Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), tells AFN the institution is no stranger to problems.
“Since they held a Palestinian literature festival at the end of September … I think that caused some of their donors to start taking notice,” she suggests.
And since October 7th, many student demonstrations have been held on college campuses across the United States in support of the Palestinian terrorists.
In response to the “Palestine Writes” event at Penn — and the school’s hesitancy to condemn Hamas’ actions in Israel — several prominent alumni have reportedly stopped or significantly lowered their donations to the private Ivy League research university. They are also calling for President Liz Magill’s resignation.
Though her initial statement to the school called the attack “abhorrent” and “horrific,” it did not refer to Hamas as a terrorist group.
“It took the administration days to respond saying that they supported Israel, but there was really never any solid response … condemning the pro-Palestinian students who were demonstrating in support of Hamas,” Gramley details.
That, she says, has caused a lot of pushback, “not only threats from donors, but the Huntsman Foundation has actually said they will no longer donate to the University of Pennsylvania” until the university’s leadership more strongly supports Israel and condemns the pro-Palestine student demonstrations.
On October 15, President Magill released a statement admitting the school did not move fast enough to address criticism of the “Palestine Writes” event, and in it, she strongly condemned the Hamas “terrorist assault” on Israel.
A couple of days later, she released another statement:
Alumni are important members of the Penn community. I hear their anger, pain, and frustration and am taking action to make clear that I stand, and Penn stands, emphatically against the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel and against antisemitism. As a University, we support and encourage the free exchange of ideas, along with a commitment to the safety and security of our community and the values we share and work to advance. Penn has a moral responsibility to combat antisemitism and to educate our community to recognize and reject hate in all its forms. I’ve said we should have communicated faster and more broadly about where we stand, but let there be no doubt that we are steadfast in our beliefs.
As for why so many students in America are siding with the terrorist group Hamas, Gramley offers a couple of theories.
