University of Minnesota sued over 'unreliable' website listing
The University of Minnesota was sued in federal court Tuesday over allegations that a website maintained by its Holocaust studies center defamed a Turkish-American organization in a way that raised First Amendment and due process issues. The suit came just days after the Holocaust center removed the material that is the focus of the suit -- although the university maintains that it acted as part of a routine review and not because of the threat of litigation.
Underlying the legal dispute is the debate over what happened to the Armenians during World War I. Among most scholars of genocide, there is a wide consensus that the deaths (some say up to 1.5 million of them) constituted a genocide. A minority of scholars (and many Turkish-American groups) disagree -- and some of those who differ have been called "deniers." The material that was removed from the Minnesota website was a list of "unreliable websites" for research on genocide -- including the website of the Turkish Coalition of America.
The Minnesota lawsuit follows a retraction (under legal pressure) by the Southern Poverty Law Center of statements it made about a retired University of Massachusetts professor who has written books that cast doubt on the view that the Armenians suffered a genocide. David Saltzman, a lawyer involved in the suit against Minnesota and the one against the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in an interview Tuesday night that "the prospect of further litigation is great."...
Read entire article at Inside Higher Ed
Underlying the legal dispute is the debate over what happened to the Armenians during World War I. Among most scholars of genocide, there is a wide consensus that the deaths (some say up to 1.5 million of them) constituted a genocide. A minority of scholars (and many Turkish-American groups) disagree -- and some of those who differ have been called "deniers." The material that was removed from the Minnesota website was a list of "unreliable websites" for research on genocide -- including the website of the Turkish Coalition of America.
The Minnesota lawsuit follows a retraction (under legal pressure) by the Southern Poverty Law Center of statements it made about a retired University of Massachusetts professor who has written books that cast doubt on the view that the Armenians suffered a genocide. David Saltzman, a lawyer involved in the suit against Minnesota and the one against the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in an interview Tuesday night that "the prospect of further litigation is great."...