Muslim Scholar Barred From U.S. Academic Post

Academe, Jan/Feb 2005 by Knight, Jonathan

The U.S. Department of State in August revoked the work visa of Tariq Ramadan, a citizen of Switzerland and well-known Muslim scholar who was appointed to a named professorship at the University of Notre Dame to begin with the fall 2004 semester. The State Department's action was taken at the request of the Department of Homeland security. Spokespersons for both departments cited a section of immigration law that refers to people who pose a "public safety risk or national security threat," but both departments refused to comment on the specifics of the case. Ramadan, who was bom and raised in Geneva and is the grandson of Hassan al-Bana, the founder in 1928 in Egypt of the Muslim Urotherhood, had previously visited the United States without hindrance or incident.

Critics in France and the United States have condemned Ramadan's writings on Islam, the West, and Israel. In 1995, he was barred from visiting France, but the following year, an administrative court lifted the ban.

Robert O'Neil, chair of the AAUP's Special Committee on Academic Freedom and National Security in a Time of Crisis, registered the AAUP's protest in a letter to secretary of state Colin Powell and secretary of homeland security Tom Ridge. "Foreign scholars offered appointments at an American institution of higher learning should not be barred by our government from entering the United States because of their political beliefs or associations or writing," O'Neil wrote. "Such actions," he continued, "are manifestly at odds with our society's respect for academic freedom."

Also protesting the State Department decision were the American Academy of Religion, the American Historical Association, the Middle East Studies Association, and the Henry Luce Foundation, which is funding the professorship at Notre Dame.

After waiting several months in the hope that he would be allowed to assume the post, Ramadan resigned from Notre Dame in December.

-J.K.