Minister concerned over rise of hate on campuses
JO JOHNSON has expressed concern at increased Jew-hatred on UK campuses. In an interview with the JC at the Limmud Festival, the Minister for Universities and Science said the rise in the number of antisemitic incidents was unacceptable.
“Every student has a right to an environment in which they can study securely, without fear of harassment or intimidation of any sort, let alone based on their identity or their religion,” he said.
Mr Johnson added that he was “working hard to ensure that we have a university system in which closer connections are forged between universities and Jewish leaders, and [where] the proper training is taking place in institutions so that there is prompt and accurate reporting of incidents affecting Jewish students.
“It’s unacceptable that we should have a situation in which less than half of Jewish students feel comfortable attending an NUS event, for example.”
Mr Johnson was at Limmud to discuss the ways in which the government will seek to protect “freedom of speech within the law” at universities. He said he had been
“delighted to be invited” to speak at the four-day event. “This is my first time to the festival, and I’ve been reading about it,” he said. “It’s a real eye-opener to me to see the diversity of viewpoints being put forward. It incarnates, as a festival, a lot of what we want to see in our university system — a willingness to enter debate and a willingness to have robust, spirited discussion, in a civilised, constructive frame. And I think those are the values which are really important, and which we want our university system to be demonstrating as well.” During his speech, Mr Johnson said he had asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to prioritise combating bigotry on campuses. He said: “As a result, they have provided over £4m funding for projects to tackle harassment and hate crime.” He also warned of the growing danger to freedom of speech at UK institutions. “However well-intentioned, the proliferation of ‘safe spaces’, the rise of ‘no-platforming’, the removal of ‘offensive’ books from libraries and the drawing up of ever more extensive lists of banned ‘trigger’ words are undermining the principle of free speech in our universities.” Mr Johnson said the new universities regulator, the Office for Students, would take a tough stance on attempts to limit free expression.