Britain: University in Disrepute | European Journal

The director of the world-famous London School of Economics has had to step down. The university accepted a large donation from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam.Saif studied and received his doctorate at the LSE. The university has now broken off all contact with him, but it is reported to have received the equivalent of 1.8 million euros from the Gaddafis. And this isn't the only case in which British universities have connived with authoritarian regimes. Other institutions have accepted money from Saudi Arabia. The hope that democratic ideas would rub off on Arab potentates has not been fulfilled. Saif al-Islam's remarks about the pro-democracy revolt in Libya are as derogatory and misanthropic as those of his father.