London – A Jewish student at LSE (London School of Economics) has suffered a broken nose after a Nazi-themed drinking game on an Athletics Union (AU) trip led to a brawl.
According to a report in The Beaver, the ski trip to Val D’isere saw students playing a Nazi version of Ring of Fire, a popular drinking game which utilises playing cards. The cards were arranged in the shape of a Swastika and involved participants “saluting the Fuhrer”.
The AU, LSE Students’ Union, and Jewish-Society have all condemned the incident, with J-Soc President Jay Stoll saying: “We are appalled by a reported antisemitic assault that occurred after a Jewish student objected to a Nazi-themed drinking game, that was being played by his fellow students on a recent LSE Ski Trip in France. Nazi glorification and anti-semitism have no place in our universities, which should remain safe spaces for all students.
“ For those who believe the game was all in good humour, need to realize that when a Jewish student is subject to violence and the Nazi ideology glorified, it is no joke, but a spiteful, collective attack on a community.”
Students who were involved in the incident, which took place on the ski trip between December 9 and 17, are now subject to disciplinary action by LSE.
The Students’ Union has also vowed to take action “to prevent an incident like this happening again in the future. We will work with all sections of the student community to expand on our current processes, training, and policies”.
The AU statement denounced the “small group of individuals” behind the action and insisted “behaviour of this sort is not acceptable and is not an accurate representation of the behaviour we uphold ourselves to.”
It is not the first time the AU has been mired in controversy. In December 2009, they were forced to apologise after members of the society painted their faces brown, dressed up as Guantanamo Bay inmates and drunkenly yelled ‘Oh Allah’ outside the college bar.
After complaints from students at the time, the AU President Charlie Glyn wrote a joint statement with Student Union General Secretary Aled Dilwyn Fisher in The Beaver, LSE’s student newspaper, which condemned the actions “of a minority of students” as “racist, religiously insensitive and demeaning”.
