Ms. Karen Himle did not pull the film unilaterally. Someone else, a dean or a director, did.

So what happened here?

As far as I can determine, Ms. Himle looked at the film in question, Troubled Waters, and decided that it "looked bad for the U." Which, as a pr person, is her job. She then contacted a dean and apparently the dean is the one who pulled the film, although there is some controversy over who, exactly, is responsible. Other good soldiers have stepped forward to take the bullet, but it is clear that the pr department alone did not stop this film.

To merely state his support of his VP is to dodge some fundamental questions about censorship and conflict of interest.

It is time for the President to speak up, unfiltered by press-agentry of folks like spin-meister Wolter. The public relations operation at the University of Minnesota should NOT be influencing decisions of the type that led to pulling this film.

As has been documented, some deans at the U have also had their dirty hands on this one and actually bear more responsibility than the pr department for allowing this to happen.

The lack of judgment shown in this matter is appalling.

The present administration at the U seems to understand neither the concept of academic freedom, nor that of conflict of interest.

William B. Gleason, University of Minnesota faculty member and alum

It is typical of university administrations to be so risk-averse (especially when litigation can be imagined) as to abandon social and ethical responsibility. One of our great failings, and one that threatens the credibility of higher education.

Unless there is some reason to believe the film is seriously inaccurate, this strikes me as a terrible example of an abandonment of academic integrity out of fear of potential financial repercussions from an increasingly business dominated higher education-industrial complex. Shame on the University for doing this, and shame on the President for defending it. It reminds me of other efforts to censor law school clinics doing environmental work at publicly supported law schools.

"Unless there is some reason to believe the film is seriously inaccurate"

Doesn't matter if it is inaccurate. There would be few Documentaries/movies/TV shows to watch if we demand they be becompletely accurate. NOVA isn't completely accurate, the news isn't accurate.....

Film inaccurate?

However, the film's director, Larkin McPhee, said she never delayed the release or called for a scientific review. "I do not understand why the University postponed the film's broadcast," she said via email. "I am, along with many others, awaiting explanation from the U."

What's more, she and assistant producer Shanai Matteson, who also serves as community program specialist at the Bell Museum, contend that the film did undergo a scientific review and was extensively fact-checked to "NOVA standards."

"We verified every fact with at least three independent sources," Matteson says of the documentary project.

Matteson says that the film was also reviewed by as many as 12 prominent university scientists, including Jon Foley and David Tilman (both from the of U of M's Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior department); Robert Diaz, a professor of marine science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and an expert on "dead zone" issues in the Gulf of Mexico; Eugene Turner, a zoologist at Louisiana State University who has done extensive research on wetland pollution and coastal erosion; and Nancy Rabalias, another LSU professor whose research has dealt extensively with pollution issues in the Gulf of Mexico.

Source: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/09/15/who-pulled-plub-university-minnesotas-troubled-waters

Larkin McPhee

McPhee has made award-winning documentary films for twenty years. McPhee was hired by the Bell to direct "Troubled Waters." A Minneapolis resident, McPhee's previous work includes Depression: Out of the Shadows, a primetime PBS special on the illness of depression; Dying To Be Thin, a NOVA special on eating disorders; and Children By Design, one hour of an eight-hour PBS Series called Secret of Life on the marvels and perils of the genetic revolution. Her credits include NOVA, National Geographic Explorer, Smithsonian World, WNET TV, and the Discovery Health Channel. See her bio on the PBS website for more information.

Looks like the U of Minnesota shot itself in both feet in this one, first by producing it and then by trying to stop it from being shown. I can't help but wonder how unbiased the reviewers were considering their affilations.alumn 50,52,55.

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It is embarrassing to see shenanigans like this at a major U.S. university. I would very much like to hear what the UM faculty have to say about this.

The best way to "popularize" a piece of art (a book, a film, a painting or a sculpture) is to censor it or ban it altogether. I am sure that a copy of this documentary will finally be shown and by that time many more people will be eager to see what the message is. I really look forward to see this "banned" documentary now that some administrators thought it is damaging to the university. Why did they fund the project to begin with if they were unprepared for the outcome of that research. Unless of course the film was totally irresponsible in its message or very inaccurate in its research. That I can say is a reasonable justification for NOT showing it. Again I would like to know the real reasons and I am prepared to accept some - like sloppy research or bias conclusions in the documentary.

Thank you Mr. Gleason for your clear, unequivocal, and courageous explanation of what really happened in the saga of "Troubled Waters.........". When will senior officers at our colleges and universities finally realize that their public explanations of institutional debacles MUST always pass the smell test? Clearly, President Bruininks' does not. Your success in deodorizing the Presidents' tale is meritorious.

I believe this incident also reveals the mandatory relationship between tenured faculty and academic freedom.