Anonymous Web Site Posts Rumors, Grievances, and Leaked Documents

Officials at the U. of Louisiana at Monroe find themselves under scrutiny online

By SCOTT CARLSON

An anonymous Web site created by a professor to publish information critical of the leadership at the University of Louisiana at Monroe has divided faculty members and raised hackles among administrators.

Many faculty members say they are uncomfortable with the site because its creator has chosen to remain anonymous, but they also say they are glad to be able to see some of the documents that it has made available. Administrators, for their part, criticize the site's anonymity, and have attempted to steal some of its thunder by creating a site with a copycat name.

The professor behind the site, which is called Truth at ULM, requested anonymity during an interview, saying that neither the tenure system nor notions of academic freedom protect those who question the leadership of the university. Dissidents can find themselves in stagnant careers, the professor says, adding that the site is a response to the relentless propaganda and political corruption that, according to the professor, characterize the university's leadership.

The Web site (http://www.truthatulm.homestead.com) posts public documents, discusses rumors, and offers opinionated analyses of contentious issues at the university, which has had major financial problems in the past several years.

But both the Web site's targets and its critics call the anonymous attacks unfair and inappropriate in an academic environment of open debate. "All institutions in society are susceptible to these hit-and-run tactics afforded by anonymous Web sites," says Richard L. Baxter, Monroe's vice president for advancement and external affairs.

"That's part of the price you pay with modern technology in a free society. So it's very difficult to hold these media to the same standards of fairness, libel, and ethics of the traditional media," Mr. Baxter says.

He points out that there is no way to refute inaccurate information on the site; it makes public neither an e-mail address nor any other information about contacting its creator, and there is no guarantee that any submission will be posted. "When you have anonymous Web sites that are not interactive, what kind of credibility do those have?" Mr. Baxter asks.

For administrators and faculty members nationwide, Truth at ULM is an interesting example of a Web site's potential as a forum for dissidents. One resourceful person, armed with nothing more than access to a Web server and a minimal knowledge of Web-page design, can -- for better or for worse -- broadcast criticism and commentary about a university to thousands of people without even having to reveal an identity. But it certainly isn't the first time that a Web site has been used by gadflies to goad, taunt, or torment the powers that be at a university.

Conservative groups, for example, have used Web sites to criticize the liberal environments and curricula that, they say, universities promote. One such site, run by the Columbia Conservative Alumni Association, posts articles about Columbia University's "leftist excesses," along with a list of demands, including "the abolition of racially discriminatory organizations such as the Black Students Organization." The site (http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/battery/8894), which tells users how to reach top administrators, also encouragesreaders to threaten to withhold donations until the university adopts more-conservative views.

Last year, a former student of the City College of San Francisco started a Web site, called Teacher Review, that allows students to post anonymous reviews of instructors at the college. Two instructors who had been harshly criticized on the site sued the Webmaster, Ryan Lathouwers, charging that the postings were inaccurate and constituted libel. Lawyers for Mr. Lathouwers said the Communication Decency Act of 1996 protected those who maintain open forums online. In October, the instructors settled the suit and agreed to pay part of the Webmaster's legal fees (The Chronicle, October 20).

More recently, Saul Traiger, a professor at Occidental College, created a Web site to protest the decision to reject the tenure bid of Gail M. Gottfried, a psychology professor (http://home.pacbell.net/traiger/gail/gail.html). Ms. Gottfried says members of her department shunned her after she confronted a colleague about a remark he had allegedly made, disparaging her "typical New York Jewish personality," during a meeting.

Normally, the documents associated with tenure review would be confidential, but Mr. Traiger's Web site has posted the professor's evaluation. It praises her scholarly work and classroom performance but criticizes her for "persistent patterns of noncommunication, divisiveness, obstructionism, and personal attack."

Also included on the site is a petition form in support of Ms. Gottfried, which has been signed by about half of the college's tenured faculty members and presented to the president at a faculty meeting in November.

Asked about Truth at ULM, officials of the American Association of University Professors and of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges say they don't know of any other notable cases of a professor running an anonymous, critical Web site.

"I have not come across one like this before," says Jordan E. Kurland, A.A.U.P.'s associate general secretary, of Truth at ULM. Mr. Kurland, who handles issues of academic freedom, tenure, and due process, isn't enamored of the site's methods. "Sound academic practice is that you identify yourself and you speak out," he says.

The site's creator says Truth at ULM is an attempt to counter some of the positive -- and, the creator says, inaccurate -- spin that the administration puts on developments at Monroe.

Many of those developments, the site's creator says, have adversely affected faculty members and the university's educational mission.

Anyone can go to the site to see, for example, memorandums sent from one university official to another; graphs from legislative offices comparing Monroe's administrative expenses with those of other state universities; and an analysis of the athletics budget that describes how the salaries for some positions are charged to other administrative departments.

The professor started the site during a debate at the university about cutting pay for faculty members who teach summer courses. Administrators "were able to tell contradictory accounts to the local news media, and the local news media didn't seem to notice," the Webmaster says. "There didn't seem to be any check at all on what was going on."

The site's article on the issue says administrators proposed pay cuts at springtime faculty meetings, then told reporters that the cuts were just rumors, and that faculty members' pay would simply be delayed.

"I guess the site's ultimate goal would be to put the university back on track toward providing a solid education for students in the region," the creator says. "That educational mission has been totally lost."

