Posted on 04/19/2014 7:15:27 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Virginia’s highest court has denied a conservative group’s effort to force the University of Virginia to turn over emails from a controversial climate scientist who worked at the school.
The Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday held that the public university wasn’t obligated under the state’s freedom of information law to release thousands of emails that Penn State researcher Michael Mann wrote while he was a UVA professor several years ago.
Mr. Mann in 2009 came under scrutiny among global warming skeptics after hackers leaked thousands of email exchanges between the professor and other researchers that suggested that the scientists sought to stifle dissenting views about global warming.
Upholding a lower-court ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court said releasing the emails would have put UVA “at a competitive disadvantage in relation to private universities and colleges.”
The opinion cited affidavits submitted by scholars and academic officials warning of the dangers of making public the correspondence. “If U.S. scientists at public institutions lose the ability to protect their communications with faculty at other institutions, their ability to collaborate will be gravely harmed,” wrote UVA provost John D. Simon in one of the filings.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is consistent with the public nature of science and with the public mission of the University of Virginia,” a UVA spokesman said Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Mann is a gov’t employee who has also benefited from gov’t grants. His personal emails are private. But anything work related should be subject to the FOI act.
Especially if he’s going to be suing critics of his work for libel.
Silly comparison.
None of those examples are remotely likely to adversely affect the lives of hundreds of millions for generations, directly or indirectly.
The nebulous "carbon" scam, the proven fraudulent "climate change," and "alternative energy" fraud, all have insinuated themselves improperly into National Policy, costing trillions$ over generations, on demagoguic wild guesses by megalomaniacs...
Well I can’t respond then if you don’t think that religion, food supply and power resources don’t affect the lives of “hundreds of millions for generations”.
Where those the stolen emails from years back?
I guess more than you would like (and I’m not tacitly agreeing that he was a government employee, getting grants from the government does not make one an employee).
yes, but being a professor of a state institution does make one a government employee.
When I worked for the US Air Force, I assumed any unclassified emails were fair game to anyone who wanted to see them. I was, on several occasions, required by a FOIA request to review emails for anything involving XYZ, and turn those over to investigators.
In an HOA dispute with an HOA that has since disbanded, the lawyer told the HOA they had to hand over any emails in their possession mentioning my name. Emails do not have very many privacy rights, particularly if you work for a government agency.
Infiltrate and disseminate.
From the ruling:
“Upholding a lower-court ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court said releasing the emails would have put UVA “at a competitive disadvantage in relation to private universities and colleges.”
What is there not to understand?
By all your logic, anybody who has endowed a public university should have access to internal communications. Had Mr. Mann broke the law or conspired to break the law, yes I can see the DA or the US attorney having priviledge and access to the email.
By no means was Mr. Mann an employee of the the Government. He was a (visiting) professor as the government merely appoints the regents and provides endowments and approves the charter.
My assertion stands. Good decision. Correct decision.
“By all your logic, anybody who has endowed a public university should have access to internal communications.”
By my logic, anyone who works at a public university should have as much transparency to his emails as I had when working for the military. I think anyone who thinks their emails are private and undiscoverable is an idiot, because anyone can forward your email to anyone. Do you really believe my email as a private citizen is not open to discovery, if it might apply to a legal case?
My assertion stands. Bad decision.
That’s cool. You offer no proof and I offer no proof.
Cheers
You can read Steyn’s comments about the decision here:
http://www.steynonline.com/6277/chicken-supremes
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