The backlash over the university president's remarks at a congressional hearing continues to intensify: A major donor announced Friday that she is canceling a donation of $100 million to the University of Pennsylvania, known as Penn University, following university president Elizabeth Magill's evasion of giving a clear answer to antisemitic remarks on campus.
In a letter written by Ross Stevens, owner of the Stone Ridge holding company, he chose to cancel his donation after being "appalled" by the position of the university president. "I have a factual basis for canceling Stone Ridge's $100 million donation to Penn because of President Magill's conduct. The lenient approach to calls for violence against Jews violates any policy or rule prohibiting harassment or discrimination based on religion, including those of our society," Stevens wrote.
🚨🚨🚨Presidents of @Harvard @MIT and @Penn REFUSE to say whether "calling for the genocide of Jews" is bullying and harassment according to their codes of conduct. Even going so far to say it needs to turn to "action" first. As in committing genocide.
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE AND... pic.twitter.com/hUY3SgoOOi
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) December 5, 2023
In a separate incident, Rabbi David Wolf, a senior rabbi who serves on Harvard University's Committee Against Antisemitism, announced his resignation from the committee over comments made by the institution's president, Claudine Gay. In a tweet, X said: "Both the events that took place on campus and the painfully inadequate response from the university president proved to me that I was not capable of making the change I wanted."
During this week's congressional hearing, Harvard President Claudine Gay declined to say whether calling for mass violence and genocide by the Jewish people amounted to harassment or bullying under Harvard's own code of conduct.
University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill said: "The university would not be what it is without its Jewish community. I am proud of the members of our Jewish community. Under my leadership, we will not shirk our commitment to fighting hate."
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