School Spotlight

University of Minnesota

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Type: No Type Yet

Speech Code Rating

University of Minnesota has not been given a speech code rating. To request speech code information about this school, please submit a speech code request form.

Campus Climate

Overall Ranking

out of 55 colleges surveyed Read more
27
  • At present, FIRE does not maintain information on this school's policies.

FIRE surveyed roughly 20,000 students at 55 colleges and universities about the climate for free speech at their institutions. In 2020, FIRE released rankings of those schools, based on a number of factors, including openness, tolerance, self-expression, administrative support for free speech, and campus policies, scoring overall speech climate on a scale from -4-100. See the full report on FIRE’s 2020 College Free Speech Rankings for more information.

 

Rankings / out of 55 colleges surveyed
Overall Ranking 27
Ranked by Liberals 19
Ranked by Conservatives 31
Ideological Diversity 35

Overall / out of a top score of 100
Overall Score 53.4
Openness 65.2
Tolerance 49.8
Administrative Support 62.7
Self-Expression 40.9
Speech Code
At present, FIRE has not been publicly involved in any cases at this school.

  • Minnesota police unions call for investigations into student’s comments advocating civil disobedience

    May 3, 2021

    Just days after the Minnesota Student Association demanded the resignation of University of Minnesota Police Chief Matthew Clark, saying he has “failed to increase campus wellness and safety for students of color,” two police unions — including the union representing the university force — have called for university and criminal investigations into a prominent student… Read more

  • University of Minnesota student’s arrest in China a warning to international students abroad

    January 23, 2020

    Axios reported last night that University of Minnesota student Luo Daiqing was arrested in his hometown of Wuhan, China and sentenced to six months in prison in November after months of detention.  His offense? “Provocation” in the form of “more than 40 comments denigrating a national leader’s image and indecent pictures,” which “created a negative… Read more

  • Leadership roundup: How college leaders are answering questions about free speech

    April 25, 2017

    Controversy around free speech on college campuses seems to only be escalating: Charles Murray’s disastrous visit to Middlebury College, the violent response to Milo Yiannopoulos’ visit to the University of California, Berkeley, the shutting down of Heather Mac Donald’s Claremont McKenna College event, and just last week, Berkeley’s attempt to shut down Ann Coulter’s visit… Read more

  • At the University of Minnesota, reports of ‘bias’ often include political speech

    April 10, 2017

    Last week, a Minneapolis Star Tribune report on the University of Minnesota’s “Bias Response and Referral Network” highlighted the debate over whether — or to what extent — bias reporting systems may chill free speech on college campuses. The Star Tribune’s report follows FIRE’s own report on bias reporting systems and, just as we did… Read more

  • University of Minnesota Football Team to Boycott Bowl Game Over Perceived Lack of Due Process for Teammates [UPDATED]

    December 16, 2016

    Update (December 17, 2016): FIRE’s Joe Cohn spoke to The Washington Post and The New York Times about the issues raised by the team’s boycott. Yesterday evening, the University of Minnesota football team announced its intention to boycott a bowl game after 10 members of the team were suspended indefinitely earlier this week following the university’s investigation… Read more

  • More Campus Leaders Address Free Speech; Some Do It Better Than Others

    October 27, 2016

    We’ve been keeping our eye on the recent uptick in campus leaders addressing free speech. In our latest roundup of public commitments to freedom of speech by college and university administrators, we’re focusing only on “The Good”—bringing you a few of our recent favorites. We’ve even included one statement that almost made our “Bad” list…. Read more

  • What Campus Leaders Had To Say About Free Speech This Week [UPDATED]

    October 7, 2016

    Campus leaders have recently been taking advantage of opportunities—sometimes under pressure—to explain their approach to freedom of speech and other principles enshrined in the First Amendment. How did they fare with such tests this week? The Good Washington State University (WSU) Members of WSU’s administration—President Kirk Schulz, Provost and Executive Vice President Dan Bernardo, and… Read more

  • University of Minnesota Moves Closer to Adopting Powerful Free Speech Statement

    May 3, 2016

    The University of Minnesota Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC) has drafted a statement of four core principles regarding the role of free expression on campus, which is now working through the university approval process. Professor Dale Carpenter, one of the statement’s sponsors, reported at The Volokh Conspiracy today that it was unanimously approved by the “top… Read more

  • Minnesota Faculty Committee Votes to Move Free Speech Statement Forward

    March 10, 2016

    A faculty committee at the University of Minnesota voted to provisionally approve a free speech resolution in a 7–2 vote today—a significant first step in getting the resolution formally adopted by UMN. The resolution states: Ideas are the lifeblood of a free society and universities are its beating heart. If freedom of speech is undermined… Read more

  • Minnesota Faculty Senate Committee to Consider Free Speech Resolution

    March 9, 2016

    After several recent controversies over the limits of free speech at the University of Minnesota (UMN), including speaker shout-downs and protests over “hate speech,” faculty at the university will soon have the opportunity to commit to protecting free expression on campus. Tomorrow, UMN Law School Professor Dale Carpenter will formally introduce a free speech resolution… Read more

  • Heckler’s Veto Hits Minnesota Law School

    November 5, 2015

    In the latest stateside skirmish in the unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, students at the University of Minnesota (UMN) decided to engage in some vigilante censorship on Tuesday when they disrupted a speech by Israeli academic and New York University professor Moshe Halbertal, who is also a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at Hebrew University. Professor… Read more

  • University of Minnesota Student Leads Charge for Chicago Principles

    September 18, 2015

    Momentum is building nationwide behind a push for adoption of the University of Chicago’s statement in support of freedom of expression on campus, endorsed by FIRE this past January. On Wednesday, USA TODAY’s editorial board penned a stirring call for the statement’s widespread adoption, echoing a New York Daily News editorial from late August. Now… Read more

  • FIRE’s ‘Star Tribune’ Op-Ed: Affirmative Consent Policy ‘Obviously Flawed’

    August 14, 2015

    Minnesota’s Star Tribune published an op-ed by FIRE Executive Director Robert Shibley yesterday evening, explaining the consequences of University of Minnesota’s “obviously flawed” affirmative consent policy: In an attempt to address the problem, the University of Minnesota recently proposed an “affirmative consent” (sometimes called “yes means yes”) policy for sexual activity among students. Colleges and… Read more

  • FIRE Weighs in on Minnesota’s ‘Affirmative Consent’ Policy, Commends Delay

    July 13, 2015

    Implementation of the University of Minnesota’s (UMN’s) controversial “affirmative consent” policy for sexual assault prevention remains delayed after FIRE and other civil rights groups decried it as a due process disaster. On the heels of laws mandating similar policies in New York and California, UMN’s policy would require that students have “a clear, unambiguous, informed,… Read more