NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 16:24 ET
- UCL President Michael Spence said he was “horrified” by reports of harassment and abuse against Jewish students.
- The comments resurfaced scrutiny as UCL heads into its 2026 bicentenary year.
- UCL has said it reported an antisemitic incident to police and suspended campus events by the hosting student group pending an investigation.
University College London (UCL) President and Provost Michael Spence said he was “horrified” by reports that some Jewish students continue to face harassment and abuse, and said the university would keep acting quickly on incidents.
The statement matters now because UCL is moving toward a high-profile bicentenary in 2026, when it plans a year of events marking 200 years since its founding. UCL says it has more than 50,000 students and over 16,000 staff, giving it an outsized public footprint in British higher education. 1
Debates over antisemitism on campus have become a flashpoint for university leaders, who face pressure to protect students while upholding freedom of speech. UCL has been drawn into that debate after a series of complaints and high-profile commentary about its campus climate.
Spence’s remarks were published in an essay by journalist Nicole Lampert, who described her post as an expanded version of a recent article for Britain’s Telegraph. 2
In the statement, Spence said “all forms of anti-Semitism are utterly abhorrent, have absolutely no place at UCL,” adding that the university was committed to “banishing this from our campus,” Lampert wrote. (https://nicolelampert.substack.com/p/the-university-for-extremists)
UCL has pointed to earlier disciplinary steps. In a November statement, the university said it reported antisemitic comments made during a student-organised event to police, banned the individual involved from campus and opened an investigation. 3
UCL also said it barred the student group that hosted the event from holding further on-campus events while the investigation continues, and said it had started disciplinary proceedings against a number of students in relation to antisemitism.
Students’ Union UCL said it suspended two organising societies with immediate effect and urged students and staff to report hate crimes through its reporting tools, the university statement said.
UCL’s bicentenary planning has been designed to highlight its founding values and its position as London’s first university, according to its official bicentenary programme page.
In competitive terms, UCL sits in Britain’s Russell Group — an association of 24 research-intensive universities that includes Oxford and Cambridge — a status that makes campus governance issues closely watched by politicians, alumni and donors. 4
Lampert wrote that students and staff she spoke with described a hostile environment and said the university’s response had become a test case for how British universities police harassment while maintaining academic freedom.
Spence said UCL would continue to take “swift and decisive” action when incidents are reported, including banning individuals from campus and referring matters to police where appropriate, Lampert wrote.
Separately, UCL has continued recruiting staff for its Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, with at least one project coordinator role advertised online with a Jan. 4 application deadline, according to a listing shared by Global South Opportunities. 5
