Cambridge master criticised over anti-Semitic attack

Official review chastises senior tutor for ‘ill-judged’ statement and failing to interview the victims

THE master of a Cambridge college committed a “major error” in her handling of an investigation into an antiSemitic attack on Jewish students by drinking society members, according to an official review.

The report, by three senior lawyers, castigates Prof Jane Stapleton, master of Christ’s College, for issuing a “seriously ill-judged and inaccurate” statement in response to an article that made public details of the attack.

The Sunday Telegraph disclosed how three Jewish students were set upon in October last year by undergraduates from the college.

The 31-page internal review is heavily critical of the college’s senior tutor for failing to interview the victims or show them CCTV footage of the attack.

The report’s authors have called on the college to publish its full review of the handling of the complaint.

Jewish Human Rights Watch, which campaigned on behalf of the students, said: “We strongly agree with the inquiry panel that the report should be published in full so other universities can learn the lessons so that Jewish and all students don’t have to endure racist hate.”

Frustrated with their treatment by the college, the students’ claims were brought to this newspaper’s attention.

One of the students, Shlomo RoiterJesner, accused the college of “brushing the complaint under the carpet”.

The article prompted Prof Stapleton to issue a letter to alumni, headed: “Misleading press coverage of the college” and went on to say: “At this point the college has no corroborating evi- dence that any of its students has been involved in such behaviour.”

The review concluded: “The use of the word ‘corroborating’ was seriously ill-judged and indeed inaccurate... the only reasonable inference that could be drawn from the statement was that their account of anti-Semitic abuse and assault had not been accepted.

“We judge the terms of the announcement to have been a major error in the college’s overall handling of the affair.”

One victim told Prof Stapleton that her statement was “frankly more hurtful than the incident itself ”.

Two undergraduates from the male sporting society The Marguerites Club, founded in 1899, were disciplined by the college after being caught on CCTV surrounding the Jewish students.

But no students were found guilty of racist or anti-Semitic abuse.

The review, by Dame Janet Smith, Sir Martin Moore-Bick and Professor Graham Zellick, stated: “We are of the view that, had the senior tutor gone through the CCTV footage with the complainants, he may... have felt it possible to charge one or more of the Christ’s students who are recorded on CCTV – and whom by that time he had been able to identify – with a more serious offence.

“We mention also that if the complaints had been shown the CCTV footage and the police had been made aware of it, there may have been better prospects for the police investigation.”

Prof Stapleton said: “The college accepts that racist and anti-Semitic conduct occurred and has apologised to the students who reported it.

“We greatly regret the deficiencies in the way the complaints were originally handled and have taken further measures against the two student societies involved.”

The college declined to comment further on why it had not published the report in full.