Publicly funded colleges and universities have always fancied themselves as guilds — immune from scrutiny and entitled to privacy. Until now, the public has generally let them off the hook. Not anymore. America’s state-supported “Big U” is in for a rude awakening — a dose of sunlight that will send these fat ‘n’ happy academics scattering into the highest reaches of the ivory towers to evade scrutiny. Don’t believe me? Check out these two stories, which (I hope) are but the tip of the iceberg.

 

1. Climategate Part Deux — Climate alarmist Michael Mann is kicking and screaming to protect the emails he generated while working at the University of Virginia.  Folks involved in a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request of Mann’s work are carrying out an ongoing investigation of Mann’s work at UVa in light of Mann’s (and the IPCC’s) very serious Climategate lapses.  Most of the probe has centered on Mann’s work while at Penn State, but those interested in sound science would extend that probe further into the past. According to Investors Business Daily:

A state judge has ordered the University of Virginia to cough up documents that pertain to the climate change research of Michael Mann, a former professor known for the hockey stick chart that supposedly shows the earth warming sharply over the last 100 years.