Face the State

Face the State Staff Report

According to e-mails obtained by Face the State via an open-records request, tenured CU law professor and co-chair of the "No on 46" campaign Melissa Hart frequently used her CU e-mail account and campus resources to advocate against November's Amendment 46. In one e-mail from a prominent Denver lawyer, the lawyer refers to Hart's opposition as "social vampires" who "will seek to rise from the grave."

HartFTS File Photo

More than 35 emails sent between August and December 2008 show Hart was using her CU e-mail address to organize campaign events (PDF), correspond with campaign attorneys (PDF), and advocate against the proposed amendment (PDF) that sought to eliminate race and gender preferences in the state's affirmative action programs.

Multiple e-mails demonstrate Professor Hart's knowledge that she shouldn't have used her CU account to do campaign work (PDF). In one message to a fellow CU faculty member, Hart says, "...If you could send future communication on this issue to [Hart's personal email address] I'd appreciate it very much. I am trying not to use my CU email account for anything connected with the election."

Based on the e-mails sent by Hart, there is also reason to believe she was utilizing other CU resources for campaign purposes. In an e-mail to Judy Applebaum, director of programs at the American Constitution Society, Hart says, "Judy--I am attaching the issue brief here. I had an RA go through to cite check and blue book..." (PDF)

"RA" may refer to a paid research assistant, in which case if Hart did use a CU student paid on state time to do campaign workm she could have violated state law. According to Denver attorney Mario Nicolais, an applicable precedent was set in 2003, after a court found that former state Treasurer Mike Coffman, a Republican, improperly used state funds to advocate on behalf of a campaign.

In another instance, Hart asked Kristine Jackson, CU's assistant dean of admissions and financial aid, to "give me some statistics on our median LSAT/GPA numbers over the past 10 years and also racial diversity at the law school over the same period? (PDF) I told the Boulder Daily Camera that I would get them some information on that for an editorial."

Hart defended her actions in an e-mail to Face The State last week. "I did not use any RA assistance or other state resources," said Hart. "I had an RA cite check a paper I wrote on affirmative action generally as part of a larger scholarly project." In reference to the Daily Camera editorial, Hart responded, "I was simply acting as a conduit to relay publicly available information to a media outlet."

According to John Holcomb, a tenured business professor at the University of Denver who specializes in ethics, engaging in campaign activity while still serving as a professor can create issues with boundaries between the two commitments. He emphasized that a leave of absence may be appropriate for a professor who chooses to run a campaign.

"When it comes to issues like this, often times it is wise for the faculty member to speak with the administration about a leave of absence," he said. "You are implicitly using the university and your position at the university to legitimize what you are doing, almost as a platform for the campaign."

Holcomb expressed concerns about the distractions created by an intense campaign. "The time commitment is a distraction from a professor's normal duties as a faculty member," he said. "As you get closer and closer to the election, you are likely to spend all of your time on the election and ignore your other responsibilities. Maybe you have arranged your class schedule accordingly, but tenured faculty often have many commitments outside the classroom as well."

Holcomb says by allowing Hart to spend significant time campaigning while on the faculty, the university could be seen as providing support for her cause.

"A university that allows somebody to use university time for this kind of campaign raises questions about whether the university itself is making an in-kind contribution to the issue," he said. "The credibility and the prestige that the university is lending to the issue may be more significant than the monetary value of the salary expended for the professor's time."

As previously reported by Face the State a first-year CU law student who agreed to speak off the record to Face The State, saw Hart speak at a law school orientation in August where she advocated for Amendment 46 and during other occasions throughout the semester. According to the student, Hart frequently found opportunities to "bash Amendment 46 every chance she gets."

When asked for a comment on her use of a CU e-mail account for campaign purposes Hart expressed her regret. "I made it a point to use my personal e-mail account on the overwhelming majority of my communications," she said. "In response to queries from others, however, I did occasionally use my CU e-mail address. Although this occurred relatively infrequently, I regret having used the account for those responses."

Among the e-mails received by Hart was a post-election congratulatory note from Denver attorney James Lyons, a partner at Rothgerber, Johnson, and Lyons, calling Amendment 46 chair Jessica Peck Corry and her colleagues at the Independence Institute "social vampires." For more on Lyons' e-mail, see today's FTS Buzz.