Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee raised concerns on Wednesday about “antisemitic harassment and intimidation” at the University of California San Francisco and its health facilities, threatening to revoke federal funding from the institution.

In a letter to UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Brett Guthrie (R-KY), who chair subcommittees, suggested that Congress could pull UCSF and UCSF Health’s federal health care and scientific research funding if they don’t comply with federal civil rights laws.

“Failing to comply with basic safety protections for members of the UCSF and UCSF Health communities or failure to respond appropriately to and prevent harassment and discrimination, no matter the cause, may be grounds to withhold federal funds from the university and its associated medical centers,” the three House members said. 

The lawmakers said that an encampment outside a UCSF Health facility, which they said features pro-terrorism signs and symbols, “has caused significant disturbance to campus and health care operations, as well as great distress for members of the community, including health care professionals and patients,” who can hear antisemitic chants from their rooms.

At the school’s Mission Bay Campus, the path into a cancer treatment center is marred by antisemitic graffiti, the lawmakers added, making Jewish patients feel “unsafe or uncomfortable with coming in for treatment.”

The lawmakers said that Jewish health-care providers also feel unsafe coming into work, a concern the lawmakers called “well founded, as there have been numerous antisemitic public statements by faculty, staff, and students at UCSF and/or UCSF Health.” 

The letter further warns UCSF, which has a large health-focused graduate school, that it “must not allow antisemitism to permeate its medical school and infect medical students whose patients from all ancestral and faith backgrounds will rely on UCSF for treatment and care.”

The lawmakers alleged that hundreds of antisemitic discrimination and hostility complaints have been filed with various UCSF offices, which the lawmakers said have been largely dismissed. They also alleged that UCSF health-care employees have repeatedly violated UCSF Health’s code of conduct.

The letter further raises concerns about the encampment and other anti-Israel activity on the UCSF campus, which has included graffiti, theft and damage to university property, as well as antisemitic chants. The lawmakers noted that UCSF received $850 million in National Institutes of Health grant funding in 2023, and that the activity could be grounds for revoking that funding.

The lawmakers asked Hawgood to respond to questions on what UCSF and UCSF Health are doing to address antisemitism on their campuses.