Emails Show University President's Anti-Trump Sentiments

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The Mackinac Center for Public Policy settled a lawsuit with the University of Michigan over internal emails related to the 2016 election. The center sued the University of Michigan to have access to emails of the university president, Mark Schlissel, related to the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. But why?

Equal treatment of differing political opinions is a concern at the university, in light of anti-Trump rhetoric.

But, the settlement exposed the anti-Trump sentiments of the university president, who attended an anti-Trump rally after the election:

The newly-released emails show President Schlissel allowed his personal disdain for Trump to influence his public work, even acknowledging in advance that some may interpret an August 2016 speech he was set to deliver to incoming freshmen as “anti-Trump” in nature.

“I realize that some may interpret this as anti-Trump although there is nothing explicit in the remarks. That’s just the way it will have to be,” he wrote in an email to a colleague. “I would feel awful if Trump won the election and I was too afraid of appearing political to make any effort to encourage our students to thoughtfully participate.”