A blog Chicago State University faculty members used to be critical of the school's administration was sent a "cease and desist" notice by the university lawyers on Monday, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The Faculty Voice Blog, created in 2009 by Phillip Beverly - a faculty senate office and associate professor of political science - challenges some of the school's leaders and policy making.
The site's latest post on Nov. 8, for example, roundly criticizes the university's administrators and their hiring practices.
"I know, as a faculty member, I don't run the university. I can't stop what's going on there," Beverly told the Chicago Tribune. "But I can shine the light of day on it. That's the purpose of the blog, to put into the public sphere what is happening in the name of the citizens of Illinois."
The notice from the university only deepened the ongoing rift between a group of professors and administrators.
Patrick Cage, a university vice president, demanded the site's administrators "immediately disable" the blog and provide the university written confirmation of its termination to avoid legal action.
Cage issued a "cease and desist" notice to the blog's administrators on the grounds of them using the university's "trade names and marks" without permission.
Cage also said the blog "violates the university's values and policies requiring civility and professionalism of all university faculty members," the Chicago Tribune reported.
Upon receiving the notice, Beverly changed the site's name to "Crony State University" and replaced the main image - which was a picture of an on-campus Chicago State University sign and "CSU" hedge sculpture - with a building from another campus, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"We had that [old] picture up since April of 2009. I've actually gotten tired of it," Beverly said. "It's time for a change, and this is good enough reason to change it."
About eight faculty members contributed to the site under their own names or pseudonyms.
Chicago State University has long struggled with poor graduation rates and financial mismanagement, and its president, Wayne Watson, has fought with school trustees over his leadership.
University spokesman Tom Wogan said the legal notice is not related to quarrels between the administration and the school's faculty.
"That's not why they got the letter," Wogan said. "It's because they're using the trademark without authorization."
The Chicago Tribune reported that in 2012 university officials instructed faculty and staff that "only authorized university representatives could share information with the media." Everything from opinion pieces to social media communications could require prior approval.
Officials later said the policy was under review.
Wogan said Beverly and other faculty contributors are free to blog but cannot present themselves as authorized representatives of the university when they are not.
"Our concern, as far as protecting our trademark, is that this blog or any other blog would use the trademark without authorization," Wogan said.
