The Students\u2019 Union at London\u2019s School of Oriental and African Studies has denied Jewish students the right to decide what constitutes anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n
The motion for a \u2018Jewish Equality Act,\u2019 which petitioned for kosher options, access to multi-faith rooms and rescheduling for Shabbat and Jewish holidays, was passed at a Students\u2019 Union meeting last week. The University of London constituent college has just 39 students who identified themselves as Jewish during the application process.<\/p>\n
Whilst the motion\u2019s requests were granted, the Union did not agree to a clause which demanded that \u201cJewish students should be given the right to self-determination and be able to define what constitutes hatred against their group, like all other minority groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avrahum Sanger, an economics third year undergraduate who is the President of the SOAS Jewish Society, proposed the Act. He was \u201coutraged\u201d by the decision to remove the clause, believing\u00a0that \u201cremoving this line tells me and my Jewish peers that we are not able to define our own oppression, that we are not able to self-determine our identity\u2026that it is one rule for them and another for every other minority group.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokeswoman for the Union of Jewish Students echoed Sanger\u2019s sentiments: \u201cthis was, once again, a room full of students who do not identify as Jewish, explaining to Jewish students how to define their own oppression. This is in contrast to the way that other forms of oppression are defined, as per the Macpherson principle, allowing the victim to define their own oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adopted by the Metropolitan Police after a 1999 investigation into the mishandling of Stephen Lawrence\u2019s murder, the Macpherson principle gives anyone \u2014 not necessarily the victim \u2014 the right to describe an assault as racist, pending an investigation.<\/p>\n