A recent spate of expulsions in Burma’s University of Computer Studies outside Rangoon has led to growing hostility within the student body, according to student activists in the former capital. Some 300 students were expelled last week for having poor attendance records. Students are required to maintain a 75 percent attendance rate.

Names of the dismissed students were posted on campus, leading some on the list to break windows on the campus in protest. Some students claimed that university authorities were simply trying to drive them out, and that many students with much poorer attendance records were not included on the expulsion list.

Observers in Rangoon have suggested that the expulsions may be part of a tightening of restrictions in recent months imposed by Education Minister Chan Nyein, which includes new legislation that prohibits teachers from offering private instruction. The unrest on campus comes at a time when students across the country are being pressured to join the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Association.