Cheers to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a bold move in its attempt to bring a talented Bolivian professor Waskar Ari to teach about Latin American history on campus.

UNL has sued the Department of Homeland Security in the baffling case, hoping to at least get some answers on why Ari has been unable to get a visa to come to the United States.

The decision to take legal action was made easier by the offer from respected immigration lawyer Michael Maggio of Washington, D.C., to take on the case for free.

Ari was hired in February 2005 to teach history and ethnic studies at UNL. Previously he had spent several years in the United States while he earned a doctorate from Georgetown University.

Ari returned to Bolivia for a quick trip. While he was there his student visa was cancelled. Ari was not told why. Since then he has been unable to get a visa to return to the United States.

The most exasperating aspect of the case is the lack of information. The only inkling of why Ari’s request for a new visa has stalled came from a spokeswoman in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consulate Affairs who told the Chronicle of Higher Education that Ari’s student visa was cancelled because of “derogatory information” under terrorism-related visa regulations.

Colleagues at Georgetown and elsewhere who have worked with Ari in the United States are convinced he has no ties to terrorism.

Maggio surmises that immigration officials linked Ari to Bolivian President Evo Morales, a critic of the Bush administration.

Beyond the fact that both Ari and Morales share indigenous Aymara ancestry, there’s not much to tie the two men. Ari has even criticized Morales for allying himself with Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

When the UNL history department hired Ari it rightly viewed him as first-rate catch. A professor with his background and reported teaching skills can provide a vivid learning experience for students who want to learn more about Latin America, especially about its indigenous history.

Ari’s case has drawn support from the American Historical Association. The organization, which represents about 14,000 professors, librarians and others across the United States, has written a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, requesting that a visa be granted.

For now, Ari is teaching at the Greater University of San Andreas in Bolivia, occasionally giving interviews on regional topics to western media while he wears the bowler hat popular with the Aymara and other indigenous people in South America.

His presence on campus would be a definite plus for the learning environment at UNL. The university has ample reason to continue its attempt to help Ari find his way out of the bureaucratic fog that envelopes his case.