U. of Minnesota to Review Actions Leading to Film Controversy

Top officials at the University of Minnesota have told faculty representatives they plan to review their institution’s actions in connection with a documentary on the environment to ensure academic freedom was not compromised, according to reports in The Minnesota Daily and the Twin Cities Daily Planet. The controversy stems from a decision by Twin Cities Public Television to postpone the October 5 premiere of Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story at the request of Karen Himle, the university’s vice president for university relations. The station has since agreed to show the film, but students and faculty leaders have asked whether administrators’ actions in connection with the premiere’s delay violated a university policy prohibiting institutional restraint on research and creative expression on matters of public concern.