UPenn president issues groveling apology for not condemning antisemitism

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has issued a groveling apology for her refusal to condemn calls for the genocide of the Jewish people on campus in her remarks to Congress — as Harvard University President Pauline Gay backtracked on her testimony.

In a video posted on the Ivy League’s website Wednesday, Magill tried to explain her failure by saying she was not “focused” on the issue, and said that she wanted to “be clear” that calls for genocide were “evil, plain and simple.”

But she also seemingly blamed university policies and even the US Constitution for allowing the calls to be made on campus.

“There was a moment during yesterday’s Congressional hearing on antisemitism when I was asked if a call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies,” Magill began the two-minute-long video.

“In that moment, I was focused on the university’s long-standing policies — aligned with the US Constitution — which say that speech alone is not punishable.

“I was not focused on — but should have been — the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate.

“It’s evil, plain and simple,” she said.

Magill then went on to say she hoped to clarify her position.

“I want to be clear: a call for genocide of Jewish people is threatening, deeply so,” she said.

“It is intentionally meant to terrify a people who have been subjected to pogroms and hated for centuries, and were the victims of mass genocide in the Holocaust.

“In my view, it would be harassment or intimidation.”

But these calls for violence were not classified as harassment under university policy, Magill said, as she vowed to review and update the existing rules.

“For decades under multiple Penn presidents and consistent with most universities, Penn’s policies have been guided by the Constitution and the law,” she said.

“In today’s world, where we are seeing signs of hatred proliferating across our campus and our world in a way not seen in years, these policies need to be clarified and evaluated. Penn must initiate a serious and careful look at our policies.”

Magill concluded by saying she was “committed to a safe, secure and supportive environment so all members of our community thrive.

“We can, and we will, get it right,” she said.

The apology video came the same day Harvard President Pauline Gay backtracked on her own testimony to Congress by saying the university will start to punish calls for genocide.

“There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students,” Gay said in a statement on Harvard’s official X account Wednesday.

“Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”

Both the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard have come under fire in recent months for their failure to condemn the growing antisemitism on campus following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Many major donors to the universities have now divested from the schools over their stances, and Magill and Gay’s testimonies on Tuesday have even drawn criticism from the White House.

“It’s unbelievable that this needs to be said: calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country,” senior communications adviser and deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.