From the Liveblog of
Friday, December 15, 2023
GOP lawmakers sink aid to Penn as statehouses watch universities handle Israel-Hamas war
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania defeated legislation to send $33.5 million to the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school over criticism that the school has tolerated antisemitism, as statehouses across the US eye how higher education is handling tensions around the Israel-Hamas war.
The bill’s defeat is perhaps the starkest example of how some lawmakers and governors around the country are trying to keep universities from taking sides and to toughen the schools’ response to acts of hate and discrimination, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.
The vote came four days after Penn President Liz Magill resigned amid pressure from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was questioned about whether calls on campus for the genocide of Jewish people would violate the Ivy League school’s conduct policy.
Annual state aid for Penn’s veterinary school normally draws strong bipartisan support in Pennsylvania’s Legislature and, earlier Wednesday, had won overwhelming approval in the Republican-controlled Senate.
However, it failed late Wednesday night in the House after the Republican floor leader spoke against it, saying Penn must do more to make it clear that it opposes antisemitism.
“Until more is done at the university in terms of rooting out, calling out and making an official stance on antisemitism being against the values of the university, I cannot in good conscience support this funding,” GOP House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler said during floor debate.
Magill’s resignation was a start for the university, Cutler said, but not enough.
In the end, every Democrat voted in favor of it, all but 25 of the 101 Republicans in the chamber opposed it, ensuring it fell short by a handful of votes of the two-thirds majority required by the state Constitution.
In a statement, Penn said it was deeply disappointed in the vote and that it hoped the House would reconsider when it returns to session next year.
