Pro-Palestine campus protests have gone too far

The Prime Minister has summoned the vice chancellors of several universities to Downing Street to read them the riot act over pro-Palestine protests taking place on their campuses. But this meeting will need to have more impact than Rishi Sunak’s ineffectual gathering of police chiefs in February over public order – which has led to far too little improvement in the situation.  

Tomorrow’s meeting could not be more timely, with the campus protests in the UK now at a turning point. Last week, in a new low, the senior leadership of Goldsmiths, University of London surrendered to the lion’s share of demands by their pro-Palestine student protestors. Even the university’s recognition of the gold standard IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is under threat.

There are many questions to be asked about the events at Goldsmiths. Firstly, how, in a sector supposedly on the edge of financial crisis, is a single mid-sized university able to afford to prioritise over £100,000 a year for Palestinian scholarships? Jeremy Hunt would be well within his rights as Chancellor to raise this matter with the Universities UK advocacy group next time they ask for more taxpayer funding or higher fees.