Earlier this month, Howard Louthan announced his resignation as director of the Center for Austrian Studies (CAS) in response to the University of Minnesota’s removal of a 2022 CAS statement condemning the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This removal was a part of a broader attempt to enforce a controversial Board of Regents resolution approved in March to restrict institutional statements made by departments.
On April 1, the College of Liberal Arts Dean GerShun Avilez told Louthan and his colleagues that departmental statements related to the Russo-Ukrainian war would be taken down.
In his resignation letter, Louthan stated that the announcement came as a sudden shock. The CAS statement was aligned with the national and international scholarly response and the University’s response to the invasion at the time.
“The removal of the CAS statement is not the simple removal of a statement but also the removal of an important historical document of our Center and the university,” Louthan said in the statement. “It is an attempt to suppress or even erase a laudable moment in the university’s past in response to an international crisis.”
In February 2022, then University President Joan Gabel released a statement condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying, “We stand with the people of Ukraine and anyone who is affected or outraged by this invasion. It is simply heartbreaking.”
In response to the Student Senate’s recommendations, the University administration also divested from Russia.
Two days after Avilez informed Louthan of the decision, Louthan and others met with Provost Rachel Croson. During this meeting, Louthan said in response to his question on clarifying the guidance she had given her advisory committee on institutional speech-related decisions, Croson shrugged her shoulders.
In an email to faculty, Croson said the University encourages people to “teach, conduct and disseminate scholarship reflecting differing views.”
“What are these other views on Ukraine?” Louthan asked. “I’m unaware of anything except the talking points of spokespeople from the Kremlin. And so that was just so, so sad.”
David Perry, the associate director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of History, shared a similar perspective on the situation.
“I think that when you have a body of experts, you have to trust them to articulate their expertise, and that having a general administrative policy of censorship and control over speech is antithetical to what a university is,” Perry said.
Louthan, in reference to the Trump administration’s crackdown on higher education, said the situation was handled poorly.
“I understand that this is really driven by fear and fear of losing significant funding, but that’s no excuse for the way that the situation was handled,” Louthan said.
Croson and Avilez did not respond to requests for comment.
Michael Burri, a program officer at the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Austrian-American History, described the CAS as a “gravitational point for Austrian Studies in the United States.”
Burri said the greater community of scholars in Austrian Studies is sad that Louthan stepped down from his directorship.
“I think it expresses how people feel about the professional leadership of Professor Louthan, but also his human qualities,” Burri said.
However, Louthan’s peers are supportive of his decision. In a statement to the Minnesota Daily, Gary Cohen, the center’s director before Louthan, said, “I much regret his stepping down before his term was due to end, but I respect and support his decision to do so as a matter of principle.”
Louthan said the reaction has been encouraging and that he will continue teaching at the University in the history department.
“I’ve received notes from a variety of people,” Louthan said. “I have no idea who they are and no idea how they saw the statement, and I think that’s really really wonderful.”