A student from Edinburgh University has been elected as the next president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), representing over 9,000 members across 75 Jewish student societies across the UK and Ireland.
Louis Danker, a final year geography student, beat two other candidates to become president-elect following a vote at the annual student conference on Sunday, which saw students from across the UK gather to decide on motions and programmes.
The 21-year-old, who grew up in Barnet, is a former president of Edinburgh JSoc and current UJS National Council chair.
Running on a slogan of “Proud. Diverse.United”, Danker said that he possessed the “leadership experience and resolve” needed for success in the role.
During the three weeks allotted to campaigning and live hustings, Danker focused on putting “Jewish pride” back on the agenda, celebrating “Jewish diversity in all its forms”, as well as an initiative to create a Jewish culture and history week on campuses around the country.
He said he “spent years at university advocating for Jewish students, from speaking to politicians at the Scottish and Australian parliaments, to helping JSoc presidents around the country fight back against antisemitism since October 7. In Edinburgh, I amplified Jewish student voices, and successfully campaigned for the university to disengage from extreme groups.”
In April 2023, Edinburgh JSoc, led by Danker, was one of the UK’s fastest-growing Jewish societies and won JSoc of the Year at the UJS awards.
The society, which has grown to become a 250-strong community with weekly bagel lunches and Friday night dinners, has, among other initiatives, invited Shoah survivors to come and speak, collaborated to host Islamophobia and antisemitism awareness events, organised an interfaith charity fair and run mental health awareness sessions with Jami.
Danker, who beat out fellow nominees Naomi Bernstein (Cambridge University) and Daniel Grossman (Bristol University), will take up the mantle in the summer of 2025, succeeding UJS current president Sami Berkoff.
Posting to X, Berkoff said she “can’t wait to hand over to Louis in six months – truly excited about the future of UJS!”
Following the announcement of his victory, Louis said: "It’s the biggest honour to be elected the next UJS President and to have the chance to lead an organisation I owe so much to. For the next six months I’m excited to support Sami and her wonderful team in their work, recapturing Jewish pride on campus and building a better future for Jewish students across the UK & Ireland."
In becoming president of UJS, Danker follows in the footsteps of his father, Tony Danker, chair of UJS from 1993 to 1994.
