Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) questioned University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill during a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. During one exchange, Rep. Stefanik asked Magill if calling for the genocide of Jews violated Penn’s code of conduct. The question was in reference to a recent pro-Palestinian rally at Penn.
A pair of University of Pennsylvania students have brought a lawsuit against the school claiming that the Ivy League institution has become "an incubation lab for virulent anti-Jewish hatred, harassment, and discrimination."
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Eyal Yakoby, who, online, describes himself as a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Political Science and modern Middle East Studies, along with freshman Jordan Davis, both of whom are Jewish, claim the school "enforces its own rules of conduct selectively to avoid protecting Jewish students from hatred and harassment, hires rabidly antisemitic professors who call for anti-Jewish violence and spread terrorist propaganda, and ignores Jewish students’ pleas for protection."
The suit states the students dealt with antisemitic remarks on campus, that classrooms, dormitories, and other buildings have been vandalized with antisemitic graffiti and the school hosted a Palestine Writes Literature Festival in September.
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The lawsuit equates that festival with a Unite the Right hate rally that was held in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, claiming those at the September festival at Penn "asserted that “most Jews [are] evil” and that Jews are “European colonizers.”
The students are seeking unspecified damages.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a number of issues involving claims of antisemitism at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Ivy League institution is already one of several schools currently being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education following claims of antisemitism and Islamophobia amid the Israel-Hamas War.
And, though the school has announced a plan intended to combat a resurgence of hatred and bigotry against Jewish people, University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill has come under fire after she testified before Congress on Tuesday during a hearing about on-campus antisemitism.
At that hearing, Magill would not provide a direct, "yes or no" answer when asked by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) if calls for the genocide of Jewish people would violate school policies.
Her statements drew the ire of Pa. Governor Josh Shapiro on Wednesday morning.
On social media, Magill responded to criticism of her comments.
However, when contacted about the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the school said the institution does not comment of active litigation.
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