Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. Nebraska prof finally gets visa after 30-month wait
By Chris Rosacker
Daily Nebraskan (U. Nebraska)
07/23/2007

(U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb. — Two and half years later, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is finally getting its professor.

But what could possibly keep a professor from getting to UNL for such a long time? That's what everyone seems to want to know, but the Department of Homeland Security won't tell.

Either way, Bolivian professor Waskar Ari has finally been granted a visa and will be arriving to teach classes at UNL this fall.

It only took a Writ of Mandamus against the Department of Homeland Security, countless letters to people like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, numerous other protests, petitions and rallies to get Ari to UNL.

"I feel happy that an issue that took two years of my life ended," said Ari in an e-mail to the Daily Nebraskan. "I am optimistic and ready to move to Lincoln."

Ari applied for a working visa more than two years ago to be able to teach at UNL. Even though the visa has finally been granted, an explanation as to why it took so long has not been supplied.

"We have found it inexplicable because the government has never provided an explanation," said Ken Winkle, chairman of the UNL history department.

Winkle said that UNL suing the Department of Homeland Security and asking for a cause for delaying the issue is what finally prompted the working visa to be allowed.

"The university stood by Dr. Ari and never wavered in its resolution to add him to the faculty," said Winkle. "He is a fine scholar and teacher and will add a new dimension to the program ... (Ari) brings a unique prospective as an indigenous scholar that is essential to teach history at UNL."

Nebraskans For Peace, Amnesty International and Phi Alpha Theta, a history honors society, are among some of the many groups that support the Ari cause.

"A lot of people did a lot of things to help make this effort possible," Winkle said.

While waiting for his visa to be granted, Ari said he's been teaching sociology and history at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz in Bolivia. UMSA is the largest and most prestigious campus in Bolivia.

Ari will be teaching America and the Outside World and Latin American Republics this fall.

Winkle said an Oct.11 lecture by professor Barbara Weinstein, president of the American Historical Association, about freedom in the age of Homeland Security will also serve as an official recognition of Ari's arrival.

Upon his arrival to Lincoln, Ari said he simply plans to just enjoy being in Lincoln.

When asked if he had an speculations as to why his visa was denied for so long, Ari said, "I do not have any speculations and I am over all of this."

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