{"id":73888,"date":"2021-02-22T17:20:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T22:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=73888"},"modified":"2025-10-17T18:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:24:59","slug":"at-risk-scholars-new-home","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/at-risk-scholars-new-home\/","title":{"rendered":"At-Risk Scholars Find New Home at Carleton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n At-Risk Scholars Find New Home at Carleton\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

In 2007, Shuchi Karim<\/a>, a sexuality and gender researcher from Bangladesh, was at a conference in the Netherlands, where she had completed her PhD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karim attended a talk by a Sri Lankan feminist \u2014 a woman who had been helped by the Scholars at Risk<\/a> program, a 20-year-old international organization that finds temporary research and teaching positions for academics in new countries when their safety is threated at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carleton
Carleton students, joined by counterparts from Canadian and U.S. schools, attend the third annual Scholars at Risk Student Advocacy Days at New York University’s Washington, D.C. campus in 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt never crossed my mind,\u201d recalls Karim, \u201cthat I would need that kind of support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost a decade later, in 2016, religious fundamentalism was mounting in majority-Muslim Bangladesh. Karim did research on and was an ally to the country\u2019s LGBTQ movement, which was facing a harsh backlash, as were other progressive, scientific and civil rights communities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cTwo of my activist friends were killed one night, which created a ripple effect of fear,\u201d she says. \u201cI decided to leave immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Karim fled to the Netherlands, where Scholars at Risk (SAR) kicked in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAR helped her secure a fellowship at a Dutch university, and then in 2018, when she emigrated to Canada, arranged a faculty position at Western University<\/a>. This past January, Karim moved on to Carleton, where she will teach and continue her research for the next year and a half as the seventh SAR scholar<\/a> hosted by the university.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cLeaving everything behind to come to a new country and start with nothing is not easy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to live in fear. It\u2019s a crippling feeling that takes away your ability to pursue your passion. But the SAR network buys you enough time, mentally, to adjust to your new reality. There\u2019s an initial fear, but the human spirit \u2014 to survive \u2014 takes over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"At-Risk<\/figure>\n\n\n

States Often Target Academics First<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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The term \u201cacademic freedom\u201d takes on heightened significance when university faculty members face threats of violence or imprisonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Andrew Johnston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

History Prof. Andrew Johnston, who co-chairs Carleton\u2019s SAR committee<\/a> alongside French Prof. Christine Duff and Sociology Prof. Aaron Doyle, says that in some ways academics are \u201cthe canaries in the mine shaft.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen states begin targeting their own citizens,\u201d he says, \u201cthey often go after academics first.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In countries such as Turkey, Syria, Yemen, Iran and Brazil \u2014 the top five origin countries, according to SAR \u2014 regimes regularly attempt to shut down debate or critical thought. Even academics who are apolitical and nonpartisan can be at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, Carleton Law and Legal Studies Prof. Melanie Adrian<\/a> spearheaded a local SAR network in collaboration with the University of Ottawa to give foreign academics a unique opportunity to teach and interact with colleagues and students in safe environments. A year later, both universities began hosting scholars independently. (In January 2021 Adrian was appointed to the Order of Ontario<\/a>, largely for her contributions to SAR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Melanie Adrian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since those early days, Carleton\u2019s SAR chapter has raised more than $60,000 to support scholars, spawned a students\u2019 group that raises awareness about issues such as the detention in Turkey of Carleton PhD student Cihan Erdal<\/a>, and launched a new initiative \u2014 the Global Scholars Program \u2014 to provide long-distance fellowships to academics who cannot leave their home countries for political or family reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Aaron Doyle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This program, which was conceived before COVID-19 made remote learning the norm, will give scholars access to library resources and a community of colleagues \u2014 \u201cto prepare them for the time when they are able to leave,\u201d says Johnston, \u201cor provide them with a bridge during a very difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic, he adds, is exacerbating the dangers academics face by putting a strain on resources and civil infrastructure in many nations.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re really just scratching the surface,\u201d says Johnston.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a deep human need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Freedom<\/figure>\n\n\n

Canada is a Beacon of Hope<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mustafa Bahran<\/a>, a visiting professor in Carleton\u2019s Department of Physics<\/a>, embodies the purpose of the SAR program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Mustafa Bahran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A prominent nuclear physicist at Sana\u2019a University and a former electricity and energy minister in Yemen, he escaped to Saudi Arabia<\/a> in 2015 when the ongoing civil war put his family\u2019s lives at risk. Bahran \u2014 who was a \u201ctechnical man\u201d in government, working in areas such as power generation and radiotherapy medicine and training the next generation of scientists \u2014 eventually secured a SAR position at the University of Oklahoma through the Institute of International Education\u2019s Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF), then came to Carleton<\/a> through the IIE-SRF and SAR Carleton in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although that appointment has expired, he has remained at the university, teaching three courses this term as a contract instructor and chipping away at a major research project on physics pedagogy, looking at the relationship between lab work and learning outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIf I stop teaching and doing research, I cease to exist,\u201d says Bahran, who has settled in Ottawa with his wife and four sons, two of whom are now Carleton students.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Bahran (Right) at a Scholars at Risk event in 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIntellectualism is the heartbeat of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bahran continues to serve as a de facto spokesperson for the SAR community, advocating for the rights of scholars who face persecution around the world and for hundreds of professors who remain at risk in Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Yemen, it\u2019s simple \u2014 it\u2019s war,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen there is war, leaders only accept scholars who adhere to their doctrine and ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cAcademics are targeted because critical thinking can lead to criticism of the government. Academic freedom in the classroom leads to free thinking outside the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At Carleton, Bahran is an active participant in the SAR network not only because he believes in its \u201cnoble cause,\u201d but also to give back to the community that has helped his family build a new home. \u201cCanada is a country like no other,\u201d he says. \u201cExcluding the cold winter, of course, Canada is a beacon of hope and beauty and the dream of a better society for all people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
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In 2007, Shuchi Karim, a sexuality and gender researcher from Bangladesh, was at a conference in the Netherlands, where she had completed her PhD. Karim attended a talk by a Sri Lankan feminist \u2014 a woman who had been helped by the Scholars at Risk program, a 20-year-old international organization that finds temporary research and teaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":74097,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13,25],"cu_story_tag":[1930,1920,1921,1919,1926],"class_list":["post-73888","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-arts-and-social-sciences","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science","cu_story_tag-international"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98436,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73888\/revisions\/98436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=73888"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=73888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}