Historien om den utestengte professoren Tariq Ramadan ruller videre i USA. Fremtredende representanter for akademia rykker ut og sier det minner om «de mørkeste kapitler i nasjonens historie», dvs. 20-årene og MacCarthy.

Ramdan var utnevnt til Henry B. Luce professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace-Building at the University of Notre Dame, men Department for Homeland Security nektet visum to uker før han skulle tiltre.

Homeland grunngir ikke sine vedtak. Det er derfor åpent for spekulasjoner. Ramadan har en høy stjerne i akademiske miljøer, og visumnekten blir tolket som utslag av paranoia.

Who is in a better position to judge whether Ramadan’s teaching and scholarship may help members of the Notre Dame community understand Islamic philosophy and ethics? Scholars at Notre Dame who have studied and read Ramadan’s writings, or Homeland Security officials who have cried wolf so many times, in so many coded colors, that their credibility is, at the very least, suspect?

Notre Dame has stated that «Professor Ramadan is a distinguished scholar and a voice for moderation in the Muslim world» and that » . . . unsubstantiated charges intended to defame a Muslim intellectual is troublingly reminiscent of some of the darkest moments in U.S. history.»

Homeland Security, on the other hand, has given no specific reason for interfering with Notre Dame’s right to appoint this distinguished scholar, but has invoked the USA Patriot Act as legal grounds for the revocation.

Det skriver Roger W. Bowen, General secretary, American Association of University Professors

Chicago Tribune | University should judge scholar’s teachings