University chiefs need to do more to stop pro-Gaza protests erupting into violence on campuses as happening in America, a Cabinet minister warned on Thursday.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan stressed that some vice-chancellors were already taking sufficient action but others were struggling to ensure all students were in a safe environment.
She told Times Radio: “Some of the vice-chancellors have taken very clear action, some of them have taken actions that we think are perhaps not the right actions.
“So, we just want to share that best practice, discuss how we can show leadership on this issue.
“We do not want our universities and campuses to be like those that we see on our television screens in other parts of the world, like the US.”
University chiefs have been summoned to Downing Street for a meeting with Rishi Sunak and other ministers on how to deal with the protests and ensure all students are safe.
Ms Keegan stressed that there was evidence of a “massive increase in anti-Semitism” on campuses.
“Vice-chancellors have to show leadership on this issue,” she added.
“It’s not an easy issue.”
But she emphasised: “They definitely need to make sure that they are protecting all students, creating a safe environment for all students, particularly Jewish students at this time.
“They need to show leadership and get that line right between the right to protest, the right to have alternative views, the right to debate alternative views, and harassment, incitement to hatred or even supporting proscribed terrorist groups.
“We want our campuses to be safe.”
The Office for Students has powers, she added, to help universities to tackle harassment on campuses.
Ministers are urging university bosses to take immediate disciplinary action if any student is found to be inciting racial hatred or violence, and to contact the police if a criminal act has been committed.
It comes after pro-Palestine encampments were set up by students at more than a dozen universities across the UK against the war in Gaza, including Cambridge, Oxford, Goldsmith College in London, as well as SOAS in the capital.
But so far the violent scenes which have marred protests at universities in America have not spread across the Atlantic.
Mr Sunak, Ms Keegan, Communities Secretary Michael Gove and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat are calling for a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic abuse at universities.
The Prime Minister said: “Universities should be places of rigorous debate but also bastions of tolerance and respect for every member of their community.
“A vocal minority on our campuses are disrupting the lives and studies of their fellow students and, in some cases, propagating outright harassment and antisemitic abuse. That has to stop.”
In the autumn statement in November, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that £7 million of extra support would be committed to tackle antisemitism in schools and universities.
Of this, £500,000 will be dedicated to supporting the work of the University Jewish Chaplaincy, which helps students deal with incidents of antisemitism and intimidation.
A number of student protests have been held across the UK over the Israel-Hamas conflict.
On Wednesday, an Edinburgh University student taking part in a hunger strike in protest against the war in Gaza said it was a “last resort” after other methods of protest failed.
The student is one of five people currently on hunger strike in the city, with more members of the university’s Justice for Palestine Society due to join in the coming days.
Edinburgh University principal and vice-chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, urged the students on hunger strike not to risk their health.
The Union of Jewish Students has criticised encampment protests for creating a “hostile and toxic atmosphere” on campus for Jewish students.
The Office for Students (OfS) has committed to publishing the response to its consultation on a new condition of registration, which could give OfS the power to impose sanctions where there is clear evidence that universities are failing to take action to tackle harassment, including antisemitic abuse.
