U of M faculty accuse university leadership of censoring statements on war in Gaza

Faculty members at the University of Minnesota are accusing university leaders of censorship, after statements in support of Palestinians were removed from the websites of six U of M departments and centers.

The U of M Twin Cities chapter of the American Association of University Professors said the statements were “suddenly and forcibly removed” on Saturday night from the sites within the College of Liberal Arts.

The organization said statements were removed from the sites of the departments of American Indian Studies; American Studies; Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature; Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies; and Asian American Studies, as well as the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

“This not only violates academic freedom but also incinerates First Amendment rights. The answer to disagreement is not censorship. The answer to disagreement is more speech,” said Michael Gallope, who served as the chair of the department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature when the department issued a statement on Israel’s war in Gaza in the fall of 2023.

Gallope said he believes University President Rebecca Cunningham singled out Israel’s war in Gaza as “off-limits” for public comment by university scholars.

The statement that had been posted to the website of Gallope’s department read, in part: “We stand on the principle of academic freedom to speak truth to power and to call for the declaration of an immediate ceasefire, a complete halt to illegal settlements, and an end to the siege.”

But that statement — and the five other statements cited by the professors’ organization — now appear to have been removed from their respective websites.

The University of Minnesota, in a statement, said it took that action as it implements a resolution passed by the Board of Regents last month. That resolution prohibited U of M colleges, centers, institutes and “other academic or non-academic units” from making statements on “matters of public concern or public interest.”

“The resolution articulates what constitutes institutional speech — statements on behalf of the University, its departments and units, which are shared on official University communication channels. Both past and future institutional statements are being considered as part of the implementation,” the U of M said Tuesday. “The University will refrain from commenting publicly on the vast majority of global issues, unless they are directly tied to the University of Minnesota’s mission, its work, and its identity.”

Faculty leaders said they learned about the decision to take down the statements from College of Liberal Arts Dean GerShun Avilez during a Zoom call on Saturday.

“It’s unclear why statements related to Palestine were removed while statements on other matters of public concern were not. The provost didn’t even have the courtesy to invite the affected departments to have a conversation first,” said Aren Aizura, Associate Professor and Chair of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, in the American Association of University Professors press release.

The resolution passed by the Board of Regents in March said it was not intended “to curtail the free expression of individuals within the University community, including faculty exercising academic freedom or other individuals expressing their views on matters of public concern or public interest.”

Statements supporting Palestinians weren’t the only ones removed from university websites, according to U professor Eric Schwartz.

Schwartz, a professor and chair of the Humphrey School’s global policy area, received an email Tuesday notifying him that a statement condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine had been removed from the university’s Human Rights program website. Schwartz has worked with the program. The statement has been up for the past two years.  

Schwartz described the university’s approach as “ham-fisted” and “outrageous.” He questioned the university’s intent in removing the statements.

“I surmise what the university’s lawyers are trying to do is address the contention — both legal and moral — that the application of this ‘non-policy’ reflects bias,” he said.  

Gallope said the statements made in support of Palestinians were in keeping with university policy. He said those statements were attributed to individuals or groups of faculty and accompanied by disclaimers stating they were not speaking for the university.

“Our expectation at a public university is that we do not engage in arbitrary and capricious censorship of faculty views on the website — instead that we develop a policy, as we have for any other matter, and a policy that can be understood and debated by shared governance, so we understand what the criteria are for public speech of matters of public concern,” Gallope said.

In its statement Tuesday, the U of M said it “remains strongly committed to ensuring that the ability of individuals and groups to fully engage in scholarly work is protected and flourishes, including teaching, conducting and disseminating research and creative activity. The research and dissemination of scholarly work remains unaffected by this resolution or implementation.”

Correction (April 2, 2025): A previous version of this story misstated Eric Schwartz's title. The above story has been updated.

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