“It’s atrocious”: Oxford students criticise University, as seventeen students released on bail

Seventeen students were arrested in a sit-in protest organised by Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) at Oxford University offices in Wellington Square, marking a significant escalation after two weeks of protest action from an encampment coalition “liberated zones” that were set up at Oxford’s Museum of Natural History, and the Radcliffe Camera.

The University argued that they “do not have to follow others’ playbooks”, releasing a statement condemning the “direct action tactics” used by the protestors as “violent and criminal”, contesting OA4P’s description of the protest as “peaceful”, instead suggesting that it had caused “significant distress for members of reception staff and the wider staff community”.

Several students have condmned the action taken by the University to the sit-in protest. It is “increasingly atrocious”, one student told Per Capita.

Since then, an open letter signed by Jewish academics and students at Oxford University has highlighted how the Oxford, unlike counterparts at Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin, has failed to engage in “meaningful, good-faith dialogue with protesting students.” The open letter criticises the University for its “characterisation of Jews as a uniform mass with a single viewpoint [which] is itself a common and insidious antisemitic trope.” 

Signatories include historian Avi Shlaim from St Anthony’s College– known for his critical interpretations of the Israeli state and Zionism.

The University & Colleges Union (UCU) released a statement condemning “Oxford Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey in the strongest possible terms for bringing in police to violently arrest her own students, engaged in peaceful protest against genocide”

Meanwhile, antisemitic graffiti appeared at Regents Park College on the 22nd of May, which students reported to be Nazi Swastikas, as was subsequently confirmed by the Principal of the college, Sir Malcolm Evans. It was “draw on on the walls of two cubicles in the toilets adjacent to the Hall, and has now been removed.” An open letter from Jewish students and staff in Oxford University suggests that recent JCR Motions have included sections dedicated to the “tokenisation and weaponisation of Jewish identity”.

“This is not how to do it”

Sixteen protestors were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, including one student arrested on suspicion of common assault, with police confirming yesterday (24/05) that one further student had been arrested in Oxford on suspicion of aggravated trespass and affray. All seventeen students have been released on conditional bail.

The University of Oxford suggested that the OA4P has escalated from their “mainly peaceful” actions to “direct action tactics while making inaccurate statements and claims about the University.”  The University additionally claimed that “a faction of students and faculty claiming to represent OA4P have not been interested in dialogue in good faith”, reported The Oxford Student.

“It’s not surprising, but it’s utterly disappointing– well, it’s a two-fold disappointment. The confiscation of phones to silence students is utterly dystopian, and the hostility they display here, and across the world, is utterly militaristic. Secondly, the University Administration are just cowards […] I think this is just a symptom of the larger issue of how deeply universities across the world are invested into the war-profiteering an colonial machine that Israel thrives on”, Solademi Oduyeye, a second year History student at the University of Oxford, and former Director of Communications at The Oxford Blue, tells Per Capita.

Another student from Wadham College, Oxford, who agreed to speak to Per Capita anonymously, described the university’s response as “increasingly atrocious” and “clearly refused to negotiate with OA4P”. They highlighted that “the sit-in has precedence as a form of protest at Oxford”.

Meanwhile, Oxford JCoS shared a statement calling for the University to “show zero tolerance to the antisemitic and hostile atmosphere which has been allowed to flourish at Oxford University”.

Over the past few weeks, several Oxford Junior Common Rooms (JCR) released statements in solidarity with Palestine. One of the proposers of a college motion, Anna Serafeimidou, speaking to The Oxford Blue suggested she was “very surprised” about the time it took to draw up the motions.

“Until recently, […] our power as students and as college student bodies was quite limited”.

An open letter addressed to the Oxford University administration in Oxford from “Jewish students, academics and friends” suggests “many of us and our colleagues have been targets of harassment, bullying, and discrimination throughout the university and the colleges due to our Jewish and/or Israeli identity”. The open letter highlights a list of discriminatory incidents, which are alleged to have occurred to Jewish students and staff at Oxford. This includes mention of an emergency motion put out by the Wadham College Student Union, which had a section on the “tokenisation and weaponisation of Jewish identity”.