from The Badger Herald
Though Student Labor Action Coalition members have cried foul, a University of Wisconsin administrator said the university did nothing illegal in obtaining the minutes of a recent SLAC meeting.
In an issued statement, SLAC members accuse the UW Chancellor's Office of "espionage" after LaMarr Billups, a UW special assistant of academic staff, sent an e-mail to UW administrators and members of SLAC referencing the minutes of a Feb. 2 SLAC meeting.
Among other claims, SLAC members said the university is "electronically harvesting" e-mails on the SLAC listserv.
"Does the administration's e-mail snooping indicate they've also sent spies to our meetings to report on our doings? Are the rooms bugged?" SLAC member Joel Feingold said in the release. "The culture of espionage emanating from the White House appears to have reached [UW Chancellor] John Wiley."
However, in a phone interview last night, Billups said the e-mails were not "electronically harvested," rather forwarded to him by a member of the SLAC listserv.
Billups added anyone could potentially join the public listserv for SLAC and reiterated that the university had done nothing illegal in obtaining the minutes.
Feingold himself admitted in a phone interview that SLAC members had "no intention of making [their e-mails] private."
The reason the chancellor's office was interested in the minutes was over concern for "inaccuracies" and "mistruths" being discussed during the meeting, Billups said.
UW and SLAC have been collaborating to draft a new licensing policy for UW apparel in hopes of reducing the amount of UW licensed clothing being made in sweatshops.
Last December, Wiley announced a "pilot" plan to reduce the amount of UW apparel made in sweatshops by 25 percent.
However, in his e-mail, Billups said he was "seriously concerned about the tenor of the [SLAC] discussion" regarding the issue.
According to Billups, SLAC members accused the chancellor of "not budging" on the licensing issue and threatened to stage "sit-ins and demonstrations" in protest.
During the phone interview, Billups reiterated his concern over the direction in which SLAC appears to be headed.
"To say the chancellor hasn't budged is inaccurate," Billups said.
Billups added the UW Chancellor's Office hopes to continue to work together with SLAC on this issue.
"We're encouraging them to keep working on this," Billups said, "to work through the problems we have."