A handy guide for students
ex student | 26.03.2008 09:01 | Social Struggles | World
A new guide has been published for Jewish students who may be experiencing antisemitic attacks on campus. The recent rise in antisemitism has been most noticeble in universitys where Jewish students have received verbal and written threats often from extremist Muslim groups as well as Far Right students who wish to drive Jews out of UK universities.
Experienced antisemitism on campus?
What to do if you experience antisemitism on campus:
+In general
Notify campus authorities.
Notify CST and your J-Soc.
Do NOT attempt a personal confrontation.
+ Antisemitic postal mail or e-mail
Keep copies of all mail received. Do not destroy it. It is evidence.
Contact the CST and Police.
Do not handle mail too much. You may be destroying evidence.
Keep the envelope.
In the case of e-mail it can sometimes be traced. If it has been received through the university network ask university authorities to try and trace it. Most universities forbid the improper use of the network and will ban people who send antisemitic e-mails.
+Antisemitic comments from people in authority e.g. university lecturers
Keep a record of what was said. Write down the exact words.
Write an official letter of complaint to the relevant department head.
Be specific in your complaint.
Keep copies of all correspondence.
Seek help from your student union. It is their job to represent you against discrimination.
If the comment is genuinely antisemitic and the department are unwilling to take action you can use the power of public pressure through the media (student newspaper for example). You are advised to do this only in coordination with your national Jewish student leadership.
+Vandalism
Contact the Police immediately.
DO NOT touch anything until the Police arrive. Do not wipe out offensive slogans until they have been recorded.
Always try to preserve as much evidence where possible.
Take photographs.
+Threatening or abusive phone calls
Make a precise record of the call. Write down exactly what was said and the exact time of the call. If you receive regular calls keep a diary recording each one. You might also try to record the call.
Dial 1471 and note down the number.
If a message is left on an answer phone save the tape.
Contact the Police. Relay the nature of the threat to them. Ask for increased security at sites/events if you feel it is needed.
If the message is not merely abusive but threatening try to get as much information from the caller and specific details on the nature of the threat. Keep talking to get more information. People might unintentionally give things away.
Contact the phone company. Offensive calls are against the law and the phone company will probably have a department to deal with these complaints. They will advise you and may be able to trace calls.
+++ Report Antisemitic violence to the Police immediately! +++
What to do if you experience antisemitism on campus:
+In general
Notify campus authorities.
Notify CST and your J-Soc.
Do NOT attempt a personal confrontation.
+ Antisemitic postal mail or e-mail
Keep copies of all mail received. Do not destroy it. It is evidence.
Contact the CST and Police.
Do not handle mail too much. You may be destroying evidence.
Keep the envelope.
In the case of e-mail it can sometimes be traced. If it has been received through the university network ask university authorities to try and trace it. Most universities forbid the improper use of the network and will ban people who send antisemitic e-mails.
+Antisemitic comments from people in authority e.g. university lecturers
Keep a record of what was said. Write down the exact words.
Write an official letter of complaint to the relevant department head.
Be specific in your complaint.
Keep copies of all correspondence.
Seek help from your student union. It is their job to represent you against discrimination.
If the comment is genuinely antisemitic and the department are unwilling to take action you can use the power of public pressure through the media (student newspaper for example). You are advised to do this only in coordination with your national Jewish student leadership.
+Vandalism
Contact the Police immediately.
DO NOT touch anything until the Police arrive. Do not wipe out offensive slogans until they have been recorded.
Always try to preserve as much evidence where possible.
Take photographs.
+Threatening or abusive phone calls
Make a precise record of the call. Write down exactly what was said and the exact time of the call. If you receive regular calls keep a diary recording each one. You might also try to record the call.
Dial 1471 and note down the number.
If a message is left on an answer phone save the tape.
Contact the Police. Relay the nature of the threat to them. Ask for increased security at sites/events if you feel it is needed.
