UCSF professor suspended after controversial comments about Israeli student
Rupa Marya, a professor at UCSF, has been suspended for expressing concerns about an Israeli student in her class, which she framed as part of a broader critique of Israel and university complicity in perceived injustices against Palestinians.
Her statements, which included accusations of genocide and critiques of university investments related to Israel, have sparked controversy and drew immediate action from the administration.
A professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Rupa Marya, has been suspended following controversial statements expressing concern about an Israeli student’s presence in a class.
Marya announced her suspension in an article published on Oct. 15 on her Substack page. It follows UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood’s announcement that the school would take “immediate action” against Marya.
In her announcement of her suspension, Marya was critical of the state of Israel and the UCSF administration.
“On the Fall Equinox 2024, I was suspended from my faculty position as a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) because of my support for the liberation of Palestinians who are suffering genocide,” Marya wrote in the essay.
“By framing the demonstration of support for Palestinians or the criticism of Israel as threats to Jewish safety, campuses are effectively silencing advocacy for people of color facing genocide,” Marya continued. “This weaponization of fragility to silence marginalized people in the academy became evident after the historic response to George Floyd’s murder.”
“We must understand what we are living through to respond in the correct collective manner, to reclaim the ground gained in the Civil Rights struggle,” Marya stated. “Because we are not going back.”
Marya wrote that her situation is similar to the firing of a professor of anthropology at Muhlenberg College, Maura Finkelstein.
Marya concluded her essay by critiquing the university administration for investing in companies with financial connections to Israel.
“Students nervously watch as their tuition and our tax dollars are used to buy weapons to be deployed against them for protesting the university’s complicity with Israel’s genocide,” Marya wrote.
As the Jewish News of Northern California has reported, the fall equinox (on which Marya says she was suspended) fell one day after Marya posted controversial statements expressing concern about an Israeli student’s presence in class on social media.
“Med students at UCSF are concerned that a first year student from Israel is in their class,” Marya posted on Sept. 21, according to screenshots published online. “They’re asking if he participated in the genocide of Palestinians in the IDF before matriculating into medical school in CA. How do we address this in our professional ranks?”
Campus Reform has previously reported about some of Marya’s other anti-Israel statements.
”The presence of Zionism in US medicine should be examined as a structural impediment to health equity,” Marya wrote in January. “Zionism is a supremacist, racist ideology and we see Zionist doctors justifying the genocide of Palestinians. How does their outlook/position impact priorities in US medicine?”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of California, San Francisco and Marya for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
