A part-time instructor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who has caused an uproar by asserting that the federal government conceived and executed the September 11 terrorist attacks will be permitted to teach a course this fall on Islam, the university announced on Monday.

The instructor, Kevin Barrett, is a member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, a group that includes about 50 professors around the country who dispute the official story that Al Qaeda hijackers carried out the attacks (The Chronicle, June 23). He drew such vehement attacks and calls for his dismissal from across the political spectrum for his controversial views that the university’s provost, Patrick V. Farrell, said he would “review” Mr. Barrett’s fitness to teach the course (The Chronicle, July 3).

But on Monday, Mr. Farrell said he would not follow the critics’ advice. “We cannot allow political pressure from critics of unpopular ideas to inhibit the free exchange of ideas,” he said, adding that Mr. Barrett had assured him that “students will be free—and encouraged—to challenge his viewpoint.”

For more details on this week’s developments, see an article on the Web site of The Capital Times, a Madison newspaper.