University Council Opening Remarks

By Liz Magill

October 18, 2023

Hello, everyone. Thank you for being here. We have a full agenda for Council. Before we begin, though, I want to recognize the intense loss, hurt, and worry that many at Penn are experiencing—most especially our Penn classmates and colleagues who have family and friends in Israel and in Gaza. The violence and suffering in the Middle East, the war—these are weighing heavily on all of us. I would like to ask you now to join me in a moment of silence to honor the innocent lives that have been lost.

Thank you. As part of the State of the University report, we will talk more about what Penn is doing to support our community. For now, I invite our moderator, Dr. Wilde, to begin our meeting.

[Meeting proceeded. The President then offered the following remarks.]

Thank you, Dr. Wilde. We had planned on using this time to share an update on the University’s strategic planning process. This is among our top priorities, we continue to make strong progress, and we look forward to sharing with Council.

With the war and its effects on our community, however, the more urgent priority is Penn’s community outreach and support during this difficult time in the world.

We are taking a whole-University approach to meeting this need. So, I have asked Provost John Jackson; Vice Provost for University Life Karu Kozuma; University Chaplain and Vice President for Social Equity & Community Chaz Howard; and Vice President for Public Safety Kathleen Shields Anderson to share brief updates.

They and their teams have been working very hard, and I am so grateful to them for everything they are doing.

Before I invite them to speak, I’d like to share a few thoughts.

The moment of silence we shared is also for what’s to come. There are more difficult days ahead, with more casualties and loss in this war. What we do as a community right now matters. We must stand together as a community that sees and hears all its members. That condemns hate and finds ways to respectfully debate and talk across differences. That leads with care and compassion.

I am listening to our Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students and faculty – so many of whom are in deep pain and also fearful for their personal safety. I know that many in our Palestinian community especially feel unseen and that their pain and grief have not been acknowledged. We must acknowledge and support all members of our community, and we’ll do better.

That anyone in any of these communities has been targeted here, on our campus, with hateful language based solely on their identities is unconscionable. Hateful speech that denigrates others is contrary to our values and has no place at Penn.

It is my responsibility to ensure the safety and security of every single member of our campus community. It is also my responsibility to uphold and advance our core values and academic mission as a place of higher learning.

All members of the Penn community belong here and should feel physically safe on our campus. I want to make clear that we will not tolerate -- and will take immediate action -- against any incitement to violence or actual violence. The safety and wellbeing of all our students, faculty, and staff comes first.

Demonstrations have been taking place on our campus this week. They come at a time when many members of our community are understandably fearful and experiencing tremendous pain.

Peaceful protest is a prominent and storied feature of campus life. As a university, we protect the free exchange and expression of ideas as central to our teaching and research. At the same time, we must also uphold our commitment to the safety and security of students, faculty, and staff and the values we share and work to advance.

The deeply held and disparate views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict puts these sacred values in tension, and this crisis is testing, and will continue to test, our community in many ways.

Right now and moving forward, we must respect the pain of our classmates and colleagues and recognize that our speech and actions have the power to both harm and heal our community. We must choose healing, resisting those who would divide us and instead respect and care for one another.

I know many of you are already doing this, and I’m grateful. As leaders, the example you set goes a long way. Thank you.