Firms press suit vs. prof who urged students to back smoking ban (offered students extra credit pts)

CBS 2 Chicago ^ | April 16, 2005 | AP

[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (AP) Despite defeating a proposed smoking ban at city restaurants and bars, a group of businesses is continuing its suit against a college professor for offering extra credit to students who helped promote the ban.

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point professor John Munson sent an e-mail from his university account in November to students urging them to patronize non-smoking establishments and collect signatures to put an anti-smoking referendum on the ballot.

In exchange, he wrote, the students would get up to 1,500 extra credit points.

Although the referendum lost at the polls by 1,000 votes on April 5, a group of bar and restaurant owners called ``Be Fair'' is continuing their civil lawsuit against Munson and the university.

The group is asking for a ruling declaring that Munson, a professor of health promotion and human development, illegally used his classroom for political advocacy, which is barred for state employees. The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages.

``I don't think parents and students pay tuition to be educated in this way,'' said Susan Hansen, who owns Archie's Cocktail Lounge with her husband, and is a member of the group of plaintiffs.

The case began in March after the Hansens were told that a student received an e-mail from Munson on Nov. 2.

The subject line of the e-mail, which was included in court documents, is ``Volunteer Opportunity to make a difference in the Stevens Point Area 1,500 Points Extra credit/Community Service.''

In it, Munson told students how they can get involved with the petition drive aimed at getting the referendum on the ballot.

UW-Steven's Point Associate Vice Chancellor for Personnel and Budget Nancy Bayne said she couldn't comment on any disciplinary action the university had taken against Munson because it was a personnel matter.

At a hearing on Friday, lawyers for the university asked Portage County Circuit Court Judge John Finn to move the case to Dane County because Chancellor Linda Bunnell, named in the lawsuit, was a state employee.

An attorney for the business group asked for more time to respond. A hearing on the motion was set for April 29.

Information from: Wausau Daily Herald, http://www.wausaudailyherald.com

[SheLion]

It's an upsidedown world isn't it?

Personally?  America will never be the America we once knew and grew up in. 

It's an upsidedown world isn't it?

Personally?  America will never be the America we once knew and grew up in. 

[gidget7]

This is political advocacy, and should be stopped.

GLDSEN and the entire homosexual lobby is also political advocacy group!! BOTH need to be sued over and over and over, all across the country. It's the only thing these people understand.