Dec 6 (Reuters) – University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill on Wednesday promised to review the university’s code of conduct after she faced calls to resign for declining to say whether advocating genocide was a violation of the policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Penn students and alumni stepped up calls for Magill to step down after she declined to say outright during a congressional hearing that calling for the genocide of Jews would violate Penn’s code of conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a video statement posted online, Magill said she should have focused more on the “evil” of advocating genocide instead of framing the matter as an issue of free speech in line with the U.S. Constitution and the traditions of on-campus debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I want to be clear. A call for genocide of Jewish people is threatening, deeply so,” Magill said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is intentionally meant to terrify a people who have been subjected to pogroms and hatred for centuries, and were the victims of mass genocide in the Holocaust. In my view, it would be harassment or intimidation,” she added. Magill said she and Provost John Jackson would begin a process to evaluate and clarify campus policy, saying, “We can and will get this right.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has exposed deep fissures in American politics and given rise to both Islamophobic and antisemitic violence and speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An online petition demanding the university’s Board of Trustees accept Magill’s resignation due to her “inability to unequivocally condemn calls for the genocide of Jewish students and inability to identify these as harassment” had 2,500 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This equivocation sent a chilling message to Jewish students,” the petition’s letter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a nonvoting member of Penn’s Board of Trustees, told reporters on Wednesday the board had a “serious decision” to make regarding Magill’s statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They have seemingly failed every step of the way to take concrete action to make sure all students feel safe on campus,” Shapiro said. “And then the testimony yesterday took it to the next level.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n