Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) said UW-Madison officials had no business using state e-mail, to invite select students who were on a wait-list for a financial aid program, to a news conference with Governor Doyle.
In the e-mail from UW-Madison’s Associate Director of Financial Aid, students who received a Wisconsin Higher Education Grant (WHEG) last year but did not receive one this year are told “the Governor is looking for a few UW-Madison students…’wait-listed’ due to the budget impasse.” E-mail recipients were told, “you are under no obligation whatsoever to participate in this press conference.” Federal privacy law shields the names of the students who are WHEG applicants.