Though the Home listening to was the catalyst for Liz Magill’s resignation, the Penn president had been underneath immense stress from some rich donors for weeks amid a heated debate over free speech and antisemitism that escalated following the Hamas terror assaults in opposition to Israel.
Rich donors pulled their help for the Ivy League college and vowed to maintain their checkbooks closed till Magill stepped down.
The donor backlash was triggered by a Palestinian literature competition hosted on campus in September.
To the dismay of some alumni and help of others, Magill allowed the Palestine Writes Literature Pageant to go ahead at the same time as she acknowledged it will function some audio system with a historical past of creating antisemitic remarks.
Donor resentment concerning the occasion escalated quickly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Per week after the assaults, Magill additional distanced the college from the competition and acknowledged it ought to have extra forcefully and rapidly condemned the audio system’ statements.