25 November 2025
We are a group of Jewish staff at Goldsmiths who are increasingly anxious about the university’s plans to challenge antisemitism and racism more generally.
In June 2025, following the Mohinder Sethi KC’s report on antisemitism on campus, the College drafted an action plan in association with a private consultancy, Six Ravens, but not with Jewish staff or students. The action plan included a two-year timetable to address antisemitism based on a series of broad commitments. It decided on a governance structure, again without any consultation with Jewish staff or students. Implementation of the plan is to be coordinated by a project board led by pro vice-chancellor Professor Adam Dinham and scrutinised by an external oversight and advisory group chaired by Goldsmiths academic Dr Emma Davies.
There is currently no list of any actions to be delivered and no publicly available evidence that either the project board or oversight and advisory group have yet met. This is hardly an example of the transparency that the College claims to embrace. We have recently received an invitation from Dr Davies to attend a knowledge-sharing ‘workshop’ but it is very unclear about who will be in attendance and how this relates to the existing governance structure.
Requests by our ad hoc group to meet with Professor Dinham to discuss the shape of the action plan governance structure have been repeatedly rebuffed and we have been told that the plan is ‘owned’ by Goldsmiths Council and therefore not up for debate. Instead, we have been offered informal meetings which we do not consider to be part of any meaningful consultation. Our reluctance to engage in future meetings and workshops is therefore based on what we believe to be fundamental flaws in the action plan and its implementation.
To date, no one has explained why the university is making a special case for antisemitism as a single example of racism. This argument wasn't made at the time of setting up the Inquiry nor the action plan and now, as the plan moves forwards into 'conversations' and enactment, the argument has still not been made. The college has now spent well over £500,000 at a time of severe financial hardship on an inquiry and action plan without a clear and detailed timetable or buy-in from affected staff and students.
We have argued that the College should fold antisemitism into a university-wide programme of anti-racism training but this has been repeatedly rejected. If the argument had been put as to why antisemitism is a special case, then we would at least have something on the table to discuss (and to have a 'conversation' about), but there is nothing.
In conclusion, we believe that to progress in this way is wrong-headed, offensive to many different groups in the university and potentially a trigger for antisemitic accusations about 'privilege'. In other words, this process could well result in precisely the opposite situation from the one intended. Imagine a situation in which antisemitism awareness training is being delivered, and someone being trained asks the trainer, 'Why has antisemitism training been prioritised over other forms of anti-racism training?' We do not want to be part of such a scenario in which we would have been incorporated into a position in which de facto we would be in part responsible for this position of prioritising one form of racism above any other.
In conclusion, we have been offered informal meetings which we do not consider to be part of any meaningful consultation. We are of course prepared to meet with any individual or group to discuss these issues as we are committed to mounting the most effective challenge both to antisemitism and all forms of racism. However we are reluctant to take part in meetings or workshops that reinforce what we believe to be fundamental flaws in the action plan and its implementation.
Signed:
Laura Belinky - MCCS
Clare Delijani - TaP
Des Freedman - MCCS
Ruth Garland - MCCS
Yael Gerson - Education
Michael Guggenheim - Sociology
Ben Levitas – TaP
Betty Liebovich - Education
Miranda Matthews - Education
MIchael Rosen - Education
Catherine Rottenberg – MCCS
Beny Wagner - Art
