'Apologise or resign', student leaders tell NUS President

Student leaders from universities across the country have written an open letter to Malia Bouattia calling on her to "personally address these [antisemetic] issues going forward" or resign.  The letter is in response to the publishing of a report by cross-party MPs, who described the actions of Bouattia as "outright racism".

Read the full text of the letter below:

Following the publication of the report from the Home Affairs Select Committee today into the state of antisemitism in the UK, we call on Malia Bouattia, the President of NUS UK to issue a full and formal apology to Jewish students, and indeed to her entire membership. 

This report was compiled by a cross-party committee of the House of Commons. Arguably, the content of the report which relates to Malia or NUS is not necessarily new, but it is shocking that we have reached this point. The report states that language that Malia has used in the past, “smacks of outright racism, which is unacceptable, and even more so from a public figure such as the President of the NUS.” This is an unprecedented situation for our National Union to be in, and therefore requires an unprecedented response. 

We, the undersigned believe that the statement issued by Malia to the press following the publication of the report does not go far enough in acknowledging or apologising for the significant damage that her actions and language have done to NUS and the student movement more widely. 

If Malia fails to acknowledge the need for an immediate and full apology, as well as provide details of how she will personally address these issues going forward, then we believe that she must resign. We too believe that this report, the issues highlighted by it and the recommendations within should reinforce to others who hold office in NUS, who have either publicly defended Malia or actively chosen to remain silent that they too have a role to play in addressing the systemic problem of antisemitism within the student movement.

Find it published online, with a full list of signatories, here.