A comprehensive report, which the British Parliament task force on antisemitism in higher education released last month, provides extensive personal testimonies of Jewish students and staff at universities across the United Kingdom.
The 44-page report draws upon a year of research, including interviews at 50 colleges and universities. It recommends that higher education institutions embrace the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in order to foster trust with Jewish students and faculty and staff members.
There is also a need for higher educational institutions to better accommodate reasonable adjustments for religious students, faculty and staff, and to review their procedures through which complaints are reviewed, per the report.
“The majority of Jewish students and staff have a positive time at university, encountering or witnessing very little antisemitism,” per the report. “However, when antisemitism does occur, the impact each incident has on the small community of Jewish students and staff should not be underestimated.”
The report also noted that antisemitism often goes unreported, as in what it calls “microaggressions” that “demonstrate how prejudice is normalized without anyone recognising its impact.” Among the examples the report cites are friends telling one Jewish student to settle a bill “because they could afford it,” and another Jewish student being told at a party, “You’re too pretty to be Jewish.”
Lord John Mann, the UK government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, who established the task force that issued the report, stated that it is “a vital piece of research that will help both guide universities and support Jewish students and staff on campus.”
The report demonstrates that institutions can allow free speech and protect Jewish students against antisemitism if they have “clear definitions, good systems and have included Jewish students and staff in creating a safe space on campus,” Mann stated. He added that the report doesn’t name the schools that came up short, but “I will be keeping a close eye on which universities choose to improve their systems.”
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