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Penn leaders plan 'listening session' as campus unrest escalates nationally over Gaza-Israel conflict

Susan Snyder, The Philadelphia Inquirer on

Published in News & Features

“We respectfully request that the University investigate and hold responsible professors and university employees who have been involved with pro-terrorism events, have discriminated against students in courses for being Jewish, Israeli, or Zionist, and have shared antisemitism tropes or revisionist history,” they wrote in a letter obtained by The Inquirer.

Anne Norton, one of the professors named in the letter, wrote on X: “Those who accuse me of antisemitism rely on — and perpetuate — a complete erasure of Palestinians …”

The university declined comment on the letter.

Penn’s faculty handbook governs the disciplinary process against professors and if the case against law professor Amy Wax is any indication, that process can take awhile once a formal complaint is filed. The case against Wax, who has called into question the academic ability of Black students and said the country would be better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration, has gone on for more than two years.

Jameson in his statement said he also asked Penn Public Safety and Penn Wellness “to bolster their services” during this time, which came as Passover, one of the most significant Jewish holidays, started Monday night.

 

And he directed the chairs of the University Task Force on Antisemitism and the Presidential Commission on Countering Hate and Building Community to extend the comment period on their initial work. Those groups were formed last semester as the university coped with allegations that it wasn’t doing enough to protect its Jewish students and faculty or those advocating on behalf of Palestinians.

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(Inquirer staff photographer Monica Herndon contributed to this article.)

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©2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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