Faculty at the University of Iowa were told not to promote an appearance by Greta Thunberg to avoid breaching the university’s “political activity” guidelines.
According to emails obtained by the Gazette, Professor Michelle Scherer recommended that staff use social media to promote Thunberg’s Oct. 4 event on the campus, writing, “If we haven’t already, I’d like to suggest we put Greta’s visit up on (Civil and Environmental Engineering) Facebook.”
The director of communications for the engineering college, Jason Kosovski, swatted down Scherer’s suggestion, reminding the faculty that their social media accounts must remain within the university’s “political activity” guidelines.
“We cannot use our channels to publicize or promote policy change,” Kosovski wrote. “We are always free to publicize our research, even if it has policy impacts, but Greta’s visit does not fit under the umbrella of university research.”
Kosovski also consulted the institution’s government relations personnel, who confirmed his claim that publicizing Thunberg’s visit would be out of line.
“I have consulted with UI Government Relations, and they have emphasized that this event does not fall within the scope of something we can promote,” Kosovski added.
Scherer asked for “wiggle room” to see if the university would allow an exception for Thunberg’s visit, but her request was met with the exact language from the university’s policy book, which forbids “the use of the university name for any purpose in any non-university endeavor.”
“This is an educational opportunity, and as an educator I feel the university could have engaged more,” Scherer said.
She also urged university officials to be more aggressive in their efforts to combat climate change.
“Does the University of Iowa (administration) believe in climate change? If they do, it’s time to start acting more aggressively,” Scherer demanded.
Thunberg rose to fame after leading student strikes in her home country of Sweden, which became a global protest.
