Backlash to House testimony shines spotlight on new generation of Ivy League presidents

The university presidents called before a congressional hearing on antisemitism last week had more in common than strife on their campuses: The leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT were all women who were relatively new in their positions.

In that sense, they represented the changing face of leadership at top-tier universities, with a record number of women leading Ivy League schools.

Now Penn’s president has resigned over a backlash to comments that she said did not go far enough to condemn hate against Jewish students. And Harvard’s president is facing calls to step down from donors and some lawmakers.

While the Israel-Hamas war has deepened rifts at campuses across the country, the three leaders were invited to testify as the public faces of universities embroiled in protest and complaints of antisemitism. The Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce chose the three presidents because their schools “have been at the center of the rise in antisemitic protests,” a committee spokesperson said in a statement.