Barrett has drawn fire for his plans to teach an Islamic studies course next fall that questions whether the U.S. government was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Some state lawmakers, conservative commentators and Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green have called for Barrett's firing.
Doyle, a UW-Madison graduate, said the issue of Barrett's employment is not "a matter so much on what his political views are" as his fitness to teach students.
Doyle described the letter, dated July 5, as "sort of a diatribe about a lot of different issues."
"One of the things you want at the university is someone who bases their teaching on facts. If there's any institution that should be devoted to a factual analysis of what's going on, it should be the university," he said.
Doyle added, "This is for the university to look at, but I think they really have to take a hard look at that."
In the letter to Doyle, Barrett acknowledged the governor's previous criticism: "You apparently believe that I am incapable of performing well as an instructor of Islam 370 because I am convinced that the 9/11 Commission Report is a farcical coverup and that overwhelming evidence suggests top U.S. officials were complicit in the attacks of September 11th, 2001. |