeks, and she has been, in a word, inspiring,’ wrote Barrett, the Head of Strategy, Innovation and Global Transformation for Wells Fargo Bank, Corporate & Investment Banking.
‘The Board of Trustees unanimously shares this sentiment, and we reaffirmed our confidence in the President when we gathered for an update this past weekend.’
The ‘unanimous’ statement of support comes in the wake former University of Pennsylvania trustee Vahan Gureghian calling for the resignation of Magill several days after he resigned his board position because of what he believes has been an insufficient response from the school to the rising trend of antisemitism.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Gureghian, a successful lawyer, entrepreneur, and charter school magnate, described Magill as ‘negligent and not really up to the job of being the president of one of the eight or so most elite universities in the world.’
Embattled Penn President Liz Magill received the ‘unanimous’ support of the Board of Trustees as she receives media and alumni scrutiny for her handling of antisemitism on campus
The letter to alumni was signed by Michael Barrett, the Head of Strategy, Innovation and Global Transformation for Wells Fargo Bank, Corporate & Investment Banking, who sits on the board of trustees
A large and growing list of high-profile donors – many of them alumni of Penn – have pulled funding from the school in response to Magill’s failure to appropriately address and condemn the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, held at the school in September, prior to the Palestinian terror attacks on Israel.
The festival – held on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar – featured a lineup of well-known antisemites.
In the wake of Hamas’ barbaric campaign, donors’ and some trustees have expressed increased displeasure and disappointment with the school’s insufficient handling of antisemitism on campus.
Gureghian served as a non-elected trustee to Penn’s board. He was appointed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2009.
In his resignation, Gureghian cited the 13million citizens of Pennsylvania whom he represented on the board. ‘I can no longer report back to these constituents that UPenn is acting in their best interest,’ he said.
‘Like so many elite academic institutions, the leadership of UPenn has failed us through an embrace of antisemitism, a failure to stand for justice, and complete negligence in the defense of its own students’ well being,’ he added.
As a trustee, Gureghian was one of the few people in charge of ultimately approving Magill to become Penn’s ninth president last year.
‘It’s a gigantic operation. Some people aren’t up for that job. Maybe we picked the wrong person. Maybe it’s time for her to go. I think it is,’ he told CNN.
He said he’s not sure that Scott Bok, the chairman of the board, should keep his post either.
Vahan Gureghian resigned his board position last week over the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus
Penn is rapidly losing high-profile donors in the wake of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival and President Liz Magill’s response to the recent terror attacks in Israel
The Palestine Writes Literature Festival – held on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar – featured a lineup of well-known antisemites.
Magill, continuing to fight for her job, issued a third statement on Wednesday to the Penn community.
The statement warned that hate speech and violence are not tolerated at Penn amid demonstrations of support for Israel and the Palestinians.
‘I am also responsible, as the President of this University, for ensuring the safety and security of our entire community while also safeguarding our ability to carry out our academic mission,’ she wrote.
‘In this tragic moment, we must respect the pain of our classmates and colleagues and recognize that our speech and actions have the power to both harm and heal our community. We must choose healing, resisting those who would divide us and instead respect and care for one another,’ she wrote.
On Sunday, after a handful of donors had begun to pull out their commitments to the university, Magill issued a statement condemning Hamas and writing that Penn ‘stands, emphatically against antisemitism.’
At a University Council meeting on Wednesday, Magill addressed before students, faculty and administrators, the plight of Palestinian students on campus.
‘I know that many in our Palestinian community feel especially unseen, and that their pain and grief has not been acknowledged,’ she said. ‘I acknowledge, and we must acknowledge and support all members of the community, including Palestinian students and faculty and staff, and we will do better.’
It is unclear how the university will move forward as it publicly loses the support of megadonors left and right.
Some of the most prominent financial backers of the school who have publicly divested in recent days include, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan, who resigned from his position as the chairman of the Board of Advisors of Wharton, encouraged donors to close their checkbooks until President Magill is replaced.
Apollo CEO Marc Rowan, who resigned from his position as the chairman of the Board of Advisors of Wharton, encouraged donors to close their checkbooks until President Magill is replaced
Former US Ambassador Jon Huntsman, who graduated from Penn in 1987, also publicly halted his family’s significant donations to the university
US diplomat and former Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman – whose family has also historically funded the Hunstman international studies program at Wharton – also announced that his family will no longer donate to the school.
David Magerman, who helped build the trading systems of Renaissance Technologies, excoriated his alma mater, saying that he was pulling funding permanently from the institution.
‘I am deeply ashamed of my association with the University of Pennsylvania,’ he said. ‘I refuse to donate another dollar to Penn.’
‘There is no action anyone at Penn can take to change that. You have shown me who you are, my only remaining hope is that all self-respecting Jews, and all moral citizens of the world, dissociate themselves from Penn.’
Adding an extra gut punch, Magerman wrote to Magill: ‘Marc Rowan has called for your firing as a response to your failures in leadership, but I feel your firing is unnecessary, because it is wholly inadequate. If in fact the University of Pennsylvania as an institution has such a misguided moral compass that it can fail to recognize evil when it is staring us all in the face, I don’t think replacing you will accomplish anything.’
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