The Charity Commission has
confirmed that it has opened an investigation into the National Union of Students’ (NUS) charitable arm, following a
letter calling on the regulator to do so from Robert Halfon MP and Campaign Against Antisemitism.
In his letter, Mr Halfon, who is the Chair of the Education Select Committee, wrote to “voice my dismay at the actions and behaviour of the National Union of Students and its trustees, in regards to their treatment of Jewish students and the Jewish community’s concerns regarding antisemitism. Together with Campaign Against Antisemitism…I politely request that the Commission launch a Section 46 inquiry, pursuant to the 2011 Charities Act into the NUS and look forward to receiving your response.”
Mr Halfon enclosed a
dossier of evidence by Campaign Against Antisemitism detailing how NUS has failed Jewish students. He wrote that he is “particularly concerned about the enclosed dossier of antisemitic events that have taken place within the NUS over the past several years — and which come following decades of concerning trends — which was prepared by CAA.”
Mr Halfon made particular reference in his letter to the recent
scandal involving the rapper Kareem Dennis, known as Lowkey, who was due to headline NUS’s centenary conference last month. After initially
dismissing the concerns of Jewish students, who pointed out the rapper’s inflammatory record, the union came under media scrutiny and eventually Mr Dennis
withdrew from the event.
As the scandal erupted, Mr Halfon
excoriated NUS for failing to send a representative to attend a hearing held by his committee.
This scandal was immediately followed by the
election of Shaima Dallali as NUS’s new President, despite her
history of antisemitic tweets and other inflammatory social media posts. Prior to the election, she
apologised for one such tweet.
As the dossier produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism observes, “Despite [its] ostensible and much-vaunted commitment to anti-racism, NUS has a long record of controversy in relation to Jewish students and antisemitism, dating back decades.
The dossier notes that antisemitism on campus has surged to record levels, with CST recording a 191% increase in antisemitic incidents on campus in 2021, and that Campaign Against Antisemitism’s latest
Antisemitism Barometer found that an overwhelming 92% of British Jews believe that antisemitism in universities is a problem.
(full article online)
The Charity Commission has confirmed that it has opened an investigation into the National Union of Students’ (NUS) charitable arm, following a letter calling on the regulator to do so from Robert Halfon MP and Campaign Against Antisemitism. In his letter, Mr Halfon, who is the Chair of the...
antisemitism.org