University of Wisconsin-Madison Strives to Balance Public Records with Academic Freedom

Those who have been following the controversy over the Wisconsin Republican Party’s open records request for access to certain of the emails sent from or received by my @wisc.edu state email account since January 1 have undoubtedly been awaiting news about how this request will be handled. My colleagues at colleges and universities across the … Continue reading “University of Wisconsin-Madison Strives to Balance Public Records with Academic Freedom”

An Open Letter to Governor Walker and Stephan Thompson from a Loyal Republican

The outpouring of messages I’ve received via email, blog comments, phone calls, published columns, and direct communications from friends over the past week has been nothing less than overwhelming, and I honestly haven’t even begun to keep up with the flood that has poured through my computer and my life. I’m not sure when I’ll … Continue reading “An Open Letter to Governor Walker and Stephan Thompson from a Loyal Republican”

NYT Editorial and Other Coverage of Cronon Open Records Case

Yesterday was among the craziest of my entire life. The story traced in this blog of the Republican Party’s Open Records Law request for access to my emails has in the past twenty-four hours gone viral in a very big way so that this blog has received more than 2 million hits in the past … Continue reading “NYT Editorial and Other Coverage of Cronon Open Records Case”

Republican Party Response to Cronon Critique of Open Records Request

They don’t know how to spell my name, but since the Republican Party doesn’t seem to have posted this response to my recent blog on their own website yet, I thought their side should get a fair hearing here. See below.   I have to say I’m at least as shocked as they say they … Continue reading “Republican Party Response to Cronon Critique of Open Records Request”

Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom

A Tactic I Hope Republicans Will Rethink: Using the Open Records Law to Intimidate Critics Here’s the headline: the Wisconsin Republican Party has issued an Open Records Law request for access to my emails since January 1 in response to a blog entry I posted on March 15 concerning the role of the American Legislative … Continue reading “Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom”

New York Times Op-Ed on “Wisconsin’s Radical Break,” 3/22/2011

I can’t reprint the essay here for copyright reasons, but readers of my Scholar as Citizen blog should be aware of the op-ed of mine published in the New York Times today. It is very much in the spirit of this blog: seeking to use scholarly and historical insights to shed light on contemporary political … Continue reading “New York Times Op-Ed on “Wisconsin’s Radical Break,” 3/22/2011″

Who’s Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn’t Start Here)

A Study Guide for Those Wishing to Know More After watching the sudden and impressively well-organized wave of legislation being introduced into state legislatures that all seem to be pursuing parallel goals only tangentially related to current fiscal challenges–ending collective bargaining rights for public employees, requiring photo IDs at the ballot box, rolling back environmental … Continue reading “Who’s Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn’t Start Here)”