(Washington, DC) – The Government Accountability Project (GAP) program, the American Whistleblower Tour: Essential Voices for Accountability, comes to Tulane University on Tuesday, February 28. This Tour stop will feature a panel presentation by prominent national and New Orleans-based speakers discussing how whistleblowers promote transparency and accountability in key issues facing local residents, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, police accountability, and the BP oil spill disaster. This event is sponsored by GAP, Tulane University, and the New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance (NOCOG).

GAP’s Tour is a dynamic campaign aimed at educating the public – particularly America’s university students – about the phenomenon and practice of whistleblowing. Many stops, including Tulane, feature an in-depth presentation that explains how whistleblowers have furthered public interest causes around the local area.

A full description of the Tour can be found at www.WhistleblowerTour.org.

GAP Legal Director and panelist Tom Devine, who has been protecting whistleblowers at GAP for nearly 35 years, stated: “From Katrina to the Gulf oil spill, there are many courageous whistleblowers around New Orleans who need to be heard and protected. Truth-tellers are the best resource for Louisianans to regain control of their future.”

Adam Babich, Director of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, will moderate the presentation. “The message that whistleblowers are important and need protection should resonate through the New Orleans area. This is why Tulane has partnered to bring this event to the campus,” said Babich.

Panelist Steve Beatty, Managing Editor of The Lens and NOCOG member, stated: “The Lens is dedicated to holding government accountable and exposing waste, fraud and abuse. Our reporters rely on conscientious insiders who see problems firsthand and bring their concerns to us. Behind many great investigative stories are unsung, quiet whistleblowers to whom journalists are indebted.”

Panelists include:

* Adam Babich: Babich teaches environmental law and directs the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, which is regularly ranked among the Top Ten environmental law clinics of U.S. law schools.

* Steve Beatty: Beatty is Managing Editor of The Lens, a nonprofit media outlet focusing on the New Orleans area. Beatty is a veteran investigative reporter and editor, he previously worked for The New Orleans Times-Picayune and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

* Tom Devine: Devine is GAP Legal Director, and has worked at the organization since 1979, assisting thousands of whistleblowers over that time. Tom has been a leader in the campaigns to pass or defend 20 major national or international whistleblower laws, including every one enacted over the last two decades. He has also authored or co-authored numerous books, including 2011’s The Corporate Whistleblowers Survival Guide: A Handbook for Committing the Truth.

* Susan Hutson: Hutson heads the City of New Orleans Office of the Independent Police Monitor (IPM), an independent, civilian police oversight agency. Its mission is to improve cooperation and trust between the community and the New Orleans Police Department through objective review of police misconduct investigations.

* Scott Porter: At the request of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Scott Porter, a biologist and diver with the nonprofit EcoRigs, dove into the oil plume (reported to be safe by NOAA) from the Deepwater Horizon disaster for water samples to determine toxicity. In exchange, NOAA would fund the dives and provide test results. Porter became severely ill after he began diving. During that time NOAA did not provide the test results, but EcoRigs was also working with non-government scientists to test similar samples, which showed high toxicity. NOAA cut off communications, never providing payment. Porter educates the public about environmental damage and public health threats from the oil spill.

* Sandy Rosenthal: Rosenthal is the founder of Levees.org, a nonprofit advocacy organization devoted to educating America on the facts associated with the 2005 catastrophic flooding of the New Orleans region. Started in late 2005, the project now has chapters in Illinois, Florida, Oregon and New York.

The panel presentation will take place from 4:00 – 5:30 pm on Tuesday, February 28, at the Kendall Cram Room in Tulane’s Lavin-Bernick Center. This will be followed by a brief question-and-answer session, ending with a reception for the public to meet the panelists.

The Tulane Tour stop is the eighth of the 2011-2012 academic year, with four more to follow. The Tour kicked off last September at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with nearly 2,000 faculty and students in attendance. That event, and all subsequent stops, have enjoyed broad participation and outstanding reviews.

Goals of the Tour include raising awareness about the vital role of whistleblowing in our democracy, preparing America’s youth for ethical decision-making, countering negative connotations associated with whistleblowing, connecting prospective whistleblowers to available resources, and encouraging academic studies of whistleblowing.

Impetus

In February 2010, GAP teamed up with film production company Participant Media and the Manhattan venue Paley Center for the Media to produce the definitive television presentation on whistleblowing – Anyone Can Whistle: The Essential Role of the Whistleblower in American Society. The event, watched online live by thousands, was the first-ever special explaining and celebrating the role of whistleblowers in our culture. Hosted by Juan Williams (then of NPR), and featuring whistleblower heroes such as Daniel Ellsberg, Frank Serpico, Coleen Rowley and others, the program examined the six stages of the typical whistleblowing experience, celebrated the courage of whistleblowers, and decried the lack of adequate legal protections.

More importantly, the presentation educated the public on the practice of whistleblowing. Through the American Whistleblower Tour, GAP hopes to expand upon the goals and the energy produced by this event.

About the Sponsors

Government Accountability Project
The Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

The New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance
The New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance seeks open, responsive, and accountable governance by promoting community engagement in civic discussions and decisions, increasing access to public data and information, supporting media and communications that inform and equip stakeholders, and seeking beneficial public policy and structural developments. Founded in 2009, NOCOG coalition partners include Neighborhoods Partnership Network, Committee For A Better New Orleans, Puentes, Public Affairs Research Council, The Public Law Center, and The Lens.

Tulane University
Tulane University is one of the nation’s most prestigious educational and research institutions. Founded in 1834 in New Orleans, Tulane offers degrees in architecture, business, law, liberal arts, medicine, public health and tropical medicine, the sciences and engineering, and social work.

Contact: Dylan Blaylock, Communications Director
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext. 137
Email: [email protected]

Contact: Kathryn Hobgood Ray, Tulane University
Phone: 504.865.5229
Email: [email protected]

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