Wealthy donor pulls gift worth $100 million from University of Pennsylvania after president defends anti-Semitism in Congress

The University of Pennsylvania will lose out on a massive donation worth $100 million after the university's president made a bizarre defense of anti-Semitic speech on campus before Congress.

University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill testified in Congress on Tuesday about what college officials were doing about calls for violence against Jews. She was widely criticized for defending the hate speech on free speech grounds, but she later walked back her comments in a video posted to social media.

Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, told the university in a letter Thursday that he was pulling his massive donation and specifically cited the testimony about anti-Semitism.

"Mr. Stevens and Stone Ridge are appalled by the University's stance on antisemitism on campus," the letter said.

"Its permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and laissez faire attitude toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students would violate any policies of rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge," the statement continued.

Magill tried to explain her comments in the video on social media.

"There was a moment at yesterday's hearing on anti-Semitism when I was asked if the call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies," she said.

"In that moment, I was focused on our university's long-standing policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable," Magill continued. "I was not focused on what I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate. It's evil, plain and simple."

The university defended Magill when it was criticized for students calling for an intifada, a violent uprising against Israel.

"The University is taking clear and comprehensive action to prevent, address, and respond to antisemitism, with an action plan anchored in the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism," read a statement from a college spokesperson on Monday.

"President Magill has made clear antisemitism is vile and pernicious and has no place at Penn; the University will continue to vigilantly combat antisemitism and all forms of hate," the college added.

The board of trustees held an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss whether Magill's statements were in line with the school's values.

Here's Magill's statement:

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