Jewish model blasts alma mater for pro-Palestinian festival: 'Reverse course immediately before it's too late'
Jewish model and activist Elizabeth Pipko blasts pro-Palestinian demonstrators criticizing Israel at college campuses across the U.S.
Another University of Pennsylvania donor, David Magerman, sent a letter to the school announcing they would be halting his donations to the university in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks carried out against Israel.
In a letter he shared on LinkedIn on Tuesday, Magerman wrote that he was "ashamed" to be associated with the university following the "Palestine Writes" festival that took place on campus in September.
"I am deeply ashamed of my association with the University of Pennsylvania. I refuse to donate another dollar to Penn. There is no action anyone at Penn can take to change that. I’m not asking for any actions. You have shown me who you are. My only remaining hope is that all self-respecting Jews, and all moral citizens of the world, dissociate themselves from Penn," the letter, dated October 15, said.
Several groups at the university previously held a "Palestine Writes" festival on campus in September, which included speakers that had a history of antisemitic comments.
The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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After several students expressed concern for the event, UPenn President Liz Magill, along with other school leaders, issued a statement and said, "While the Festival will feature more than 100 speakers, many have raised deep concerns about several speakers who have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism by speaking and acting in ways that denigrate Jewish people. We unequivocally — and emphatically — condemn antisemitism as antithetical to our institutional values."
The school leaders said they support "the free exchange of ideas," including "the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values."
Magerman took issue with the statement and questioned her values in his letter, saying while some have called for her firing, he felt it unnecessary.
"I feel your firing is unnecessary, because it is wholly inadequate. If in fact the University of Pennsylvania as an institution has such a misguided moral compass that it can fail to recognize evil when it is staring us all in the face, I don’t think replacing you will accomplish anything. Frankly, I don’t think there is anything anyone can do to redeem the school, short of rebuilding its moral foundations from the ground up," he wrote.
A statue of Benjamin Franklin, founder of the University of Pennsylvania, on the school's campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Thursday, March 15, 2007. (Photo by Mike Mergen/Bloomberg via Getty Images) ((Photo by Mike Mergen/Bloomberg via Getty Images))
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Magill issued a statement on Sunday, the same day Magerman wrote the letter, and said the university should have moved faster to share their position and clarify that they did not endorse the views of the speakers.
"I know how painful the presence of these speakers on Penn’s campus was for the Jewish community, especially during the holiest time of the Jewish year, and at a University deeply proud of its long history of being a welcoming place for Jewish people. The University did not, and emphatically does not, endorse these speakers or their views. While we did communicate, we should have moved faster to share our position strongly and more broadly with the Penn community," Magill said.
She also condemned "Hamas’s terrorist assault" against Israel and "their violent atrocities against civilians."
"There is no justification—none—for these heinous attacks, which have consumed the region and are inciting violence in other parts of the world," she continued.
Magill said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that the university stood "emphatically against the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel and against antisemitism."
"As a University, we support and encourage the free exchange of ideas, along with a commitment to the safety and security of our community and the values we share and work to advance. Penn has a moral responsibility to combat antisemitism and to educate our community to recognize and reject hate in all its forms. I’ve said we should have communicated faster and more broadly about where we stand, but let there be no doubt that we are steadfast in our beliefs," the statement said.
Jon Huntsman recently announced he was withdrawing financial support from the University of Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)
The UPenn president sent another email to students on Wednesday, which said that Penn would not "tolerate and will take immediate action against any incitement of violence" and actual violence. It also condemned hateful speech on campus.
"We are all members of the Penn community, and we all deserve to be heard and respected. But hateful speech has no place at Penn. No place. I categorically condemn hateful speech that denigrates others as contrary to our values. In this tragic moment, we must respect the pain of our classmates and colleagues and recognize that our speech and actions have the power to both harm and heal our community," she wrote.
Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. also recently announced his foundation would be stopping donations to the school over the controversy.
"To the outsider, it appears that Penn has become deeply adrift in ways that make it almost unrecognizable," Huntsman wrote in an email obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian. "Moral relativism has fueled the university’s race to the bottom and sadly now has reached a point where remaining impartial is no longer an option."
"Consequently, Huntsman Foundation will close its checkbook on all future giving to Penn – something that has been a source of enormous pride for now three generations of graduates," the former governor wrote.
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Fox News' Emma Colton and Jeffery Clark contributed to this report.
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