Jewish students across UK campuses have faced assaults, bomb threats and “baby killer” slurs amid growing hostility on UK campuses. According to a poll of 200 Jewish students, 45% report experiencing cases of anti-semitism.
A Nottingham Trent student was faced with a discussion about Israel during a student society meeting. The student was called a “Nazi sympathiser and retard”.
The student expressed feeling “pushed out” of the society due to the comments, stating that they were targeted because of their openness about being Jewish.
They shared that this often leaves them feeling isolated during debates, as they are frequently asked to give their opinion solely because of their Jewish identity. They also noted that they know of only one other Jewish student on campus.
A medical student at Nottingham University mentioned that her peers openly celebrated October 7th on social media and states that they “only stopped posting once they realised it was illegal to praise Hamas”.
A first year politics student at the University of Nottingham was left speechless after his seminar included an formal debate regarding Hamas. At the end of the discussion, students were asked to vote on whether “this House (the class) embraces or condemns Hamas”.
The student commented that they felt shocked by this experience. Adding, “as a Jewish student I had felt relatively safe – but this came from teachers. It felt like they were minimising October 7th, reducing it to a class time debate. It was upsetting.”
The University of Nottingham released a statement in which they declared “universities should be spaces where students are given the opportunity to agree, disagree and debate any points of view, freely, openly and within the law and mutual respect for others”.
They go on to state, that teaching within the School of Politics and International Relations requires students to apply theory to real-life contemporary cases. This can involve engaging with challenging topics.
The University of Nottingham also notes that there is a clear complaints procedure that all students are made aware of. The first step of this requires raising any concerns with the module convenor.
