The charges leveled by Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, in a letter to the U.'s student newspaper on official House of Representatives stationery, were strongly disputed by incoming president Ali Hasnain and university administration and student leaders.

Morgan acknowledged in an interview Friday that she did not personally hear or witness racism against her son, Taylor, but said the allegations are based on solid information, adding she stands by the letter.

"While Hasnain ran a divisive campaign, chanting 'brown power,' labeling Taylor as a 'white supremacist' and pushing issues of ethnicity, religion and 'rich vs. poor,' [Taylor's party] People Incorporated remained 'colorblind' and reached out to everyone," Rep. Morgan wrote to the Daily Chronicle newspaper after it invited her and the 103 other state lawmakers to a fund-raising dinner held earlier this week.

Hasnain, who beat Taylor by about 1,600 votes to become the school's first Muslim student president, denies making racist statements during the campaign.

"I never engaged in any of that," Hasnain said Friday after being read the letter. "It's shocking to me and also disappointing that Representative Morgan would make such statements."

Several student leaders and U. officials also expressed surprise and distress at the unsubstantiated charges.

"I never heard mention of diversity in the campaign, let alone racism or anything of that nature," said Elections Registrar Scott Ence, who oversaw the campaigns, the investigation of complaints and enforcement of rules.

"To my knowledge, no student ever even brought that up," Ence said, adding he would expect to have heard about it because many minor alleged rules violations were raised during the campaign.

Ence said having previously run for student body president, he has seen how such elections become intensely personal. "So I can understand [Morgan's] desire to do something for her son and to help. But I do think it is inappropriate for a state legislator to act this way."

Alex Lowe, the outgoing student president, made it clear he was not going to criticize a state legislator. But he said sometimes interested parties not directly involved in the campaigns become "passionately illogical."

Associate Dean of Students Annie Nebeker said she heard no whisper of racism in the student campaign.

"That is the first I heard of those allegations," said Nebeker, who called Hasnain "a well-known and well-regarded figure on campus."

Added Stayner Landward, dean of students: "It seemed to be a very clean campaign on both sides. I just don't recall even one person saying to me Ali is using his ethnic origin or his religion as a way to boost his candidacy."

The deans said they would be happy to meet with Morgan and discuss the complaints if she cared to.

Morgan said Friday she doesn't regret sending the letter - which mainly was aimed at criticizing what she claims was biased coverage of the election. The Chronicle "slandered some incredible young people," and undermined her son's campaign while never disclosing that Hasnain had previously worked at the paper, she said.

Still, she added, that even though she believes the newspaper made "gross misrepresentations" about her son, "I think its time to just forget it and direct energies to other places."

Chronicle editor in chief, Sheena McFarland, stands by the paper's coverage of the election race and disputes there was any bias.

"As far as the endorsement, and any columns that ran before the election, I feel confident in the fact that they were true and they helped show the campus who was running and the character of the people that were in the race," McFarland said.

Rep. Ralph Becker, the House minority leader from Salt Lake City, declined to comment on the issue because he was not aware of the letter until Friday.

tburr@sltrib.com

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Editor's note: Some Salt Lake Tribune staffers advise the U.'s Chronicle. Sheena McFarland has been hired by the Tribune to serve an internship this summer.