By Leela de Kretser
DNAinfo Managing Editor
MANHATTAN — An Oxford University professor, who the U.S. refused a visa so he could teach at an Indiana university, will make his first public appearance in America to give a talk in the East Village.
Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim professor who was barred from visiting the country for six years under the Patriot Act, will take part in a panel dubbed "Secularism, Islam and Democracy: Muslims in Europe and the West" at the Cooper Union on April 8.
It is his first public appearance since he was prevented from taking a tenure position at the University of Notre Dame because the Department of Homeland Security revoked his visa.
Ramadan, a Swiss national who teaches in the Islamic Studies department at Oxford, was accused of donating $1,300 to a charity that funneled the money to Hamas.
Along with the American Civil Liberties Union, Ramadan sued the government, arguing he did not know the charity donated to Hamas. An appeals court ruled that the government did not have a sufficient legal basis to revoke his visa.
In January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued an order that made it possible for him to travel to the U.S.
