A Republican-led congressional committee on Monday widened the scope of an investigation into the University of California system after concerns that it allowed antisemitism to fester against Jewish students.
The House Education and Workforce Committee requested years of internal documents about antisemitism complaints at three medical universities, including UC Los Angeles and UC San Francisco. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), the committee’s chairman, set a two-week deadline for the two universities to comply. A similar letter from the committee demanding “all documents and communications” since Sept. 1, 2021, tied to complaints of antisemitic incidents was also sent to the University of Illinois College of Medicine.
Walberg wrote in the letters that the panel would investigate whether the universities violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in schools receiving federal funding.
The House panel will use the requested documents to consider “whether potential legislative changes, including legislation to specifically address antisemitic discrimination, are needed,” Walberg said.
“The Committee has become aware that Jewish students, faculty, and patients have been experiencing hostility and fear at the university, and it has not been demonstrated that the university has meaningfully responded to address and mitigate this problem,” he continued.
The UC system is considered one of the largest and most prestigious educational institutions in the United States. It boasts nearly 300,000 students and encompasses 10 campuses, including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UCSF, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz.
The UC system has been under deepening federal scrutiny in recent months due to concerns that campus officials allowed antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which provoked the Jewish nation to launch a retaliatory war in Gaza, where the terrorist organization is embedded.
Anti-Israel sentiment has festered on college campuses across the country due to debate about the nature of the country’s war in Gaza, with pro-Palestinian protests taking place on multiple UC campuses since 2023.
The House Education and Workforce Committee has been investigating the UC system for over a year, including through congressional hearings, over accusations that it failed to protect Jewish students, despite being required to do so as a major recipient of federal funding.
Separate investigations by the Trump administration have concluded UCLA violated Jewish students’ civil rights, leading to the suspension of $584 million in federal grants to the university. Hundreds of millions in additional funding have been frozen by the Department of Health and Human Services, which is also investigating the UC system over antisemitism concerns.
Top UC officials have begun negotiating with the Justice Department to regain the funds, as the administration announced it is seeking a billion-dollar settlement with UCLA and a commitment to combat antisemitism further before federal financing is restored.
Walberg said on Monday that the panel is investigating a host of antisemitism complaints at UCLA and UCSF.
At UCLA’s medical school, the mandatory first-year seminar “Structural Racism and Health Equity” since 2021 has allegedly featured “antisemitic tropes including descriptions of Jews as ‘white’ and therefore ‘oppressors’ and images of ‘capitalists’ with long hooked noses,” Walberg wrote.
NEWSOM CALLS FOR HARVARD PRESIDENT ALAN GARBER TO RESIGN OVER DEAL WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Walberg also noted that Jewish students have expressed fear over expressing their identity on campus, using an example of a UCLA medical student who “said she did not feel comfortable wearing her Star of David necklace out in public.” The student added that “many students refused to be photographed for fear of being doxed by their peers as a practicing Jew” during a December 2023 menorah lighting ceremony.
At UCSF, complaints included Jewish patients reportedly hiding their identities when seeking medical care at the university, concerns that students felt the need to conceal aspects of their Jewish identity, including removing identifiers on social media, the circulation of antisemitic tropes, and a lab technician who allegedly told a Jewish student that Israel deserved what happened on Oct. 7.