Liz Magill, the former president of the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the new dean and vice president of the Georgetown University law school. She is scheduled to begin her duties on August 1, according to Georgetown’s announcement.
Magill will succeed Interim Executive Vice President and Dean Joshua Teitelbaum, who has led Georgetown Law for the past year after its long-time dean, William Treanor, stepped down in 2025.
Magill resigned as Penn’s president in December 2023 after she and other university presidents faced widespread criticism over their testimony at a congressional hearing about allegations of antisemitism at Penn and other institutions. Her answers in response to sharp questioning by members of Congress were seen as overly legalistic and were met with severe condemnation, including from lawmakers, influential Penn donors and alums, and the public in general.
In an exclusive interview published today by Politico, Magill told Evan Mandery that she’d spent a lot of time thinking about how she had answered questions from New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik at that hearing.
“My testimony in Congress left people distressed, and it particularly did that for Jewish students back on the Penn campus,” Magill told Mandery. “I take very seriously the response that people had to my testimony, and I regret that I conveyed a lack of compassion and care and good sense to those people,” adding “I want every Jewish student, a student of every faith, every view, every single student to feel they are in a secure environment and they’re in a place where they can flourish.”
Now, Magill has a chance to return to a significant leadership position at one of the nation’s leading universities. Georgetown officials expressed their eagerness to bring her on board.
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