Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MNSCU) barred sports teams from traveling and participating in North Carolina tournaments due to the HB2 bill that limits the rights of LGBT individuals.
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Mark Dayton announced in March he was instructing all state agencies to forego non-essential travel to North Carolina until it repealed its new law that requires individuals use bathrooms that align with the sex on their birth certificates. The NCAA Division II national baseball tournament and National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series are set to take place in North Carolina.
MNSCU lifted its travel ban following the U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement Wednesday that North Carolina’s law violates the Civil Rights Act.
At the same time, the University of Minnesota system, including the University of Minnesota Duluth, can resist any temptation to follow the governor, the MnSCU presidents or anyone else in any decision that turns student-athletes into political pawns.
The Governor’s order did not apply to MnSCU, but its leadership later implemented its own travel ban for MnSCU employees.
Century finished fourth at last year’s tournament in Cary, the second time in three years the Wood Ducks had advanced to the NJCAA World Series.
The travel ban was announced on Monday this week.
That policy will directly affect St. Cloud State, ranked third nationally in the latest NCBWA poll. St. Cloud Technical & Community College is 25-5 and ranked No. 10 in the latest Division III national poll.
In an email to the Star Tribune, Minnesota Duluth athletic director Josh Berlo said: “UMD athletics and the University of Minnesota strongly oppose the recent discriminatory legislation in North Carolina”.
St. Cloud State president Earl H. Potter did not attend Tuesday’s meetings because of a family issue but said he supports “the governor’s position and the stand he’s taken”.
Similarly, Dwight Kotila of Century College was deeply unhappy with the ruling.
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Kotila received news of the decision midway through a doubleheader Tuesday in Iowa and told his players before the bus ride home. “I need to focus on supporting the student-athletes the best I can”.
