Universities deny harassment of Jews and seem to take little action on it

SIR – Your report “Universities ‘no-go areas’ for Jewish students” (December 23) must have aroused disquiet among gentiles and Jews alike. Baroness Deech was right to bring this worsening situation to public attention.

Universities and bodies representing them have denied tolerating harassment of Jewish students but appear to have taken little action.

Judging by previous complacency about ties with unsavoury regimes, the attitude of some bodies might well be influenced by financial considerations.

What makes anyone think, after events in British universities over the past few years, that they will take a firm line on this issue? Margaret Brown Burslem, Staffordshire SIR – I have been the Jewish chaplain at the University of Exeter for seven years and read your report with consternation and surprise. Exeter is not a “no-go” university for Jewish students. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Exeter is an extremely welcoming campus and Jewish students thrive here. We have excellent inter-faith relations between students, and our active Jewish student society plays football matches with the Islamic society.

We have a multi-faith chaplaincy and, as part of that, I am on campus to offer support to Jewish students and anyone else who wants to talk to me. I wander about the campus wearing a yarmulke and have never felt the least bit unwelcome or uncomfortable. On the contrary, Muslim students have come up and shaken my hand.

The university, which offers a range of courses on Jewish studies and the Holocaust, has made it absolutely clear it does not tolerate anti-Semitism. It offers kosher living accommodation to Jewish students who wish to observe dietary laws .

To say that Exeter is a no-go area for Jewish students is a parody of the truth. You could not find a friendlier SIR – The report that some British universities are now becoming no-go zones for Jewish students is true and, sadly, unsurprising.

Anti-Jewishness is an old problem. I can remember the move to Reading University as an 18-year-old in 1969. Only two years after the Six Day War, I was told by one student that “Jews are the cause of all the world’s problems”. There were anti-Israel posters advertising pro-Palestinian meetings then.

The world of tertiary education needs to introduce measures to ensure that actions as well as words are obviously in place to protect Jewish students. Rev Robert Weissman London E18