University of Minnesota President Cunningham sat down with the Minnesota Daily to discuss pertinent issues this semester, such as press-police relations, suicide prevention and protests on campus. 

The Minnesota Daily: Provost Croson announced her decision to end her tenure as Executive Vice President and Provost yesterday. What will the search process look like for a new EVPP? 

President Rebecca Cunningham: “We’re just getting started on that process now, but we’ll engage in national search with the search firm that, you know, works on national higher ed searches like we have before. I’m starting to think about putting together what that search committee will look like, but we’ll certainly have representation across our faculty and student groups, etc., and there will be a process for community input along the way, and so kind of broad outlines. We’re just getting it going right now, but I’m hoping that we’ll kick off in full by January so that we can, you know, we hope to have a new provost in place before the start of the next academic year.”

Daily: Was the “no-confidence” vote in June a deciding factor in her decision to leave the University?

Cunningham: “You’d have to ask her if it was a deciding factor for her in her decision to leave. So, I have not heard that it was. Provost Croson has served five years, which is longer than any Big Ten provosts in recent times. It’s typical after this sort of course, and after a five-year period that provosts decide to move on to next roles or to do something different. It’s very typical, but you’d have to ask her what made her make her decision.”

Daily: How long are the temporary measures for suicide prevention on the Washington Avenue Bridge going to be up? 

Cunningham: “They will be up until there are permanent measures in place. We’re working with the county as you and others know, we don’t own the bridge, so we can’t decide to put permanent measures on the bridge, but we’re working with our county partners. Everybody wants to do the right thing here. We all know the success of fencing and suicide prevention measures to save lives, and I think we’re all focused on working towards that.”

Daily: You disapproved of the Morrill Hall occupation on Oct. 21, SDS took similar actions to the Morrill Hall occupation in 1969 which resulted in the African and African American Studies department. How do these two differ in your view? 

Cunningham: “First of all, it’s 2024. We have to consider the actions and what’s happening currently in the current context that we live in. I wasn’t here in 1969, and I can’t speak to that particular occupation of the hall, but in our current context, I have spent months since I got here talking with you and others about what our policies were here, policies that I didn’t create, but policies that are our University policy, that are our shared community code, that shared governance have put forth, and that we’ve said, ‘These are the rules that we will live by together as a community’. These are our policies. And I’ve worked hard to sit down with students, have been meeting with the students and the faculty across this issue for months to make it really clear how they could use their important voices for free expression. That they could protest things that they felt needs the world’s attention, and the ways that they can do that and be within our policy here at the University, as well as within, you know, local, the city and state and national laws. 

So I made those things really clear in 2024, and these actions were not peaceful protest. They crossed the line. There’s no First Amendment rights, or right to vandalize things, to break things and to cause the kind of fear that my staff felt that day. Those are not protest actions. Those are actions that violate our codes and our policies. 

So also remind people there were a lot of people that protested outside that day. They used their voices, they protested, they used their free expression. They did not come under any disciplinary action. That’s protest. That is within what we allow at the University — trespassing, breaking things, blocking exits, barricading things. That’s not protest, that’s vandalism, obstruction of work and a violation of our community code. 

I encourage folks to think about a cause that you do not agree with, and then say, ‘President Cunningham, if people with X cause that I really don’t agree with did this with the building,’ would people think, ‘Do you want me to judge this on the morality of the cause?’ Because that’s not the way the law works, and that’s not the way our civil code works, and that’s not the way our community Code of Conduct works.”

Daily: Seven SDS students were suspended from the University for up to two and a half years. They don’t have access to their official transcripts and credit records, and they’re not able to transfer colleges without forfeiting previously earned credits. How is this response appropriate? 

Cunningham: “First of all, I can’t comment on any of the students’ individual code of conduct violations. Those are protected policy. I will say you’re having misinformation. However, it is not the University’s policy to hold transcripts. I can’t speak to these students. In general, students that are suspended are not held from their transcripts, and if they want to take them and transfer, they can. That confusion was widely clarified. And so, I think that was some early confusion that was put around here. And again, I can’t speak to these individual students, but I will tell you that is not accurate information.”

Daily: This information we learned from the students themselves. They said that they were told they weren’t allowed their official transcript.

Cunningham: “So what I would say, you might revisit that, because there’s been clarifying information about what I think was a confusing communication. We have a student code of conduct process, and students who violate our code of conduct, regardless of what it is, we have students that violate our code of conduct on other days as well, and there’s a typical process at the University. Students will go through that process the same way they would if they violated our code of conduct in some other way. And with 68,000 students, it’s not infrequent that there’s some student that has violated our code of conduct in some manner, and you have a standard process for that, and it’s fair and honest and in the same way it would be for any student.”

Daily: Moving into 2025, how are you working to ensure that students have the free expression to protest on campus while ensuring that there aren’t disruptions, as we saw this semester?

Cunningham: “I continue to meet with students. I’ve, you know, made it really clear the ways that people can protest and stay on the right side of our community code and on the right side of our state and local laws. I applaud students for caring about the world and wanting to change the world, but there are ways that we can do that is protected free speech. Then there’s ways to do that that cross over the line. And what I’ve tried to do is to make that line very bright and very clear, because I don’t want students to face consequences or to be in trouble with the law. What I want to do is help them be really clear on what they can and can’t do, and I think I’ve done work to do that over the past months. Still, I have met all along with the students and said, you know, since the beginning meetings we had here in June and July, that trespassing and occupying buildings and vandalism wouldn’t be tolerated. So not new information. Perhaps people didn’t believe me.”

Daily: The Minnesota Daily reporter Tyler Church was briefly detained. Thankfully, he got his things back. Thankfully, it was a very brief period, and no one’s the worse the wear. But I am curious what is being done to resolve tensions between press and police on campus?

Cunningham: “I mean, you know, let me say at the outset, we believe in a strong, free press. Free inquiry is really important in this time that we live in, especially. I think it’s, you know, certainly unfortunate, and I’m glad it was rectified quickly because it’s not in keeping either with what the University wants to have happen or with what our police department wants to have happen. I’m glad it was rectified quickly.

The Daily is important. We love the Daily. And I know that our police force also respects the free press. And things got a little chaotic there, and they rectified it quickly. But there was no malintent there, by any means. And I’m glad, you know, other universities have had things go much further, and they’ve arrested student reporters and things like that. And we, fortunately, are far more savvy and cautious than that here, and didn’t get anywhere near that place. We’ll continue to do better work.”

This article was edited for clarity and conciseness.