Some UW officials initially felt uncomfortable about asking students awaiting financial aid to appear at a Gov. Jim Doyle press event held in early October, according to recently released documents.
A series of e-mail exchanges between UW officials, as revealed in a recent open records request by state Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, show that several individuals expressed initial discomfort in allowing students awaiting Wisconsin Higher Education Grants to be contacted via e-mail to participate in the press conference a few weeks ago.
At the event, which occurred in front of Memorial Union, WHEG students stood near Doyle as he spoke about the budget impasse, a delay that has left many students' financial assistance in question, according to UW-System spokesperson David Giroux.
Mike Mikalsen, Nass' spokesperson, called the presence of the students a political stunt.""
The Wisconsin College Republicans also filed a complaint with the Department of Education, stating they felt the UW System had violated privacy laws. After the event it remained unclear whether UW-Madison or the governor's office was initially responsible for requesting the students' presence.
""We believed it was necessary to pull those records to find out what was the truth,"" Mikalsen said.
The emails indicate that at first some UW officials expressed concerns.
John Lucas, a UW Communications spokesperson, said in an internal e-mail that he would be uncomfortable asking the financially affected students for participation in the event, according to the Greater Milwaukee Today newspaper.
Lucas said UW-Madison officials had an internal discussion on the appropriateness of sending the e-mails to the students with pending financial aid, but his and others' initial reservations about student privacy rights were abated after discussing the issue with UW-Madison legal counsel.
The media attention on the appropriateness of the e-mail in question detracts from the larger focus on the students still awaiting financial aid because of the stalled budget, according to Lucas.
""In some ways I feel that the people that put such a focus on the little minor details are trying to silence students from speaking out in a way that potentially opposes them politically,"" Lucas said.
According to Giroux, no privacy laws have been violated and officials acted responsibly.
""We have looked at this process very carefully that unfolded in UW-Madison, and as far as we can tell, people followed the rules - they were diligent, they were respectful and they were careful,"" Giroux said.
