May-June 2002

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Refuge for Academic Outcasts

The Scholars at Risk Network brings faculty, administrators, and institutions together to rescue threatened scholars.

By Robert Quinn

Most academics in the United States expect their work to draw comment, criticism, and controversy, perhaps even condemnation. But academics in many other parts of the world often risk much worse: censure, prosecution, imprisonment—even torture and death. Joseph Saunders, in his July–August 1999 Academe article, "A Human Rights Lawyer’s Appeal to Academics," called for a collective response to such threats. Heeding calls such as Saunders’s, more than seventy universities and colleges joined together in June 2000 to form the Scholars at Risk Network, whose primary mission is to rescue threatened scholars by arranging temporary visits for them at network institutions.

Qinglian He, whose article appears elsewhere in this issue of Academe, is one example. The well-known economist and writer from southern China found herself under constant surveillance when her critiques of government social and economic policy, once praised by officials, suddenly lost favor. Authorities banned her books, arranged her discharge from a research position, and monitored her mail, e-mail, and phone conversations. She could not work and needed help. A third party referred her case to the network, and Scholars at Risk arranged a visiting appointment for her at the University of Chicago. A happy ending? Yes, but barely. When she began making travel plans, authorities broke into He’s home, seizing documents, files, and letters. Had she been there, she would have been arrested. She fled immediately, arriving in the United States with barely any possessions.

Naseem Rizvi and Maimul Khan are two more examples. Rizvi, a political scientist from Pakistan, arrived in New York as a refugee not because of her work but because of that of her husband, a human rights activist. A refugee service connected Rizvi with Scholars at Risk, which found part-time teaching assignments for her at member institutions Loyola University Chicago and DePaul University. In addition, Rizvi has made repeat appearances as a commentator on public, network, and cable television and lectured at network institutions such as St. Mary’s College in Indiana, Oakton College in Illinois, and Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.

Khan is an accomplished author and professor of law from Bangladesh whose writing and advocacy triggered persecution and bar his return. He found a teaching position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, another network member, and lectures extensively as a regional Afghanistan expert for Amnesty International.

Others cannot be named. Scholar X is a professor of civil engineering and hydrology in an African nation torn by civil conflict, border disputes, and chronic environmental challenges. Merely for citing another scholar’s article crediting a neighboring country’s water claims, X’s research grant was terminated and his position threatened. Scholar Y is a lecturer in political anthropology from a Latin American country. Y’s research into military-civilian relations during the country’s transition to democracy led to death threats and a violent attack by suspected members of an armed opposition movement. Scholar Z is a chemist from an Islamic state. When family members who were outspoken advocates for a more open society and free expression became targets for government oppression, Z fled arrest and became a refugee. Scholars at Risk is currently trying to assist each of these scholars.

These stories are just a small sample. Since its launch, Scholars at Risk has seen more than eighty-three cases from thirty-one countries, from anthropologists to physicists, Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Candidates approach the network directly or are referred by third parties, including nongovernmental organizations (such as human rights groups and refugee services) and professional associations (like the AAUP). Participating universities and colleges are encouraged to identify and nominate candidates known to their faculty and staff.

By joining the network, member institutions support the principle that scholars should be free to work without fear or threat. They defend academic freedom. They literally save careers and lives. Member institutions, which have access to network staff and resources, are asked to appoint a representative to review periodic bulletins about current candidates. Although it is not required, Scholars at Risk invites member institutions to pledge either to host a candidate within a defined period or, where doing so is impractical, to invite a candidate hosted elsewhere to speak on their campus. Visits range from one-semester positions as a visiting scholar or researcher to a one- or two-year teaching position, with final decisions on any candidate always made by the host institution according to its own internal procedures.

Funding for visits comes from member institutions and outside funds identified by the network. In 2001 the Open Society Institute provided money to subsidize visits by scholars from Southeast Asia. In spring 2002 Scholars at Risk entered into a partnership with the Institute of International Education (IIE) to help administer IIE’s Scholars Rescue Fund. The fund will provide grants of up to $20,000 to support threatened scholars. IIE aims to raise $10 million for an endowed fund that will give out up to twenty annual grants. Grant monies for 2002–03 and 2003–04 are already in place. Scholars at Risk will work with the fund to identify candidates and potential host colleges and universities. Institutions can nominate candidates themselves, or they can contact the network if they want to host a scholar but do not have a candidate in mind. With the creation of the fund, Scholars at Risk reached a major goal in identifying substantial, long-term support to subsidize positions for threatened scholars. The network hopes that the fund’s existence will encourage more institutions to join in its efforts.

In addition to direct aid, Scholars at Risk undertakes awareness activity through a Web site, e-mail lists, and periodic conferences, often in collaboration with other international organizations, including the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR), a London-based international initiative of which Scholars at Risk is a founding member. (See the article by John Akker, executive director of NEAR.) With NEAR, Scholars at Risk lends support to threatened colleagues through letters and other direct appeals to local and national authorities—sometimes with great effect. For example, travel restrictions on Moncef Marzouki, a Tunisian public health professor and human rights activist, were lifted in late 2001 as a result of an international campaign organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, another founding member of NEAR. Scholars at Risk supported the campaign, and scores of individuals at network institutions wrote letters on Marzouki’s behalf.

Other successful campaigns include that for Tibetan musicology student Ngawang Choephel, a former Fulbright scholar whose release from a Chinese prison was secured in January 2002 through the efforts of the Dui Hua Foundation. Choephel was featured on the Scholars at Risk Web site, as was sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim of Egypt. Following an international outcry, an appellate court overturned Ibrahim’s conviction on specious charges stemming from his critique of Egyptian election procedures and ordered a new trial. Scholars at Risk was one of many organizations around the world supporting Ibrahim’s appeal. Through these and other efforts, Scholars at Risk works not only to help individual scholars, but also to raise the political and social cost—and, over time, the effectiveness and frequency—of attacks on academic freedom.

Seed money for the network was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, together with the University of Chicago, the Reebok Human Rights Foundation, the Norman Waite Harris Fund, faculty members, and private donors. Scholars at Risk needs ongoing operating support to continue its coordinating efforts beyond 2002.

Robert Quinn is director of the Scholars at Risk Network and a lecturer at the Law School of the University of Chicago. He was formerly an adjunct professor and Crowley Fellow in International Human Rights at Fordham University’s Law School. Additional information about Scholars at Risk is available on the Web at <scholarsatrisk.uchicago.edu> or by e-mail from Quinn at <rquinn@uchicago.edu>.