Until this week, academic superstar Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has never spoken at the University of Toledo.

That will be remedied when he appears at 3 p.m. Sunday as part of a new annual lecture series about Arab culture. His talk, “Prospects for Peace in the Middle East,” is free and is scheduled in the Student Union auditorium.

“We have probably the only major university in the country that hasn't had a Chomsky lecture yet,” said Samir Abu-Absi, chairman of UT's department of English.

Considered a far left-wing figure in this country, Chomsky is an expert on linguistics and international affairs. In an Institute for Scientific Information survey, he once placed eighth on a list of the most academically cited “intellectual luminaries of all eras,” just behind Plato and Freud.

He's the author of dozens of books with titles ranging from Aspects of the Theory of Syntax to Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies. There are Chomsky CDs and Web sites and videos. An underground cultural icon with a devoted following, he has become one of the last of a breed: the well-known American intellectual.

First Published February 28, 2001, 12:28 p.m.