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The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) has come under federal investigation for “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” of foreign funding. The probe was launched by the U.S. Department of Education on May 8 after concerns that the school may be unduly influenced by foreign actors and follows a review of the school’s foreign reports, the department explained in a press release. According to Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, universities that receive federal funding are required to disclose foreign donations valuing more than $250,000. Acting General Counsel Tom Wheeler described UPenn’s compliance history with federal law as “troubling,” saying...

The University of Pennsylvania has laid off its communications lecturer—who published a slew of anti-Semitic cartoons—just a year after standing by him, citing the school’s "bedrock commitment to open expression." The dismissal coincided with the Trump administration’s decision to freeze $175 million in federal funding to the school. The Annenberg School for Communication lecturer, Dwayne Booth, announced his unemployment in a Patreon post on Friday. Booth said "the reason for the termination was budgetary," but accused universities nationwide of being "way too complicit" with a "largely Republican-led effort" to target left-wing voices. "I was informed that the reason for the...

Several women who were former college athletes filed a lawsuit Tuesday after being forced to compete against a man and share changing rooms and bathrooms with him in 2022. Grace Estabrook, Ellen Holmquist and Margot Kaczorowski all competed on the University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn) swim team when transgender-identifying male athlete Lia Thomas was allowed to join the team and use the women’s facilities. The women are suing UPenn as well as Harvard University, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Ivy League Council of Presidents for allegedly violating Title IX by discriminating against women and causing them “emotional harm,”...

Luigi Mangione is officially the “suspect” in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but he is plainly the culprit, and public discussion has moved on to his motives. Why would a young man possessed of intellectual gifts, friends, family, good looks, a winning personality and, apparently, lots of money, gun down a man he had never met? This isn’t the kind of question my organization, the National Association of Scholars, normally takes up. We concern ourselves more with academic standards and questions of state and federal policy. But I’ve been nudged several times with questions about Luigi’s academic background....

A University of Pennsylvania Professor is being slammed for sharing social media posts celebrating the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the school's connection to the crime. Alumni Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested on Monday and charged with murder for the December 4 slaying. Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies Julia Alekseyeva, who described herself as a 'socialist and ardent antifascist' on her website, made several posts embracing Mangione. In a since-deleted TikTok, Alekseyeva is smiling as the Les Miserables song 'Do You Hear the People Sing?' played. 'Have never been prouder to be a professor...

UPENN Students for Justice in Palestine has posted that they are not only supporting Hezbollah but part of Hezbollah. Penn has allowed this to happen through their inaction and appeasement. These students must be expelled. [pic.twitter.com/x95IEXnyke] — Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) September 29, 2024

Anti-Israel activists at the University of Pennsylvania vandalized the Benjamin Franklin statue on campus to protest against the school’s connections to the Jewish state. The group Up Against the Occupation, or (u)PAO, posted pictures to Instagram on Thursday showing a statue of the American Founder doused in red paint. The group called the statue “a symbol of imperial violence and colonialism.” The organization wrote that an “autonomous group” had “poured red paint over the statue” as a “visual reminder of the over 186,000 martyrs and the university’s complicity in genocide.” The group wrote: “Penn, your hands are red,” and condemned...

A University of Pennsylvania student who claimed she was left “homeless” when administrators kicked her off campus for participating in an anti-Israel encampment is the daughter of a wealthy Filipino family. Eliana Atienza, 19 — who told the Philadelphia Inquirer she had nobody to turn to for help in the US after she was kicked off campus in early May — is the daughter of Kim Atienza, a prominent media personality in the Philippines who is partial to showing off his extravagant lifestyle online. Her mother, Felicia Atienza, graduated from the Wharton business school and has served as the president...

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...