14 proposals to fight university antisemitism

In preparing this submission to the Senate Inquiry I thought it would be helpful if I obtained some first-hand testimonies from university students, academics and professional staff to understand the gravity of the situation.

My office has interviewed more than 65 Jewish students, academics and staff at universities… the situation is very grave and indeed much more serious and alarming than I expected.

Antisemitic behaviour is not only present on many campuses but is an embedded part of the culture. Universities have not taken appropriate action to denounce and suppress it: it has become systemic.

The Jewish students are traumatised and feel isolated and unsafe. They are not participating as they should in university life. They have been told by their university administration to stay home for their own safety.

This normalised antisemitism is incredibly dangerous to our society as it is an attitude and behaviour that eats away at the fabric of the mission of the tertiary sector. To date university leadership is either in denial about how serious and normalized antisemitism has become on their campuses or has not received information as to the seriousness of the situation (bad news does not travel upwards) or has failed to truly understand what constitutes antisemitism and has responded by placating activist forces.

 This contrasts with the growing realization of universities overseas that strong measures  must be taken. As US universities open for the new academic year, I expect more US universities will adopt the policies and stances of NYU, Columbia and California.