South Michigan News

Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) has sent letters to the University of Illinois College of Medicine (UICOM), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and University of California, Los Angeles Geffen School of Medicine (UCLA Med) seeking explanations from school leaders regarding their response to antisemitism on campus. The correspondence cites incidents at each institution and emphasizes their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to address discrimination.

In his letter to UICOM, Walberg stated: “…the Committee is concerned that UICOM’s Director of Student Learning Environment, Tim Lacy—the administrator tasked with addressing and mitigating the hostility and fear felt by Jewish students—is viewed by some Jewish students as contributing to the hostile environment felt by them… in one social media post, Director Lacy made light of the rise on antisemitism on college campuses, describing his reaction to a federal task force on antisemitism in Chicago as ‘bracing [himself] for some serious bullshit in Chicago.’”

Addressing UCSF, Walberg wrote: “A UCSF professor posted a news article that cited an unfounded antisemitic claim by Hamas that Israel stole organs from corpses… Hamas is a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) that calls not only for the destruction of Israel but for the murder of the Jewish people. When faculty or staff show support for Hamas’ actions, many Jewish students perceive these statements as threatening not only to the state of Israel but to the Jewish people more broadly… Such statements—especially when made repeatedly and by individuals in a position of authority—can contribute to a hostile environment that universities are obligated to respond to and mitigate under Title VI.”

The letter addressed to UCLA Med noted: “In the UCLA Class of 2025 group chat on October 7th, a student compared the actions of Hamas to a ‘slave rebellion’ and said that Israeli families were ‘overseers’ and therefore didn’t deserve to be mourned… On April 2, 2024, the Department of Psychiatry’s diversity office hosted a lecture on ‘Depathologizing Resistance’ that allegedly glorified self-immolation as justifiable resistance against Israel and referred to Israel as ‘Occupied Palestine for 75 years.’ A UCLA administrator attended the event. Jewish faculty who raised concern over the lecture were publicly accused by others of being ‘anti-black racists’… Jewish students and faculty may experience the statements described above, including those that delegitimize Israel, as antisemitism.”

Tim Walberg has represented Michigan’s 5th district in Congress since 2011 after replacing Mark Schauer. He previously served in Michigan's House of Representatives from 1983 until 1999. Born in Chicago in 1951, Walberg is now based in Tipton. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Taylor University.