$100 million gift to US college revoked due to House testimony

A big donor to the University of Pennsylvania has taken back a $100 million grant because the school’s president had a controversial appearance in Congress.

In an email that the BBC saw, Ross Stevens said he was “shocked” that Elizabeth Magill didn’t answer questions about how students who want to kill Jews would be punished.

On Tuesday, politicians asked her tough questions about antisemitism at universities.

Ms Magill said she was sorry, but people want her to quit because of what she said.

In the last two months, there have been angry protests and more instances of antisemitism at US college campuses because of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Ms Magill was seen in the House of Representatives with the leaders of Harvard and MIT, Claudine Gay and Sally Kornbluth.

Republican New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik asked them if calling for the killing of Jews goes against their university’s rules about bullying and harassment. Yes or no.

Ms Magill and her colleagues from MIT and Harvard didn’t give a direct yes or no answer. Instead, they said that it depended on the situation.

Many people are upset about this and even the White House is criticizing the comments.

Mr Stevens said he is taking back the $100 million donation to Penn because he is unhappy with President Magill’s behavior.

The person who started Stone Ridge Asset Management told the university that they shouldn’t tolerate people calling for violence against Jewish people because it goes against their rules and policies against discrimination based on religion.

Penn is a very old university in the US. It’s also part of a fancy group of universities called the Ivy League, which includes Harvard, Columbia, and Yale.

The university in Philadelphia has a really good business school called Wharton. Some really important and rich people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk went there.

In 2017, Mr Stevens gave some of his investment shares in a company called Stone Ridge to help Wharton University make a finance innovation center.

University of Pennsylvania’s leader Liz Magill is getting more and more requests to step down from her position after speaking at a hearing in Congress.

Many people are questioning if Ms. Magill can keep her job.

She posted a video on the university’s website on Thursday saying sorry for how she acted during the hearing. She explained that she was thinking about the university’s rules, which follow the US Constitution, and say that just speaking out is not something you can get in trouble for.

She said we should have been paying attention to the fact that calling for the killing of Jewish people is one of the worst things humans can do. She also said it is plainly evil.

Some people were happy with her apology on Wednesday, but Mr. Stevens’ letter seems to ask for her to quit her job.

He said Stone Ridge is willing to reconsider its decision if a new University President is in place.

The Wharton advisory board has sent a letter to Ms Magill asking her to resign right away. This is being reported by the US media.

The House Committee on Education & the Workforce said they will investigate Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a lot of hate against Jewish people.

The committee members are very worried about the leaders and how they are not making the necessary changes to make sure that Jewish students are safe at school, as they are required to do by law. This was said by the chairwoman of the committee, Virginia Foxx.

Two Jewish students at the University of Pennsylvania are suing the school because they say it has become a place where people are taught to hate and discriminate against Jews. They say they have been harassed and mistreated because of their religion.

The lawsuit claims that the school is unfairly enforcing rules and not protecting Jewish students, and that they are hiring professors who are strongly against Jewish people.

Islamophobic attacks are increasing at universities.

The Education Department is looking into many schools for possible acts of hate against Jewish and Muslim people.