NEWS
Greer accuses Wiley of endorsement
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by Julia Westhoff
Thursday, October 24, 2002
An e-mail University of Wisconsin chancellor John Wiley sent to students encouraging them to vote in upcoming elections has left some students and local politicians fuming.
The e-mail, which emphasized student power in deciding election outcomes, noted how student vote proved important in the 1998 congressional race, won by Tammy Baldwin. Ron Greer, Baldwin’s opponent in the Nov. 5 elections, called the e-mail “brazenly political” and said the chancellor is using state tax dollars to fund politics.
Because Baldwin was the only candidate mentioned by Wiley, Students for Ron Greer president Anthony Carver said the chancellor was clearly politically biased.
“It’s ridiculous that Chancellor Wiley used his position to indirectly endorse Baldwin,” Carver said.
Greer wrote a letter to the Board of Regents, asking that they “rebuke Chancellor Wiley’s abuse of state-taxpayer-funded resource to engage in political activity and open an investigation into this matter.”
However, Wiley’s executive assistant Casey Nagy said the chancellor sees nothing wrong with the e-mail.
“The communication the chancellor sent to students had no purpose other than to encourage students to vote,” Nagy said.
Nagy said the Baldwin reference was simply a reference to a race where students had an important impact.
“It was an effort to reach common ground,” Nagy said.
Carver said Wiley should issue a public apology, but Nagy said the chancellor will do no such thing.
“It was not intended as an endorsement,” Nagy said.
