[Vision2020] UI Settles With Ex-Workers

[Sunil Ramalingam]

Wayne,

I think that rather than reducing the possibility of misconduct in the future, your approach is more likely to make settlements difficult.  Do you really think that people are deterred by publicity attendant to the misdeeds of others?  The more time goes by, the less likely I think this is.  

People act badly for a variety of reasons.  Often they don't put much thought into the possible consequences of their actions. If they do, they convince themselves that they won't get caught.

If forced to publicize all the details, then large organizations are likely going to make more attempts to keep embarassing details quiet.  It's always easier for large organizations, whether public or private, to drag things out, than it is for those opposing them to keep going.

Sunil

From: deco at moscow.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:05:28 -0700
CC: president at uidaho.edu; GSCHROED at senate.idaho.gov
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] UI Settles With Ex-Workers










What we need is legislation that prevents court settlements in 
cases like this where one party is a public agency from being sealed.  
It's taxpayers money.  We should know how much, and how it is being 
spent, and the frivolities that led to such expenditures.
 
In this case, it was obvious from the beginning that certain 
assholes at the university were being just that: assholes protecting a good ol' 
boy, Gary Maki.  
 
I want to know how much this malfeasance cost:  the 
settlement amount, attorney fees, cost of UI staff time, etc.  It's our 
money, and it is chickenshit of the UI, a public agency, to insist as part of 
the settlement that its terms be kept secret, and away from the taxpayer's 
eyes.
 
If the cost of enough of these settlements were made public, 
maybe, just maybe, arrogant, good ol' boy/girl behavior could be slowed a bit, 
and maybe its worst practitioners dismissed from employment.
 
What is also heartbreaking about this case in the current 
fiscal downturn is that the money spent on this utter fiasco of illicit 
favoritism could have been used to save some UI jobs, the services they provide, 
and prevented the misery and disorganization to families that would have not 
suffered if UI officials had acted correctly in the first place.
 
 
Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, 
ID  83843
 
waf at moscow.com
208 
882-7975
 
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 

  From: 
  Tom Hansen 
  
  To: Moscow Vision 2020 
  Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 5:57 
  AM
  Subject: [Vision2020] UI Settles With 
  Ex-Workers
  
Courtesy of today's (October 30, 2009) Spokesman 
  Review.

-----------------------------------------------

UI 
  settles with ex-workers
Husband, wife claimed they were punished for 
  reporting on researcher

The University of Idaho has settled a lawsuit 
  with two former employees
who claimed they were punished for reporting 
  concerns that a high-profile
researcher was using university resources to 
  benefit private companies.

Although the university is publicly funded, 
  the terms of the settlement
were being kept confidential.

The UI 
  released a statement saying Kenneth Hass and his wife, Martha 
  Hass,
"adhered to and followed" the proper procedures in reporting 
  their
concerns. The statement also said allegations that Kenneth Hass 
  attempted
to sabotage sensitive research projects were 
  "unfounded."

The couple worked at the UI's Center for Advanced 
  Microelectronics and
Biomolecular Research in Post Falls, a research 
  operation formerly led by
Gary Maki. The center designed and developed 
  microchips used on NASA
missions, among other projects, and Maki had a 
  history of high-profile
breakthroughs.

In 2005, the Hasses told a 
  university auditor that Maki and others at
CAMBR were improperly using UI 
  resources to benefit two private spinoff
companies owned by Maki and 
  research colleagues. A UI audit concluded that
Maki and others deliberately 
  directed public resources to benefit the
companies - using university 
  equipment, personnel and office space to
support one firm, and doing 
  company business on university time, among
other issues.

As a 
  result, the UI toughened its policies managing conflicts of 
  interest
between researchers and the for-profit enterprises that arise from 
  their
discoveries.

Kenneth Hass worked as a professor at the center, 
  and Martha Hass was in
administrative support before moving to another 
  department and eventually
leaving the UI. They said they faced retaliation 
  from supervisors and
administrators for reporting their 
  concerns.

Kenneth Hass was also the subject of a letter to UI officials 
  - apparently
authored by Maki, but signed by a NASA official - questioning 
  whether he
provided sensitive information to unauthorized sources, 
  including "foreign
agents."

The UI said that allegation, as well as 
  others from Maki that Kenneth Hass
had tried to sabotage CAMBR projects, 
  were unfounded.

Maki was demoted in 2007 from director of CAMBR to 
  professor there, and he
retired this month. The Hasses now live in 
  Lewisburg, Pa., where Kenneth
is a professor at Bucknell 
  University.

Neither the UI nor the Hasses' attorney would comment 
  further on the case,
under the conditions of the 
  agreement.

-----------------------------------------------

Seeya 
  at homecoming, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The 
  Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and 
  the Realist adjusts his sails."

- 
  Unknown


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