The Georgia Board of Regents is probably the most
powerful entity in the state. They control billions of the state budget yet
operate without any oversight and practically no transparency or
accountability. In fact they control close to $8 billion of our
state budget.
Even more troubling is there appears to be a pattern of silencing
whistleblowers by simply denying all appeals without even being read. 97% of appeals are summarily denied
and a scant few are ever even read or reviewed on merit. If a lawsuit will
likely fail it is dismissed and the facts and allegations aren’t even
investigated or submitted to the Board of Regents for any sort of discussion or
review.
Global Watchdog has followed this controversy at the
University System of Georgia and the Board of Regents carefully and have
compiled a long list of
important cases that deserve wider attention by the media. But with the
massive amount of advertising budget the USG has on local media don’t expect
other media to give this scandal any coverage.
WHO ARE THE BOARD OF REGENTS? See: http://gwmac.com/southern-mafia/
Out of 19 members it sure was nice to offer two positions
to women and one position to an African-American. Does that look representative of the
state of Georgia you live in? Georgia has roughly 51% females
and around 31% black citizens, but you certainly wouldn’t know that from that
photo where you would assume the whole state is made up of old rich white guys.
It shouldn’t surprise you that other states have a far
more balanced and reasonable approach when selecting board members. Some states
even require no more than half the board can be from one political party, no
more than two can be graduates from one university, and they must represent all
parts of the state. In
Georgia all you need is to be friends with the
Governor or
should I say be a big donator to the Governor. The AJC reported that
members of the most powerful state boards all helped bankroll
Nathan Deal’s reelection and in return he reappoints them to the boards. Nice
little tit for tat among the wealthy board members who use their positions for
personal gain and glory and the politicians.
It appears Carter Pewtershmidt of Family Guy acclaim is a
member of the Georgia Board of Regents You can see what appears to be Carter
seated second from the left in the photo above. I think Carter actually
personifies what many people feel is the personality of the board given the
rate of the rejection of appeals as well as the mostly old rich white guy
composition. They seem to be a collectively wealthy and heartless group
selected mainly because they donated to a Governor’s election bid and not
because they deserve to be on such a powerful board that controls $8 billion
and have seen tuition rates rise far higher than other states and merger mania
among schools. The reason I say heartless is due to the numbers of lives that
have been destroyed by people being fired or students being expelled unjustly
while the Board sat there and didn’t even read their appeals.
97% of Appeals to the Georgia BOR Are Denied; Most Unread
From the Vice-Chancellor’s own mouth, unless you have an
appeals case that is likely to result in a successful lawsuit against the Board
you are more than likely wasting your time. It won’t even be read by other
regents. Given their immunity and the difficulty of even suing the University
System of Georgia at all, your chances of ever having a meritorious lawsuit are
slim to none. One Regent named Doreen Stiles Poitevint admitted this in a
deposition.
In a video, Burns Newsome and another Regents Board
attorney agreed to a very rare short interview. In the interview they admitted their main priority was
keeping the board and state from being sued and not actually reading or
considering the appeals based on merit. Jeff Chirico, the
interviewer, pressed them to answer whether sometimes these interest conflict
and how they could possibly be considering the interest of the fired employees
with a 97% rejection rate.
The board attorney answered “Why would they. No, they never do.
The best interest of the Board of Regents is to not have to lose cases in court”
Newsome defends the 97% denial of appeals rate by saying
terminations are being handled properly. He continues on by saying “there is no constitutional right to
have a hearing before the Board of Regents. The board of regents appeal process
is entirely discretionary”
Many of the
people who feel they were unjustly fired said their lives had been destroyed.
They were blacklisted from the profession they love and will likely not ever be
able to find work in that field again. Many sank into deep depression, lost
their homes and even their marriages due to the stress and financial ruin.
When only 3% of
appeals actually are approved there is a systemic problem. The other 97% of
appeals will receive the standard form letter after it has been determined you
cannot sue them because of Sovereign Immunity. This applies to students who may
have been expelled without just cause and well as for employees who have been
fired by a capricious boss. Your value to the USG at least in terms of your
appeal seems to be limited to how meritorious a case you represent as a
potential lawsuit.
I find this
extremely disturbing. Why even bother to have the pretense of an appeals
process in place at all that will allow people to have some hope. Many think
the Board is their advocate and they will receive justice or at least a fair
chance to have their side heard. Think
again since appeals aren’t even being read.
They are
summarily dismissed if the student or employee can’t sue. Is this truly who we
are as a nation? Is this who we are as a people? The sheer callousness on
display in the interview with the two board attorney’s answers shows a level of
complete disconnect to the people who are appealing as human beings. To my eyes
at least they seem dispassionate and heartless and absolutely no emotion at all
is shown.
From a
Pavlovian, or classical conditioning standpoint, there is what Dave Grossman
has termed the Reverse-Clockwork Orange process. In the movie, Clockwork
Orange, a sociopath is injected with a drug that makes him nauseous and he then
is exposed to violent movies. Eventually he comes to associate all violence
with nausea and is somewhat “cured” of his sociopathy. We often say that
children become desensitized to violence after spending thousands of hours
watching violence on TV. The U.S. military quickly learned that switching from
bulls eyes target to lifelike targets in shooting practice drills made for far
more effective soldiers since they would never be attacked by a bulls-eye on
the actual battlefield.
Is this rigid and
unfeeling legalized rejection of all appeals based on nothing more than lawsuit
meritocracy their version of desensitizing the Board of regents to the fact
that these are actual human beings whose lives are being destroyed? Instead
they become a case number to be sent a form letter after decades of service.
I would
strongly urge the Board of Regents to
actually start reading these appeals and even better interviewing these people
in person. Give these people a fair chance to plead and make their case.
Maybe many were justifiably expelled or fired. But it is highly improbable that
97% of them were justifiably rejected.
Yes it is true
in Georgia you can fire someone because you don’t like the color of their
shoes, but that does not make it right. You might also find the people behind
those expulsions or firings may in fact be the ones who need to be fired.
Unless we have a system where whistleblowers have a guarantee they will
not be fired for coming forward and doing the right thing we have no hope of
restoring faith in the University System in Georgia as little more than an
anachronistic friend’s of the Governor club.
Given the lack
of protection for whistle blowers as evidenced by the people in these articles,
what possible incentive would any potential whistle blower have to come forward
and report financial irregularities or other misconduct against a boss that can
fire them with the knowledge that 97% of people who appeal will be rejected? My
advice to anyone even considering becoming a whistle blower is keep good
documentation and make sure if you do decide to move forward the Board of
Regents would view your case as a loss in court.
Otherwise, if
you like your job, for the time being at least it appears the best course of
action is to play deaf, dumb, and blind. This is how the Southern Mafia likes it and don’t
expect any changes anytime soon. They have all the cards and they will not make
any reforms willingly. With allies like Governor Deal and Attorney General Sam
Olens supporting this secretive and powerful cabal the chance of any change is
practically zero.
Just ask Denise Caldon from Macon,
GA who had her life destroyed for reporting a University President at Macon
State…
http://gwmac.com/southern-mafia/
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