Gaza uni protests used non-students to boost numbers

Well, well, well. In a new report released by the Higher Education Policy Institute, it has emerged that a number of pro-Gaza university campus protests relied on non-students to help bolster campaign numbers – after widespread demonstrations took place across top university campuses last year.

Both the US and UK saw mass university protests – prompted partly by frustration that student tuition fees were ‘funding genocide’ – beginning after activists took to Columbia University in New York. As reported by the Times, the probe also found that Jewish students complained the camps encouraged antisemitic behaviour on campus, with slogans written in Arabic to hide their meaning, and claimed England’s higher education watchdog ‘missed an opportunity’ to help universities.

Students called for their institutions to cut ties with Israeli arms suppliers as over 20 Russell Group universities in Britain (including Oxford and Cambridge) had their campuses occupied. But not everyone who turned up actually attended university, the HEPI review has found, with makeshift camps welcoming non-students to help big up their protests – causing institutions to face difficulty enforcing disciplinary measures.