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.
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.