Do Not Enter

I just received the latest issue of Academe, the "Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors." It included a section titled, "Scholars Excluded from the United States."

Here are a few excerpts -
"John Clarke, a Canadian anti-poverty worker, was stopped at the U.S. border in February 2002 on his way to a speaking engagement at Michigan State University. He was questioned by officials, who asked if he was opposed to the “ideology of the United States” and accused him of knowing where Osama Bin Laden was hiding, according to Clarke. He was then denied entry to the United States."

"In 2004, Canadian citizen Karim Meziane, a physicist at the University of New Brunswick, was turned away at the U.S. border en route to a research conference to which he had been invited by the University of New Hampshire. The Department of Homeland Security gave Meziane written reasons for his exclusion, which he demonstrated to be false using official Canadian government documents; the department, however, refused to reconsider and the U.S. ambassador refused, without explanation, a request from the Canadian Association of University Teachers to discuss the case."

Not a Canadian, but on our campus we were to host Dr. Shirin Ebadi, but her visa was denied.

"Dr. Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian human rights activist. In 2003 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially women and children rights. She is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. A lawyer by training, Ebadi lectures at the University of Tehran. She has represented several dissidents and intellectuals, made significant contributions to family law. She has also established two non-governmental organizations in Iran, the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child (SPRC) and the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC). She also drafted the original text of a law against physical abuse of children, which was passed by the Iranian parliament in 2002. In addition to the Nobel prize she has been awarded the International Democracy Award in 2004, the Legion of Honor award in 2006 and the Rafto Prize, Human Rights Prize in Norway in 2001. She has received 11 honorary doctorates from universities in the Middle East, North America, Europe and Australia."

Not the same as "brain drain," but arguably with the same long-term effect...