University of Minnesota Responds to CNAB re Carl Savich Controversy

(.pdf version)

University of Minnesota Responds to CNAB re Carl Savich ControversyUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Twin Cities Campus
Office of the Dean
215 Johnston Hall
College of Liberal Arts
101 Pleasant Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-624-2535

Haris Alibasic
President, Board of Directors
Congress of North American Bosniaks

Dear Mr. Alibasic:

Robert Bruininks, President of the University of Minnesota, has asked me to respond to your recent communications to him and to other members of the University community regarding content on the website of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Thank you for informing us of your concerns regarding some of the website’s text and references concerning Bosnia and the Holocaust.

As you may know, the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, under the leadership of interim director Ellen Kennedy, PhD, in response to your initial communications, has already removed references and links to Carl Savich, following a review of those links by the center’s affiliate faculty.

The center will also engage its affiliated faculty to undertake a comprehensive review of the text devoted to Bosnia and the Holocaust from the center’s website. While this review is under way, the text that has resided there has been removed and the page marked as under revision. Please know that the College of Liberal Arts and the University of Minnesota uphold the principles of academic freedom and responsibility affirmed by the Board of Regents. As part of that responsibility, the University is committed to stimulating and supporting research, education, outreach and debate on a wide range of issues, many of them contentious. We welcome different viewpoints and perspectives, and encourage an open and free exchange of ideas. The University of Minnesota strives to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity and will keep that value paramount during the forthcoming review process.

Thank you for raising your concerns to us.

Signed
___________________________________
Sincerely yours,
James A. Parente, Jr.
Dean, College of Liberal Arts
JP/pb

c: Robert H. Bruininks, President
Ellen J. Kennedy, Interim Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Members of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies affiliate faculty

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The letter from the UoM was in response to CNAB’s letter titled:
Carl Savich is Genocide Denier and Unreliable Source for the Holocaust Research