altariel | (no subject)

fjm alerted me to this, and then

katlinel sent me a link with further information, and I am just too cross not to post about this story.

"Lecturers and university staff across Britain are to be asked to spy on "Asian-looking" and Muslim students they suspect of involvement in Islamic extremism and supporting terrorist violence, the Guardian has learned. They will be told to inform on students to special branch because the government believes campuses have become "fertile recruiting grounds" for extremists.

The Department for Education has drawn up a series of proposals which are to be sent to universities and other centres of higher education before the end of the year. The 18-page document acknowledges that universities will be anxious about passing information to special branch, for fear it amounts to "collaborating with the 'secret police'". It says there will be "concerns about police targeting certain sections of the student population (eg Muslims)".

The proposals are likely to cause anxiety among academics, and provoke anger from British Muslim groups at a time when ministers are at the focus of rows over issues such as the wearing of the veil and forcing Islamic schools to accept pupils from other faiths."

Anxiety? That doesn't cover the half of it. You know, in a DS9 story I wrote a hundred years ago, I had Garak spend a term in a university, spying on the students. He had a merry old time of it. It seemed to be ludicrous, almost a parody of totalitarianism. Did someone at the DfES actually think this was a smart idea?