Epress.am News from Armenia
A US district court judge ruled Tuesday that the University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) acted legally when it created a “blacklist” labeling certain websites as unreliable for academic use, reports the Minnesota Daily.
The judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Turkish Coalition of America, whose website appeared on the list. The group sued the University for violating its freedom of speech and on counts of defamation and due process.
In his ruling, Judge Donovan Frank said the Supreme Court has “recognized the freedom of a university to make its own judgments as to education,” including the right to decide “on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught and who may be admitted to study.”
University General Counsel Mark Rotenberg said the University is “very pleased” with the decision.
The Turkish Coalition’s site was originally listed as unreliable because of its views on the Armenian Genocide.
The original warning above the list said “students should not use these sites because of [1] denial, [2] support by an unknown organization, or [3] contents that are a strange mixture of fact and opinion.”
Tuesday’s ruling said that the CHGS had the right to deem the killings genocide.