Muslim Community Leaders Asked to Help Seek Out Extremists at Universities

September 15, 2005

Source: The Guardian

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5285828-116499,00.html

On September 15, 2005 The Guardian reported, "Muslim community leaders will be asked to help 'identify and isolate' potential extremists on university campuses as students start their new term... The move is among measures to be outlined today in a speech by the education secretary, Ruth Kelly, and comes amid concern that radical groups are using universities as recruiting grounds. Yesterday the higher education minister, Bill Rammell, who has launched a nationwide programme of meetings with Muslim students and academics as part of the initiative, said the government was responding to issues raised by the Muslim community. 'I am doing this because leaders of faith communities have approached me and expressed fears that their young people are being attracted to and converted to violent extremism,' he said. 'Community leaders say to us that they are worried about some students, a tiny, tiny minority, who are drawn to extremist ideas and this is about shifting the terms of debate.'"