Free Republic

Can they face the music? A frustrated fundraiser is looking to hire a mariachi band to incessantly serenade the anti-Israel encampment at the University of Pennsylvania — and supporters are donating to the idea in droves. The protesters occupying the Philadelphia campus’ College Green are reluctant to converse with outsiders, according to CNN — but have no problem shouting their ideals for all to hear, according to fundraiser Rob Martinez. “I believe these protestors (sic) should be serenaded for their efforts, just as they have constantly serenaded my efforts to study for finals with a megaphone and drum set,” Martinez...

It is unclear whether or not disgraced former UPenn President Liz Magill was invited to participate in the trip to show solidarity to Israel after her disastrous performance during a congressional hearing. A group of about thirty faculty members of the University of Pennsylvania went to Israel this week on a three-day solidarity visit. They arrived on Tuesday. They have met with President Isaac Herzog and they have taken a group photo inside a bomb shelter during their visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza in the south of Israel. The photo was taken after the all-clear siren alerted the community. Their...

Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla slammed testimonies by the heads of three top American universities for failing to “condemn racist, antisemitic, hate rhetoric” while speaking in front of members of congress Tuesday. Testimony by the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology “was one of the most despicable moments in the history of U.S. academia,” Bourla said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter... Bourla, who in 2020 struck an agreement with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to use Israel as a test case for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, said his grandparents,...

One down, two to go. Bill Ackman appears to have a scorecard tracking which college presidents lose their jobs for their congressional statements on on-campus antisemitism, and now he's training his full fire on the two university leaders who remain. (excerpt) And Ackman's quest seems to be picking up after Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned from her position on Saturday. On Sunday, Ackman penned an open letter to Harvard's governing boards of directors, where he reiterated his call for Claudine Gay to be removed. "In her short tenure as President, Claudine Gay has done more damage...

GAZA — A day after being forced out of the University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill has been announced as the new President of the Hamas Institute of Technology. "Experience leading premier universities and comfort with Jewish genocide is a rare combination, and Ms. Magill has it in spades," said Haitham Hawajri, a university board member. "We are proud to welcome Ms. Magill as the President who will lead H.I.T. from the river to the sea." According to H.I.T., the university had been without a President since a recent paragliding accident claimed his life. The board initiated an extensive search, eventually...

(Snip) Julie Platt, the Chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, has been appointed as interim chair of the University of Pennsylvania Board after the former chair resigned amid backlash from the university president's controversial congressional testimony on campus antisemitism. "This evening, following the resignation of University of Pennsylvania Board Chair Scott Bok, the board asked me to serve as interim chair. I made clear that my priority is my role as chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, and, therefore, agreed to do so and lead the process of selecting a new chair by the start of...

Viewers were displeased following SNL's cold open Saturday night, which mocked last week's congressional hearings on campus anti-Semitism. The opening sketch attempted to make light of the college presidents' lacking testimony, but their efforts evoked few laughs. Then backlash began online, where viewers slammed the sketch for attempting to undermine the seriouesness of anti-Semitism on US college campuses in the weeks since the October 7 terror attack.

https://twitter.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1733680074224746942Daniel Alman from Squirrel Hill@DanielAlmanPGH My question for #ClaudineGay, #LizMagill, and #SallyKornbluth: Under what "context" would it be OK for someone to call for the genocide of my Jewish relatives, friends, and neighbors? #SquirrelHill #Antisemitism #Jews #Genocide #Harvard #UPenn #MIT #Nazis #Hitler #Holocaust 9:48 PM · Dec 9, 2023

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill – under increasing pressure from both donors and the White House after her disastrous testimony before Congress this week on the school’s failure to protect Jewish students – “voluntarily” resigned her post Saturday, the school announced. “I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania. She will remain a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law. “On behalf of the entire Penn community, I want to thank President Magill for her service to the University as President and wish her well. “We will...

Foxx warned that other universities should expect to be faced with similar investigations... Rep. Dr. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, has announced a formal investigation into Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT. This comes after the presidents of all three universities refused to affirm that “calling for the genocide of Jews” is necessarily against the rules at their respective universities. Each of the three university presidents refused to answer “yes,” after being asked multiple times whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates their own university policies. All three presidents repeatedly...

