History professor William Cronon (pictured, via) has written two opinion pieces criticizing Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Shortly after publicizing them, the Wisconsin Republican Party filed a request under the state’s Open Records Law for access to Cronon’s university email inbox.

The request demands copies of emails received and sent dated from January 1, 2011 to the present. Last night, Cronon responded with outrage on his blog, “Scholar as Citizen.”

Here’s an excerpt from Cronon’s post: “My most important observation is that I find it simply outrageous that the Wisconsin Republican Party would seek to employ the state’s Open Records Law for the nakedly political purpose of trying to embarrass, harass, or silence a university professor (and a citizen) who has asked legitimate questions…I’m offended by this not just because it’s yet another abuse of law and procedure that has seemingly become standard operating procedure for the state’s Republican Party under Governor Walker, but because it’s such an obvious assault on academic freedom at a great research university.”

So far, 160 comments have been made in the section below Cronon’s post. What do you think? (via Talking Points Memo)