For the past year, the University has waged a legal battle against Attorney General and University alumnus Ken Cuccinelli centered around his demands for access to documents pertaining to research by former Environmental Sciences Prof. Michael Mann. As this case continues, another major public university faces a similar controversy. Last week, the University of Wisconsin received a request from the state's Republican Party for copies of all emails from History Prof. William Cronon featuring terms such as "Republican," "recall," "collective bargaining," "rally" and "union."
The request came two days after Cronon, the president-elect of the American Historical Association and one of Wisconsin's most renowned academic figures, published a blog post that was critical of a recently enacted state law that severely limits the rights of public employees to collectively bargain. This suggests that in filing the request under the state's Open Records Law, the Party hoped to discover emails sent by Cronon using his .edu address that were oriented toward achieving partisan ends. Employees may not use their official email addresses "to support the nomination of any person for political office or to influence a vote in any election or referendum," according to the university's policy.
Thus, if Cronon sent emails from his .edu address that furthered the progress of his blog post or a similar op-ed that he wrote for The New York Times several days later, then there would be potential grounds for sanction by the university. Additionally, the Party has the right to compel the release of Cronon's emails under the Open Records Law since it stipulates "E-mail sent or received on an authority's computer system is a record."
The Party's request may be lawful, but this does not mean it is responsible. Just as the civil investigative demand Cuccinelli issued to the University is inappropriate because it lacks a specific basis in fact, so too is the inquiry into Cronon's records unreasonably broad. Words such as "recall," "rally," "union" and even "Republican" come up in everyday conversation, meaning the Party will sweep up a significant amount of extraneous personal correspondence if it follows through on its request. Moreover, Cronon indicated in a blog post responding to the request that he has a clear understanding of the university's email policies. Included in the post was a direct citation of the specific provision within the university's IT policies that bans the political use of one's email account, and Cronon also asserted that he has a separate personal email address and a personal computer that he uses for non-work-related purposes.
Given the lack of evidence suggesting impropriety by Cronon, the Party's request needlessly endangers higher education in Wisconsin. In another parallel to Cuccinelli's encroachment upon academic research, there is a possibility the request will cause collateral damage that could deter professors from taking jobs in Wisconsin in the future. For example, if unfinished projects undertaken by Cronon or his academic correspondents are caught up in the request's wide net, then crucial ongoing research could be compromised. Additionally, if Cronon's emails with his own pupils were to be revealed, then that could have a negative effect on the state's ability to attract talented students who might become concerned about whether they could work with professors in an open and collaborative way.
Ultimately, the university has taken an appropriate stance. It has signified that it will comply with the request while also expressing its concerns about academic freedom, which has drawn much needed attention to the issue. Even if the Party does not back down from growing public discussion and the records in question are provided, politicians and parties will think twice in the future about intruding upon academia knowing that administrators, students and ordinary citizens do not approve of such tactics.
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