Following a brief statement regarding the U.S.A. Patriot Act, University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley and students clashed viewpoints on several issues during an “accountability session” sponsored by the Associated Students of Madison Thursday night.
Wiley spoke to a large group of students at Science Hall following speeches by a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, an international student and teaching assistant, and a member of ASM. Each was allowed to speak for four minutes.
However, before Wiley was allowed into the lecture hall, a student encouraged the crowd to either boo or cheer Wiley, depending upon whether he would give stern criticism on the Patriot Act. The attendees remained active and vocal throughout the night.
“This is a seriously flawed piece of legislation that was rushed through very quickly,” Wiley said, adding that UW belongs to many national organizations, which are all working together to correct the flaws.
Wiley said he agreed with Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold that “this is possibly the most unpopular piece of legislation that has ever been passed.”
Wiley added he strongly encourages the SAFE Act, a bill in the U.S. Senate intended to amend the Patriot Act.
“I encourage all of you (students) to no longer have blanket condemnations of the Patriot Act.” Wiley said. “There is already bipartisan support for change. [We] now need to get behind [specific things like the] SAFE Act, which addresses specific flaws.”
Immediately following the speeches, ASM students unveiled five “yes or no” questions for the chancellor. They asked Wiley to “condemn” aspects of the Patriot Act, which he refused to answer without an opportunity to further express himself.
“This is foolishness if you’re going to insist on yes-or-no answers to complicated questions,” Wiley said. “This is the opposite of dialogue.”
Refusing to issue a “public condemnation” on the spot, Wiley said he is only one part of a “shared-governance system” representing a university made up of 60,000 people.
In regard to other questions, Wiley said things such as, “I will express a different view, but won’t condemn,” “A great deal depends on the definitions to your questions,” and “This is childish.”
The session was presented mainly as an attempt by ASM to get Wiley to issue a statement denouncing the Patriot Act on behalf of the entire University of Wisconsin, something not yet been done by any public university to date.
“I am interested in doing things that will be effective. Public statements [are not effective],” Wiley said upon being pressed.
Wiley added he would be willing to draft letters to both student newspapers.
Erin Johnson, UW sophomore and ASM legislative-affairs chair, argued that Wiley was well informed as to the nature of the forum before he arrived.
“[This event] clearly did not go as well as we had hoped, but I think the students were very well organized and we had a great turnout,” Johnson said.
UW sophomore Kristina Antic attended the event thinking it would be a “good opportunity to get the views of the chancellor.”
“I got the impression (from watching) that the chancellor wasn’t aware what was going to take place,” she said, adding that ASM members told her Wiley was informed of what to expect.
