Chronicle of Higher Education: Article on Azfar

The Chronicle of Higher Education came out with a story about Azfar's situation, which is kinda a big deal, in the sense that they have huge publicity nationwide. Whether or not that will actually affect his visa, I have no idea. Read the story on their website here. Once again, the comments posted at the end of the story are mostly rather disturbing.
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Visa Delay Keeps Bangladeshi Scholar From Taking Post in Oklahoma

September 7, 2008

A lengthy visa delay has prevented a Bangladeshi scholar from taking a teaching post this fall at Oklahoma State University, where his American wife has already relocated, the Tulsa World reported. The scholar, Azfar Hussain, is not a terrorist and “has never advocated violence of any kind,” his wife, Melissa Hussain, told the newspaper.

Mr. Hussain is just one of a number of foreign scholars who have been denied opportunities to teach or attend conferences in the United States in recent years because of visa delays or denials. Civil-liberties groups say the Bush administration has stepped up the use of heightened security measures to keep out scholars whose politics or ideas it does not like.

Mr. Hussain, who applied for a marriage visa in 2005, was supposed to receive his visa in May, but has received no word on its status. Melissa Hussain said she believes her husband’s criticism of U.S. government policies is part of the reason his visa has not yet been approved.

—Charles Huckabee

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Comments

1. Shouldn’t you add that the unnamed “civil-liberties groups” and Mr. Hussain’s wife have offered no better evidence in support of the claim that that the U. S. government is trying “to keep out scholars whose politics or ideas it does not like” than the KKK typically provides when criticizing blacks and Jews?
Shouldn’t you make clear that the U. S. government regularly admits a large and diverse number of critics into the country — for periods ranging from days to years — for example: Scottish politician George Galloway and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as such academics as the late Edward Said and a large number of other foreign-born scholars now at American universities?
Finally, if you want to be objective journalists, shouldn’t you also remind your readers that many nations — possibly in solidarity with liberal and radical groups on U. S. college campuses — allow no dissenting voices at all in their countries from either foreign or domestic sources?
I don’t think I’ll hold my breath.
— Trancel Ruckus Sep 8, 05:35 AM

2. Mr. Hussain has the right to critizize policies of the American government. Has he also condemned the violence of jihad, the slaughter of innocents by islamists in Darfur, the daily curriculum of hate taught to students of christianity and Judaism taught in Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian government’s publicly expressed desire to wipe a sovereign state and democracy off the map?
— Marty Sep 8, 08:30 AM

3. Mr. Hussain criticized the United States, a country that is open to all irrespective of their race, gender, national origin and religion. He wants special privileges since he is a Muslim.
— kvc Sep 8, 09:24 AM

4. Are all you commentators aware that the State Department denied visas to all of the Cuban scholars invited to attend meetings of the Latin American Studies Association during the entire span of the Bush Administration? Now LASA holds its meetings outside the U.S. and at the last meeting, In Montreal, over 200 Cuban scholars attended. That is a sad commentary on the U.S. government’s fear of criticism—or its abject submission to the wishes of the Florida anti-Castro lobby.
— Sandy Thatcher Sep 8, 09:54 AM

5. Gee, why would the good old USofA ever let anyone in?
— perplexed Sep 8, 11:56 AM

6. This is an honest question to #1; #2; and #3: I was surprised that you appear to be so familiar with this junior scholar who has been apparently very active but remains very little known to the public.
Trancus: How did you find out what that civil liberties
group brought up in his defense? Could you please tell me, I would like to know more about the case! Thanks.
To Marty. I think the answer to your question might be: Yes. Although I have only seen his poetry on the issue, and art seems to communicate in indirect ways (so I might be wrong).
To KVC: Is he a Muslim? My impression was that we are dealing here with a true Marxist.
Let me know if you know more! Thanks.
— LaBamba Sep 8, 01:36 PM

7. Shouldn’t the first three posters also write in to say that they have no evidence to support their claims about Mr. Hussain’s religion, his possible support for practitioners of mass murder, and the political freedom or lack thereof in his home country? Should they not also mention that the lack thereof may be the reason that he is outspoken about politics in his own homeland? Finally, in the interest of objectivity, should they not also admit that their only reason for posting at all has nothing to do with Mr. Hussain, whom they have little or knowledge of, and more to do the with the enormous chip planted firmly on their shoulder?
I don’t think I’ll hold my breath.
By the way, gentlemen, contrary to the old joke, having a chip on both shoulders does not make your opinion either fair, or balanced. Hope this helps.
— michael Sep 10, 12:01 AM