The 2023-24 academic year placed Penn under an intensified national spotlight as campus controversies, rising student activism, and federal investigations into the University drew widespread publicity.
Nationwide controversy
In September 2023, the Palestine Writes Literature Festival drew criticism from students, alumni, and national Jewish groups who objected to the inclusion of speakers they alleged had made antisemitic remarks.
In response, then-Penn President Liz Magill published a statement acknowledging concerns about several speakers who had a “documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism by speaking and acting in ways that denigrate Jewish people” on Sept. 12, 2023, adding that she “unequivocally” and “emphatically” condemned antisemitism.
Following the statement, some faculty members urged Magill to more explicitly affirm the University’s commitment to supporting diverse perspectives on campus. Arab and Palestinian student groups defended the festival as “a long-awaited affirmation of their belonging and worth.”
On the day of the festival, Penn Hillel hosted a Shabbat Together event aimed at fostering Jewish unity in the wake of antisemitic incidents on campus, including vandalism at Hillel and the discovery of a spray-painted swastika at Meyerson Hall in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
Tensions over antisemitism on campus escalated following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Several members of the University Board of Trustees — already critical of Penn’s response to the festival — called for Magill and then-University Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok to resign. In protest of University leadership, dozens of major donors — including Wharton School Board of Advisors Chair Marc Rowan, 1987 College graduate Jon Huntsman Jr., and 1965 Wharton graduate Ronald Lauder — withdrew their financial support.
On Nov. 1, 2023, Magill announced a University-wide initiative to combat antisemitism, which drew mixed responses from both Jewish and Palestinian communities on campus. The action plan came amid growing debate over academic freedom, as hundreds of faculty nationwide signed an open letter urging Penn to protect students, faculty, and staff facing harassment over their pro-Palestinian views.
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That same day, more than 20 members of Congress sent a letter to Magill criticizing Penn’s response to Hamas’ attack on Israel. On Nov. 16, 2023, the Department of Education launched an investigation into the University over allegations of campus antisemitism.
On Dec. 5, 2023, Magill testified before Congress alongside the presidents of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a hearing on campus antisemitism. Her remarks — including a statement that whether calls for the genocide of Jewish people violate Penn’s code of conduct was “context dependent” — sparked widespread national backlash. Magill faced intense criticism from Hillel, the White House, Pennsylvania’s governor, and the state’s United States Senate delegation, alongside a range of donors, students, and politicians calling for her resignation.
Two days after the hearing, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced plans to investigate Penn, Harvard, and MIT, stating that it would use the “full force of subpoena power.”
Faced with mounting criticism, Magill stepped down as Penn president on Dec. 9, 2023. Just minutes after her resignation, Bok announced that he was resigning as Board of Trustees chair. Three days later, the Board of Trustees appointed Larry Jameson — then the executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine — to serve as the University’s interim president.
Campus unrest and student advocacy
Throughout the 2023-24 academic year, Penn students mobilized on a range of issues, often directing criticism at University leadership.
On Nov. 14, 2023, members of the Freedom School for Palestine began a multi-day teach-in at Houston Hall, protesting Penn’s response to the Israel-Hamas war. The group — consisting of Penn students, faculty, staff, and alumni — then organized additional demonstrations, including “study-ins” at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library that prompted disciplinary consequences for the involved students.
In February 2024, an investigation by The Daily Pennsylvanian revealed that the Wharton Graduate Association allegedly withheld at least $90,000 in promised charitable donations collected from its annual Penn Fight Night philanthropic event. In response, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly reduced funding for the event and attached new conditions to its financial support for the April 2024 Fight Night.
The demolition of University City Townhomes began in March 2024 following delays and community criticism.
In interviews with the DP in April 2024, eight individuals connected to Penn’s rowing program described a pattern of racist remarks made by members of the men’s lightweight rowing team and alleged that the University failed to adequately address the behavior.
On April 25, 2024, pro-Palestinian activists set up the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on College Green, mirroring similar protests at universities across the country. The demonstrators — made up of Penn students as well as Philadelphia community members — demanded that the University disclose its investments and divest from companies linked to Israel, among other calls for action.
After two weeks of protests, rallies, and negotiations with administrators, the Gaza Solidarity Encampment expanded to occupy both sides of College Green, despite increased pressure from the University to disperse. In connection with the demonstrations, six student organizers were placed on mandatory leaves of absence and referred to Penn’s Center for Community Standards and Accountability.
On May 10, 2024, Penn Police in riot gear — assisted by Philadelphia Police Department officers — dismantled the encampment on College Green and arrested 33 people, including nine Penn students.
Politics
Penn also had direct ties to candidates in both local and national elections.
In November 2023, Philadelphia elected its 100th mayor, 2016 Fels Institute of Government graduate Cherelle Parker. University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School lecturer Neil Makhija also made history as the first-ever Indian American elected as Montgomery County commissioner.
Former Benjamin Franklin Professor of Presidential Practice and former President Joe Biden’s ties to Penn also resurfaced in the news, as a federal report that made national headlines revealed he had knowingly retained classified documents during his vice presidency — some of which were found at the Penn Biden Center.
Meanwhile, 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump — the presumptive Republican presidential nominee at the time — faced historic legal challenges. In April 2024, Trump appeared in court for a criminal hush-money trial, marking the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president. A month prior, the Supreme Court had ruled that Trump could remain on the primary ballots in Colorado and Maine following efforts to disqualify him over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots, among other concerns.
In Pennsylvania’s April 2024 primary, Biden secured 93.1% of the statewide Democratic vote among listed candidates. However, on Penn’s campus, Biden received just 63.7% of votes across three polling sites, while 28% of voters opted for a write-in candidate. On the Republican side, Trump won the state’s primary with 83.5% of the vote.
