Leap of faith: Inclusion matters at university

Throughout January, Jewish students will be dusting off their laptops and library cards and traipsing back to cold, dark campuses after the winter break. Many of them will be hoping that this term will mark a new chapter in Jewish student life, after all the heat that the devastating conflict in the Middle East has imported to British campuses, and the increase in antisemitism which has come with it.

It’s important to remember that for most Jewish students, their main concerns on a day-to-day basis will be lectures and essays, social events and romance, cooking and cleaning. As UJS President Louis Danker said at Limmud a few weeks ago, “Campus is not a war zone for Jews.”

Yes, the level of antisemitism has increased, and UJS and CST undertake vital work every single day to keep students safe. But for every antisemitic incident I experienced at university, there were a dozen others where a friend asked how I was doing or a classmate remarked that they had never met anyone Jewish before and wanted to ask me about it.

UJS and JSoc have grown over the course of this decade, seeing record engagement since 2023. Turnout in the UJS presidential election nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024, and the most recent annual report shows continued growth since the pandemic. As the president of my University’s JSoc 2024-25, I saw increased engagement, with record attendance at our Friday night dinners. But these positive stories and numbers can obscure a different reality for many Jewish students.

A significant proportion of Jewish students do not engage in Jewish life on campus. In some cases, they have had a very Jewish-led childhood and want to spend three years exploring other things. But all too often they are excluded from Jewish spaces, which can be monolithic and cliquey. When I meet students who “don’t do JSoc”, they often tell me about the one event they went to in first year.

Maybe they grew up outside of the ‘Jewish bubble’ and arrive to a room full of people who already know each other from school or Israel tour. Maybe they arrive at university having led egalitarian musical services on summer camp and are greeted by a JSoc Kabbalat Shabbat that looks and sounds like an Orthodox service. Maybe they don’t identify with Zionism and feel that at JSoc they need to either keep quiet about politics or face backlash.

There is nothing wrong with having Jewish school friends at university, or being an Orthodox Jew, or having Zionist politics. But we can all help to build Jewish spaces on campus which are inclusive and respectful of difference, so that those students who don’t fall into these groups also find their place in our communities. If you are a Jewish student see yourself in this category, then please get in touch with me or with UJS and we can help you to find a Jewish home on campus.

Inclusion matters in Jewish campus life, not just because all Jews deserve to be there, and not just because diversity enriches our communities. It matters because Jewish students who don’t go to JSoc still face antisemitism and may not have a Jewish community who can support them. It matters because university is the first time in most students’ lives that they independently decide how to practice and celebrate their Judaism, and in a community as small as ours, inclusion is key to Jewish continuity.

Zac Bates Fisher is Student Engagement Officer at the Movement for Progressive Judaism