40 No. 67 JUSTICE he context of antisemitism on UK campuses is presented here, along with the legislation that impacts on it, the issues surrounding the legislation, and the attempts to challenge it. The Source of Antisemitism on Campus Antisemitism on campus mostly stems from student Palestine societies, whose criticism of Israel by means of their social media activity and their campus behavior promotes the image of a Jewish state that is racist and bloodthirsty. This creates a hostile campus environment for Jewish students, who are assumed to support Israel, regardless of their personal perspective on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. This hostile campus environment is especially bad at certain times, such as during“Israel Apartheid Week,”or in the aftermath of conflict between Israel and Hamas, such as in spring 2021. An additional source contributing to the hostile environment for Jewish faculty is the lecturers’ academic trade union, the University and College Union (UCU), which frequently passes resolutions at its branch meetings around the country condemning Israel’s “occupation” and “oppression”of the Palestinians. In the wake of the IsraelHamas conflict in May 2021, a motion passed by the university branch of the UCU at my own university, Sheffield Hallam University, as well as by several others, condemned Israel as“an apartheid state”and called for a“free Palestine.” Confusion about the Limits of Free Speech on Campus As environments of research and learning, universities are considered to occupy a special role in encouraging vigorous debate, free exploration and exchange of ideas, free speech, and freedom of enquiry. To this end, universities have a duty under the Education (No.2) Act 1986 and the Education Reform Act 1998 to promote and protect freedom of speech within the law. It is therefore important that universities are tolerant of expression of a wide range of views, and that they do not interfere with students’ rights to freedom of speech, including the right to criticize a particular regime or express views on a contentious topic. This does not mean, however, that universities should tolerate racist speech. While Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which is incorporated into UK law by virtue of section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998, protects speech that is offensive, provocative, or controversial, it does not protect racist speech, including antisemitic speech, where the harm to the victim outweighs the free speech rights of the speaker. This is by virtue of Article 10 (2) ECHR and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Thus, when universities allow a hostile campus environment to persist, they show their lack of awareness and/or understanding of the relevant law. Indeed, many UK universities behave as if freedom of speech on campus were an absolute right, rather than a qualified right. Those universities which are aware of the restrictions of Article 10 (2) on racist speech suffer from a further problem. They do not recognize and understand where offensive, controversial, and provocative speech ends and unlawful antisemitic speech begins. Unfortunately, the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism by over 100 universities does not seem to have made much of a difference, as there is little understanding of how to use and apply the definition in practice. Much of the confusion about the boundaries of speech on campus exists because university administrators and academics tend to confuse freedom of speech with academic freedom. Academic freedom is indeed a species of free speech, but it is not the same. It is a principle that only extends to the classroom, research activities, conference papers, academic publications, and course content. Specifically, under section 202 of the Education Reform Act 1988, academic freedom refers to the right of universities to be free from state and political interference; the right of university academics to be free Factors Influencing the Antisemitic Environment on UK Campuses T LesleyKlaff
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