The article is devoted to the history of examining issues related to the activities of higher education in the period from the end of 1910 to 1914 in the State Duma of the Russian Empire, when the Ministry of Public Enlightenment was led by one of the most odious prerevolutionary ministers Lev Casso. This issue was not made the subject of special consideration, although the materials contained in the verbatim records of the meetings make it possible to reveal the position of the main political forces of the country to higher education and to the minister himself. The authors come to the conclusion that at the time of the beginning of the leadership of the Ministry by Lev Casso was not an established opinion about his, it was formed gradually. The Minister’s harsh policy led to the fact that the issue of a new university charter, which was central in the previous period, came to naught, giving way to sharp criticism of the activities of the Ministry of all but the far «rights», and cooperation between the lower legislative chamber and the Ministry was practically absent. The authors suggest that the conflict between the Duma and the ministry of Lev Casso clearly reflected the deeper tendency of forming an incompetent and incapable to rule the country’s executive power, which was created by the opposition in the era of the Duma monarchy.