Project on Women and Social Change
Smith College
2003 Kathleen Ridder Conference
WOMEN OF COURAGE: WHISTLEBLOWERS
IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
Friday, February 7, 2003 and Saturday, February 8, 2003
Neilson Library Browsing Room
Smith College
Northampton, Massachusetts
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Friday, February 7, 2003
3:30 to 4:00 p.m., Neilson Library Browsing Room
Introduction by Myron Peretz Glazer, Barbara Richmond Professor of Sociology and CoDirector of the Project on Women and Social Change, Smith College
Opening welcome by Susan C. Bourque, Provost, Dean of the Faculty, and Esther Booth
Wiley Professor of Government, Smith College
4:00 to 6:00 p.m., Neilson Library Browsing Room
Panel 1, “Blowing the Whistle on Issues of Racial Mistreatment”
Moderator and Discussant: Danielle Brian ‘85, Executive Director, Project on
Government Oversight (POGO), Washington, D.C.
Student Discussant: Helen Lee ‘AC
Panelists:
Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Chair, No FEAR Institute; and Adjunct
Professor, Science, Technology and International Affairs, Georgetown University
“My troubles were most intense when I served as the E.P.A. liaison for the environment
on the Gore-Mbeki Commission, a Clinton administration foreign policy program with
South Africa. After I reported that an American company was poisoning its African
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workers and their families with toxic waste, I was relieved of my responsibilities on the
commission, my efforts to conduct an investigation were stifled and I was made a target
of personal abuse. Racial epithets were hurled at me by senior officials; I was denied a
promotion, supposedly because I made the choice to become pregnant; and I received
threatening phone calls at home.”
“On August 18, 2001, Dr. Coleman-Adebayo won a landmark discrimination case in
federal court against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the basis of
race, sex, color and hostile work environment. She has testified at two congressional
hearings on discrimination in the federal sector. The Coleman-Adebayo v. Browner case
inspired the introduction of national legislation H.R. 169: The Notification of Federal
Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2000/2001 (No Fear Act).”
Cathy Harris
Senior Customs Inspector, Human Rights Federal Whistleblower, U.S. Customs
Service
“I exposed the violations carried out by corrupt Customs Inspectors against female
international travelers, especially African-American women. These violations included
abusive pat-down inspections, invasive strip-searches, intrusive cavity searches, x-ray
examinations without pregnancy tests, prolonged detentions which sometimes lasted for
up to 4 days, arm or leg shackling to hospital beds while being force-fed a laxative and
targeted intimidation by drug sniffing dogs.”
“Governmental reports and investigations by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Senate and the
media validated her allegations. As a result of her bravery, new legislation and
enhanced reforms were introduced to protect the American public such as the Civil
Rights for International Travelers Act - H.R. 1996 and the Reasonable Search Standards
Act - S. 799.”
Saturday, February 8
9:00 to 9:30 a.m., Neilson Library Browsing Room
Continental Breakfast
9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Neilson Library Browsing Room:
Panel 2, “Old and New Issues for Whistleblowers in the Post-9/11 World”
Moderator and Discussant: Louis Clark, Executive Director, Government Accountability
Project (GAP), Washington, D.C.
Student Discussant: Barbara Morgan ‘AC.
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Panelists:
Diane Kleiman, Esq.
Former Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the
U.S. Custom’s Service
“I was assigned to JFK International Airport in December 1998 and immediately upon
arriving, I blew the whistle about drug overdoses and deaths amongst Special Agents,
cash disappearing from seizures, and serious lapses in security at Airlines that allowed
drugs and illicit cash, as well as illegal aliens to enter JFK with the collusion of low-level
airline employees as well as knowledge by U.S. Custom’s agents of the problems. For
refusing to go along with a cover-up, which required me to commit perjury in the Grand
Jury, my life and the lives of family members were threatened as well as my employment.
For my refusal to participate in this illegality, I was fired and then blackballed by former
bosses.”
