http://www.volokh.com/2012/10/18/the-first-amendment-and-free-online-courses/ The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Minnesota has barred Coursera from offering free online courses — including ones that don’t even result in a degree — because it hasn’t properly registered as an educational institution with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, and, presumably, because the universities and colleges that provide classes through Coursera have not gotten approval to use the term “college” or “university” from that Office:
Coursera offers free, online courses to people around the world, but if you live in Minnesota, company officials are urging you to log off or head for the border.
The state’s Office of Higher Education has informed the popular provider of massive open online courses, or MOOC’s, that Coursera is unwelcome in the state because it never got permission to operate there. It’s unclear how the law could be enforced when the content is freely available on the Web, but Coursera updated its Terms of Service to include the following caution:
Notice for Minnesota Users:
Coursera has been informed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education that under Minnesota Statutes (136A.61 to 136A.71), a university cannot offer online courses to Minnesota residents unless the university has received authorization from the State of Minnesota to do so. If you are a resident of Minnesota, you agree that either (1) you will not take courses on Coursera, or (2) for each class that you take, the majority of work you do for the class will be done from outside the State of Minnesota.
Tricia Grimes, a policy analyst for the state’s Office of Higher Education, said letters had been sent to all postsecondary institutions known to be offering courses in Minnesota. She said she did not know specifically whether letters had been sent to other MOOC providers like edX and Udacity, and officials there did not immediately respond to questions from The Chronicle....
Minnesota statutes do indeed seem to cover “any public or private postsecondary educational institution located in another state or country which offers or makes available to a Minnesota resident any course, program or educational activity which does not require the leaving of the state for its completion,” whether or not they grant a degree, and whether or not they charge money. And any such institution may not “use the name ‘college’ or ‘university’ in its name without approval by the office”; that would presumably cover not just Coursera but also the universities that provide courses through Coursera.
But whatever Minnesota statutes may say, I don’t see how such an approval requirement is constitutional.
And for all these years I bought the line that Minnesota was full of small-L and big-L libertarians, progressives, and Grange members. Apparently that was all just camoflage for a nest of Democrats.
So, is that law constitutional or not?
stay safe.
