Marcus, who formerly served as head of the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, supervised the report on campus anti-Semitism last year. The report, which determined that anti-Semitism was a problem on a number of campuses, cited recent incidents at UCI and included testimony that Jewish students were often intimidated and physically harassed.
Marcus could not say whether anti-Semitism is more prevalent at UCI than at other campuses, but he said prejudice on the whole has grown stronger — or, at least, more widely reported — in recent years. He distributed copies of the report at the lecture as well as postcards featuring the slogan "Silence is an ally of hate."
Marcus, who met with Jewish student groups earlier in the day, said he urged people to report instances of discrimination or abuse.
"People think what happened to them is an isolated incident and it's not happening to other people," he said.
In recent years, Jewish student groups at UCI have been targeted or criticized on a number of occasions — although some have questioned whether the conflicts are racially motivated or simply based on political issues.
The Muslim Student Union angered many last May when it ran a weeklong program titled "Holocaust in the Holy Land," while Muslim students protested at a speech in January by pro-Israel historian Daniel Pipes.
Representatives of the Muslim Student Union have said that they are not anti-Semitic but rather critics of Israel and its policies. Muslim Student Union members did not return calls on Thursday.
