#ESW

Nov 7, 2018
2 min

Endangered Scholars Worldwide Deplores Attack on Freedom of Expression in Brazil’s Universities

Reports claim that police officers and military have unleashed a full-scale operation in more than 20 public universities in Brazil as a result of the campaign and election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. The measures, related for the most part to political advertising control, have been taken in institutions of higher education in several states and have triggered a reaction from the academic community and public interest organizations. On November 1, 2018 more than 1

Letter of Appeal on Behalf of XiYue Wang Imprisoned Graduate Student in Iran

Ebby Abramson

Sep 12, 2018
1 min

Iran

Letter of Appeal on Behalf of XiYue Wang Imprisoned Graduate Student in Iran

On September 12, 2018 Endangered Scholars Worldwide transmitted a letter of appeal to the Iranian Government and the US Department of State regarding the ongoing detention, persecution, and conviction of XiYue Wang, a 37-year-old United States citizen of Chinese descent. Wang was sentenced to 10 years in prison while researching Iran's Qajar dynasty for his Princeton University PhD and has been detained since August 2016 by the Islamic Republic of Iran on accusation of “archi

Endangered Scholars Worldwide Statement on the Decision to End DACA

Ebby Abramson

Sep 6, 2017
2 min

USA

Endangered Scholars Worldwide Statement on the Decision to End DACA

On September 5, 2017, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) is being rescinded. As numerous accounts indicate, the majority of DACA recipients are students who are enrolled in higher education institutions. As we have said in previous statements, ending DACA will drastically disrupt the lives of these students who willingly came forward to register with the federal government. As an organization committed to

Vietnam Strips French-Vietnamese Professor of Citizenship

Ebby Abramson

Jun 21, 2017
2 min

News

Vietnam Strips French-Vietnamese Professor of Citizenship

On June 10, 2017, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang signed a special order into effect that stripped French-Vietnamese mathematician and former political prisoner Pham Minh Hoang of his Vietnamese citizenship. In the official letter, the government informed Hoang, 62, of its decision to revoke his nationality, citing Articles 88 and 91 of the country’s Criminal Code, which prohibit “conducting propaganda against the state” and “fleeing abroad or defecting to stay overseas w

ESW Stands with Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça

Dolunay Bulut

May 12, 2017
1 min

News

ESW Stands with Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça

Fears grow for two Turkish academics whose health is deteriorating after more than 60 days on hunger strike, PEN International said today. Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça went on hunger strike on March 8, 2017 in the country's capital, Ankara, demanding that their jobs be reinstated. Gülmen and Özakça are two of the 4,811 academics and 40,000 teachers who were dismissed by emergency decree following the coup attempt of July 15, 2016. Under the state of emergency, those dismi

Malaysia Detains Turkish Academic Linked by Ankara to Failed Turkey Coup

Dolunay Bulut

May 6, 2017
1 min

Turkey

Malaysia Detains Turkish Academic Linked by Ankara to Failed Turkey Coup

Malaysia’s police chief confirmed the arrest of a former vice chair of a Turkish university who Ankara accuses of links to the last year’s coup attempt. Malaysia’s police chief confirmed the arrest on Friday, Turkish media reported. "He was not involved in terror activities throughout his 12-year stay here before this. But when he began to get involved, we acted," Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency. Bakar said the suspect,

Endangered Scholars Worldwide Statement on Hungary’s Parliament Votes to Shut Down CEU

Ebby Abramson

Apr 4, 2017
3 min

News

Endangered Scholars Worldwide Statement on Hungary’s Parliament Votes to Shut Down CEU

On April 4, 2017, the Hungarian parliament voted in favor of a government plan to regulate foreign-based universities to the degree that might lead to the closure of Central European University (CEU). As we have previously reported, last week, Zoltán Balog, the Minister of Human Resources, submitted a bill to parliament based on claims of “irregularities” found in the operation of foreign-based universities. While it is not specifically named, it has been widely noted that th

Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, Threatens to Shut Down Central European University | Petition

Ebby Abramson

Mar 29, 2017
4 min

Hungary

Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, Threatens to Shut Down Central European University | Petition

Central European University (CEU) expresses its opposition to proposed amendments to Act CCIV of 2011 on National Higher Education, tabled in Hungarian Parliament today. After careful legal study, CEU has concluded that these amendments would make it impossible for the university to continue its operations as an institution of higher education in Budapest, CEU's home for 25 years. CEU is in full conformity with Hungarian law. The proposed legislation targets CEU directly and

Two Turkish Academics Commit Suicide in Less than One Week

Dolunay Bulut

Mar 2, 2017
2 min

Turkey

Two Turkish Academics Commit Suicide in Less than One Week

Mehmet Fatih Traş, a research assistant at Çukurova University, committed suicide on Friday evening in his home after he was fired from his job. Traş was one of the signatories of a peace declaration that called on the government to halt operations by security forces in Southeastern Turkey, restore peace to the nation, and return to the negotiating table to restart shelved talks with the Kurds to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue. The Adana branch of the Education

URGENT CONCERN FOR RIGHTS DEFENDER ON HUNGER STRIKE OVER UNLAWFUL DETENTION

Ebby Abramson

Feb 14, 2017
5 min

Statement

URGENT CONCERN FOR RIGHTS DEFENDER ON HUNGER STRIKE OVER UNLAWFUL DETENTION

Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, a prominent Sudanese human rights defender, has been unlawfully detained for over two months. He is being held by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) at Khartoum’s Kober Prison without charge or access to legal representation, 39 human rights groups and activists said. Ibrahim, who was arrested with his driver, Adam El-Sheikh Mukhtar, on December 7, 2016 at the University of Khartoum, has received three brief visits from family members,

