One year on from 7 October, it is time for universities to act on antisemitism

On 7 October 2023, Hamas’ Al Qassam brigade, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and civilian supporters of those terrorist groups perpetrated the worst single pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust. Since that date there has been a surge in antisemitism in academia in the UK and globally. As the one-year anniversary and new academic year loom, it is vital that university leaders recognise the scale of the problem and act on it.

That scale is brought home by a survey conducted over the summer and published last week by the Intra-Communal Professorial Group (ICPG), formed in response to the attacks and harassment against Jews on campuses, and the hostile environment for them in academia.

We found that there has been an increase of up to 34 percentage points in rates of antisemitic abuse in UK universities since 7 October. These include physical attacks, threats of rape, violence, verbal abuse, harassment and use of Nazi imagery. Further, there is compelling evidence that some universities are failing in their responsibility to adequately safeguard Jewish students from these attacks and abuses.

As a result, Jewish students are withdrawing from all aspects of university life, including lecture theatres and seminar rooms, online learning spaces, social activities and entire areas of campus. Just under three-quarters of respondents have, since 7 October, been avoiding certain student groups for fear of insult, harassment or demonisation. Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) have been avoiding certain buildings or campus areas, and roughly a third have been avoiding certain classes, certain lecturers or certain other staff.

There is no single universally accepted definition of antisemitism, but over recent years there has been far greater understanding of how it manifests and how it may be combatted. The self-selecting survey respondents do not represent a formal statistical sample – inclusion criteria included self-identifying as Jewish and attending a UK university as a student during 2023-24 – but 497 participants represent about one in 18 of the approximately 9,000 Jewish students in the UK (out of nearly 3 million UK students overall), constituting a broadly representative sample – and showing how engaged the students are with this problem.

The questions about experiences of antisemitism broadly focused either on manifestations from other people (such as through harassment, discrimination, intimidation, exclusion, demonisation or attacks) or modifications to respondents’ own behaviour resulting from worries about a hostile environment within universities.

Particularly revealing were the questions we asked students in their second years or later about how their experience and impressions had changed since October 7. In three separate questions, between three and four times the number of students reported being victims of physical or verbal antisemitic attacks on campus, in the classroom or online since 7 October, with rises of more than 20 percentage points in most categories.

Small but concerning numbers of responses relate to personal experience of physical attack, rising from 1.8 per cent to 5.2 per cent since 7 October, while fear for personal safety on campus has risen from 17.1 per cent to 53.9 per cent. In other words, more than half of respondents fear for their safety, meaning that they are not having anything like a normal experience of university life.

Before 7 October, 78.9 of respondents were either “somewhat” or “very” comfortable about “being open about your Jewish identity”, falling to just 21.7 per cent afterwards. For completeness, the comparative figures for “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” rose from 12.2 to 69.6 per cent.

These findings are concerning for anyone who cares about combatting antisemitism. We know that the vast majority of people in UK universities are not antisemitic and that many are appalled by all forms of discrimination or attacks on minority groups. But the survey findings demonstrate the scale of the problem that this particular minority group faces.

We make a number of recommendations. Firstly, universities should create a sectoral task force to produce a systemic and holistic strategy and approach that can be adopted in a context-specific way for individual universities. And we emphasise that Jewish organisations, students and staff must be represented in any discussions about combatting antisemitism.

We also suggest that universities ensure they have clear definitions of antisemitism and include them in staff and student codes of conduct and other relevant documents. Staff ought to receive clear messaging, including what constitutes antisemitism, their responsibilities for addressing it in physical and online teaching spaces, and where and from whom they can access support. The nature of antisemitism as a diversity and inclusion issue and the legal protections under the Equality Act 2010 must be central to awareness-raising and training – which should be compulsory for all members of the university community.

It is important to underscore that the ICPG is already supporting many universities in their efforts to combat antisemitism, complementing other research we have published on academic freedom and antisemitism, recommendations for the challenges presented by freshers’ week, and reporting mechanisms, among other topics.

This is not a new problem and is not one that will go away on its own. Now is the time for concerted action by everyone in the sector to ensure that Jewish students – like all other students – can study and live in universities without needing to hide their identity or facing reprisals for being Jewish.

Rosa Freedman is professor of law, conflict and global development at the University of Reading and deputy chair of the ICPG ([email protected]). Odeliya Lanir Zafir is director of the ICPG.