Following the release of footage purportedly showing students dancing to a Nazi song during their annual black-tie dinner, the Conservative Association at Warwick University was suspended for 90 days.
Students can be seen dancing and laughing to the music in the video, which was supposedly taken by a DJ. At one point, one of the students even orders the camera to stop recording. As the inquiry into the video continues, the institution has announced that the student union has suspended the political group. The school issued a statement saying that antisemitism has no place on their campus and the behavior depicted in the video is reprehensible.
In an apology video, the conservative group condemned the actions shown and expressed regret for any offense they may have caused. The university has asked the Jewish Society to meet to help with the evaluation.
The campus JSoc and the Union of Jewish Students at the university have condemned the Warwick Conservative Association’s “chairman’s dinner” for its open and unabashed endorsement of Nazism, calling it “utterly abhorrent” and calling on the institution to take immediate and robust action in response.
In the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflict, incidents of antisemitism have been on the rise in UK universities. The appalling amount of anti-Semitism at Oxford University was disclosed only last month by Jewish professors and students. Over eight months, there were more than 70 incidences.
An extensive dossier was sent to the Vice Chancellor outlining many accusations of bullying, one of which included a student who allegedly had their “Jewish nose” ridiculed. Someone reportedly told their pupil, “Israel is a terrorist state,” while others were accused of being child killers for attending a vigil for Hamas hostages.
Some have even been told to “leave Oxford” if they are unhappy. A letter that comes with the dossier says that the institution is filled with messages about plots to globalize the intifada and eliminate Israel’s existence, creating a “hostile environment” for anybody who supports Israel’s right to exist. Faculty members who made derogatory comments about other minorities would face severe consequences from Oxford’s administration.