New University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham spoke to WCCO's Jason DeRusha Wednesday at the Minnesota State Fair about a couple of hot-button issues as she steps into her first school year at The U.
Cunningham clarified the Board of Regents' decision this week not to divest the University's holdings in Israeli interests.
Cunningham says the board has decided University endowments should not be used to make political statements. She also says there has been some misinformation regarding the University's rules on student protests and encampments.
"It is not a new policy that the University doesn't allow tents on campus," says Cunningham. "Those are the existing policies of the University of Minnesota. No changes in those policies were made."
Cunningham says spontaneous protests on campus are allowed as long as campus policies are not violated.
This comes after students held widespread demonstrations earlier this year calling for the University to divest in companies that supported Israel in the war in Gaza.
Leaders of that protest are concerned that the Regents would declare political neutrality of the University's endowment fund.
There's also concern about safety on campus, with Cunningham saying safety is their number one priority as students head back to campus this week. She says their focus extends beyond campus borders to Dinkytown, where crime has been a big issue in recent years.
"The areas that are adjacent to the University, we've done more in the past year to really step up our support of," says Cunningham. "Our Department of Public Safety now has a substation in Dinkytown to support the faster response times."
Cunningham says crime rates in the Dinkytown area have been declining and she looks forward to more of a focus on crime prevention.