Some emails to Iowa president Sally Mason call for Bloom's firing

University of Iowa President Sally Mason received about 15 emails in December from university graduates and Iowa residents upset with an article about Iowa written by journalism professor Stephen Bloom, some of them calling for Bloom's firing.

The university released Mason's emails Wednesday in response to a records request from several newspapers.

SourceMedia Group has a pending request with the university to get all emails and correspondence Bloom received and sent regarding his article on The Atlantic website, which many Iowans found offensive and inaccurate. Bloom estimated it will take him seven hours to gather those emails, and the UI will charge an estimated $210 fee, a cost to be shared by SourceMedia Group and the Iowa City Press-Citizen, to gather that information.

Of the emails Mason received, a few called for Bloom to be fired or to resign because of his Atlantic article. None of the emails were threatening in tone or threatened the journalism professor. Bloom, on leave from the UI this year as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, has said he retreated to an "undisclosed location" because of threats he received after the article ignited a controversy.

Several of the emails to Mason express disappointment and disgust that a professor whose salary is taxpayer-funded would write such negative and in some cases, inaccurate, comments about the state. In the documents sent to the media, the university blacked out the names and email addresses of the people who sent the messages.

"What an embarrassment for your institution," one person wrote in an email to Mason.

While some emails called for Mason to fire Bloom, others said they know Bloom can't be fired because he is a tenured professor. One email said they did not want Bloom to be fired or disciplined because he has academic freedom, but did suggest the university start a conversation to repair the damage Bloom's article caused.

"The derision from some professors was palpable when a student walked in with a quilted flannel shirt and a baseball cap representing a consolidated small high school with a funny acronym," one UI graduate wrote about his experience at the UI. "I hoped this had changed, but sadly if Professor Bloom is at all representative of the faculty then it has not."

Mason Response Docs (with redactions done by UI officials)