Author:
Publication: Scotsman.com
Date: September 16, 2005
URL: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1946672005
A report due to be published next week claims
that extremist organisations and terror groups are operating in universities
across the UK.
Education secretary Ruth Kelly has told universities
to clamp down on student extremists in the wake of the London terror attacks.
The report will claim more than 30 institutions
across the country have had "extremist and/or terror groups" detected
in them, according to The Guardian. The institutions include Oxford and Cambridge
Universities and the London School of Economics (LSE).
Anthony Glees, the director of Brunel University's
centre for intelligence and security studies and author of the report, told
the paper: "This is a serious threat. We have discovered a number of
universities where subversive activities are taking place, often without the
knowledge of the university authorities."
The report says the Islamist groups Hizib
ut-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun (which was thought to have disbanded) are active
at several universities despite being subject to a "no-platform policy"
by the National Union of Students.
The BNP was found to be active at Cambridge
University, animal rights extremists at Oxford, and Islamic extremist groups
at the LSE and Manchester University.
Ms Kelly said on Thursday that vice-chancellors
must inform the police when they suspect students or staff of engaging in
"unacceptable behaviour".
University leaders expressed concern over
being asked to "police" their students but accepted that the terrorist
threat could not be ignored.
Ms Kelly told the annual conference of Universities
UK: "Following the London bomb attacks in July, we are all having to
re-examine certain policies. One is how to respond to those using the freedoms
of our society to promote terrorism and violence."
Her remarks had a special resonance as she
spoke at Universities UK's London headquarters in Tavistock Square, the scene
of the July 7 bus bombing.
