PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill is under fire for her controversial response during a congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses.
And now, two Jewish students are suing the school, claiming it “transformed itself into an incubation lab for virulent anti-Jewish hatred, harassment, and discrimination.”
The lawsuit, filed by students Eyal Yakoby and Jordan Davis, say the university has not done enough to combat antisemitism.
The Department of Education began an investigation in November into reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia at several universities along the East Coast, including Penn. That list has since grown from seven schools and districts to 57 institutions.
According to the complaint, the lawsuit seeks to hold Penn accountable under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the damages it has caused plaintiffs and for its failure to remedy the hostile environment on its campus.
A quote from the lawsuit claims the “harassment and discrimination on campus and in the classroom are relentless and intolerable.”
Yakoby, a Penn senior who is a dual American-Israeli citizen, spoke at a press conference on Tuesday that was held before the congressional hearing, saying “our university revered for its pursuit of knowledge has devolved into an arena where Jewish students tiptoe through their days, uncertain and unsafe.”
“Penn’s ambivalence fuels a crisis that has shattered my academic sanctuary,” he said. “Policies meant to safeguard us have become hollow promises.”
The students are seeking policy changes, including the termination of employees “responsible for the antisemitic abuse permeating the school, whether they engaged with it or permitted it,” and the suspension or expulsion of students “who engage in such conduct.”
They would also like the university to add training to combat antisemitism for members of Penn’s community.
'It's evil. Plain and simple.'
During Tuesday’s hearing, Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York asked Magill if calling for the genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying or harassment. Magill responded by saying, "if it is directed and severely pervasive, it is harassment.”
"So, the answer is yes," Stefanik remarked.
Magill replied, saying "it is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman.”
Magill released a two minute video Wednesday night on X, formerly Twitter, in an attempt to clarify her remarks.
She opened the video saying, in that moment, she “was focused on our university's long standing policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable.”
“I was not focused on, but I 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.”
“I want to be clear,” she continued, “a call for genocide of Jewish people is threatening — deeply so. 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.”
Magill said Penn’s policies needed to be “clarified and evaluated,” and she would start the process with Provost John Jackson Jr.
Magill did not mention the lawsuit filed by Yakoby and Davis.