And a threat to UK security, it seems
BBC News
carries the story which arises from the first report of the new Homeland Security Committee:
Campus extremism is a “serious problem” that threatens UK security, a group of MPs and peers has said.
There are “grave concerns” students are being radicalised in British universities, according to a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Homeland Security.
The problem should be tackled “with utmost urgency”, the group says.
The report is available here and, whilst it may have much that is interesting and important, seem rather wide of the mark in relation to universities. Again, according to the BBC report:
It says: “The problem of universities as places of radicalisation requires urgent and sustained attention by the new government.
“It has been an obvious and neglected problem for too long and must be tackled as a matter of utmost urgency.”
But the Committee received evidence from only a handful of academics and seems perhaps to be excessively influenced by one or two individuals who have asserted that there really is a major problem with radicalisation at universities. There isn’t, and there isn’t any evidence here or anywhere else to suggest this is the case. And it really is not very helpful for universities to be described in this way.
