Heads began to roll over the weekend with disgraced University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigning under pressure following her congressional testimony last week defending anti-Semitism and the calls for genocide on her campus. This didn’t sit well with ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday, as they clutched their pearls over Magill’s fate and how the pressure on Harvard and MIT to fire their presidents for similar remarks was increasing.
Leading into the segment, co-host Linsey Davis couldn’t even be honest about the fact that there was anti-Semitism and calls for another Jewish genocide happening on campuses nationwide. “Here at home, tensions are rising over alleged anti-Semitism on college campuses. The University of Pennsylvania's president has now stepped down after her widely criticized House testimony,” she announced.
“The fallout has been swept,” warned correspondent Selina Wang. She added that a similar fate could befall the presidents of Harvard and MIT seeing as they “gave similar responses” and “calls for the other two schools to follow suit are growing.”
Wang noted that Magill had faced “a barrage of criticism from donors, politicians, and alumni” after refusing to say calls for a new genocide against the Jews was against her school’s code of conduct. She also put a lot of weight on Magill’s attempt to walk back her comments, and the support she was getting from the university’s professors' union and chairman of the board Scott Bok, who was also forced out:
Magill apologized in a video post the next day, but the damage already done. Penn's board chair, Scott Bok also stepping down but defending Magill in a statement saying, “she made a very unfortunate misstep. She provided a legalistic answer to a moral question.”
Penn’s Association of Professors backing him up saying, Magill's intent was to defend academic freedom and open expression, saying that Stefanik’s entire line of questioning misrepresented protests for Palestinian freedom as calls for genocide.
The next cause for ABC’s concern was the possibility that Harvard University president Claudine Gay would be the next on the chopping block.
“And even though calls for the other presidents to follow suit are growing, Harvard’s newspaper reporting that, as of Sunday, more than 500 members of the faculty have signed a petition to the university's corporation opposing any action to remove president Gay,” Wang boasted.
The supposed villain of that story was “Harvard alum and billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who has been a vocal critic against his Alma mater.” Wang did pull a quote from a letter Ackman wrote to the university, saying, “In her short tenure as president, Claudine Gaye has done more damage to the reputation of Harvard University than any individual in our nearly 500-year history.”
She did offer a bright spot for leftist extremists in that “MIT’s board is pledging their full and unreserved support for MIT’s president.” But warned that “Harvard’s board has been silent” about Gay’s fate despite her interview with the school newspaper that she was “sorry and regretful.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
December 11, 2023
8:08:18 a.m. EasternLINSEY DAVIS: Here at home, tensions are rising over alleged anti-Semitism on college campuses. The University of Pennsylvania's president has now stepped down after her widely criticized House testimony. Selina Wang is here with the latest on that. Good morning, Selina.
SELINA WANG: Good morning, Linsey.
The fallout has been swept. Penn’s president resigning after intense backlash to her testimony on Capitol Hill. But the leaders of Harvard and MIT gave similar responses. Now, calls for the other two schools to follow suit are growing.
[Cuts to video]
Pressure mounting on Harvard and MIT after the resignation of University of Pennsylvania’s president, Liz Magill. Magill stepping down Saturday after a facing a barrage of criticism from donors, politicians, and alumni.
All three university presidents under fire for evading this question from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): I'm asking specifically: calling for the general side of Jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment?
LIZ MAGILL: If it is directed and severely pervasive, it is harassment.
STEFANIK: So, the answer is yes?
MAGILL: It is a constant context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.
WANG: Magill apologized in a video post the next day, but the damage already done. Penn's board chair, Scott Bok also stepping down but defending Magill in a statement saying, “she made a very unfortunate misstep. She provided a legalistic answer to a moral question.”
Penn’s Association of Professors backing him up saying, Magill's intent was to defend academic freedom and open expression, saying that Stefanik’s entire line of questioning misrepresented protests for Palestinian freedom as calls for genocide.
And even though calls for the other presidents to follow suit are growing, Harvard’s newspaper reporting that, as of Sunday, more than 500 members of the faculty have signed a petition to the university's corporation opposing any action to remove president Gay. But Harvard alum and billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who has been a vocal critic against his Alma mater, sending a letter to the university saying, “In her short tenure as president, Claudine Gay has done more damage to the reputation of Harvard University than any individual in our nearly 500-year history.”
This, as more than 70 members of Congress to demand the update their school policies to ensure they protect Jewish students.
[Cuts back to live]
MIT’s board is pledging their full and unreserved support for MIT’s president. Meanwhile, Harvard’s board has been silent. But Harvard’s president did give an interview to the student newspaper, saying, she is sorry and regretful.
