Two influential Republican lawmakers — Rochester Senator Carla Nelson and Fergus Falls Representative Bud Nornes — want to require publicly-funded colleges and universities to have a free speech policy and discipline students who violate it. Nelson says the U-of-M rejected requests for large venues where conservative commentator Ben Shapiro could speak, while providing space for liberals Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren. Nelson says, “I find it inconceivable that there is not a building on the campus in Minneapolis that would not be sufficient to allow a student group to bring in a speaker, a nationally-known speaker.”
Shapiro’s speech is scheduled for February 26th at a smaller venue on the Saint Paul campus. Maddy Dibble, editor-in-chief of the Minnesota Republic, says, “While we did agree to the room that we were positioned in, we only agreed when it became clear that the event would not go on in any other space.” U-of-M officials have not yet commented.