We are concerned that the CST 2019 Annual Incidents Report demonstrates a 60% rise in recorded antisemitic incidents on UK campuses. However, a result of continued under-reporting, as with most types of hate crime, means that the scale of the problem is not fully revealed. Research shows that only around 20% of hate crime is reported.

Throughout 2019 we have seen swastikas on campuses, the trivialisation of the Holocaust, antisemitism in students’ unions, and antisemitism in campus discussion around Israel. It is the duty of universities and students’ unions to protect Jewish students and make sure we feel welcome on campus. When J-Socs raise concerns about antisemitism we expect institutions to listen and take decisive action on our concerns.

To combat this hatred, we launched our antisemitism awareness training programme to educate students’ union sabbatical officers and staff about antisemitism and how to best support their Jewish students. Alongside the training sessions, we have also created a booklet which acts as a guide, titled ‘How to support your Jewish students’ which are given out to SUs who have taken part in the programme. Over 40 institutions have taken part in our training programme.

During 2019, Holocaust Memorial Day events reached around 6,000 students on over 40 campuses across the UK. We are also proud that our work educating about the Holocaust has been secured into the future with the Government pledging £500,000 to support our programme taking student and university leaders to Auschwitz-Birkenau together with the Holocaust Educational Trust.

Any Jewish student concerned about antisemitism on their campus should contact UJS and can report incidents to CST here. Please be assured that UJS and CST continue to work diligently to protect Jewish students. We work with campus security, local police and university and SU teams to prevent incidents and respond swiftly to those that take place.

If you would like to get involved with UJS campaigns work leading and defending Jewish life, please be in touch.

You can read the full report here.