Universities: Antisemitism

(asked on 25th June 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what monitoring is taking place on university campuses to ensure compliance with the International Holocaust Remembrance Association definition of anti-semitism.


Answered by
Chris Skidmore Portrait
Chris Skidmore
This question was answered on 3rd July 2019

There is no place in our society, including within higher education, for hatred or any form of discrimination or racism, such as antisemitism. This is why I have called on higher education providers to accept the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

Higher education providers are autonomous organisations, responsible for the management of their own internal affairs. They should discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, and to investigate and swiftly address all hate crime, including any antisemitic incidents that are reported.

On 16 May 2019, I wrote to all higher education providers to urge them to consider adopting the IHRA definition and set out my view that this is a useful tool which will help front-line services better understand and recognise instances of antisemitism. The government believes that adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism sends a clear message that antisemitic behaviour will not be tolerated, and that any instances of antisemitism will be taken very seriously.

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