U. Minnesota Cancels Michael Bloomberg Lecture Over Likely Presidential Run
“university policy and federal laws bar the public entity from activities that may support current presidential candidates”
At first glance this sounds political, but it was actually a legal decision.
The Star Tribune reports:
University of Minnesota scraps Bloomberg lecture, citing his likely candidacy
The University of Minnesota canceled one of its biggest annual lectures, a December speech set to be delivered by Michael Bloomberg, citing the former New York City mayor’s likely entrance into the presidential race.
The Humphrey School of Public Affairs said Friday that it had to “reassess the possibility of hosting” its Distinguished Carlson Lecture given recent reports that Bloomberg would soon declare a run for president. His speech was announced in October. But according to the U, university policy and federal laws bar the public entity from activities that may support current presidential candidates, regardless of when they were originally scheduled.
“For this reason, the Humphrey School has decided not to move forward with this event,” the school said in an e-mail.
A high-profile Bloomberg address on the Minnesota campus could have been a sore spot for Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who has been trying to court moderate-leaning voters since launching her campaign a few miles upriver in February.
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Comments
A better solution would be to invite all the other candidates to give talks at the U. (Gratis, of course.) It’s better to hear all sides of a discussion than to hear no sides at all.