'There was a swastika in the library' The truth about anti-Semitism at universities in the UK
“I was standing at the Jewish Society stall in my student union, when someone came up to me and said, ‘Can I ask you a question?’” recalls Bradley Langer, president of the society.
“They said, ‘I've been told the Jews control the media – is that true?’ When I told them no, they answered with another strange question, ‘Do you have all the money in the world?’ I stared at them, taken aback, and finally answered, ‘If I did, why would I be standing here?’”
Bradley, 22, the current president of Coventry University's Jewish Society, says he found the encounter unnerving. “It was the first time I'd heard anyone utter those sorts of conspiracy theories to my face. You hear about people saying anti-Semitic things on the news and you think, ‘Who would actually believe that?’ Hearing it face to face is quite shocking.”
Bradley’s shock turned to anger when earlier this year, reports of apparent anti-Semitism among his fellow students made headlines. In February, members of a Coventry university sports club went on a night out wearing t-shirts with anti-Semitic slogans written on them.
It wasn’t the first time something like this had made the news. In October 2018, the Conservative Society at the University of Plymouth was suspended after a similar incident. According to the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), the umbrella organisation for all 60 of the UK’s university Jewish societies, there have been reports of two other instances of anti-Semitism at “white t-shirt parties” in this academic year.
Bradley only became aware of what had happened when a friend sent him a link to a Facebook post showing the students out partying in the t-shirts – one of which had the words “the Jews deserved it” scrawled on it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/09914b55-a6b8-43a0-a619-71507c7fa71b
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