NYU PhD Student Narges Bayani Detained At JFK

Ebby Abramson

Jan 30, 2017
3 min

Statement

NYU PhD Student Narges Bayani Detained At JFK

Narges Bayani, a PhD student at NYU’s Institute for the Study Of The Ancient World, was among those detained at JFK. According to a Facebook post by Bayani’s sister, she was denied reentry to the country and had to wait two days to take a flight back to Iran despite having lived in the United States for the past eight years. NYU President Andrew Hamilton sent out an email regarding the executive order. In it he reassured students that NYU will “safeguard the rights, well-bein

Iranian PhD Student Detained at JFK amid Immigration Chaos

Ebby Abramson

Jan 30, 2017
4 min

Iran

Iranian PhD Student Detained at JFK amid Immigration Chaos

A Long Island PhD student from Iran has been detained at JFK for the past 24 hours following President Trump’s executive order instituting extreme vetting, her friend told The Post. “She arrived yesterday, and she has been in detention for over 24 hours,” Mitra Vardei said, referencing her friend Vahideh Rasekhi. “We are hearing different news," Vardei continued. "She is going to be deported, then we hear there is a ban and she won’t be deported.” In addition to this flip-flo

Iranian Researcher Barred from Flying to US for New Job

Ebby Abramson

Jan 30, 2017
3 min

Iran

Iranian Researcher Barred from Flying to US for New Job

Samira Asgari spent months planning her move from Switzerland to the United States. The 30-year-old Iranian woman had secured a post-doctoral fellowship at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She’d won a prestigious award for her research in genomics that would even pay her salary at her new, American lab. “I was really happy, and it felt like everything was going right,” she said. Everything changed, however, when Asgari flew from Geneva to Frankfu

Endangered Scholars Worldwide Urges Support for Turkish Higher Education

Dolunay Bulut

Jan 25, 2017
2 min

Statement

Endangered Scholars Worldwide Urges Support for Turkish Higher Education

As the sixth month of the emergency rule ends in Turkey, the government does not seem willing to end its witch-hunt, which has resulted in the dismissal of more than 120,000 civil servants--including nearly 7000 academics--from their jobs and the closure of 15 of the 193 universities across the country. The war against academics in Turkey began long before the coup attempt. On January 10, 2016, a group of scholars calling themselves Academics for Peace signed an open letter c

The Purge Continues—Turkey Dismisses Another 786 People from Universities in Post Coup Crackdown

Dolunay Bulut

Jan 8, 2017
3 min

Turkey

The Purge Continues—Turkey Dismisses Another 786 People from Universities in Post Coup Crackdown

On January 6, 2017, the Turkish government issued three new emergency decrees that dismissed 8,390 civil servants from their positions in several state institutions, including the ministries of Health and Justice, the Office of Law Enforcement, the Armed Forces, and the Turkish Council of State. 649 academics, along with more than a hundred administrative staff members, lost their positions at several universities. 41 of the dismissed scholars were members of the Academics fo

Taliban Hang University Student in Public

Ebby Abramson

Dec 3, 2016
1 min

News

Taliban Hang University Student in Public

Taliban militants publicly hanged a university student at Kabul Polytechnic University after accusing him of killing a senior intelligence officer. The militia took Faizul Rehman, a fourth-year student, from his car as he traveled home on Thursday to visit his family in Maidan Wardak Province, which is about 60 km west of the capital Kabul. "They accused him of killing Mullah Mirwais, the head of their intelligence in the area. They hanged him on Friday in front of [the] publ

“Sanctuary Campuses” Defy President-Elect’s Deportation Plans

Ebby Abramson

Nov 24, 2016
1 min

USA

“Sanctuary Campuses” Defy President-Elect’s Deportation Plans

Faculty, students, and staff across the country are calling for their universities to become sanctuary campuses following the 2016 presidential elections. While the “sanctuary campus” definition may differ from school to school, policy demands include items such as not assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement in investigations on the immigration status of students and helping all students financially, including those in the country without proper documentation. This move

Turkish Prosecutors Seek Detentions for 103 Academics of Istanbul Yıldiz Technical University

Dolunay Bulut

Nov 21, 2016
3 min

Turkey

Turkish Prosecutors Seek Detentions for 103 Academics of Istanbul Yıldiz Technical University

Istanbul Police detained at least 103 academics at Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul on Friday and Saturday as part of the ongoing crackdown in the wake of the failed coup attempt. Police also searched the academics’ homes and offices, and the suspects were taken to a hospital for routine health checks before being given over to the Istanbul police headquarters, as Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Some academics were said to have been users of a smartpho

In Wake of Donald Trump’s Election, Campuses Experience Surge in Hate Acts

Ebby Abramson

Nov 16, 2016
2 min

News

In Wake of Donald Trump’s Election, Campuses Experience Surge in Hate Acts

On November 16, 2016, Endangered Scholars Worldwide transmitted a letter of protest to US President-elect Donald Trump's office regarding the ongoing and increasing severity of threats made against students and faculty members based on their race or religion. Dear President-Elect Trump, Endangered Scholars Worldwide is deeply concerned about the escalating number of incidents of aggression experienced by students, faculty, and staff in educational institutions across the coun

Exile as Haven—New School Dorm Room Doors Vandalized with Swastikas

Ebby Abramson

Nov 15, 2016
3 min

News

Exile as Haven—New School Dorm Room Doors Vandalized with Swastikas

Those of us at The New School received news on Saturday that dorm room doors had been vandalized with swastikas. The president has acted swiftly, calling it a hate crime and enacting a zero tolerance policy for such actions. Since this may be an act of students—entry to dormitories is heavily monitored —alumni are responding that students should know the history of The New School. I think this act shows that they do. The New School heralds its crucially important role in inst

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