However, the move wasn’t wholly spontaneous: Charlie Hoslet, executive director of strategic partnerships at UW-Madison, said in a June 4 email obtained by CJR that his office had “received an inquiry last week from the legislature about the arrangement between the university and the Center for Investigative Journalism.” The email continued:

We explained that the Center was not part of the UW but that there is a Facilities Use Agreement in place that provides space for the Center in exchange for various services and educational resources for students provided by the Center. It seemed that the information provided satisfied whatever concerns there might have been.

However, we learned this afternoon that there has been some discussion about introducing an amendment in the Joint Finance Committee that would somehow impact the Center’s use of the space. We have not been provided a copy of the amendment and probably will not be given anything until right before it is introduced (assuming that actually happens). Don Nelson, our Director of State Relations, will continue to monitor and and (sic) try to influence this…

Haslett, in a follow-up email less than an hour later, noted that, “Efforts to restrict the operations of other centers on campus (COWS) are attempted every budget cycle. This is the first known attempt to restrict the Center for Investigative Journalism in the state budget.”

This morning, Downey began circulating an email around the university urging the journalism school and broader university community to oppose both provisions of the budget amendment.

While the ban on WCIJ’s use of university office space would have a greater immediate effect, Downey, in an interview, said the prohibition on university staff working for the center signified a “pretty radical change” in policy.

His email notes that as written, the legislative language “would seem to broadly and recklessly infringe on our academic freedom in terms of research, teaching, and service. Our faculty and staff regularly collaborate with outside organizations on media-related projects in terms of research, teaching, and service.” Currently, no department faculty do paid work for WCIJ, but a J-school professor emeritus serves as secretary on the center’s board of directors, and Andy Hall is a “zero dollar” honorary fellow at the school.

WCIJ, in a posted response to what it called “lawmakers’ early-morning attack,” noted that while the biennial budget must still clear the full Assembly and Senate, leaders in both houses have said they want to make no further changes to the spending plan. “If this holds true, the budget language will pass and become law unless [Gov.] Walker vetoes it,” the post says.

Downey said that he is mobilizing a response from around the university, centered on the academic freedom angle. Meanwhile, the center is asking its allies to contact legislative leaders—particularly Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Assembly speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester)—and “let them know you support the Center’s nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism.”

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Anna Clark is CJR's correspondent for Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. A 2011 Fulbright fellow, Clark was written for The Guardian, Grantland and Salon; blogs at Isak; and can be found on Twitter @annaleighclark. She lives in Detroit.