Obama campaign shuts down campus, requires students’ personal info

The Daily Caller ^

[Sub-Driver]

Obama campaign shuts down campus, requires students’ personal info 5:17 PM 10/04/2012 ADVERTISEMENT

President Barack Obama paid a campaign-related visit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Thursday, drawing complaints from several professors who criticized the mass disruption to classes.

Kenneth Mayer, a political science professor at UW, sent a letter to university administrators chiding them for renting central campus to the Obama campaign.

“It hardly seems appropriate to shut the central campus down for an entire day, closing offices and seriously disrupting our mission,” he wrote. “I have several colleagues who had scheduled exams for Thursday. Surely there were other venues that would pose less disturbance.”

Others were more concerned with the registration process for the event. To attend, students followed a link from the university website to the official Obama campaign website, and gave their names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Then they had to click a box that reads, “I’M IN!”

Donald Downs, a political science professor at UW, found this troubling.

“I’m all in favor of Obama coming to campus … but in order to go, you have to go through the campaign website and provide information, and you have to click a box that says ‘I’M IN!’” he said in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Am I in for the event or in for Obama? If you really want to go to this important event, at least for a short while you are associating yourself with the campaign.”

Brown said many of his colleagues — including those who plan to vote for the president — agreed with these criticisms.

[Sub-Driver]

Heads should roll over this...........

[SkyDancer]

So. No ID to vote but then, this?

[Col Frank Slade]

Brown said many of his colleagues — including those who plan to vote for the president — agreed with these criticisms.

Gee, I wonder how many professors at UW plan to vote for Obama.

sarc /

[acapesket]

My first reaction is that Donald downs is too ignorant to teach College Students..
Hey Donald! Does the concept of “Socialism” enter into your aura? You df.

[EDINVA]

So proud UVA told them to go elsewhere.

[AndyJackson]

My first reaction is that Donald downs is too ignorant to teach College Students..

Your enemy identification system needs recalibrating. This is the guy who complained about it.

[Free America52]

30,000? I want to see pictures before I believe that.

[DallasBiff]

My take, is that Obama had to go to the most liberal campus in one of the most liberal cities in the US to campaign.

It says to me, he's in trouble politcally.

[KarlInOhio]

Every student whose classes are canceled should demand a refund for that day's fraction of the tuition.

[nascarnation]

Totally agree with your comment.
Have never been to Madison.
This was held outdoors on campus, not the football stadium.
Want to see that area that accomodates 30k people.

[Fiji Hill]

The University of Wisconsin at Madison has long been a hotbed of leftist radicalism. Since the nineteenth century, its history department has been a center of liberal/left-wing historiography. Leftish professors who made their home there included Charles Beard, author of An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (New York: Reese, 1913), which argued that the Constitution resulted from a plot by rich men, and William Appleman Williams, who contended in The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (New York: Prometheus, 1959) that the Cold War was our fault.

[Yo-Yo]

The irony never escapes me that you need better ID to see 0bama in person than you need to vote for 0bama.

[acapesket]

True Andy J . But he is still going to vote for Obambi... how many times
do you have to get mugged to figure out that it’s not safe to walk in a dark parking lot at night?

[Dr. Sivana]

I work as an IT contractor in Madison, commuting 90 miles from Illinois. After picking up a car pool ride, I tried to get back on the belt line heading east, towards the Interstate. AFTER we drove on the road leading to the on ramp, the police made us go the wrong way, back TOWARDS Madison. The next was similarly blocked. We used city roads to finally hit the Interstate, because we knew our way around, but miles south-east Madison, past exit 142, we saw THREE cop cars blocking all lanes, purposefully creating a traffic backup that stretched for over FIVE MILES! This was all well out of range of Obama’s campaign stop. We also saw County cop cars positioned like state troopers. WAY overkill for the occasion, and a HUGE inconvenience to thousands of people.

[NonValueAdded]

If you are going to use a public university, shouldn’t ALL students be welcome? Any identity issues should be handled by the Secret Service and kept separate from any campaign. Sounds to me like the school administration violated the public trust.

[DaveA37]

For those of you who do NOT live in Wisconsin, this is nothing new from the University of Madistan, capitol of the communist party of Wisconsin.

Most importantly, please DO NOT JUDGE Wisconsin by either Milwaukee or Madistan.