UVSC e-mails cheer, jeer Moore visit

OREM — Dozens of people are threatening to withhold donations from Utah Valley State College for making itself a stop on filmmaker Michael Moore's polemic speaking tour, a newspaper reported.

About 20 others from across the country praised the state college for inviting the "Fahrenheit 9/11" director and sent about $10,000 of their own money in a show of support.

Critics and supporters made their feelings known to UVSC President William Sederburg and other administrators in hundreds of e-mails described Sunday in a copyright story by The Salt Lake Tribune.

Some parents upset at Moore's visit vowed to not send their children to the 24,000-student campus. Others, including college alumni, said they were withholding donations from $20 and up, for everything from sponsorships and scholarships to internship offers and tax checkoffs.

In one internal e-mail Kathy Johnson of the college's Advancement Office reported, "I just had another call from someone who gave $10,000 last year but will not be willing to give that again this year."

Alumni Relations Director Jeri Allphin responded to upset donors by suggesting they were giving Moore's "one-time visit" more significance than it was due.

Moore arrived Oct. 20, applauding student leaders who took heat for inviting him. Nine days earlier the college had invited Sean Hannity, a conservative Fox News Network commentator, to balance Moore's criticism of President Bush and the war in Iraq.

Utah Valley State College erased the names of private donors before publicly releasing their sometimes angry missives about Moore or his $40,000 speaking fee.

"Whoever put this together is out of their minds," one of the e-mails said. "I will be damned to give you one dime."

Another wrote, "I will not have any of my hard-earned money go to a college that would actually pay someone so un-American like Michael Moore to speak on their campus."

A mother put the college on notice that Moore's arrival would cause her to take away her daughter's tuition support. Another parent said Moore's visit was the "final straw," adding, "None of my seven children will attend your school again."

A group of Orem business owners said they would "never contribute financially to UVSC for any purpose."

To the dean of the business school, another writer warned that an elderly donor with a "huge estate" wasn't sharing any of it with the school.

UVSC is compiling the e-mail addresses of everyone who wrote for use in fund-raising.