Court Dismisses Turkish Group’s Lawsuit Against U. of Minnesota over Website

He rejected the coalition’s assertion that the center’s characterization of the website amounted to defamation, holding that the center’s assessment of the site was a constitutionally- protected academic opinion and not a purported statement of fact that could conceivably be proved false in court.

“The ability of the university and its faculty to determine the reliability of sources available to students to use in their research falls squarely within the university’s freedom to determine how particular course work shall be taught,” the ruling says. The center’s conclusion that the killing of Armenians during World War I was an act of genocide similarly is a viewpoint “within the purview of the university’s academic freedom to comment on and critique academic views held and expressed by others,” Frank wrote.

The lawsuit brought against the university by the Turkish Coalition and a freshman who had sought to use its Web site in class had been closely watched by several scholarly groups. The Middle East Studies Association had issued an open letter urging the center to withdraw its lawsuit, arguing that it posed a threat to academic freedom. The International Association of Genocide Scholars and the Society for Armenian Studies had similarly defended the university’s decision to discourage students from using the Turkish Coalition site.