Politics here

Our son is seriously considering goi g to U of M (accepted to CLA honors). Recently a super conservative friend said there are weekly Black Lives Matter and anti- Trump protests. So I’m wondering if these protests are really an issue (son leans right) or if the environment is open to real discussions and debates?

FWIW, the issue is not so much the protests (because those go on at a LOT of notable campuses) but how the admin. responds to them. So far, Pres. Kaler has come out on the side of free speech for all groups, not just some.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/10/free-speech-prevails-at-the-university-of-minnesota.php

Things can change on a dime, of course, (as they have at other places). However, OP, your issue isn’t the one that would concern me the most about UMN. THAT issue would be the current efforts by some to unionize faculty. Very few prestigious universities have unionized their faculty and the risk, of course, is that such a move would serve as job protection for faculty or even departments that are sub-par (when compared to other selective state universities). In addition, such a successful effort will focus financial resources on “contingent” faculty (non-tenure-track) at the expense of traditional faculty (tenure-track). To the extent that UMN’s primary reputation is that of a world-class research-university, you need a competitive tenure-track system in order to attract the best in the field and keep that reputation going.

Here are a couple of helpful articles. The unionization one is about a year old - not sure what’s happening currently other than the university is appealing the mediation board decision. Of course, all of that was prior to the recent election which gave state legislative control to the Republicans; in addition, last I heard anyway, Gov. Dayton is not running for a 3rd term in 2018. So who knows what the future holds!

http://www.mndaily.com/article/2016/10/kickin-it-with-kaler-october
http://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-faculty-file-for-union-vote/365851061/

I’m guessing things will die down before the fall semester.

Hopefully! More demonstrations today, apparently, but it IS inauguration day, after all.

Minnesota is a pretty progressive state, and the BLM movement is active there. But it is the state flagship, and draws a reasonable number of students from outside of metro areas, and also Wisconsin & the Dakotas. Your kid will find like minded people there. But he will be exposed to plenty of liberal views as well, and might pass an occasional protest on campus.

I didn’t pick up an overtly political vibe during our visit, and I adamantly hope it’s open to all sides of any debates. I didn’t know about the unionization issue - especially interesting since we’re in Wisconsin and I trust we all know what happened here!

@threebeans - interestingly, UW-Madison isn’t unionized (though they certainly threw their support to the protesters and the recall . . . and are feeling the repercussions of that now)