Disagreement involving Hmong protesters and a UW-Madison history professor increased Friday when a state senator asked for an investigation into the professor's allegations that the commander of the CIA's secret army in the Vietnam War engaged in drug trafficking.
Professor Alfred McCoy published a book in 1972 claiming that Gen. Vang Pao had been involved in the Southeast Asian opium market. Some, including the Hmong protesters who have been picketing outside McCoy's Humanities office and around campus, say the allegations are false and that Pao is a genuine hero. Protesters, who march with signs and megaphones, have said they will continue to rally around campus until McCoy retracts his allegations or apologizes.
State Sen. Gary George, D-Milwaukee, asked UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley for an investigation into the matter during a press conference Friday.
Wiley and Phil Certain, dean of the College of Letters and Science, issued a statement later that day in support of McCoy.
\The complaints against Professor Alfred McCoy serve as an important reminder that this university has a tradition and responsibility to protect the academic freedom of every member of the campus community,"" Wiley and Certain said.
Pao issued his own statement which was read during Friday's press conference by one of his representatives, saying that he was innocent and that McCoy had fabricated evidence.
""I think that Professor McCoy has been watching too many Indiana Jones movies,"" Pao said in the statement.
The controversy follows a denial to name a Madison-area park after Pao, citing the information found by McCoy as a reason it would not be appropriate to name the park after the general.
