The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) has been under extreme scrutiny following numerous reports of antisemitism on campus.

UPenn’s problem with campus antisemitism gained international attention following the brutal Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, of 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 230 more. The attack, horrific in its tactics, included beheadings of babies, mass rape, live burnings, torture and desecration of bodies.

Shockingly, since the Oct. 7th attack, UPenn, along with a number of other prominent Ivy League schools, has been a bastion of SUPPORT for Hamas and their horrific attack. Large numbers of students and faculty – in statements and rallies – have justified the attack, which they condoned as legitimate “resistance.”

On December 5, 2023, UPenn’s then president Liz Magill came under fire for her testimony on Capitol Hill in which she claimed that calling for the genocide of Jews did not necessarily violate UPenn’s policy against bullying and harassment. Rather, Magill testified, it depended on “the context.”

Although Magill’s testimony resulted in her resignation as the university’s president, Penn did not demand her resignation as a member of its law school faculty. There, Magill will be free to train the next generation of America’s legal minds. 

This latter point alone necessitates that UPenn remain under scrutiny. Since Oct. 7th, UPenn has seen both students and faculty justify terrorism and minimize antisemitism both at anti-Israel rallies and in released statements from campus groups. These incidents at Penn are part of a broader trend of rising antisemitism on college campuses and highlight the need for academic institutions to address and counteract antisemitism.