The homes of several University of Minnesota Board of Regents members were vandalized early Thursday morning.

According to University President Rebecca Cunningham, the vandals oppose the sale of university property to the aerospace company North Wind. In , the university put forth a plan to sell 60 acres of the UMore Park in Rosemount to the company for roughly $8 million. The company is working to develop a prototype hypersonic test facility called the Minnesota Aerospace Complex.

"The University unequivocally condemns this and all vandalism, threatening behavior and acts of violence," Cunningham said at a regents meeting on Thursday.

A group of students on Friday called out the university for the sale, but did not take responsibility for the vandalism.

"This university wants to call this a lucrative deal that will serve the monetary interest and develop the research portfolio of the university, but the fact remains that an industry that directly profits off of death is not a trade that the university or its students should be tied to," Emil Chu with University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society said.

The U said it is working with police to find those responsible for targeting the regents' homes.

"There is absolutely no place for threatening behavior or destruction of property within our community," Cunningham said. "These actions endanger safety, erode the fabric of our University community, and undermine the legitimacy of important causes that our students, faculty and staff care so deeply about."

"North Wind is proud to develop this landmark project that builds on Minnesota's long tradition of aerospace innovation and grateful for the overwhelming support from local and state partners," the company said in a statement to WCCO. "We look forward to the many benefits this project will bring to the region, including boosting economic development, creating jobs, and revitalizing a historic site."  

• University of Minnesota
• Vandalism