Penn President Liz Magill resigns after donor backlash and congressional hearing on campus antisemitism

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned under intense pressure from major donors and a congressional committee that had questioned university presidents about campus antisemitism. Magill and Harvard President Claudine Gay both gave legally cautious answers to a congressional committee question about whether calls for genocide against Jews would violate university policy, and both faced immediate calls from major donors, Republican officials, and conservative media for their resignation. The episode demonstrated how congressional spectacle, combined with donor mobilization, could rapidly translate political pressure into leadership change at research universities without any formal disciplinary process or board finding of wrongdoing.