Antisemitism on University Campuses

Baroness Berger Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berger (Lab)]

My Lords, I commend my noble friend Lord Cryer for securing this important debate and for his powerful and meaningful messages of solidarity and advocacy for the Jewish community.

I declare an interest as a member of the advisory council of the Union of Jewish Students—the UJS—the voice of nearly 10,000 Jewish students across the UK and a body that I proudly joined as a student. It is just over 20 years ago that I gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee in the other place about my personal experiences of antisemitism as a student on campus, and here we are discussing these very same issues.

I shall not repeat the statistics. Jewish students across the country today are reporting sustained levels of abuse, intimidation and marginalisation on campus. We have also seen some violent attacks, and this we have never seen before. Since launching the service in October 2023, in just 19 months UJS’s 24/7 welfare support lines have received nearly 2,000 phone calls from Jewish students in need. We have not only seen an increase in incidents but are witnessing an atmosphere in which Jewish students feel the need to choose a different route through campus, to avoid specific spaces or even to miss certain lectures. A campus life where some students do not feel they can fully engage due to fear of hatred or attack is one we must urgently address.

Yet I am pleased to learn that Jewish student pride is at an all-time high. For the vast majority of Jewish students, Jewish life rather than Jewish strife is defining their campus experiences, with UJS engaging over 8,000 Jewish students over the past year. Interfaith events have taken place on numerous campuses, ensuring that collaboration is still able to prevail, and UJS has provided antisemitism awareness training to over 5,000 student leaders, university staff and students.

The resilience of Jewish students is born in part out of a necessity to create safe, supportive spaces in response to the exclusion and hostility they have faced elsewhere. These safe spaces are there thanks to the outstanding work of UJS students and the volunteer-led Jewish societies up and down the country.

Since 7 October, UJS has been living up to the mantra of my dear friend, the late former president Alan Senitt:

“More Jewish students doing more Jewish things”.


This is how the history books will remember this period of campus life, not as one framed by the hatred that Jewish students are experiencing but as one framed in the pride that they have shown for their Judaism, no matter how they choose to live and express it.

It is unacceptable to expect Jewish students to be constantly vigilant and to report incidents of anti-Jewish hatred while institutions continuously fail to act. Universities, colleges and student unions must take proactive steps to meet their duty of care. If universities continue to be slow to act—or, in some cases, refuse to act—the consequence will be that those campuses will become Jewish free. I have already heard parents in this country talking about a number of “no go” university campuses for their children. This is a reality that I think we can all agree is abhorrent.

It is commendable that the Government committed £7 million to fighting antisemitism in our schools and at universities. However, other than a small percentage, this funding is still yet to be allocated to those on the front lines fighting antisemitism and representing the interests of Jewish students. Can my noble friend confirm when this support will be made available?

University leaders must not be allowed to sit idly by while this, the oldest form of hatred, is allowed to continue in their institutions. I ask my noble friend: when will the Government convene university leaders, together with the UJS, to compel them to act decisively and proactively against anti-Jewish racism on their campuses? This is not just a matter of security. Jewish students being able to enjoy the student experience just the same as all their peers is a matter of justice, equality and the fundamental right to feel safe and to flourish in higher and further education.