The Chronicle: U.S. Withholds Visa From Bolivian Scholar Hired to Teach at U. of Nebraska
A Bolivian scholar hired by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln has been unable to take up his post because the federal government has withheld his visa. The case has again raised concerns of what critics have described as the arbitrary use of government power to keep foreign academics out of the United States.
Waskar T. Ari, a member of Bolivia’s largest indigenous group, earned a Ph.D. in history from Georgetown University in 2005 and was hired by Nebraska as an assistant professor of history and ethnic studies. His job was to have begun last August.
Barbara S. Weinstein, a history professor at the University of Maryland at College Park, called the situation “very disturbing.” Ms. Weinstein is president-elect of the American Historical Association, which has spoken out in behalf of Mr. Ari.
The government’s reason for not issuing the visa, she speculated, seems related to his ethnicity. “He has certainly never been a member of any movement that would be of a security concern to the U.S. government,” she said.
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