Crackdown on campus anti-Semitism

UNIVERSITY chiefs must adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to anti-Semitism amid fears of spiralling abuse on campuses, the Government has ordered.

Jo Johnson, the universities minister, said yesterday that institutions have a responsibility to provide a ‘safe’ environment for all students to protect them from ‘discrimination, harassment or victimisation’.

His intervention comes as many universities are due to hold Israel Apartheid Week events. The activities are part of an international movement which sees week-long events run across the world. These have been criticised as anti-Semitic and have led to complaints from Jewish students of intimidation, threats and abuse.

There have also been a series of incidents at UK universities in recent weeks, including the distribution of Holocaust denial leaflets and the etching of a swastika.

Mr Johnson has written to Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, stressing that institutions must have ‘robust’ policies in place to comply with the law and ‘investigate and swiftly address hate crime, including any anti-Semitic incidents that are reported’.

In a separate letter to England’s higher education funding council, he said universities should ‘embed a culture of zero-tolerance to all forms of violence... and hate crime, including anti-Semitism’.

A spokesman for Universities UK said yesterday: ‘The university sector has been clear that there is no place for anti-Semitism or any other kind of unlawful discrimination at our universities.’