A serious violation of students' privacy was committed on campus earlier this week. The story first broke on WTMJ NewsRadio with Charlie Sykes last Friday when the associate director of student financial services, Michelle Curtis, contacted students awaiting Wisconsin Higher Education Grants. Mr. Sykes reported that this action was taken in an effort to promote the progressive agenda of the university and of the governor.

The records of students receiving financial aid are protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). That is, until someone decided that political incentives trump students' rights to confidentiality and "instructed" Ms. Curtis to send the following e-mail: "I am contacting you because we have identified you as a student who received a Wisconsin Higher Education Grant (WHEG) last year but did not receive one this year due to … the current state budget impasse…

"The governor is looking for a few UW-Madison students who are WHEG-eligible for the 2007-08 year who have not been awarded WHEG because they are ‘wait-listed'… We were wondering if you were interested in participating in the press conference."

The e-mails were not sent directly by the governor's office; however, there is serious speculation that the office was deeply involved. That is why the Wisconsin College Republicans have filed an open records request to obtain any information regarding correspondence that pertains to these e-mails between the governor's office and the university.

FERPA allows the use of information in students' personal educational records to be transmitted within the academic institution for the purpose of "legitimate educational interests." As far as we can tell, recruiting human props for a political masquerade is not within said interests.

More than 60 percent of UW students receive financial aid every year to attend the university and receiving this aid should not require them to enlist themselves as one of the governor's political pawns. Had an e-mail been sent to the entire student body regarding the press conference, this fiasco could have potentially been avoided. But opening and searching through financial aid records to find 33 students who fit the criteria crosses the line of personal security.

The left demonizes anyone who so much as insinuates a proposal that would decrease access to aid for students who want to continue their education, but doesn't flinch when the anonymity promised with that financial aid is flagrantly disregarded? If that's not a double standard, we aren't sure what is.

The Wisconsin College Republicans, as well as other prominent members of the state, refuse to allow the hypocrites on the left to get away with these or any such similar actions again.
In addition to their open records request, the state federation of Wisconsin College Republicans, led by state chair Ryan Wrasse, a senior at UW-Stevens Point, have filed a formal complaint with the United States Department of Education against UW-Madison for its appalling behavior in manipulating the confidence of the student body. We, the University of Wisconsin chapter of College Republicans, are disappointed with the actions of our own university and strongly stand behind the state federation's decision to initiate this investigation.

While Madison has been hailed as an island of idealism, it is not isolated from federal accountability.

Wrasse commented on the neglect of students rights, stating "UW bureaucrats cannot flaunt federal law and invade student privacy as part of their crusade for more tax dollars. We are asking the Federal Department of Education to investigate this despicable conduct and to vindicate student privacy rights against administrators' need for propaganda tools."

Several of the UW-Madison College Republicans attended the governor's press conference this past Tuesday to show their discontent with the allegations concerning conduct of both the governor's office and the university. When pressed to comment on the complaint, the governor claimed that such reprimands were "frivolous." The law-abiding citizens of our great state have turned a blind eye to the governor's blatant disregard for nuisances of "frivolous" individual rights and state law, and we refuse to tolerate it any longer.

This editorial represents the views expressed by the UW-Madison College Republicans. Please send questions or comments to chair Sara Mikolajczak at [email protected].