Back in the United States, a coalition of academic and civil liberties groups is calling on the Obama administration to reverse Bush administration policies of banning foreign scholars under anti-terror laws. In a letter released today, the coalition says the policy of “ideological exclusion… compromises the vitality of academic and political debate in the United States at a time when that debate is exceptionally important.” The call comes ahead of a federal appeals court hearing next week on the case of one of the most prominent Muslim intellectuals in Europe who was barred from a teaching job in the United States. The scholar, Tariq Ramadan, was offered a position at the University of Notre Dame in Ohio in 2004. The Bush administration initially barred his entry without explanation and then said it was because he once gave money to a French-based Palestinian charity. The charity is legal in France.