Tuesday, March 17, 2015

NYU professor barred from return to Abu Dhabi

Another case in the Middle East is sure to raise academic freedom questions - a professor from NYU was denied entry to a flight going to Abu Dhabi. The issue reported by Inside Higher Education was his research on migrant worker conditions in the country.

Qatar's Education City university partners have studied, published about, and intervened to improve the lives of migrant workers yet none, to my knowledge, have ever been threatened or punished in any way. Not knowing the details of Abu Dhabi, I can't compare. However, the key in the examples from Qatar seemed to be that the students and faculty involved in migrant worker research appeared to be very careful in attributing causes and were also engaged in bringing about positive change. The fact is that migrant workers come to the Arabian Gulf in desperation, are often exploited by private or governmental officials in their own countries, and are often employed by multi-national companies with headquarters in Western countries. To intervene sometimes puts migrant workers at risk of losing their jobs, an outcome with devastating consequences for families in poor home countries. Who's at fault and who's responsible for finding a solution is the question - a very complicated issue that requires discerning and sensitive research.

Additional comment and complications were noted in this Inside Higher Education article. The even more interesting twist came when the New York Times reported that a private investigator had begun inquiries into the activities of the NYU professor and NYT reporter who were linked to the articles criticizing NYU and its Abu Dhabi partnership. The NYT implied that the motivation behind the investigations was that both the professor and the reporter were involved in criticizing migrant worker conditions in Abu Dhabi.

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