Christians Under Attack

   A group of British academics has unanimously opposed government's plan to fight Islamic extremism in universities, comparing the move to "witch-hunts" that would single out Muslim students.
   The University and College Union, representing more than 120,000 British academics, approved the motion at its inaugural conference in Bournemouth in southern England on Wednesday.
   The motion called for members to "resist attempts by government to engage colleges and universities in activities which amount to increased surveillance of Muslim or other minority students and to the use of members of staff for such witch-hunts."
   UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said student trust would be undermined by fears of a "quasi-secret service".
   In November, the government warned of what it described as the serious threat posed by radical Muslims and issued guidance to colleges and universities calling on them to monitor student activity.
   But Hunt said "lecturers have a pivotal role in building trust. These proposals, if implemented, would make that all but impossible.
   "Universities must remain safe spaces for lecturers and students to discuss and debate all sorts of ideas, including those that some people may consider challenging, offensive and even extreme.
   "The last thing we need is people too frightened to discuss an issue because they fear some quasi-secret service will turn them in."
   The motion expressed outrage at the "continuing escalation demonisation of Muslim and other minority communities", adding this threatened to impinge on education.
   The motion opposed the ethnic profiling of students and staff, and pledged to challenge the "incursions of the security and immigration services to university and college campuses".
   The union would also defend the right of members to refuse to cooperate with attempts to "transform education into an extension of the security forces".
   A separate motion, put forward by university lecturers in London, argued increased surveillance of Muslims and other minority students amounted to a "witch-hunt".
   Presenting the motion, law lecturer at London metropolitan University Mark Snaith said academics were there to inform students not inform on them.
   "I teach law, I do not impose or enforce law, especially not bad legislation," he said.
   Seconding the motion, lecturer Mark Campbell said "Our universities are not hotbeds of Islamic extremism that need to be cowed. That message needed to be challenged," he said.
   He cited the case of a student from Swansea who was arrested and treated as a suspected terrorist after taking a picture of Tower Bridge.
   The reason for his arrest was because he possessed a book on Islamic Jihad against the West, Campbell said. But this book was on the reading list for his course, he said.
   UCU joint general secretary Paul Mackney said staff had been asked to report if they heard them planning a bomb attack in the canteen.
   It was obvious staff would report the matter if they overheard such a thing, he said, but to their managers not to Mi5, British Intelligence Service, officers.
   The academics said although they would report illegal activity, they would not act as detectives.