Congressional lawmakers questioned University of Illinois College of Medicine interim Dean Enrico Benedetti in a multihour hearing Tuesday about antisemitism on campus and the role of diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom, nearly a year after a congressional committee first launched an investigation into the school.

Benedetti, a transplant surgeon, appeared before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce to answer questions on alleged antisemitism on campus stretching back to 2023, claims brought up initially by the committee in an August 2025 letter to the school.

According to the letter, allegations at the medical school include the repeated removal of posters raising awareness of hostages following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the unexplained cancellation of a speaker about the Holocaust, and hateful messages posted by students on a school Slack channel. The letter also stated the school allegedly failed to address antisemitism under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

Officials from two other medical schools — the University of California at San Francisco and the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles — also received notices from the committee last year and spoke at Tuesday’s hearing, which was titled “Training Activists, Not Physicians: The Impact of DEI on Medical Schools.” A fourth witness, Roger Mitchell, president of the National Medical Association, also took questions from the committee.

Benedetti laid out several changes the school has made in the months since receiving the letter, including holding students accountable for hate speech and other misconduct, discontinuing “an internal communication channel that has become a forum for inappropriate and offensive commentary,” changing the school’s leadership structure to create accountable oversight of student complaints, updating curriculum to be more effective, and his own open-door policy.

“I’m pleased to report that Jewish students and faculty, in particular, have told me as recently as last week that they feel safe and supported under my leadership,” Benedetti said. “In the coming weeks, I will personally speak to our entire class of incoming medical students to make sure they understand the college expectation for professionalism and respectful engagement within our diverse community.”

Still, Benedetti and his fellow medical school officials answered questions for nearly three hours about a range of topics, including whether diversity, equity and inclusion are involved in curriculum, admissions, and more.

Race specifically is not a factor for the school when admitting students or hiring employees, Benedetti told the committee. When asked whether the school has complied with Trump administration executive orders to eliminate federally funded DEI programming, Benedetti said that, to his knowledge, “we did everything we could.”

That sentiment was echoed in his opening remarks, where Benedetti iterated that the school’s mission is to “provide the broadest access to the highest level of education” and train physicians to provide the best care regardless of their background or the background of their patients.

“We are here to train physicians. We cannot allow anything to displace rigorous medical training or interfere with our core educational mission,” Benedetti said. “Nothing should undermine the trust and relationship that must exist between patients and their doctors.”

Beyond that, the school is committed to ensuring its policies and practices comply with federal law, including curating an environment where “all students, including Jewish students, feel safe, respected and ready to learn,” he said. The college will not tolerate any form of hate, he added, including antisemitism or any behavior that undermines a professionally respectful learning environment.

“It’s our collective responsibility to live the college’s values of inclusivity, tolerance, respect and excellence while training the next generation of physicians,” he said.

The University of Illinois College of Medicine is the third Chicago-area higher education institution to be targeted by the committee, following Northwestern University and DePaul University. After receiving similar letters, the presidents of both schools were called to testify before lawmakers. The committee also zeroed in on programming at Chicago Public Schools, leading to the district’s CEO, Macquline King, being subpoenaed to testify before the committee last month.

Similarly, the University of Chicago has seen blowback from the Trump administration, including being among over 50 higher education institutions investigated for alleged racial discrimination in 2025.

_____

©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.