Talking about the weather used to be reserved for innocuous chit-chat. During the past four months, however, requests for documents tied to former UVA climate scientist Michael Mann have elevated temperature talks to fraud allegations, funding investigations and debates over academic freedom. [For complete coverage, click here.]
Recently, UVA—which may spend 340 hours reviewing Mann-related documents for the American Tradition Institute (ATI)—contacted the American Association of University Professors to reassure them that the University is "quite conscious" of concerns over academic freedom.
In an April 21 letter [in PDF], UVA President Teresa Sullivan wrote that the school would claim "all available exemptions" to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act in its response to ATI. Sullivan added that, while UVA would comply with FOIA law, that commitment "will be carried out to the fullest extent possible consistent with the interests of faculty in academic freedom and scholarship."
ATI’s request is nearly identical to that made by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, which was tossed out in Albemarle County Circuit Court but appealed by Cuccinelli to the state Supreme Court. This week, the American Association of University Professors, the Virginia ACLU, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression filed an amici curae brief in the case, which will likely go before the court this fall, reports the Washington Post.