William Cronon, the Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas research professor of history, geography and environmental studies at Wisconsin¨CMadison, authored an opinion article published in The New York Times on 22 March criticising Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, and his plan to strip collective bargaining rights from public-sector workers.

Prior to the publication of that piece, Professor Cronon discussed the issue and invited feedback from readers via his personal blog in a 15 March post entitled, ¡°Who¡¯s Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere?¡±

Two days later, a representative of the Republican Party of Wisconsin contacted Wisconsin-Madison¡¯s legal services department. Citing Wisconsin¡¯s Open Records Law, he requested copies of all emails sent from Professor Cronon¡¯s university account after 1 January 2011 containing keywords such as ¡°Republican¡±, ¡°Scott Walker¡±, ¡°collective bargaining¡±, ¡°rally¡± and ¡°union¡±.

Responding in his blog, Professor Cronon accuses the state Republican Party of tactics intended to ¡°embarrass, undermine and ultimately silence¡± him.

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Calling their request ¡°an abuse of law and procedure¡±, Professor Cronon writes: ¡°I find it simply outrageous that the Wisconsin Republican Party would seek to employ the state¡¯s Open Records Law for the nakedly political purpose of trying to embarrass, harass, or silence a university professor.¡±

Wisconsin-Madison¡¯s policies on email usage include an edict that ¡°university employees may not use these resources to support the nomination of any person for political office or to influence a vote in any election or referendum¡±.

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Professor Cronon alleges that the state Republican Party hopes to find evidence of such activity in an effort to discredit his arguments.

He further warns of the ¡°chilling effects¡± on the intellectual life of public universities if the request is successful and the university is required to release the emails. This would ¡°undermine the university¡¯s longstanding reputation for defending academic freedom,¡± he adds.

sarah.cunnane@tsleducation.com