Cambridge apologises over abuse investigation
A CAMBRIDGE college has expressed “sincere regret” to two Jewish students over “serious mistakes” in its inquiry into a complaint about antisemitism.
Christ’s College originally rejected the students’ claim that they had been the victims of antisemitic abuse, but has now admitted that “racist and antisemitic conduct occurred”.
Professor Jane Stapleton, Master of Christ’s, has “sincerely apologised on behalf of the college” to Shlomo RoiterJesner and the other, unidentified, student who made the complaint.
While returning from a Friday night meal on October 28 last year, the two students were physically and verbally assaulted by a gang of male students from Christ’s College. They were pushed and subjected to abusive comments, including “dirty Jews, you don’t belong here” and “Jews get out of here”.
But Mr Roiter-Jesner and his friend criticised the college’s subsequent investigation as a “cover-up” and said that college officials had “refused to accept the fact this incident was antisemitic in nature”. Jewish communal organisations wrote to the college to express their concern at the handling of the complaint.
A statement released by the college last Thursday described how an external report into its handling of the incident had uncovered “significant failings”.
The report found that while there was no intention to cover up the incident, the college had “failed to identify any person who was or might have been guilty of the reported antisemitism”.
In addition, it found that the Master had inadvertently given the misleading impression that the students’ account of antisemitic abuse had been rejected.
In a further failing, “the complainants were not invited to the college to be interviewed, the college did not explain to them how the process worked and they were not told why it had not been possible to charge any student with the antisemitism alleged”.
The college admitted that “there probably was substance” to the complaint made by the Jewish students, and “that antisemitic abuse had indeed occurred and that a group of Christ’s students, albeit unidentified, were responsible for that abuse”.
Professor Stapleton said: “The college accepts that racist and antisemitic conduct occurred and has apologised to the students who reported it.”
She added that the incident had revealed “significant deficiencies in college procedures” which were now being overhauled.
“The Jewish community can be reassured that if there were to be a similar incident in the future the college would address it robustly,” she said.
Mr Roiter-Jesner said: “We are satisfied that Christ’s is now comfortable giving credence to our story, admitting that antisemitic conduct occurred and taking decisive steps to improve their disciplinary system.”
But he criticised Cambridge University Jewish Society (CUJS) for what he claimed was a lack of support, alleging that he and his fellow complainants had been “met with indifference from the JSoc”.
He said that CUJS “proved itself, at least to us, incapable, in this case, of fulfilling what is, I feel, ultimately the first duty of any Jewish community organisation — to provide a safe space for Jews facing abuse, and a loud voice to go on the offensive when you are under fire”.
In a statement responding to the criticisms, CUJS said: “It is clear that when the JSoc officers have been timely briefed, we have responded strongly and quickly to incidents facing the Jewish community in Cambridge.
“When asked to appear on the radio to talk about the incident at Christ’s College, JSoc external officer Daniel Ohrenstein strongly condemned the perpetrators and supported every Jewish student’s right to a safe space at university.”
It added: “Since the occurrence at Christ’s College, JSoc has acted in three separate incidents, all of which have been publicised on the national scale. From these examples, and others, CUJS has proven that it has a robust and accessible policy in place to deal with incidents affecting Jewish students.”