Rep. Robin Vos pushes UW to discipline faculty over email

State Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, on Thursday questioned University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly about the use of faculty email accounts, and urged him to pursue action against those who use state email for political purposes.

Vos raised the issue at a time when national debate has arisen over Wisconsin Republicans’ efforts to obtain the email messages of UW-Madison Professor William Cronon after he wrote a blog post and New York Times op/ed piece critical of Gov. Scott Walker’s administration.

Vos during a Joint Committee on Finance hearing referenced Cronon, without naming him, saying, “There’s been big articles in the paper about academic freedom and this fellow at Madison to be able to do whatever he’s doing.”

Vos told Reilly it’s the university system’s responsibility to “ensure that taxpayers are not subsidizing political activism in the name of academic freedom.

“I am a big believer in academic freedom, but organizing for and against collective bargaining seems to me to not be a wise use of taxpayer dollars,” Vos said. “And many of the emails I have gotten have the last part (.edu), where I know where they came from, and I look at the time and I kind of scratch my head and think, maybe they’re walking over the line.”

UW System, Reilly said, has redistributed a notice to faculty members, explaining it is improper to conduct personal or political business on the state’s email system.

Reilly, though, also added it’s important for faculty to be able to use email without worrying someone is going to scrounge through it for personal reasons.

“Unless they feel they have some leeway … out of the full glare of public light, we won’t get to the kinds of new discoveries, new attitudes, new solutions to social problems that faculty ought to be contributing to,” Reilly said.

Vos, though, urged Reilly to take action against faculty members who disregard the email policy.

“I appreciate you sending out the email, and thank you for doing that, but what’s the consequence for people who continue to do that?” Vos said. “There are people who are very vociferous on both sides.”

Reilly said there are policies in place for disciplinary action, but he declined to specify the policies or say if they have ever been used in instances of faculty members using email for political purposes.

Vos said he would follow up with Reilly in private to make sure “everybody who’s seemingly doing things that might not be appropriate” face disciplinary action.