The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Minnesota University in a closely watched case involving First Amendment and academic freedom claims.

The plaintiff in the case, Turkish Coalition of America, claimed that statements on a university department website that suggested that the Turkish Coalition’s information about the Armenian Genocide was “unreliable” violated its free speech rights and were defamatory.

Earlier U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Turkish Coalition of America against the University of Minnesota.

The Court of Appeals found that the Turkish Coalition’s defamation claims failed because the university faculty’s statements were either true or were statements of opinion, which cannot support a defamation claim, says the statement posted on university’s website. 

The case has been watched closely by scholars around the United States and the world because of its implications for principles of academic freedom.