UW-Madison released some of Professor William Cronon's e-mail records to the Republican Party of Wisconsin Friday following the open records request the group filed March 17.
Chancellor Biddy Martin sent an e-mail to students and faculty explaining the decision and the efforts made by the university to balance Cronon's privacy with adhering to the request.
E-mails including Cronon's communication with students or anything deemed to fall under academic freedom was excluded, Martin said.
""Academic freedom is the freedom to pursue knowledge and develop lines of argument without fear of reprisal for controversial findings and without the premature disclosure of those ideas,"" Martin said in the e-mail.
Cronon praised Martin and the university on his blog for supporting him.
""I could not be more grateful for the thought and care that Biddy Martin and UW-Madison attorneys have put into crafting these responses–and I am very proud of this university for continuing to defend the great traditions of the Wisconsin Idea,"" Cronon said.
In her e-mail, Martin praised Cronon and said she found no violations of university policies regarding usage of staff e-mail accounts.
""I am proud to call him a colleague,"" Martin said. ""We have dutifully reviewed Professor Cronon's records for any legal or policy violations, such as improper uses of state or university resources for partisan political activity. There are none.""
Martin also gave a message to other UW-Madison faculty about continuing to pursue knowledge of controversial issues.
""To our faculty, I say: Continue to ask difficult questions, explore unpopular lines of thought and exercise your academic freedom, regardless of your point of view,"" Martin said.
The open records request followed a blog post written by Cronon citing connections between Wisconsin Republicans and a national group called the American Legislative Exchange Council.
