Recent open records requests for email

In March, the Wisconsin Republican Party filed a request under the state’s Open Records Law seeking all 2011 email messages of William Cronen, a professor of history, geography, and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which included any of 20 words, such as “Republican,” “collective bargaining, “recall,” and “union.”

The school categorically excluded some records from disclosure, including student records, “personal communications,” and “Intellectual communications among scholars.”

In March, Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed open records requests with the labor studies departments at Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University.

The requests sought any email of the schools’ labor faculty members including references such as “Wisconsin,” state governor Scott Walker, or MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

The University of Michigan said it would charge $215 for the documents, Wayne State University quoted $542.91, and Michigan State University estimated $5,600.

The Center agreed to pay for the first two results, but not the third, and is no longer pursuing that last request.