A commenter pointed out Ghetto benches, which was a form of segregation I hadn’t heard of before.
Ghetto benches or bench Ghetto (known in Polish as getto ławkowe)[1][2] was a form of official segregation in the seating of students, introduced in Poland‘s universities beginning in 1935 at Lwow Polytechnic.[3] By 1937, when this practice became conditionally legalized, most rectors at other higher education institutions had adopted this form of segregation.[4] Under the ghetto ławkowe system, Jewish university students were forced, under threat of expulsion, to sit in a left-hand side section of the lecture halls reserved exclusively for them. This official policy of enforced segregation was often accompanied by acts of violence directed against Jewish students by members of the ONR (delegalised already after three months in 1934) and other extreme right and anti-Semitic organizations.[5]
The “bench Ghetto” marked a peak of antisemitism in Poland between the world wars.[6]
So that’s the kind of thing you’re making friends with, vice-chancellors of UK universities. God I hope you’re embarrassed.