In his last weeks as Interim President of the University of Minnesota, Jeff Ettinger withdrew a job offer for director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies on June 10, prompting debate about the role of administrators in hiring practices and infringements on academic freedom.

College of Liberal Arts (CLA) Interim Dean Ann Waltner extended an offer to Israeli historian and genocide expert, Raz Segal, on June 5 before it was withdrawn in reaction to an outpouring of negative community feedback regarding Segal’s ability to lead the center given his views of Israeli action in Gaza. Expressing strong dissent in Ettinger’s decision, the Faculty Senate passed a no-confidence vote on June 24. 

Faculty Senator and CLA Assembly Vice-Chair Michael Gallope said the pressure campaign was an attempt to stifle debate about a controversial war and goes against basic principles of free speech.

In an October 2023 article, Segal criticized Israeli action in Gaza, calling it “a textbook case of genocide.” 

Gallope said withdrawing Segal’s offer based on community opinion regarding his views violates several University values related to academic freedom and faculty autonomy over educational decisions, as stipulated in CLA’s constitution.

Ettinger announced the search pause for the Center’s director at the Board of Regents meeting on June 14. 

At the Minnesota Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety hearing June 25, Ettinger said the decision to pause was “unusual,” though he determined it necessary given the community-facing role the Center’s director holds.

“My conclusion was that the Center’s leader needs to be able to bring people together around this critically important and sensitive work,” Ettinger said at the hearing.

In a special meeting of the Faculty Senate on June 26, Gallope said he is gravely concerned about the precedent this sets for the University’s future. 

“No individual at the University, whether student, staff or faculty should feel as though they could be punished for expressing their views,” Gallope said in the special meeting.

Gallope said the University should be a space where controversial issues can be openly debated without the risk of retaliation, like interference with established hiring practices and publicly retracting job offers. He said such actions can damage a scholar’s reputation.

“We can’t function as a University unless the Center can be a place where precisely this question of whether or not Israel is committing genocide is able to be discussed in a public forum,” Gallope said. “That’s exactly the work that the Center should be doing.”

Segal’s offer included both an administrative appointment as the Center’s director and a faculty appointment in the University’s History Department, according to Ettinger. 

In both the Board meeting and Faculty Assembly meeting, Ettinger differentiated between the administrative and faculty appointments. He said the president should not be involved in the appointment of faculty but may intervene in administrative appointments when they feel the appointment could interfere with the University’s mission.

In the special meeting on June 26, Ettinger said directorships are akin to those of deans, provosts and chancellors, where the Board confirms the administrative aspect of a position and faculty confirms the academic aspect.

Interim Center Director Joe Eggers said the directorship is multifaceted. It involves supporting communities and educators external to the University and cultivating the campus’ scholarly community.

The Board of Regents policy on Academic Freedom and Responsibility states faculty and staff have the freedom “to speak or write on matters of public concern as well as on matters related to professional duties and the functioning of the University.”

During the question portion of the special meeting June 26, when asked whether the work done as director of a research center like the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies would be protected by academic freedom, Provost Rachel Croson said, “I would assume if it were academic work it would be protected by academic freedom.”

In the special meeting, Ettinger said his decision to withdraw Segal’s offer and pause the search was made partly because the search proceeded without a community member on the search committee.

Ettinger also said Segal’s appointment was likely to disengage certain community groups. He added this could have significantly endangered the University’s mission, given the center’s director typically engages in conversations and involvement with the broader University community. 

Ettinger said other centers at the University, whose director search committees did not include a community member, do not have the same connection to the community as the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Therefore, he said the Center needs to consult the community in its search. 

Two faculty members of the Center’s Advisory Board voiced opposition to Segal’s hiring and resigned in protest. Those board members were University professors Karen Painter and Bruno Chaouat.

Painter said Segal’s viewpoint was extreme and made him the wrong candidate for a directorship where he would work with Holocaust survivors and their families. 

“You need somebody who is sensitive,” Painter said. “Who is a good listener.”

The final five candidates were announced via the Center’s email list of more than 5,000 individuals, including more than 3,000 with non-University emails, according to Gallope. These candidates then visited campus to give public talks and meet privately for discussions and interviews with the search committee and the Center’s advisory board. 

Advisory board members were able to give feedback on candidates via a Google form after smaller meetings between a given candidate, the search committee and the advisory board, Painter said.

Painter said she alerted search committee chair Evelyn Davidheiser early on in the process that Segal may be a “disastrous choice” for the broader community.

Painter said she believes her feedback was ignored and thought it would have been beneficial for the search committee to get additional feedback from the advisory board and community members.

In an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, Davidheiser said Segal presented a “clear set of strengths,” and advisory board members who supported his hiring admired that he wanted to do more for the Center than just invite speakers.

Davidheiser said that while the committee thought Segal’s views could be a barrier to building relationships, given his experience working with the community in his current position at Stockton University, they thought he would still have been an effective director.

In the special meeting, Ettinger said issues in the Middle East have been “the issue” on campuses nationwide this year. Given recent student protests and an investigation into antisemitism at the University, he said campus politics provided context for the decision. 

Gallope said it was inappropriate for Ettinger to consider political circumstances regarding this appointment. 

“Caving to pressure campaigns sends the message that the institutional leadership is weak and twists in the wind of political debates,” Gallope said. “We need the central administration to stand strong in the face of political pressure and defend academic freedom when it comes to controversial topics like genocide.”

Eggers said while the goal of his work is to raise the Center’s profile, it is unfortunate that these circumstances have generated attention to it. 

“We’re instead talking about a process that I think distracts from the overall work and the continued, really exciting work that the Center is doing,” Eggers said.

Gallope said Ettinger “shredded faculty trust in the administration,” and he hopes President Rebecca Cunningham will undo the damage of this decision. 

In an email sent to University faculty and staff July 15, Cunningham said she charged Croson with appointing a diverse faculty committee to create a shared understanding of the intersection of hiring policies and academic freedom. She also asked Croson to partner with faculty to discuss academic freedom and shared governance.

“I am optimistic these two forward-looking actions will help guide a path toward a stronger University ecosystem,” Cunningham said in the email.