ST. PAUL, Minnesota, May 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews)—Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) will likely lift its application on college athletes of Governor Mark Dayton’s non-essential travel ban to North Carolina over its bathroom privacy law.
Citing the Department of Justice’s threats to pull more than $2 billion in federal funding from North Carolina if it doesn’t allow men in women’s intimate facilities, Steven J. Rosenstone, Chancellor of MnSCU, sent trustees a draft of a statement rescinding the MnSCU’s decision to apply Minnesota’s travel ban to its athletes.
This ban would have prevented Minnesota college baseball players from participating in two national championships in North Carolina.
Rosenstone wrote:
On April 2, citing opposition to discriminatory legislation passed in North Carolina, Governor Dayton directed that all employees of Minnesota state agencies refrain from nonessential business travel to the state. On May 2, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities presidents implemented a similar travel ban for our state colleges and universities. On May 4, the U.S. Justice Department notified North Carolina that the legislation in question, House Bill 2, violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act and ordered the state to remedy the violation by not enforcing the law.
In light of the intervention from the U.S. Justice Department, the presidents of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities are confident that the deplorable discrimination embedded in North Carolina’s legislation is being addressed. Therefore, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have lifted their ban on travel to North Carolina.
The MnSCU then posted the statement on its website Thursday night.
North Carolina has until Monday to confirm to the Obama administration “that the state will not comply with or implement” its law preventing individuals from accessing restrooms, locker rooms, and showers designated for the opposite sex.
It is not yet clear what North Carolina officials will do.