King’s College London Jewish student says they found swastika carved on desk at university

The student has accused university staff of calling the swastika an ‘ancient Hindu symbol’

3 days ago

King’s College London Jewish student has claimed they found swastika carved on a desk at the university.

The anonymous undergrad claimed that the university dismissed her concerns that a swastika that had been carved into the desk.

The student described the experience as “shocking” and “painful”.

She also accused the university of failing to launch an investigation into the identity of the individual responsible for the graffiti, adding that the university allegedly told her the swastika was an “ancient Hindu symbol”. This is something the university has denied.

“I immediately told my lecturer and filed a complaint through the university’s reporting platform,” she said. “The university’s response? They claimed it was probably the ancient Hindu symbol, removed the desk and didn’t follow up.”

However, she is not the only student who’s reported antisemitism at the university.

As part of a nationwide report on antisemitism at British universities, another King’s College London student spoke about their experience with discrimination.

They said that after facing verbal abuse, a university “wellness adviser” told them that they should “try to understand why the other students were behaving this way towards me”.

A third student also came forward to say that during a seminar about the Middle East during the Cold War, that it “turned into a 50 minute discussion defending Hamas’s actions on October 7th”.

They added that when they spoke up about this, they were “told this was ‘protected academic discussion’ and encouraged to make a complaint through the King’s College London report and support system”.

Leaked: The full texts Sierah sent Adrian about Awhina after MAFS really are dreadful

‘It’s not nice’: Zara McDermott reacts to Sam Thompson’s relationship with Samie Elishi

Jacqui’s dad reveals brutal reason her family didn’t go to her MAFS wedding and slams the show

A King’s College London spokesperson told The King’s Tab: “We are in contact with the student who has submitted a complaint about verbal abuse and have offered support while investigations are ongoing, including individual support through our wellbeing services and increased safety measures.

“We investigated the graffiti and removed it, we did not tell the student that the Swastika was an ‘ancient Hindu symbol’ in any official response.

“There is no place at King’s for racism, antisemitism, abuse, incitement, harassment and bullying, and any reports made to Report and Support (our reporting system), are taken very seriously and are investigated in line with our robust policies and procedures. We are engaged with our Israeli, Jewish and wider student societies on a regular basis, and have provided extensive pastoral support and have enhanced security measures, both in person and via our SafeZone app, to keep our community safe on campus.”

Romilly Goddard | News