Left: People gather for a prayer gathering supporting Israel held on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn., on Friday, May 3, 2024. Students Supporting Israel and Chabad held a prayer gathering for those looking to show support for Israel and the Jewish community on campus. Pro-Palestinian counterprotestors stood nearby. Right: Sasmit Rahman, one of the Minnesota Nine arrested at the U’s encampments and banned from campus, shouts into the microphone ahead of the pro-Palestine march through campus on Thursday, May 2, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minn. This march was in response to this morning’s agreement between the University and the protestors where the University agreed to each of the students’ six demands to divest funds and assist the Minnesota Nine who were arrested during the encampment. It was both a continuation of their existing protest and demands as well as a warning to the school that if they don’t follow through on their promises, the students will continue fighting back. (Shari Gross, Angelina Katsanis/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Inside Higher Ed, a news outlet following higher education issues, estimated that more than 140 universities had implemented institutional neutrality policies since the conflict in the Middle East began compared to fewer than 10 that had policies before then.
In Minnesota, 26 legislators sent a letter to then-Interim President Jeff Ettinger requesting that groups of academics remove statements they posted on their departments’ websites after the 2023 attack. They were not taken down, according to a U report.
After that, the U assigned a task force to address questions around institutional speech. In January, that group issued a final report and recommendations, which were approved by the University Senate in 2024.
Faculty members said that report allowed units — and groups of people within units — to make statements about public matters, something that’s often part of their job.
A petition signed by more than 400 U academics asked the board to retract the resolution and the University Senate, a governing body made up of faculty, staff and students, also passed a resolution asking the board to rescind it.
Police escorted faculty and students out of the building after the University of Minnesota Board of Regents voted 9-3 in favor of the resolution. (Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
On Friday, several faculty members shared their frustrations with the board’s decision outside the McNamara Alumni Center.