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

The University of Pennsylvania “should have moved faster” to share its position strongly against some speakers with a history of antisemitism appearing at the Palestine Writes festival held on campus last month, the school’s president said in a statement to the campus community Sunday.

Liz Magill’s email comes one day after major donor Jon Huntsman Jr., former governor of Utah and former U.S. ambassador to Russia, China, and Singapore, said his family’s foundation would halt donations to Penn, which he said has “become deeply adrift in ways that make it almost unrecognizable,” according to the Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper, which obtained and published his email to Magill.

He is among several high-profile donors who have withdrawn support in the last week, citing the university’s handling of the festival and its reaction to the Hamas attacks on Israel.

“I know how painful the presence of these speakers on Penn’s campus was for the Jewish community, especially during the holiest time of the Jewish year, and at a university deeply proud of its long history of being a welcoming place for Jewish people,” Magill said in her email. “The university did not, and emphatically does not, endorse these speakers or their views. While we did communicate, we should have moved faster to share our position strongly and more broadly with the Penn community.”

She also strongly condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel and called it a “terrorist assault.” Her previous statement last Tuesday about the attacks did not use the word terrorism.

» READ MORE: Charter-school magnate Vahan H. Gureghian resigns as Penn trustee, accusing leadership of embracing ‘antisemitism’

“I want to leave no doubt about where I stand,” Magill said. “I, and this university, are horrified by and condemn Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel and their violent atrocities against civilians. There is no justification — none — for these heinous attacks. ...”

Her comments come one day after a member of the board of trustees resigned over Penn’s handling of the writers event and days after a heavyweight donor who chairs Wharton’s board of advisors publicly called on Magill and board chair Scott L. Bok in a letter and during an interview with CNBC to resign for what he said was emblematic of their “embrace of antisemitism.”

» READ MORE: Penn donor who gave $50 million calls for university leaders to resign over ‘embrace of antisemitism’

Marc Rowan, a Wharton graduate and CEO of Apollo Global Management based in New York, called on alumni and supporters to “close their checkbooks” until they resign. He was one of more than 4,000 people, describing themselves as alumni and supporters of Penn, who last month sent an open letter to Magill challenging Penn’s handling of the event.

“It is time for the trustees to begin moving UPenn in a new direction,” wrote Rowan, who in 2018 gave $50 million to Wharton, the largest single gift to the school at that time. “Join me and many others who love UPenn by sending UPenn $1 in place of your normal, discretionary contribution so that no one misses the point.”

On Saturday, charter school head Vahan H. Gureghian resigned from the board of trustees, accusing school leaders of having “a broken moral compass.”

» READ MORE: Critics in an uproar over speakers at this weekend’s Palestine Writes literature festival held at Penn

“Just as at so many other elite academic institutions, the Penn community has been failed by an embrace of antisemitism, a failure to stand for justice, and complete negligence in the defense of our students’ well-being,” Gureghian, founder and chief executive officer of CSMI Consulting Group, which manages the Chester and Atlantic Community Charter Schools, said in a statement.

Also on Saturday, Huntsman sent his letter to Magill.

“Moral relativism has fueled the university’s race to the bottom and sadly now has reached a point where remaining impartial is no longer an option,” he wrote. “The university’s silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel (when the only response should be outright condemnation) is a new low. Silence is antisemitism, and antisemitism is hate, the very thing higher ed was built to obviate.”

The Huntsman Foundation, he said, will “close its checkbook” on future giving. The Huntsmans have given tens of millions of dollars to Penn over three generations, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. The name of Huntsman’s father, the late Jon Huntsman Sr., a Wharton graduate and founder of the Huntsman Corp., which manufactures and markets specialty chemicals, is on Penn’s Huntsman Hall at 37th and Walnut Streets.

The junior Huntsman, a Penn grad and former trustee who once sought the Republican presidential nomination, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Gureghian, through a spokesperson on Sunday, said he “was heartened and encouraged” by Magill’s comments.

“Though we wish they would have come sooner, and without the need for national provocation, it is definitely a step in the right direction,” Gureghian said. “Hopefully this situation marks a cultural turning point and helps pave the road to healing.”

Rowan, however, said through a spokesperson that his position has not changed.

Ahmad Almallah, 41, a poet from Palestine and artist in residence in the English department’s creative writing program at Penn, was disturbed by Magill’s email.

“The word Palestinian was not mentioned in the entire statement,” said Almallah, who has been at Penn for seven years. “Shame on Liz Magill for putting out another statement that absolutely erases the Palestinian people from the entire equation.”

He said he has not received any support from Penn or heard from anyone expressing concern about his family members in Palestine or how all of this was impacting him.

“I am the most prominent Palestinian face on campus and nobody said anything to me,” he said.

» READ MORE: Penn plans to review policies and training following controversy over Palestine Writes festival

The public inner turmoil at Penn’s highest levels is a rarity and comes as university leaders around the country are trying to figure out how to adequately respond to the Hamas attacks.

But at Penn, the controversy began much earlier, as the start of the festival neared. The conference, billed as celebrating Palestinian culture and arts, invited speakers with a history of having made antisemitic remarks, including Roger Waters, cofounder of Pink Floyd. The U.S. State Department said he has “a long track record of using antisemitic tropes,” and a concert he gave in Germany in May “contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust,” according to the Associated Press.

Critics complained that the festival was scheduled to end just before the start of Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.

Magill released a statement in response to the criticism on Sept. 12, condemning antisemitism. Then, after two acts of antisemitic vandalism leading up to the festival, which took place without disruption, Penn officials, including Magill, acknowledged their proximity to the “controversial speakers,” though Penn has said there was no evidence the vandalism was connected to the festival.

But she also pledged at that time the university’s commitment to the “free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission. This includes the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values.”

Magill’s statement on Sunday did not repeat that declaration.

Susan Abulhawa, executive director of the festival, was highly critical of Magill’s statement Sunday, calling it “cowardly, immoral, and dishonest.”

“It will stand in history as a testament to the grotesque privileged elite who stood behind a genocidal settler colonial state & cheered on the bombs obliterating the indigenous population ...,” she wrote on Twitter. “We are not afraid, nor are we intimidated by craven statements of individuals who genuflect before powerful billionaire donors to attack the weak and marginalized. ... ”

Magill said the university’s division of public safety has increased security and support for centers of Jewish life on and near campus.

“We will continue our outreach and support for faculty, students, and staff and will keep our entire community updated,” she said.

After the festival, Penn had also announced it would review its policies around granting access to outside groups wanting to host on-campus events.

Magill Sunday reiterated her support to combat antisemitism.

“We have a moral responsibility — as an academic institution and a campus community — to combat antisemitism and to educate our community to recognize and reject hate. I look forward to continuing to work with Jewish leaders, faculty, students, and staff at Penn and elsewhere to ensure we are fostering a safe and inclusive environment.”

Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article.