Edinburgh student elected UJS president
Louis Danker will succeed Sami Berkoff following vote at annual student convention
A final year Edinburgh University geography student has been elected the next president of the Union of Jewish Students, representing 9,000 members across 75 Jewish societies in the UK and Ireland.
Louis Danker, who grew up in Barnet with a London mum and Belfast dad, ran on a platform of a “proud, diverse, united” student community, and was up against fellow nominees Naomi Bernstein (Cambridge University) and Daniel Grossman (Bristol University).
Close to 2,000 Jewish students voted in the election, the results of which were announced at UJS Conference on Sunday, 15th December after just under three weeks of intense campaigning and live hustings.
Danker is a 21-year-old is a former Edinburgh JSoc president (2022) whose campaign centred around putting Jewish pride back on the agenda, runing a Jewish culture and history week on campuses around the country focusing on Jewish identity and talking about the diversity of different Jewish backgrounds. As reported by Jewish News, he also proposed “a proactive plan for a year of zero tolerance on antisemitism”.
Danker told Jewish News: “It’s the biggest honour to be elected the next UJS President and to have the chance to lead an organisation I owe so much to. For the next six months I’m excited to support Sami and her wonderful team in their work, recapturing Jewish pride on campus and building a better future for Jewish students across the UK & Ireland.”
Team Danker’s campaign managers Emma Levy, Edgar Santos, Harry Isaacs and Natasha Spungin told Jewish News: “We are so proud of Louis and this campaign which has broken all historical UJS campaign records, winning an unprecedented 938 votes, giving him the highest mandate in UJS history.
“Having worked with him for the past several months on this campaign we have seen first hand his proactivity, organisation and kindness as a leader. We look forward to seeing all the incredible things he will achieve, and more records that he will break, in a proud, diverse and united UJS.”
Danker will succeed UJS’s current president Sami Berkoff in the summer of 2025.
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