Oxford ‘owes explanation to Jewish students’ for Mosley cash
Zahawi says anti-semitism is a ‘present danger’ at universities as he speaks out over family’s donations
OXFORD should explain to Jewish students why it took money from the Mosley family, the Education Secretary has said, as he warned that anti-semitism is not “simply a historic debate”.
Intervening for the first time in the row over the “fascist” cash, Nadhim Zahawi said the university’s leadership must attempt to repair its relationship with Jewish students by “making sure they consult and explain the decisionmaking process” to them.
He made the remarks amid growing pressure on Oxford and its colleges after The Daily Telegraph disclosed they have accepted more than £12.3million in donations from the Mosley family trust.
Mr Zahawi was speaking from Auschwitz, which he was visiting before the 83rd anniversary of Kristallnacht. He cautioned that anti-semitism was “a present danger and a scourge” on British campuses.
Mr Zahawi urged universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-semitism, saying it sent a “clear and important message” that they would not tolerate anti-semitism.
Asked how Oxford could repair relations with Jewish students over the Mosley money, he said: “By reaching out and making sure they consult and explain the decision-making process that took place for them to have landed on this donation.”
Mr Zahawi said universities should consider the “ethical implications” of the donations they accept and should take into account the views of students and of the wider community.
“I would expect our great seats of learning like Oxford to be quite capable of dealing with these issues in an appropriate and sensitive way,” he said, adding that it was “incredibly important” for universities to “carry the confidence of the student body”.
Oxford University’s Jewish Society said it was “distressed” to learn of the donations, adding that the Mosley family name was “synonymous with fascism and anti-semitism in Britain”.
The society pointed out that the university’s decision to dedicate a professorship to the family’s name “serves to commemorate and revere the Mosley legacy”, adding that the absence of any consultation with Jewish students was “inconsiderate and inappropriate”.
Mr Zahawi said that if universities failed to consider the views of Jewish students, the risk was “obvious”, adding: “Let me be very clear. Anti-semitism is not simply a historic debate, it is a present danger and a scourge that exists, sadly, on our campuses.
“It is really important that universities take this very seriously which is why the IHRA is so crucial as a tool for universities and other public bodies in rooting out anti-semitism wherever it emerges.”
He said that universities accepting the IHRA definition was “only the first step” towards eradicating anti-semitism
‘Universities have a duty to protect the safety of their Jewish students and make sure they are never targeted’
from the education system. Figures released today from the Office for Students show that 95 universities have now signed up to the IHRA definition, up from 28 last September.
“I think universities have a duty to protect the safety of their Jewish students and make sure they are never targeted because of their religion or race,” Mr Zahawi said. “No one in our society, least of all students, should have to deal with this insidious and unique form of discrimination.”
Last week, The Telegraph disclosed that Oxford University was given £6 million from a charitable trust set up by Max Mosley to house the fortune he inherited from his father, Oswald Mosley, who was the leader of the British Union of Fascists.
Two of Oxford’s colleges – St Peter’s and Lady Margaret Hall – have also accepted cash from the Mosley family trust totalling more than £6.3million. The university is now facing a donor backlash, with one benefactor pledging
not to give St Peter’s College “another penny”. Meanwhile, four British Nobel laureates have urged the university to reconsider endowing a professorship in the name of the grandson of Oswald Mosley, saying that doing so “dishonours” their subject.
Mr Zahawi, who was in Auschwitz this week for an education symposium organised by the European Jewish Association, said that visiting the Nazi death camps was a “life-changing” experience for him. He added: “You can’t help but fall silent, it is just the sheer scale of the industrial scale of murder and the atrocities. No film reel prepares you for...the systematic nature of the way they went about the extermination of the Jewish population.”
Oxford University, St Peter’s College and Lady Margaret Hall all said that the funds from the Mosley trust were cleared by an independent committee, which reviewed donations in a “robust” manner, taking “legal, ethical and reputational issues into consideration”.
Last night, police were called to guard the entrance of the London School of Economics, where students were demonstrating against the Israeli ambassador, who was addressing the university’s debating society.
Pro-palestinian activists gathered outside to call for Tzipi Hotovely to be “no-platformed”. Protesters carried Palestinian flags during the demonstration which, some students reported, blocked them from attending classes.
The debating society is next week hosting Husam Zomlot, Palestine’s ambassador to the UK. The debate, entitled Israel’s Perspective: A New Era in the Middle East, would discuss the Palestinian conflict, according to a description of the event from the society.