The University of Virginia has filed a petition requesting that a judge “set aside” Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s subpoena for documents related to a former climate change researcher.
Cuccinelli sent UVa a civil investigative demand for documents related to the research of Michael Mann, a global warming expert and UVa professor of environmental sciences from 1999 to 2005.
Cuccinelli has said he is investigating the possibility that Mann violated Virginia’s fraud laws while seeking research grant funding.
UVa announced today that it is trying to stand up to Cuccinelli’s efforts.
“Academic freedom is essential to the mission of our Nation’s institutions of higher learning and a core First Amendment concern,” UVa’s petition says. “As Thomas Jefferson intended, the University of Virginia has a long and proud tradition of embracing the ‘illimitable freedom of the human mind’ by fully endorsing and supporting faculty research and scholarly pursuits. Our Nation also has a long and proud tradition of limited government framed by enumerated powers which Jefferson ardently believed was necessary for a civil society to endure.”
UVa President John T. Casteen III said in a news release that UVa intends to “protect academic freedom.” Cucinelli’s issuance of the CID, he said, “has sent a chill through the Commonwealth’s colleges and universities - a chill that has reached across the country and attracted the attention of all of higher education.”
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement