The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is again demonstrating an aversion toward transparency in academia.

In a letter to University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan, the AAUP requested that the administration scale back an open-records agreement with a conservative organization seeking documents from UVa climate researchers. 

They were joined by 3 other climate science advocacy organizations: the American Geophysical Union, Climate Science Watch, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The university reached an agreement with the American Tradition Institute (ATI) on May 24, 2011 to hand over documents pertaining to former UVa professor Michael Mann and other climate scientists.  

Mann, a current professor at Pennsylvania State University, was widely criticized in 2009 when his global warming research was debunked in the heavily publicized "ClimateGate" scandal.  

The University of Virginia (UVA) does not have the legal authority to ban guns on campus for students, staff or visitors with concealed carry permits.

According to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, public universities in that state lack the authority to enact policies which infringe on the rights of permit holders.  Cuccinelli explained his opinion in a letter to state Senator Emmett Hanger.

In the letter, Cuccinelli insinuated that gun restrictions on campus do not make students and staff any safer:

It certainly can be argued that such policies are ineffectual because persons who wish to perpetrate violence will ignore them, and that the net effect of such policies is to leave defenseless the law-abiding citizens who follow these policies.