Friends,

Rebecca Cunningham announced yesterday that Gretchen Ritter is named the new Executive Vice President/Executive Provost . This is very alarming! Ritter has a history of suppression of academic freedom when it comes to Palestine speech. She has imposed draconian measures to suppress protests, threatened to collaborate with FBI to discipline student protesters, and has suppressed Palestine speech in classrooms and in events long before the UMN admin. MESA and AAUP have published several letters expressing concern about Ritter and Syracuse administrators (see below). The UMN search for Vice president was done in a secretive and undemocratic way. Please send this letter to the Regents and ask them NOT TO HIRE Ritter as UMN's new Executive Provost! All you need to do is to click "send." Don't forget to type your name at the bottom of the letter.

*For those whose browsers do not work with "Mailto," here are the email addresses of the regents and the text of the letter. You can just copy and paste:

Email addresses:

uregents@umn.edu, mayeron@umn.edu, dhuebsch@umn.edu, kenyanya@umn.edu, mdavenpo@umn.edu, jamestf@umn.edu, rgulley@umn.edu, rej@umn.edu, taddjohn@umn.edu, boturabe@umn.edu, mcturner@umn.edu, verhalen@umn.edu, pwheeler@umn.edu

Text of the letter:

Dear University of Minnesota Regents,

On May 20, 2025, President Rebecca Cunningham announced that, pending approval from the Board of Regents in June, Gretchen Ritter would be the next provost at the University of Minnesota. I am deeply concerned about the decision to hire an administrator who has an alarmingly negative reputation for violating academic freedom at her previous job at Syracuse University. In a time when many UMN students, faculty, and staff have repeatedly expressed discontent with the administration’s lack of regard for shared governance and academic freedom (including a vote of no confidence for the previous provost), UMN urgently needs skilled and unbiased leaders who cultivate trust and stability in an already volatile environment. The decision to hire a controversial administrator who has a murky record of leadership and who has made decisions based on her political interests, rather than the well-being of students, faculty, staff, and the university community, would only lead to further divisiveness and discontent.

I am equally concerned about the unusually secretive search process and the limited number of faculty included in the interviews for this high-profile search. The administration’s unprecedented decision not to release the finalists’ names in the search process for the second-most powerful position at Minnesota’s flagship public university is extremely undemocratic and against the tenets of shared governance at this public university. As a public-facing position, the University provost needs to be unbiased and accountable not only to faculty, students, and staff, but also to the community at large. The hiring process and the selection of finalists need to be conducted with the knowledge and input from the public and with transparency.

The following are only a few examples of why I strongly oppose the hiring of Gretchen Ritter at UMN:

1. Violation of faculty members’ free speech: As Provost at Syracuse University (SU), Gretchen Ritter repeatedly violated the academic freedom rights of the Syracuse faculty. In late October 2023, Ritter cast aspersions on the academic freedom of SU faculty in the classroom. The Syracuse chapter of the American Association of University Professors—the nation’s oldest and most credible professional arbiter for faculty rights—denounced Ritter’s approach in a November 5, 2023, statement. The Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom also issued an open letter, protesting the failure of Ritter and the Syracuse administration to protect faculty who were under attack for exercising their academic freedom. They stated, “Unfortunately, instead of defending the right of faculty to share their scholarly expertise with the Syracuse University community, Provost Ritter told the University Senate on 25 October 2023 that a hitherto unknown policy prohibited faculty from using university resources to circulate statements.”
2. Suppression of academic freedom by canceling academic events: Ritter and the administration cancelled a planned academic event on Palestine scheduled for October 31, 2023, on the day of the event. AAUP denounced the cancellation.
3. Suppression of free speech by intimidating and punishing student protesters: On November 9, Ritter denounced a student speaker at a protest for criticizing a few student groups’ complicity with the genocide in Gaza— a critique within the bounds of legitimate political debate. Ritter threatened the student with disciplinary action and intimated that the administration would cooperate with the FBI to further suppress such speech.

Faculty and students at Syracuse have opposed Ritter’s targeting of pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide speech. The campus newspaper noted widespread pushback to Ritter and the Syracuse administration’s efforts to silence students and faculty. It is puzzling that the UMN is selecting such a controversial figure for its second most powerful administrator position. To hire someone with a track record of violating academic freedom and free speech rights solely for the purpose of silencing criticism of the atrocities committed in Gaza is a grave disservice to the university and its members.

The lack of transparency and withholding information about the search process also sends a clear message to the faculty, students, and community at large–especially Palestinian, Muslim, and Middle Eastern members of the Twin Cities community– that they are of no concern to UMN administrators.

Based on her record, there is no reason to assume that Gretchen Ritter, as Provost, will respect faculty expertise and freedoms. We have every reason to believe that Ritter’s hire will result in divisiveness, student discontent, increased Islamophobia, and unhinged anti-Arab discrimination.

Please do not approve Gretchen Ritter’s hiring as the Provost of the University of Minnesota. She is not qualified or appropriate for this position. Instead, I urge the Board of Regents to implement a new, transparent search process for the next Provost and to focus on candidates who have records of respecting academic freedom and the right to advocate for Palestine.

Sincerely,

[name]