Scholars at Risk network
Baktybek “Bakyt” Beshimov is among the rare Scholars at Risk fellows at Harvard to speak out. Another was Iranian novelist Shahriar Mondanipour, who was a Scholar at Risk for two years, and is now an associate in Harvard’s Department of English. Last year, praising the program’s organizers, he said, “They make you believe in fairy tales.” The program must seem like a fairy tale to the scientists, researchers, political figures, and writers who flee persecution in their native lands, who are in danger because of their work, gender, ethnicity, religion, or political opinions. The Scholars at Risk network is made up of 194 universities in 23 countries, and based at New York University. It was founded in 1999 by University of Chicago legal scholar Jacqueline Bhabha, who now is the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School and the University adviser on human rights education. She is also co-chair of the...