At least 100 people sat in the audience, and another 80 joined over Zoom to watch the public forum held by eight University of Minnesota professors on academic freedom and free speech on Thursday in the Cowles Auditorium of Humphrey Hall. 

Eight professors, in fields ranging from microbiology to history, shared concerns over how speech has increasingly been restricted at the University.

Michael Gallope, a professor in the department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, moderated the event and said we are living in a dynamic and intense historical period with the truth, knowledge and justice all under threat. 

The meeting followed the Board of Regents policy approved March 13-14, restricting institutional speech by requiring all comments on issues of public concern made by the University and faculty groups to be approved by the president.

Eric Schwartz, a professor of public affairs in the Humphrey School and part of the forum, published an OpEd in the Star Tribune condemning the Board’s decision in February before it was approved in a 9-3 decision. He said the University would be muzzling its scholars. 

“It is difficult to overstate the harm of the resolution,” Schwartz said. “Given the University’s long-standing role in shaping public policy and advancing knowledge, one must conclude that the regents who support this measure do not grasp its full consequences.”

The “Palestinian Exception”

In March, the University removed department statements regarding Palestine following the Board of Regents’ decision. Administration informed faculty of the takedown Saturday afternoon during a Zoom meeting.

Eric Van Wyk, the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee chair, said the Palestinian exception to free speech has been explicit at the University. 

The “Palestinian exception” is a term used to describe the silencing of perspectives in support of Palestine in academia. 

Karen Ho, the interim chair for the department of African and African American studies, said protections of free speech have always been unequal. She said the policing of pro-Palestinian students over the last year was itself a violation of academic freedom. 

International Students 

Jane Kirtley, the Silha Center director, wrote an OpEd earlier this month saying the Trump administration has attacked the constitutional right to free speech by targeting the press, lawyers, judges, universities and even the arts.

“We must speak up before we lose them all,” Kirtley said. 

An international student asked the panelists how they should navigate these times. Schwartz and Kirtley gave an unclear answer, saying none of them know what to do, and this is an incredibly confusing time.

“If it’s any comfort, you are not alone,” Kirtley said. 

Federal Aid

Rachel Widome, a professor in epidemiology, said she had never been censored until very recently as a researcher. She said that National Institutes of Health grants across the board are at risk of being removed, and that students are afraid their research will be censored. 

“This is impacting our science, and affecting what we can say,” Widome said. 

Christina Ewig, the center director of the Humphrey School, asked where the line is drawn in regards to self-censorship. 

Widome said things in the School of Public Health are changing on a daily basis and students are concerned about the future. 

No one from the University administration attended the event. 

Ho said that since protests have been framed as terrorism, the relationship between faculty and administration has been harmed. 

“They need to be accountable to faculty and students, not just the Board of Regents,” Van Wyk said.