Selassie's rocky political road in revolutionary Africa brought him and his family to personal freedom in the United States. While still involved with the rebel groups fighting for independence in Eritrea, he became a professor at Howard University in 1977. In 1991, the Eritrean government requested his help in drafting a constitution for its newly liberated democracy. Selassie applied for a leave of absence from Howard but was refused. The department hired Selassie, gave him a year's paid leave of absence to return to Eritrea and offered him an endowed professor's position upon his return to America.
Many professors have little experience in the real world in applying what they teach.
Being someone who practices what he preaches, Selassie has been able to find a balance between the academic and practical worlds. That balance has benefited his students directly. Selassie said combining his experiences in Africa with theories makes his class more interesting and effective for his students, who he said often take democracy for granted. This generation of Americans, I think, need to be challenged. People of my generation have a duty to give a sense of what it means to be denied human rights, human dignity and self-rule.