The House Committee on Education and Workforce is probing three public medical schools—two at the University of California and one at the University of Illinois—over allegedly failing to protect Jews in response to antisemitism on campus.
The panel stated that its chair, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), outlined “numerous examples of antisemitic conduct and harassment at these institutions” in a letter to leaders of the schools and underscored “the medical schools’ legal responsibility to combat discrimination on campus.”
Under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of “shared ancestry,” including religious identity.
In the letter to the University of California, Los Angeles Geffen School of Medicine, Walberg stated that a student wrote in a class chat that the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks were a “slave rebellion” against Israeli “overseers.” In a required class on “structural racism and health equity” in 2024, students were directed to shout “free, free Palestine,” per Walberg’s letter.
“Antisemitism has no place at UCLA’s medical school,” the school told JNS. “Protecting the civil rights of our Jewish community members remains a top priority.”
“We are committed to fair processes in all our educational programs and activities, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws and continue to take specific steps to foster an environment free of antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment,” a school spokesman told JNS.
Walberg also penned letters to leaders of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and the University of Illinois College of Medicine. (JNS sought comment from both schools.)
The House panel chair wrote of a lab technician at the San Francisco school telling a Jewish student that Israel “deserved” to be attacked on Oct. 7, antisemitic vandalism referring to Israel as “Nazi” found at the school’s cancer center and a university employee donning attire with Hamas symbolism.
In Illinois, a surgeon compared Israel to ISIS and Nazis in an online post, and a student said in a Slack channel that a peer, who was a former Israeli soldier, was “openly genocidal and disgustingly racist,” according to Walberg’s letter.
A spokesperson for the University of Illinois College of Medicine told JNS that the school “condemns antisemitism, hate and discrimination in all its forms.”
“We take seriously any allegations of harassment or bias within our campus community,” the spokesperson said. “The university is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment and will respond to the committee’s questions as requested.”
