One in five students would be reluctant to, or would never, houseshare with a Jewish student, according to a survey by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) that says antisemitism has “become normalised” on UK campuses.
A UJS poll of 1,000 students “of all faiths and none” found almost a quarter (23%) have seen behaviour that targets Jewish students for their religion or ethnicity and nearly half (47%) have witnessed justification of the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
Half (49%) of the students surveyed said they have heard slogans or chants glorifying Hamas, Hezbollah or other proscribed groups, and 65% have had their learning disrupted by protests.
The report, called Time for Change, said Jewish students also face increased social ostracisation. “In one case, a flat of non-Jewish students shared on social media that they had ‘only one rule – no Zios in the flat’,” it said.
One in four (26%) who took part in the poll said they know of, or have personally experienced, friendships with Jewish students becoming more distanced or strained. Meanwhile, testimonies from some of the UK’s 10,000 Jewish students described being chased home, threatened, verbally abused and physically attacked.
The report also flagged an “apathy” towards antisemitism. One in four (25%) of those polled said they did not care very much – or at all – if students are able to be open about their Jewish identity on campus. Of those who witnessed antisemitism, 20% challenged it directly, 22% reported it to the students’ union and 23% reported it to the university.
“Jewish students are facing direct threats, verbal and physical abuse and being isolated by their peers for their presumed views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the UJS report said. “Ignorance about Jewish people is embedded in campus culture, and too little is being done in response.”
Karen Newman, the vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the report made for sickening reading. “Jewish students should not have to worry that a fifth of their peers would not live with them because they are Jewish, or about the prevalence of support being expressed for banned terrorist groups.”
A spokesperson for Universities UK (UUK), the collective voice of 142 universities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, said: “We work hard with the leaders of our universities and with the UJS, the Community Security Trust and the Jewish Chaplaincy service to tackle antisemitism and to support university leaders to take action to prevent it, and respond appropriately when it occurs.”
In a foreword to the report, the Labour peer and former MP Luciana Berger said the experiences of Jewish students today echo her own 20 years ago, which led her to resign from the national executive committee of the National Union of Students.
“Jewish students continue to be attacked at the hands of the same people, year after year after year. What will British campuses feel like for Jewish students when my own children, now aged just six and eight, reach university age?”
The author and journalist Daniel Finkelstein said: “Bullying people because of their ethnicity or history or political views is completely unacceptable and a university administration that ignores such bullying is failing in its duties.”
Earlier this month the government announced increased support for universities to tackle extremism and intimidation, including plans for a campus cohesion charter to strengthen respect and shared values across university life.
The Office for Students, the regulator of higher education in England, said it will take action where universities fail to protect students from harassment or intimidation, with powers to sanction or deregister institutions that do not comply with its conditions of registration.
The UJS survey was carried out by JL Partners, polling a nationally representative sample of 1,000 UK university students from 170 higher education institutions, weighted to reflect the demographic profile of the student population.
