Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom expelled a student earlier this month over his dating-app profile picture, which featured a Palestinian flag superimposed over the mouth of an Orthodox Jewish man sleeping on the train.
The 20-year-old student, identified as “Jonathan,” had been due to start his first year at NTU.
He posted the photo on his Tinder profile, and it was seen by another student who then posted it on Twitter, where it was shared hundreds of times and criticized. After it was brought to the attention of NTU, he was suspended.
A spokesperson for the university confirmed on Thursday that “a student has been permanently excluded from the university, relating to offensive content which circulated on social media in September,” according to the Tab student newspaper. The school added, “This behavior was completely unacceptable and is not recognized as part of our university’s culture.”
“Jonathan” acknowledged to the Tab that the picture was “terrible, absolutely insensitive and should not have been taken in the first place.” He added, “I should also mention the fact that I am in no way anti-Semitic or have any kind of prejudice towards Jews.”
Daniel Kosky, campaigns organizer of the Union of Jewish Students, applauded NTU for “swiftly dealing with this incident, saying, “We are disgusted by the anti-Semitic photo circulating online. There can be no place for anti-Semitism in society or on campus.”
Binyomin Gilbert, program manager at Campaign Against Antisemitism, added: “This is what zero tolerance of anti-Semitism looks like, and other universities should learn from Trent’s example.”
