M. Elizabeth Magill

Mary Elizabeth Magill (born 1966) is an American legal scholar. She served as the 9th president of the University of Pennsylvania from July 2022 to December 2023, as executive vice president and provost of the University of Virginia from 2019 to 2022, and as the 13th dean of Stanford Law School from 2012 to 2019.

Early life and education

A native of Fargo, North Dakota, Magill is the daughter of Frank Magill, a senior United States federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Her brother, Frank Magill Jr., is a District Judge in Minnesota's Fourth Judicial District.

Magill received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in history from Yale University in 1988, where she served as the head of the Yale College Democrats. She received a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia in 1995.

Career

Legal career (1988–1996)

From 1988 until 1992, Magill worked as a senior legislative assistant for United States Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota. Following law school, Magill worked as a law clerk for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1995 until 1996, and then worked as a clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from 1996 until 1997. She also became a member of the American Law Institute.

Early academic career (1997–2012)

In 1997, Magill joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she worked for 15 years. A scholar of administrative and constitutional law, she was the Joseph Weintraub–Bank of America Distinguished Professor of Law, the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Professor, and from 2009 to 2012, the school’s vice dean.

Senior administrative positions (2012–2022)

From 2012 to 2019, Magill was dean of the law school at Stanford University, where she was also Richard E. Lang Professor of Law. In 2016, she was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In 2019 she returned to the University of Virginia, where she served as provost from 2019 to 2022.

University of Pennsylvania (2022–2023)

In July 2022, she became the ninth president of the University of Pennsylvania, joining the university faculty as a Trustees University Professor and Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

In September 2023, Jewish groups and students expressed concerns about an upcoming on-campus literature festival, ''Palestine Writes'', due to scheduled speakers' past statements regarding Israel and Zionism. Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, urged Magill to cancel the event. Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management and chair of UJA-Federation of New York, a Jewish philanthropy, circulated an open letter about the event that garnered over 4,000 signatures. Members of the Penn faculty expressed concern that donors had such a "platform to criticize an event." Magill responded to the controversy, stating:

"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. This includes the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values."

Congressional hearing on antisemitism and resignation

Following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel and Gaza war, critics accused Magill of failing adequately to respond to antisemitism on campus. Major donors withdrew financial support for the university and called for Magill to resign. In response, in November she announced a task force and a student advisory group to combat antisemitism. The University Task Force on Antisemitism sought to better understand how antisemitism is experienced at Penn and provided feedback and solutions.

On December 5, Magill testified in front a Congressional Committee on Education and the Workforce, along with the presidents of MIT, Sally Kornbluth, and Harvard, Claudine Gay, at a hearing about antisemitism on university campuses. The three university presidents were asked whether calls for Jewish genocide would be considered bullying and harassment under campus policies. Magill and the other presidents responded that it would be context-dependent. At one point during the hearing, Magill smirked while testifying. Her reply generated controversy and ridicule on social media. She drew bipartisan condemnation for being evasive and seeming to dismiss antisemitism.

The Wharton Board of Advisors called for Magill's resignation. Stone Ridge Asset Management CEO Ross Stevens threatened to rescind shares in his holding group that had been donated to Wharton, at the time worth $100 million, if Magill did not resign.

On December 9, 2023, she announced that she would resign from the presidency, the same day that Chair of the Board of Trustees Scott Bok announced his own resignation. She was succeeded by J. Larry Jameson, who was named interim president on December 12.

Later academic career (2024-Present)

Since 2022, she has served as a tenured professor of law at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

In August 2024, it was reported that Magill had been named a senior fellow at Harvard Law School. It was also reported that she would serve as a visiting professor at the London School of Economics until 2027.

See also

* List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 6)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magill, M. Elizabeth
1966 births
Living people
21st-century American women academics
21st-century American academics
American women lawyers
Chief administrators of the University of Pennsylvania
Deans of Stanford Law School
Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Lawyers from Fargo, North Dakota
University of Virginia School of Law alumni
University of Virginia School of Law faculty
Women deans (academic)
Women heads of universities and colleges
American women legal scholars
American legal scholars
Yale University alumni