Georgetown University community members welcomed Georgetown University Law Center’s next dean with excitement about her experience in higher education as well as concerns over her commitment to supporting all students.

Liz Magill, who the university announced Feb. 13 will succeed Dean Emeritus William Treanor on Aug. 1, is a constitutional law scholar who served as president of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). This will be Magill’s first higher education leadership role after resigning from Penn in December 2023 following a controversial congressional hearing about antisemitism on college campuses.

Rosa Brooks, a professor at the Law Center who previously worked with Magill at the University of Virginia (UVA), said Magill is extremely qualified for the role.

“It’s impossible to imagine anybody coming in with a set of experience better suited to taking the helm of the nation’s largest law school,” Brooks told The Hoya. 

“I was really delighted,” Brooks added. “I thought the search committee did an amazing job. We had several really fantastic candidates, and honestly, they were all ridiculously super overqualified and amazing. But I could not be more thrilled that Liz Magill was the final choice.”

Devon Cranford (LAW ’28) said he looks forward to learning under Magill’s leadership.

“During a difficult time for both the law and higher education, Georgetown Law must have leaders in key positions whom students can trust to advocate for them,” Cranford wrote to The Hoya. “As a 1L, I am thrilled that Georgetown Law will again have such leadership during the entirety of my 2L and 3L years.”

Dominic Bove (LAW ’28) said he was impressed by Magill’s range of experience.

“She seems like a really impressive scholar, and she’s been around academia for a little while, law schools, and she seems to have a pretty good grasp of things, and she’s used to going through some controversy,” Bove told The Hoya. “It’s interesting.”

Magill was dean of Stanford Law School from 2012 to 2019 and the first female provost of UVA between 2019 and 2022.

In December 2023, Magill resigned from Penn following criticism for her response to a question about whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the university’s free speech policies in a contentious congressional hearing. Four days later, she stepped down from her role after online criticism and threats from prominent donors demanding her resignation. Claudine Gay, the former president of Harvard University, also resigned following the hearing. 

Samuel Flax, a Georgetown Law professor who formerly practiced corporate law, said he is excited about Magill’s appointment despite her departure from Penn. 

“I don’t think you can really separate, can sort of isolate that, I think that is just part of her story,” Flax told The Hoya. “But obviously, when I say I’m excited that she’s coming to us, I say that knowing at least stuff that’s been publicly reported about the circumstances of her departure from Penn.”

A student at Georgetown Law, who requested anonymity for fear of academic retaliation, said he was appalled to learn that Magill would become the school’s next dean. 

“My first reaction was shock, especially given her history at Penn,” the student told The Hoya. “As someone who was involved with the Penn community, I had never seen the Penn community more united surrounding the Gaza war than they were against Ms. Magill as president, and so I just did not expect for the Georgetown Law administration to elect her to represent another top institution.”

Brooks said she feels confident, both personally and professionally, about Magill’s commitment to protecting students of all backgrounds, including Jewish students. 

“She’s someone who’s just always been extremely committed to combating antisemitism, combating other forms of discrimination and hate speech and harassment and bullying, and that’s just been really consistent through her whole career,” Brooks said. “It was, I think, really frankly appalling to to see her being pilloried for 10 seconds of a slightly stilted answer in the context of hours of really robust testimony and decades of commitment to working to make sure that higher ed and every school she was in were incredibly inclusive environments for all students.”

Aryaman Sharma (LAW ’27) said he thinks Magill’s experience facing national criticism at Penn will make her a better leader at Georgetown. 

“I personally think it’s a pro for her to endure the challenges that she had, which were both political but also, I’m sure, in her inner circles as well,” Sharma told The Hoya. “Now coming to Georgetown and being able to build off of that, I think it’ll make her a better leader. And she seems to be the type of person who isn’t pushed down from those types of things.” 

Diana Baltierra Alanis (LAW ’26) said she was glad to see Magill’s connection to Georgetown since Magill’s father graduated from the School of Foreign Service (SFS) and the Law Center.

“I’m also glad to see that Dean Magill, while she did not attend Georgetown, has a deep connection with the University and is embracing our Jesuit values to lead the law school,” Alanis wrote to The Hoya.

Multiple Georgetown Law community members said they hope Magill will reaffirm the Law Center’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and Jesuit values. 

In March 2025, former interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin sent Treanor a letter demanding the Law Center eliminate all DEI initiatives. In his response, Treanor refused to alter Georgetown’s curriculum, citing First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion.

Baltierra Alanis said she wants Magill to continue support for Georgetown Law’s values, including diversity. 

“I hope that she can continue the legacy that Dean Treanor left behind and be a voice for all students, both inside and outside of our campus, no matter the pressure she may face and by whoever,” Baltierra Alanis wrote. “With the current climate and changes, especially in the legal field, I also hope that she has a deep engagement with the student body here at the Law Center, listens to our voices, and provides whatever support is necessary for all of us.”

Sharma said he hopes Magill will follow Treanor’s example. 

“Our motto for the school is ‘Law is but the means; justice is the end,’” Sharma said. “I think what Dean Treanor did in that moment was embodying exactly that. I hope, as our new dean, that she’s going to continue to propel us forward and stand up for the things we believe in, even if others might disagree with them.”

Magill cited that motto in the university press release, saying she hopes to build on Georgetown Law’s values during her tenure.

“I’ve long admired Georgetown Law’s motto: ‘Law is but the means; justice is the end,’” Magill said in the press release. “That sense of purpose is woven into the life of the school — a clear expression of Jesuit values. I have great aspirations for the Law School’s future; this is the time to build on excellence and become an even stronger school.”

Bove said one of the Law Center’s strengths is the diversity of its student body and the university’s programs to promote DEI, contrasting the support with law firms’ retreat from diversity practices. 

“As schools are chipping away and, as we talk to law firms, law firms chip away at DEI initiatives, if you have an institution willing to keep it going, it’s worth doing,” Bove said. “I think that I see a lot of benefit in these programs at a school like ours. I just think it’s a huge student body full of people of all sorts of different backgrounds.”

Sharma, who is from Magill’s hometown of Fargo, N.D., said Magill’s success is inspiring as someone from a similar background.

“That’s insane that the new dean is from my small town, and frankly, at Georgetown, I don’t know a single other person from North Dakota, so it feels like this really cool connection,” Sharma said. “It certainly makes me feel like this isn’t something that is a detriment to my home or where I come from. It’s a superpower, in a way, that someone in similar shoes to me has reached such an incredible position.”

Brooks said Magill is the right candidate to support Georgetown Law’s growth.

“I think we need somebody who can come in and really hit the ground running in terms of dealing with some of our operational challenges and financial challenges,” Brooks said. “And I can’t think of anybody better suited to do that, given her range of experience, than Liz Magill.”