Under pressure from Jewish community, Penn president unveils plan to combat antisemitism

Under pressure from heavyweight donors and others to do more to combat antisemitism on campus, the president at the University of Pennsylvania announced Wednesday morning a multipronged action plan, including the establishment of a task force and a student advisory group to focus on the “Jewish student experience” there.

“Across the country and world, we are witnessing pernicious acts of antisemitism, including on college and university campuses,” president Liz Magill said in a statement to the Penn community. “I am appalled by incidents on our own campus, and I’ve heard too many heartbreaking stories from those who are fearful for their safety right here at Penn. This is completely unacceptable.”

The task force of faculty, staff, student, and alumni leaders will begin meeting early this month, she said, while the student advisory group will start this semester.

» READ MORE: Penn president said university ‘should have moved faster’ in opposing Palestine Writes speakers with a history of antisemitism

She also gave a nod to the “interconnectedness of antisemitism and other forms of hate, including Islamophobia,” and said she would charge a presidential commission to deal with those challenges.

“I know that our Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab communities feel unseen and that their pain and grief have not been acknowledged,” she said. “They have also been targeted with harassment and horrific threats. This is unacceptable and must be addressed with equal vigor.”

The plan calls for the hiring of an expert who will help the university prevent and respond to antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hate.

The action plan to combat antisemitism, developed with the help of the American Jewish Committee, alumni, faculty, staff and students, seems to respond to suggestions that have been made by the Anti-Defamation League and other groups, calling on Penn to do more to combat antisemitism.

“With this plan, Penn is building and strengthening its historic commitment to its Jewish community and providing a roadmap for meaningful action and learning to fight antisemitism,” said Julie Platt, vice chair of Penn’s board of trustees. “President Magill is providing critical leadership here, at a time when it is absolutely essential to clearly communicate ... that antisemitism will not be tolerated at Penn, and the security and safety of our community is a priority.”

The action comes as the university continues to receive backlash for its early response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the Palestine Writes literary festival held on campus in September. Several donors, including Jon Huntsman Jr., former governor of Utah and former U.S. ambassador, and Marc Rowan, a Wharton graduate and CEO of Apollo Global Management, have said they no longer will give to the university. Charter school head Vahan H. Gureghian also resigned from the board of trustees, accusing school leaders of having “a broken moral compass.”

Rowan has called for Magill and Scott L. Bok, Penn board chair, to resign over their handling of the festival, which drew controversy for including speakers with a history of making antisemitic remarks.

There have been three antisemitic episodes at Penn this semester, most recently “The Jews R Nazis” written on a building next to the chapter house of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity; Penn police are investigating, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper. Officials for the Jewish Federation of Philadelphia on Monday called on Magill in a letter to condemn the antisemitic graffiti “to show Jewish students that you are committed to ensuring their safety and well-being, especially at a time when it is being threatened nationwide.”

The headquarters of Penn Hillel, a group for Jewish students, also was vandalized days before Yom Kippur by a man shouting antisemitic slurs, and a swastika was painted in an academic building.

Magill has acknowledged that the university should have moved faster in opposing some of the speakers at the festival. She also in prior statements condemned the attack on Israel and called it a “terrorist assault.” Her earlier statement about the attacks did not use the word terrorism.

The history of Jewish students at Penn dates to 1772. The first student, Moses Levy, later became the university’s first Jewish trustee. In 1924, the Jewish Students’ Association was established. Over time, its Jewish community grew into one of the most vibrant at an elite college.

But in recent years, the percentage of Jewish students at Penn has been dropping, according to an Inside Higher Education article in May. Decades ago, Jewish students made up about one-third of the school’s enrollment, but now account for about 16% of the more than 10,412 undergraduates.

Rowan, one of the donors, was not impressed with the new plan.

“Protection from racism is what we were entitled to 10 years ago,” he said. “It’s the bare minimum. Without both a change in the culture that allowed antisemitism to take root and addressing the plunge in Jewish matriculation, none of this matters.”

Gureghian, the trustee who resigned, called the plan a good first step, but also asserted that the university needs new leadership.

“It should not have taken this much time or pressure for President Magill to initiate the plan, nor does the plan negate the complete void of leadership demonstrated by President Magill and Board Chair Scott Bok,” he said. “... In order for Penn to regain its stature as one of the greatest academic institutions in the world, it needs new leadership at the top.”

Harun Küçük, director of Penn’s Middle East Center, said the plan was a step in the right direction but only partially addresses issues, which are bigger than just antisemitism and Islamophobia. They involve human rights issues and academic freedom, too, he said.

More faculty should have been consulted, he said.

“We have faculty who would have liked to have a say from day one,” he said.

Attempts to reach the faculty senate chair, the head of Penn Hillel, and some participants in last week’s walkout for Palestinians were unsuccessful.

The new plan focuses on three areas: safety and security, engagement, and education, and is rooted in the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, Magill said. The university pledged to continue to assess the safety and security for Penn’s religious life centers around campus and recommitted to review the process it uses to grant external groups access to campus spaces — a declaration Magill made after the uproar over Palestine Writes.

The task force will be led by Mark Wolff, dean of the dental school, while the new commission will be chaired by Vijay Kumar, dean of Penn engineering, and Katharine Strunk, dean of the graduate school of education.

Penn also committed to expand training on antisemitism awareness, strengthen academic scholarship on the subject and its connection to other forms of hate, and send a group of Penn leaders this month to the Brandeis Leadership Symposium on Antisemitism in higher education.