Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a nonvoting member of Penn’s Board of Trustees, has told reporters the board had a “serious decision” to make regarding statements of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, Reuters reports.

“They have seemingly failed every step of the way to take concrete action to make sure all students feel safe on campus,” Shapiro said. “And then the testimony yesterday took it to the next level.”

Magill, Harvard President Claudine Gay, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth, who all testified before a US House of Representatives Committee on Tuesday, have come under fire from their schools’ Jewish communities for their handling of clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian contingents since Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel.

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York grilled each president about whether anti-Semitic speech would be tolerated and whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violated their schools’ “rules or code of conduct regarding bullying and harassment”.

“If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment,” Magill replied. “If it is directed and severe and pervasive, it is harassment.” Kornbluth and Gay gave similar answers, each declining to give a simple “yes” or “no” to the question posed by Stefanik.

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