JUSTICE - No. 73

70 No. 73 JUSTICE protect freedom of expression on campus; (b) a duty to prevent discrimination and harassment based on protected characteristics; (c) a university-specific institutional duty to protect the academic freedoms of research and study. Currently, UK universities have failed in their duties towards Jewish students and academic staff with respect to preventing discrimination and harassment and protecting freedom to research or study. 2. Anti-Israel protests and encampments on campuses, including in online spaces, have exacerbated what was already considered a hostile environment by many Jewish students and staff. Some university departments, trade unions, and student political societies or groups have directly and indirectly discriminated against, abused, harassed, or excluded Jewish students, either in person or online. 3. Traditional antisemitic concepts and tropes are being used by staff and students who are either pro- Palestinian, anti-Israel, or both. Israel and Zionism are regularly demonized and delegitimized, often using blood libels or other anti-Jewish tropes, and students or academics labelled as Zionists are routinely viewed as legitimate targets for discrimination, harassment, abuse, and attack. We have proposed specific recommendations based on these three broad conclusions, which we have published previously, and are supporting UK universities individually, and the sector more generally, to implement them.40 It is only through robust, evidence-based actions and safeguarding that academic freedom can and will remain at the heart of all academic activities, and that all staff and students will be able to exercise their legal rights on campuses. n Matthew Bolton, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, School of Law, Queen Mary University London. Rosa Freedman, Professor of Law, Conflict and Global Development, School of Law, University of Reading. John Hyman, Grote Chair in the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts & Humanities. University College London. 40. See /https://www.icpg.org.uk/_files/ugd/e23fb6_b1f1f b36b62f4ec7821794253fe66a17.pdf

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