Tim Walz daughter Hope Walz’s shocking decision: Skips graduate school over its lack of support for student protests

Hope Walz, the daughter of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has announced that she will not attend graduate school, citing her dissatisfaction with the way the university she had planned to attend handled student protests.

In a TikTok video shared on Sunday, Walz explained her decision to her followers, expressing her disappointment with the institution’s stance on student activism.

“I applied for one school. I kind of had my heart set on it. I am not going to name the institution, but given recent events I am not going to give my money, go into debt for, or support institutions that do not support students and the right to protest and speak out for their communities,” Walz said in the video.

Support for student rights and protesters

Walz also emphasised that her decision was rooted in her belief that students should be protected when voicing their opinions and participating in protests. “Students deserve to be protected. I am not worried about if I were to be protected or not at said institution. I am, you know, a privileged white woman. But I am not going to put myself in the position where I am giving money or supporting institutions that don’t support their students,” Hope Walz said.

Her announcement comes at a time of heightened tension surrounding student protests across US universities, particularly in light of the Trump administration’s actions targeting foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Controversy surrounding Trump Administration's stance

The Trump administration has taken an aggressive approach toward universities, particularly Columbia University, over protests linked to pro-Palestinian movements. The administration threatened to withhold federal funding from the university unless it took measures to combat antisemitism and address the ongoing campus protests. In response, Columbia agreed to ban masks intended to conceal identities during protests and appointed a senior vice provost to oversee its Department of the Middle East, South Asian and African Studies, as well as the Center for Palestine Studies.

Impact on foreign students

Amid these tensions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that at least 300 foreign students had their visas revoked in recent weeks for participating in the protests.