The Webmaster says the site gets material from various sources, through e-mail messages and fax machines. Faxes are sent to an anonymous account via an Internet fax service in Dallas. Morning Paper, a local weekly newspaper, provides some of the public documents. "All of those documents are public information -- they just don't usually see the light of day, because the news media around here is pretty sleepy," the professor says.

The rest of the information is gathered through tips, observations, and rumors -- most of them from anonymous sources, the professor says. "I know the name of one person who helps out. There are other people who help, but I don't know their names. They write in with a tidbit here or there," says the professor.

"Most people say that they never realized the power of the Web -- that this site is out there and [the administration] would love to shut it down. But they can't. At the Web site's e-mail address, I have received messages from [the service provider] saying, 'On such and such date, you requested that your name and password get sent to you,' which tells me that some people have been trying to get in."

Such instances, along with the competing suspicions on the campus about who's behind the site, give its creator reasons to worry about being discovered. Politics rules in Louisiana, the professor says, adding that questioning or criticizing the university administration can get one sent to an academic Siberia -- a permanent assignment teaching at Monroe's proposed community college, for example -- if not worse.

"I don't like lying to people. When my colleagues say, 'Hey, do you do this stuff?,' I don't like saying, 'No, not me.' But I've got to. That's hard. With a sober analysis, I realized that none of them could know," the Webmaster says.

The Monroe campus is "not an open environment," the professor says. "I think that's why so many of the faculty really love the site. We're getting things out there, and the Board [of Supervisors] reads this stuff... . There's a lot of information getting passed around that didn't get passed around before."

While Truth at ULM accuses the university of putting a spin on the news, university officials say the site is engaging in spin of its own. "I think it's like any typical form of propaganda," says Mr. Baxter, the vice president of external affairs. "You take partial truths and you expand those for whatever purpose you're trying to use them. The administration is not going to sit around and spend time going line by line through everything and refuting it. And besides, they don't give you an opportunity to refute it, because it's not interactive. If you want to participate in an open debate, then we're more than happy to do that."

Mr. Baxter says that the university's own Truth at ULM Web page (http://www.truthatulm.com), was created for the purpose of open debate. Via e-mail, users can submit questions that will be "directed to the most appropriate university spokesperson," according to the site.

"The university has a Web site that is interactive," Mr. Baxter says. "We require any administrator who responds to any questions on that Web site to sign their name. So don't you think that's a little more credible?"

So far, the university has posted four unattributed questions, largely on budget issues, along with terse answers, with three of them signed by the president's office.

Because the unofficial site is an underground operation, it is difficult to tell what others at the university really think of it. Of more than a dozen faculty members reached by The Chronicle, most say either that they never look at the site or that they are uncomfortable commenting about it on the record. One professor, who would not provide a name for print, acknowledged reading the site regularly for scoops about university issues.

"The local paper is basically a booster rag," that professor says. "We all kind of look forward to new articles coming out on the Truth page. And as much as I think you're going to be hard-pressed to find people who will say it publicly, privately I think you'll find that there are a whole lot of people who are applauding it."

Those few who are willing to offer a comment on the record, including Robert C. Eisenstadt, an associate professor of economics, are ambivalent about the unofficial site.

"First, let me say that I am uncomfortable with the anonymity of the Web site," Mr. Eisenstadt says. "That aside, however, I do think by posting the actual documents and correspondence between the university governing boards and the U.L.M. administration, faculty and others who are vested in U.L.M. are better equipped to evaluate the condition of the university and the political support it may or may not enjoy."

James D. Whitfield, a professor of journalism, expresses similar feelings. "I'm disturbed that the Web site would exist without our knowing who the source of the information is," he says. "But I'm also disturbed that communication at this university is so bad that many faculty, staff, alumni, and students feel it necessary to go to the site to get some information. We really had a problem getting information from the administration about budgetary matters and their vision for the future of the institution."

Much of the information on the unofficial site shows up after Faculty Senate meetings or other university-governance events, Mr. Whitfield says, adding that "a lot of it is true, and a lot of it is only partially true."

Information that might provide balance is not presented in some articles, Mr. Whitfield says, although he is not sure whether the site's contributors are pushing an agenda or are simply misinformed.

Other faculty members, like Janet Haedicke, a professor of English who is president of the Faculty Senate, are less forgiving of the creator's anonymity, describing it as the weapon of an embittered professor. Ms. Haedicke has been criticized on the site, accused of siding with the administration on some issues, which include her defending the construction of new buildings while older buildings deteriorate.

"It's mean-spirited, often inaccurate, and contemptibly nonprofessional," she says, although conceding that she has never visited the site. Ms. Haedicke says that faculty members in Louisiana are, on average, paid less than faculty members in any other state. "So anytime you have that kind of environment, you have a breeding ground for vendettas and anonymous attacks that are not constructive."

"There's nothing that I see positive [about it], and I'm one who lauds confrontation," Ms. Haedicke says.

"If there's an issue, it needs to be put on the table -- but not anonymously. There's no possibility for dialogue. Academia is supposed to be about open discourse," she says.

Asked whether Truth at ULM is indeed a product of a bitter employee, one bent on destroying the university, its creator is quiet for a moment.

"I love this university and the students who have got an education here," the professor responds, in a voice momentarily choked with emotion. "Although it's not a big-name university, the students know what they've got, and they know where the university has taken them.

"It's pulling a tooth," the professor says -- the tooth being the administration. "I think that you have the infected tooth, and it's going to hurt to cut it out. But it's got to be cut out."

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