Claims of discrimination against Jews in a number of Scottish universities - such as a student being punished for refusing to take exams on Shabbat and a professor responsible for admissions who said “we'll think twice about taking anyone with a Jewish name in future” - have been reported by the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCJC).

In a submission to an Equality and Human Rights Commission inquiry on racial harassment in higher education, SCJC reported the case of a medical student who claimed she was “being hounded for taking off Jewish holidays, and refusing to sit exams on Friday evening”. 

The student also alleged she was “repeatedly summoned for dressing-down from professors, the dean, and the head of the school”.

According to the SCJC, the student was told by the dean “because this is a secular university, we don’t need to take any account of students’ religion”. 

Another professor, who was on an admissions committee, allegedly said the student was “not doing your people any favours as we’ll think twice about taking anyone with a Jewish name in future.”

In a further case, a student who said she was repeatedly the target of antisemitic jibes from fellow students, both face-to-face and on social media, told the council that she no longer went to the business school or library, and was worried about attending a class workshop “due to fear of being harassed or attacked”.

The council’s report went on: “We also have information that such harassment is not limited to students, and some academic and research staff may also feel intimidated by aggressive demonstrations or abusive rhetoric whether by students or their academic peers. 

“For example, one member of academic staff told us, ‘Especially in Dundee, the academic community is influential and academic life is very badly polluted by anti-Israeli feeling. … I’ve been described by a fellow academic as being “suspiciously knowledgeable about Judaism”.’”

A spokesman for Dundee University told the Times: “Any accusations of discrimination are treated with the utmost seriousness, but we are unfamiliar with the alleged issue raised here.”

A spokesman for Abertay University in Dundee said it had “robust policies and reporting procedures in place designed to ensure the protection of staff and students from all forms of racial harassment”.

Jackson Carlaw, the acting Scottish Tory leader, told the Times that the SCJC illustrated “a gulf between the rhetoric of genuine tolerance and understanding of Jewish traditions and the reality: that ignorance continues to fuel prejudice and outright antisemitism across society — and even at the highest levels in Scotland’s university establishment”.