Inclusivity is a core value of our University. There is no place for racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, abuse, incitement or harassment of any kind, and it is not tolerated amongst our communities.
We regularly encourage all staff and students to use our Report and Support procedures, to raise issues with us safely and quickly, in order that they can be dealt with effectively and efficiently.
We were therefore both surprised and deeply concerned to receive a letter from the Law firm Mishcon de Reya on 30 November making allegations of antisemitism on our campuses, which was simultaneously shared with The Times and subsequently published on X (formerly Twitter) by the Union of Jewish Students. We are now investigating each of the new allegations raised in the letter and Times article as a matter of urgency, as many of them had not been reported to us previously. We have asked Mishcon de Reya, in our acknowledgement of their letter, to strongly advise their clients to report the facts of the issues described in their letter. Simultaneously, we are working to understand why these issues have been raised in this way, rather than through our normal processes.
Following the events in the Middle East we issued a statement to our community that emphasised, among other things: our zero tolerance of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, abuse, incitement or harassment of any kind; our plea for members of our community to report anything of this sort to us immediately through our Report and Support service so that we can investigate it urgently; and our request for our diverse and inclusive community to support each other, with compassion, understanding and empathy for others’ pain. We continue to communicate these messages to our students and staff, and maintain an open, constructive dialogue with the relevant student societies in order to understand and respond to students’ concerns.
The letter that was sent by Mishcon de Reya on 30 November and published on social media and shown below:
2023.11.30 Letter from MdR to QMUL [PDF 127KB]
The reply from Queen Mary University on 8 December and shown below:
MdR 231208 [PDF 176KB]
You can download a copy of the statement:
Statement in response to the article in The Times 4 December 2023 [PDF 102KB]