Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan to Speak at Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Tariq Ramadan -- a Muslim scholar and author who in 2004 was forced to resign a University of Notre Dame faculty position when he was unable to obtain a visa to the United States -- will be the featured speaker at a panel on “Islam and the Arab Awakening” Wednesday, Sept. 12, at Northwestern University. 

The free and public event will take place at noon in the Ripton Room of Scott Hall, 601 University Place, on the University’s Evanston campus. Presented by Northwestern’s Buffett Center of International and Comparative Studies, it will be followed by a Q&A session. 

Ramadan is an Islamic studies professor at Oxford University, president of the European Muslim Network and, most recently, author of “The Arab Awakening: Islam and the New Middle East.” Northwestern assistant professors of political science Jonathan Caverley and Rachel Riedl; Buffett Center director and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences’ political science professor Hendrik Spruyt; and Northwestern director of media relations Storer Rowley, who covered the Middle East as Chicago Tribune bureau chief in Jerusalem, will join him on the panel.

A prolific writer who Time magazine named one of the most influential intellectuals in 2004, Ramadan has earned global renown for his reflections on Islam and the contemporary challenges it faces in both Muslim majority societies and the West. He was hired that year as Henry R. Luce Chair at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies when he found himself unable to gain entry to the U.S. In 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited him to reapply for a visa.

For more information about the event featuring Ramadan, call (847) 467-2770 or visit http://www.bcics.northwestern.edu/.