Speaking at the Cambridge Union, author Irshad Manji described the need to stop students being drawn into extremist networks. More recently Professor Glees, Director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, has warned that terrorist groups have tightened their grip on campuses around the country in the last two years. He believes that there may be 鈥渂etween forty and fifty thousand British people鈥 who would consider terrorism, and claims the open-mindedness of universities is part of the problem. He says "universities have allowed themselves to become safe spaces where there is no attempt to try and see what it is that student organisations are doing. What we鈥檙e seeing increasingly is diversity being celebrated by universities which is really an excuse for letting people do whatever they want to do, and where that can involve extremism it鈥檚 got to be stopped." Last December, the deputy of banned Islamic group Al Muhajiroun boasted that disciples of its founder are still circulating passionately throughout UK campuses. However, Professor Glees concedes 鈥渢he vast majority of British Muslim students are the same as any other student. They want to be secure on campus. They want to have the freedom to debate and there鈥檚 nothing wrong with that." He also states that there has been little evidence of sustained extremist activity in Cambridge. In light of this comment, it's worth looking at the local Muslim community. The Cambridge Islamic Society has over 600 members and, along with the Cambridge Muslim Chaplaincy, provides a service for students at both Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin Universities. Prayer rooms are open for daily devotion, frequent social events are organised, and once a year "Experience Islam Week" brings the Muslim message to their peers. One Muslim student says they "relate to the Islamic Society really strongly, it's a good meeting point where all Muslim members of various societies come together. Because of what we share it gives us such a sense of brotherhood. Terrorists won't find any recruits here in Cambridge because we are inquisitive; we have a different standard and question everything. The point of university is that it gives an environment of freedom where one can question the very foundations of society." John Butt, the Cambridge Muslim Chaplain, agrees. He feels "the existence of solid, middle-of-the-road institutions such as the students' Islamic Society and the Cambridge Muslim Chaplaincy have been shown to be effective in keeping at bay any potential extremist threat. I see the role of the Muslim Chaplaincy here as being to give a sense of stability to Muslim students. I hope this would also serve to make any possible extremist overtures less attractive!鈥 The Muslim student community of Cambridge is for the most part peaceful, and a helpful aid to its patrons. Yet extremist groups see the student years as a time to shape the opinions of young people, and so universities are a natural target. Glees puts it well when he summarises that 鈥渘ot all radicals are extremists; not all extremists are terrorists; but every terrorist is a radical and an extremist, and that鈥檚 the step ladder that we need to be careful of." | 