If the message is not merely abusive but threatening try to get as much information from the caller and specific details on the nature of the threat. Keep talking to get more information. People might unintentionally give things away.
Contact the phone company. Offensive calls are against the law and the phone company will probably have a department to deal with these complaints. They will advise you and may be able to trace calls.
+++ Report Antisemitic violence to the Police immediately! +++
ex student
Comments
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Goverment acts on uni antisemitism, not enough being done many say
26.03.2008 09:50
The announcement by Mr Woolas, which appeared in editions of the Independent yesterday, will be in response to the parliamentary inquiry into anti-semitism published last September. The report, by MPs on the all-party parliamentary group against anti-semitism, highlighted problems on university campuses. The report said it was unreasonable for universities to boycott academics who work in Israel because that was an affront to academic freedom. The MPs added that university vice-chancellors' response to dealing with the problem was "patchy" and it called on them to tackle the issue "vigorously".
Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors and has been involved in discussions with the government about campus political extremism, refused to comment on any government proposals ahead of today's announcement.
still a student !
Academic censored
26.03.2008 09:56
Dr Köntzel, a political scientist who has lectured around the world on the antiSemitic ideology of Islamist groups, said that he was “outraged” that his meetings had been cancelled and had yet to receive an explanation.
The university, which acted after complaints from Muslim students, denied that it was interfering with the academic freedom of Dr Köntzel.
The lecture, entitled “Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic antiSemitism in the Middle East”, was organised by the university’s German department and publicised three weeks ago. A large attendance had been expected.
Dr Köntzel, a former adviser to the German Green Party, said:
“I have lectured in lots of countries on this subject. I gave the same talk at Yale University recently, and this is the first time I have been invited to lecture in the UK. Nothing like this has ever happened before – this is censorship.
“It is a controversial area but I am accustomed to debate. I value the integrity of academic debate and I feel that it really is in danger here. This is a very important subject and if you cannot address it on university property, then what is a university for?”
Dr Köntzel, a research associate at the Vidal Sassoon International Centre for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that he had been shown two e-mails that had been received, which objected to his lecture.
One, apparently written by a student, said: “As a Muslim and an Arab this has come to me as a great shock. The only intention that you have for doing this is to increase hatred as I clearly regard it as an open racist attack.”
Ahmed Sawalem, president of the university’s student Islamic Society, confirmed that he had contacted the office of Professor Michael Arthur, the Vice-Chancellor, to register an official complaint.
“The title of the talk is provocative and I have searched the internet to read his writings and they are not very pleasant,” Mr Sawalem said.
The university authorities contacted the German department on Tuesday and asked for a change in the title. The department agreed to relabel the talk as “The Nazi Legacy: the export of antiSemitism to the Middle East”.
Yesterday morning, the head of the German department, Professor Stuart Taberner, was called to a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor’s staff and the head of security. After the meeting, Dr Köntzel’s lecture and workshops were cancelled.
Annette Seidel Arpaci, an academic in the German department, said: “This is an academic talk by a scholar, it is not a political rally. The sudden cancellation is a sell-out of academic freedom, especially freedom of speech, at the University of Leeds.” A spokes-woman for the university said that it valued freedom of speech and added that the cancellation of the meeting had been a bureaucratic issue.
“The decision to cancel the meeting has nothing to do with academic freedom, freedom of speech, antiSemitism or Islam-ophobia, and those claiming that is the case are making mischief,” she said.
What he wrote
“ AntiSemitism based on the notion of a Jewish world conspiracy is not rooted in Islamic tradition but, rather, in European ideological models. The decisive transfer of this ideology to the Muslim world took place between 1937 and 1945 under the impact of Nazi propaganda . . . “Although Islamism is an independent, antiSemitic, antimodern mass movement, its main early promoters, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Mufti and the Qassamites in Palestine, were supported financially and ideologically by agencies of the German National Socialist Government.”
Defend Academic Freedom ! Fight Racism !