A Bad Week for the Army Corps of Engineers

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

Protesters at Rally for Ivor van Heerden at LSU in April 2009

This has been a very bad week for the Army Corps of Engineers.

First, Bunnatine Greenhouse, former chief oversight official of contracts for Corps operations in Iraq received nearly a million dollar settlement after she was demoted 6 years ago for blowing the whistle on unfair awarding of a contract to Halliburton.

Days later, an academic watchdog group released a report excoriating Louisiana State University (LSU) for firing Dr. Ivor van Heerden who, immediately after Katrina, blamed the Corps of Engineers for the failure of the levees and the drowning of New Orleans.

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Levees.org is guest on NPR

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

Devastation in the Lower Ninth Ward after the IHNC levee failed. Photo/Francis James

An Associated Press story just reported that some at the Corps of Engineers New Orleans District have won awards for their efforts since the deadly levee failures in 2005.

A Corps news release said the team won the awards for the “hard work” and “professional excellence … to reduce risk for the people of the Greater New Orleans area.”

A producer with WWNO radio 89.9 requested my comment. The story will run during this afternoon’s All Things Considered, starting at 4, and the Morning Edition tomorrow (Thursday), starting at 6.

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Investigator: LSU abused its power and trust

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Dr. Charles Figley, AAUP Investigator in Ivor van Heerden case

The watchdog of academic rigor has issued its report concluding its year long investigation of the retaliatory firing of Ivor van Heerden from LSU.

Dr. Charles Figley was part of the investigation team convened by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Yesterday, when the report was released, Dr. Figley wrote to me and other colleagues with this:

“It is important that we keep in mind that speaking out on matters like these are critical to a more informed society. I urge you to read the report and understand how administrators can abuse their power and trust; how sometimes inactive faculty are worse than those who are supportive of incompetence or unfair labor practices.”

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