University of Pennsylvania 'should have moved faster' in condemning antisemitism, its president admits, days after Apollo CEO called for her resignation

• Powerful donors are demanding universities condemn the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel. 
• The University of Pennsylvania on Sunday issued a statement describing the attacks as "terrorism." 
• The new conflict in the Middle East has led to a spike in tensions on US campuses. 

The University of Pennsylvania "should have moved faster" in condemning the antisemitic views of speakers that appeared at a recent Palestinian literary festival held on campus, its president said. 

In a statement, Elizabeth Magill said she recognized how painful the presence of the speakers on Penn's campus was for the Jewish community following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel. 

Hamas militants attacked Israeli towns, military bases, and a music festival on Saturday, October 7, killing 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals and injuring 3,715, say Israeli authorities.

Israel responded by launching waves of airstrikes on Gaza that have killed 2,670 Palestinians and injured 9,600, Palestinian health authorities say. 

"The University did not, and emphatically does not, endorse these speakers or their views," said Magill. "While we did communicate, we should have moved faster to share our position strongly and more broadly with the Penn community."

Magill's statement came after UPenn alumnus Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management, called for university leaders to step down and fellow donors to cut off funds to the university over what he claimed was its failure to condemn antisemitism. 

In an op-ed last week, obtained by Insider, Rowan criticized the university's decision to host the Palestinian literary festival. He was also one of 4,000 people to sign a letter condemning the university for hosting the festival. 

"President Magill's allowing of UPenn's imprimatur to be associated with this conference, and her failure to condemn this hate-filled call for ethnic cleansing, normalized and legitimized violence that ranged from the targeting of Jewish students and spaces here at UPenn to the horrific attacks in Israel," Rowan wrote in the op-ed. 

The festival last month showcased Palestinian art and culture and featured speakers including Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd frontman, whose rhetoric on Israel has been described as anti-Semitic by the Anti-defamation League.

It also featured Marc Lamont Hill, an academic whose contract with CNN was severed after he called for a "free Palestine from the river to the sea," a phrase regarded as advocating the destruction of Israel. 

Hill and Waters both deny they are antisemitic. Organizers of the festival have also been quoted by The Daily Pennsylvanian as denying it embraced antisemitism. Insider contacted Hill and attempted to reach a representative for Waters for comment. Insider has also contacted the festival organizers.

At the time of Rowan's oped, the university responded, saying in a statement that "we unequivocally — and emphatically — condemn antisemitism as antithetical to our institutional values."

"As a university, we also fiercely support the free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission," the statement continued. "This includes the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values." 

But, in light of the terror attack by Hamas on Israel, Rowan said the response was not enough.

Rowan, who chairs the Wharton School's Board of Advisors, and his wife, Carolyn, donated $50 million to Penn's business school in 2018. 

A spokesman for Rowan told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Rowan's stance had not changed after Sunday's statement. Insider has contacted Rowan for comment.

In the statement Sunday, Magill said that the university could've been more forceful in condemning anti-Semitism in its initial statement on the festival. 

"I want to leave no doubt about where I stand. I, and this University, are horrified by and condemn Hamas's terrorist assault on 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," said Magill. 

Insider has contacted the university for comment.