UPenn's President Magill Is Probably Toast

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

David wrote about the backlash to Presidents Magill and Gay, of UPenn and Harvard respectively, a few hours ago. Even since then the situation has gotten substantially worse for UPenn’s President Magill. First up, the Board of Advisors for Wharton, which is UPenn’s business school, just issued a letter calling for a change of leadership.

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The Wharton Board of Advisors is calling on the University to change leadership with “immediate effect,” according to a letter to Penn President Liz Magill first obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian.

The letter describes the Board’s concern about “dangerous and toxic culture” at Penn that they said the University leadership has allowed to exist. The letter adds that the University leadership “does not share the values of our Board.”…

“In light of your testimony yesterday before Congress, we demand the University clarify its position regarding any call for harm to any group of people immediately, change any policies that allow such conduct with immediate effect, and discipline all offenders expeditiously,” the letter said.

That would be bad enough on its own but there was another development this afternoon that may be even worse. A major donor to the university announced he was withdrawing a $100 million gift thanks in part to Magill’s congressional testimony.

The final straw for Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, was Tuesday’s widely criticized congressional testimony by Penn president Liz Magill.

Details: The gift from Stevens, a Penn undergrad alum, was given in December 2017 to help establish a center for innovation in finance…

Stevens, in a letter from his lawyers to Penn, alleges that the school has violated the terms of the limited partnership agreement, including its anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.

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But the real gut punch appears in the last paragraph of the letter: [emphasis added]

Mr. Stevens and Stone Ridge would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter further and give the University a chance to remedy what Stone Ridge believes are likely violations of the LP Agreement if, and when, there is a new University President in place. Until then, there can be no meaningful discussion about remedying the University’s ongoing failure to honor is obligations.

Simply put, they can kiss President Magill goodbye or they can kiss the money goodbye.

This is not the first time major donors have taken a shot at the university over concerns about anti-Semitism. This has been going on ever since the university hosted the Palestine Writes Literature Festival a few months ago.

Planned speakers such as Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa, Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, and illustrator and Palestinian author Aya Ghanameh have drawn criticism for previous remarks or actions.

Waters, for example, wore a Nazi-style uniform during a concert in Berlin in May and was accused by Israel of “desecrating the memory of Anne Frank” by projecting the girl’s name during the concert…

Ghanameh has tweeted “Death to Israel” on various occasions. Abdel-Fattah has called Israel a “demonic, sick project” and added that she “can’t wait for the day we commemorate its end.”

Abulhawa has called for the dismantling of Israel, which she called “a colonial nation of degenerates” on her now-suspended account on X, formerly Twitter.

She also said Israel is “one big, militarized tumor” just days after seven Jews were killed in a shooting outside a synagogue.

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In response, Jon Huntsman announced he was ending his family’s donations to the school. Another major donor, Jonathon Jacobson, sent the school a check for $1 and said that would be repeated every year (in lieu of the multiple millions he has frequently donated) until President Magill was gone. Dick Wolf, the creator of Law & Order, also called on Magill to step down.

“President Magill, I implore you and [chair of the board of trustees] Scott Bok to step down from your UPenn positions before any more unnecessary damage to UPenn,” Wolf wrote in the letter, obtained by CNN on Friday. “There is no hope for unification in our community until you step aside.”

The Emmy award-winning producer said a leadership change is the “only path forward” and he will “end all donations to UPenn” until both leaders resign.

Through all of that the Board of Trustees stuck with Magill. Will they continue to do so or has this finally crossed a point of no return? It’s just a guess but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there is a Friday afternoon news dump that Magill is stepping aside.

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David Strom 4:40 PM | October 07, 2024
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