After 'bring a fit Jew' party outrage, university tells students to take equality seminar

Lessons in diversity for Oxford rugby boys

After 'bring a fit Jew' party outrage, university tells students to take equality seminar

Jessica Shepherd, Guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 December 2008

Oxford University is to hold a special seminar on cultural diversity for its under-21 rugby squad, some of whom have recently been accused of racism and anti-Semitism.

Three weeks ago pictures emerged of team members "blacked up" and wearing loincloths for an African-themed party named "the Safari Bop".

A week before that, one of the players had invited students to the squad's "bring a fit Jew party".

Students are alleged to have been told to invite a pretty Jewish date and arrive dressed as Orthodox Jews carrying bags of money.

Oxford University Student Union asked the organisers to change the theme as it was likely to cause offence.

But some of the players ignored this and held the party at a curry house. At least one student is alleged to have attached pretend sidelocks to their heads. Sidelocks are worn by Orthodox Jewish men.

The controversy came in a period of heavy training, during the build-up to today's Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Match, which kicks off at Twickenham at 2pm.

A spokesman for the Union of Jewish Students in the UK said he was "appalled that in 2008 old myths and anti-Semitic stereotypes are still appearing among supposedly educated students".

The captain of the under-21 team, Phil Boon, said he didn't see what the problem was. He said Jewish girls had accepted invites to the party. "I can understand why it might have offended some people, but it would have been an awesome social."

Boon told a newspaper "blacking up" was "just going along with the theme of the Safari Bop".

"We dress up for a lot of parties," he said.

Oxford's university proctors have demanded that the student who emailed invitations to the "bring a fit Jew party", who has not been named, write a letter of apology to the university's Jewish community and to its students.

A spokesman from the university said the proctors had investigated what had happened at the parties.

He said: "They are satisfied there were no breaches of university regulations.

"They have concluded that initial reports about what was planned and what actually happened were exaggerated."

He said: "A special seminar on cultural diversity for all members of the under-21 rugby team will take place early next term, given by the university's equality and diversity unit."

Rabbi Aaron Katchen, Oxford's Jewish chaplain, said: "This is all about issues of diversity, so a seminar on cultural diversity is very appropriate. Hopefully this will teach the students that saying 'it was just banter' is not a proper response."

Katchen said he hoped that the student who had been asked to write a letter of apology to the Jewish community would also write one to the university because what had happened had "made the institution look bad".

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said: "The individuals must realise the mistakes they have made and the great offence they have caused."

In a column for EducationGuardian.co.uk last month, Streeting wrote: "I don't believe these clowns represent the majority of students at Oxford University, or the wider student population in general. This year, Oxford University Students' Union is led by its first ever black president, Lewis Iwu.

"The students' union and the student body work hard to support the university in encouraging applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply to Oxford. But their work - and their progress - will be set back by these incidents."