Sandy G. Nunn
Former Special Agent, U.S. Customs Service (1988-1999), National Security
Whistleblower
“In 1998 and 1999 while serving as a Special Agent with the U.S. Customs Service, I
along with two other veteran Customs Agents in Southern California, helped to identify
illicit major narcotics smuggling efforts via railway tanker cars into the U.S. From all
indicators of the investigation and the questionable conduct of Customs managers who
attempted numerous times to stonewall this major investigation, it became apparent that
we had stumbled into what was regarded by both the Federal Prosecutor and other
investigators as corruption and obstruction of justice. When I along with these other
agents took the issue to Senators, Congressmen, the Inspector General, the FBI
Corruption Unit, the Commissioner of Customs and even the national media, our careers
were immediately threatened when we were subjected to severe retaliation, put under
surveillance, placed under numerous administrative and internal affairs investigations
and ultimately forced to resign from our careers, thus requiring me and another former
agent to pursue the issue in Federal Court. In July 2001, two months before September
11th, I provided testimony before the U.S. Senate that what we had uncovered constituted
a breach of national security and a potential terrorist threat…..a revelation which was
soon realized.”
1:00 to 3:00 p.m., Neilson Library Browsing Room
Panel 3, “Blowing the Whistle on Educational Malpractice”
Moderator and Discussant: Christine M. Shelton, Associate Professor of Exercise and
Sport Studies, Co-Director of the Project on Women and Social Change, Smith College
Student Discussant: Nyoko Muvangua ’04J
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Panelists:
Linda Bensel-Meyers
Associate Professor of English and former Director of Composition at the University
of Tennessee
“During my tenure as Director of Composition in the English Department of the
University of Tennessee, I uncovered how the athletic department, with the
complicity of university officials, chose to protect the substantial revenues
garnered from our successful football program by instituting a system that
denies athletes access to an education. When my efforts to correct the
problems led to public disclosure on ESPN’s Sport Center, the institution
responded by tapping my phones, breaking into my office, and orchestrating
public defamation of my character. Administrative officials who attempted to
support my charges were removed from their positions or refused the right to
speak to the press. Although the public defamation led to death threats
against myself and my children, divorce from my husband of 20 years, and my
removal from all administrative positions, as a tenured faculty member, I
continue the fight as the only one able to expose how the university knowingly
violates federal law and academic policy to exploit collegiate athletes for
institutional profit.”
Tina Dierkes
Kindergarten Teacher
“In 1999, a ballast located in a light fixture in the older wing of the primary school
where I worked ignited and a black tar-like substance spilled onto teachers’ desks and
learning materials. The school district claimed the substance was harmless tar and the
mess was not cleaned up for five days. Teachers became quite ill. Even after the district
learned that the substance contained a toxic substance and suspected carcinogen known
as PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls), they continued to minimize the risk and took no
precautionary measures. I called the EPA and blew the whistle. The school district was
fined $328,300 for what the EPA termed egregious violations.”
Estelle Levy, C.S.W.
Social Issue Artist
“As both a Teacher and Certified Social Worker working in Special Education, I
watched the Board of Education become New York City’s employer of last resort on
every level in Special Education. Few were ethically watching out for the students. For
example, I would have to track down book money allotted to my class, learn how it was
diverted and by whom, before I could maneuver to get it back, which I did. Dealing with
the practice of diverting monies due Special Education Students to others was
complicated. It reflected the approved misuse of allotted funds as well as having
sanctioned the valuing of mainstream students’ educational needs while devaluing that of
others. It was a constant struggle.”
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3:00 to 3:30 p.m., Neilson Library Browsing Room
Coffee Break
3:30 to 5:00 p.m., Neilson Library Browsing Room
Panel 4, “Concluding Reflections on Whistleblowing and Gender”
Moderator and Discussant: Penina M. Glazer, Marilyn Levin Professor of History,
Hampshire College
Student Discussant: Melissa Benites ‘03
Panelists:
All presenters from Panels 1, 2 and 3.
Out of consideration for those with allergies and environmental illness, please refrain from
using perfumes and other scented products to the conference.
Local restaurants (within walking distance of the Neilson Library) for lunch:
College Pizza and the Green Street Café both located on Green Street.
The Davis Student Center located on Prospect Street.
There are also vending machines located on level B of the Neilson Library.
This event, sponsored by the Smith College Project on Women and Social Change, is free and
open to the public.
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Government Accountability Project and the
Project on Government Oversight in developing the program for this conference.
For further information on the conference, please contact Kathleen Gauger at 413/585-3591.
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