The University of Pennsylvania is expected to ask its president, Liz Magill, to resign Friday over growing outrage at her failure to condemn calls for the genocide of the Jewish people — a move celebrated by billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who said she would be “one down.” The Ivy League school’s board of trustees held an emergency meeting Thursday to deal with the fallout from Magill’s disastrous congressional testimony Tuesday, which has already driven a Wall Street titan to try to claw back a $100 million donation and led to calls for her ouster. Board chairman Scott Bok...

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill is learning that free speech has a cost. She, along with Claudine Gay and Sally Kornbluth, the presidents of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively, testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) asked all three women if calls for Jewish genocide constituted harassment. All three ladies gave waffled answers that were both cold and insipid to the more significant issue of the antisemitism facing Jewish students amid the war in Gaza. A University of Pennsylvania donor is withdrawing a gift worth around $100 million to...

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has issued a groveling apology for her refusal to condemn calls for the genocide of the Jewish people on campus in her remarks to Congress — as Harvard University President Pauline Gay backtracked on her testimony. In a video posted on the Ivy League’s website Wednesday, Magill tried to explain her failure by saying she was not “focused” on the issue, and said that she wanted to “be clear” that calls for genocide were “evil, plain and simple.” But she also seemingly blamed university policies and even the US Constitution for allowing the calls...

The University of Pennsylvania’s motto comes from a quote from Horace, Leges Sine Moribus Vanae — “Laws without morals are in vain.” But it is a lack of morals, of a willingness to stand up to antisemitism, that has created a “climate of fear” across campus. Demonstrations headed by “Penn Students Against the Occupation,” recognized as an official club by the university, have left students at the Philadelphia-based Ivy League school worried about whether it is a safe environment for learning. Incidents on campus have made it a flashpoint in the debate over how far protests can go.

The presidents of three prominent universities dropped an antisemetic bombshell Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) asked the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania whether calls for the genocide of jews would violate their codes of conduct. The answer stunned the nation. “It is a context-dependent decision,” Penn President Liz Magill replied. Stefanik was dumbfounded. “Calling for the genocide of Jews is dependent on the context? That is not bullying or harassment? This is the easiest question to answer ‘yes,’ Ms. Magill,” the congresswoman said. Harvard President Claudine Gay said, “When speech crosses into conduct,...

years-long abandonment of free speech has allowed radicalism and anti-semitism to fester on campus. Where free speech dies, institutional stupidity takes its place. ... Jewish students were mobbed by pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Harvard and protesters were heard chanting for an “Intifada revolution” on UPenn’s campus this weekend — leading the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate both schools for Title VI discrimination violations. ... Students retreat into echo chambers where their beliefs go unchecked, and they are readily swept down radical rabbit holes in which Zoomer TikTokers are inexplicably celebrating the philosophy of Osama bin Laden. In...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Protesters marching in Philadelphia against the bombardment of Gaza chanted about genocide Sunday outside an Israeli-style restaurant, leading Gov. Josh Shapiro to call the demonstration “antisemitic.” In Philadelphia’s Center City and University City neighborhoods, hundreds of people marched to criticize Israel’s military actions in Gaza, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. However, it was unclear why some specifically protested the restaurant. A video of demonstrators outside of Goldie Falafel depicted people chanting, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” which garnered backlash from the Democratic governor

A growing number of wealthy donors and alumni are cutting ties with Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, due to the Ivy League schools’ failure to condemn Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and the students who are cheering the unprovoked assault. After the Hamas attack, Harvard refused to either condemn the Anti-Semitic terrorism or denounce a letter by student groups declaring support for Hamas and blaming Israel for the attack. Likewise, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) failed to condemn Hamas for the October 7 attack and chose not to denounce a Palestinian festival held at the school last month, which...

Wall Street CEO Marc Rowan is calling for the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania to resign and donors to close their checkbooks over an alleged failure to condemn antisemitism and hate. Rowan, the CEO of private equity giant Apollo Global Management, wrote in an op-ed posted online Wednesday that UPenn failed to condemn an event held on campus last month that the university acknowledged included speakers with a history of making antisemitic remarks. “Why is UPenn repeating tragic mistakes of the past? Words of hate and violence must be met with clear, reasoned condemnation, rooted in morality from those...

You probably don’t realize it, but over 150 years after the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished, we still have “Badges and Incidents of Slavery” in our country, and we need a “Radical Vision for a Third Reconstruction.” At least, that is what you would be learning as a gullible student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, according to a conference held there on Feb. 17 entitled “The Unfinished Work of Abolition.” That was one of the first things we found in our review of UPenn Law, which is next in the series that J. Christian Adams...