Journalist Larry Pinkney BANNED from University of Minnesota (Minneapolis campus)

Internationally known journalist Larry Pinkney received a Trespass Warning on April 11, 2013 (banning him from the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis campus) after writing and sending the following email on April 7, 2013 titled “Arbitrary Treatment Or Standard Operating Procedure?” to several University of Minnesota staff and faculty:

April 7, 2013
TO: Karen Hanson, Senior Vice President/Provost, University of Minnesota

Pamela Wheelock, Vice President, University Services, University of Minnesota
Jason Rohloff, Special Assistant, Gov’t & Community Relations, University of Minnesota
University Relations, University of Minnesota

Dear Ms. Hanson, Ms. Wheelock, Mr. Rohloff, and members of the university relations department:

As the eight links (contained in the bottom portion of this email) amply demonstrate, I am a nationally and internationally recognized author/journalist, activist, researcher, and lecturer in the areas of civil and political rights, political science, and international law.

I am writing to you out of an abiding and deeply disturbing concern, based upon my experience with two upper level staff members of the Institute for Global Studies, on the afternoon of Friday, April 5, 2013, on the 2nd floor of the Social Sciences building at the University of Minnesota.

Pursuant to my objectives as a journalist, I was seeking out and attempting to speak with and/or interview persons with respect to their knowledge and perspectives on international law as it pertains to its application inside the United States. As I was in the process of listening to and interviewing a University of Minnesota student in an open conference room on the second floor, I was abruptly interrupted by the above-mentioned two staff persons, who among other things, and without adequate explanation, condescendingly insisted that I stop my interview and leave immediately. I stated my first and last name and showed them my Press ID (which includes the name & logo of the national publication for whom I write, my photo, and also includes my first and last name, etc.), and I indicated that I desired to complete my conversation / interview. Rather than allowing me another two or three minutes to complete the interview / conversation, the two staff persons belligerently insisted that I leave immediately. I then asked the two staff persons to give me their last names – which they refused to do, acidly replying to me, “You’re the investigative journalist. YOU find out!” This afore-quoted acidic reply was a clear manifestation of the smugly arrogant ivory-tower snobbery, contempt, and hostility for the greater community, on the part of these two staff persons. It also indicates an active, pervasive, and deep-cover racism on the part of these two Institute for Global Studies staff persons. This should be deeply troubling to the faculty, staff, and students at this Land-Grant institution.

My research indicates that their first and last names, in fact are, [names omitted]. Is this hostile, condescending, and community-unfriendly environment, as represented by the above-mentioned two staff persons, really representative of the University of Minnesota? One would think, that of all places, the Social Sciences building, which houses (among other entities) the Global Studies Institute and the Human Rights Project, would be especially sensitive and open to journalists, researchers, lecturers, and/or scholars from the community-at-large. One must wonder: Is this the kind of atmosphere that permeates the University of Minnesota as a whole? In such an atmosphere, it is no wonder that Black American and Indigenous Native, etc., (so called “minority”) student enrollment is so deplorably low at the University of Minnesota.

The behavior of [name omitted] and [name omitted] was extremely reprehensible, provocative, inexcusable, and absolutely contrary to the self-description by the Institute for Global Studies (IGS), which states the following on its University of Minnesota web site:

“The Institute for Global Studies (IGS) creates an environment for students and scholars at the University of Minnesota to investigate the sets of interrelated processes forming today’s increasingly interdependent world. IGS provides a vibrant curriculum for students, brings together scholars from diverse disciplines, and works with the community to create partnerships examining global issues.

IGS is designated as a comprehensive National Resource Center in International Studies by the United States Department of Education.”

I am requesting from the University of Minnesota, at its earliest possible opportunity, the specific prescribed written guidelines as they pertain to the treatment of, and/or accessibility by, visiting journalists, researchers, scholars, and/or community persons at-large, with respect to the University of Minnesota, as a Land-Grant institution.

The eight links referred to in paragraph one of this email communication, are directly below:

1. Click on Larry Pinkney Speaks at Syracuse University College of Law | Larry Pinkney Arc
2. Click on World Prout Assembly Voice of Justice Award | Larry Pinkney Archives
3. Click on Book Review: Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medi
4. Click on Guest Larry Pinkney on The Corbett Report | Larry Pinkney Archives –
5. Click on Guest Larry Pinkney on Civil Rádío FM98, Budapest, Hungary | Larry Pinkney Arc
6. Click on Black Activist Writers Guild –
7. Click on German Yearbook of International Law | Larry Pinkney Archives
8. Click on Textbook on International Human Rights | Larry Pinkney Archives

I look forward to your expeditious reply in this most serious matter.

Sincerely,

Larry Pinkney

bcc: Black Activist Writers Guild
United Nations Office At Geneva, et al
cc:  File copies

•••

His email request for “the specific prescribed written guidelines as they pertain to the treatment of, and/or accessibility by, visiting journalists, researchers, scholars, and/or community persons at-large, with respect to the University of Minnesota, as a Land-Grant institution” remains unanswered by University of Minnesota officials as of April 11, 2013.