The University of Minnesota, which the Ministry of Justice of President Trump examines his treatment of anti -Semitism on the campus, largely prohibited on Friday from publishing official declarations on “questions of public concern or public interest”.
Politicians, in work for months, was not a direct response to the February Administration’s February administration that she would investigate whether Minnesota and nine other universities had not protected Jewish students and teachers against discrimination.
But Friday vote by the Board of Regents is nevertheless integrated into the race of universities to undermine the accusations that they have supported or minimized anti -Semitic behavior or political activity.
Schools have undergone fierce republican criticism concerning their responses to the demonstrations against war in Gaza. Campuses have experienced bitter debates on the definition of anti -Semitism and the threshold when political expression is intolerant or discriminatory, university leaders in search of a balance between allowing freedom of expression and avoiding the potential anger of Washington.
Under the new Minnesota policy, the statements of the university – including those of divisions such as colleges and departments – on public issues will be prohibited unless the president determines only the subject has “a real or potential impact on the mission and operations of the university”.
The University Senate, which includes students, teachers and other workers, opposed the plan and, in early January, a university working group had urged a closer approach. The criticisms wondered if the policy violates the first amendment and argued that it grants excessive power to the president of Minnesota.
But during a noisy meeting on Friday in Minneapolis – the session went twice in playgrounds because of the demonstrators – the regents voted, from 9 to 3 years, to approve the policy.
“The university is not and should not be, in the field of positions on these critical and controversial questions of public concern,” said Janie S. Mayeron, president of the board of directors. “Individuals can do it. University, its leaders and units should not. »»
Another regent, Robyn J. Gulley, said that she had received hundreds of messages before Friday vote, “largely” comments opposing the proposal.
“The first amendment protects not only freedom of expression, but the right to the association,” said Ms. GULEY before voting against the proposal. “There is probably nowhere in the world that it is more important than in universities, where it is not only the law but the obligation of students, teachers, staff to speak” of their areas of research and expertise.
The notion of “institutional neutrality” is Not unique in MinnesotaWhere the new policy will cover five campuses, including the flagship product of Minneapolis. Since the attack on Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, at least 140 colleges have adopted such policies, according to a report published Tuesday by the Heterodox Academy, a non -profit organization which was critical of progressivism on university campuses.
Before the attack, according to the report, only eight schools had neutrality policies.
The past few weeks have exerted new pressures on Minnesota, the university among schools that anti -Semitic investigators from the Ministry of Justice have declared that they would visit to assess “if corrective measures are justified”.
The department did not explain why Minnesota made its list. Although Richard W. Painter, a minnesota law professor who was the best lawyer for the White House for part of the presidency of George W. Bush, told the Department of Education in 2023 about the possible anti -Semitism at the University, he had speculated that the interest of the Ministry of Justice could bear a political reason.
Tim Walz, who was the Democratic candidate for the vice-president of last year’s elections, is the governor of Minnesota, and the district of representative Ilhan Omar, a democrat who was a firm critic of Mr. Trump and Israel, includes the main campus of Minnesota.
Minnesota said in a statement that he was “confident in our approach to the fight against hatred and prejudices on our campus, and we will always cooperate fully with any examination linked to these subjects.”
In addition to Minnesota, the Ministry of Justice examines Columbia University; George Washington University; Harvard University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; The University of California in Los Angeles; The University of California, Berkeley; and the University of South California.
But some of the reluctance on Minnesota, which supported a protest camp last spring, prior to Mr. Trump’s return to power.
In December 2023, for example, Mr. Painter and an old regent, Michael D. HSU, complains to the Ministry of Education That the College of Liberal Arts had allowed ministries to use official websites for critical statements towards Israel.
A website that Mr. HSU and Mr. Painter cited – with a declaration of the faculty of gender, women and sexual studies – approved the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and called to “dismantle the apartheid system of Israel”. (After the publication of the declaration, a non-responsibility clause was added to note that it “did not reflect the position of the University of Minnesota”))))
It was not clear how the Friday’s vote would facilitate the skepticism of the Minnesota of Washington. Certain other universities that recently adopted institutional neutrality have always been under survey by the Trump administration, notably Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the North West and South California.
Stéphanie Saul Contributed reports.