In today's Guardian Lord Carlile, the government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, raises the spectre that has haunted universities since the London bombings in July, writes Matthew Taylor.
He told MPs on the Commons' all-party Home Affairs Select Committee that young muslim men were being radicalised in British campuses, as well as in prisons and young offenders' institutions.
"My worry is that they [rogue imams] are in places such as colleges and custodial institutions where there are larger numbers than elsewhere of impressionable young men. A small number can have a disproportionate effect if they are in the wrong place."
Revealing the extent of his fears about radicalisation in higher education, he said: "If you talk particularly to young female students in the larger more rackety universities, there is a degree of concern expressed about some societies in these universities where women are excluded and where there might be radicalisation." Some of these groups were "pretty intimidating", he added.
The comments, from such a senior figure, will send shivers down the spines of university vice-chancellors as well as those trying to promote harmony and integration on campus.
An academic report earlier this year, which claimed that extremist groups were operating at universities across the country, drew scorn from the world of higher education [not to mention the threat of legal action against its author.]
But can Lord Carlile's musings be dismissed do easily?
