UCSF chancellor says school has taken 'immediate action' against anti-Semitic prof
The University of California, San Francisco says it has taken 'immediate action' to address an anti-Semitic social media post from a medical professor.
In her since-deleted X post, Rupa Marya noted that a student from Israel may have 'participated in the genocide of Palestinians in the IDF before matriculating to medical school in CA.'
A California university says it has taken “immediate action” to address an anti-Semitic social media post from a medical professor.
Dr. Rupa Marya, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), recently made a post on X alleging that one of her students may be complicit in Israel’s alleged “genocide” in Palestine.
In her since-deleted post, Marya noted that a student from Israel may have “participated in the genocide of Palestinians in the IDF before matriculating to medical school in CA,” referencing Israel’s standing requirement that its youth enlist in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for a minimum of two years after turning 18.
Marya apparently took issue with the student’s enlistment, asking her followers on X how medical professionals should “address this” in a professional capacity.
On Sept. 30, the UCSF X account shared a message from Chancellor Sam Hawgood about the “importance of upholding the values of respect and inclusion.”
“I am writing to inform you of a serious matter involving the targeting of students on social media based on their national origin,” Hawgood writes. “Targeting any member of our UCSF community—especially in a way that fosters hostility or discrimination—will not be tolerated. I have taken immediate action to address this situation.”
Hawgood’s message did not specify what actions the school has pursued in response to Marya’s post.
Chancellor Sam Hawgood issued a message to the UCSF community about the importance of upholding the values of respect and inclusion. pic.twitter.com/wLoETAcg2f
— UC San Francisco (@UCSF) September 23, 2024
Dr. Gil Rabinovici, a faculty member at UCSF, told Jweekly that he and roughly 200 other Jewish community members have encouraged the institution to do more to combat the rise of anti-Israel activism.
“Our community is disappointed, because they didn’t actually name what happened,” Rabinovici said of Hawgood’s message. “Their failure to name anti-Israeli bias and anti-Jewish hate feels to us like ‘All Lives Matter.’”
Dr. Marya’s medical work and research “[sit] at the nexus of climate, health and racial justice,” according to her UCSF faculty profile. She also founded the Deep Medicine Circle, which aims to heal “wounds of colonialism through food, medicine, story, restoration and learning.”
Campus Reform has reached out to UCSF and Dr. Marya for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.