Sandro Galea’s Response to my Open Letter
Earlier this spring I wrote An Open Letter to JSI’s Board of Directors detailing my experiences as a whistleblower who was not offered protection from what I feel was whistleblower retaliation. My aim was not to plead my own case or to ask for damages. I think I did a good job of describing my hopes for the letter:
I am not asking the Board to adjudicate the validity of my claims, but rather to review the information I have provided and identified in order to determine whether my experience reflects broader systemic issues at JSI.
The letter ended on an personal and emotional note:
I will conclude by sharing my motivation for writing: I am proud that teaching and mentorship occupy a central role in my professional life and, simply put, I don’t want the students and young professionals I work with to go through what I went through.
I also made two requests—(1) that I be given the opportunity to present additional information that I could not share publicly, and (2) that I be notified of (and given the opportunity to review and correct) any factual errors that I may have accidentally made.
Although it has been more than 10 weeks since I published the letter, the response came just four days later:
I was disappointed, but not surprised. After some extended reflection, I have three thoughts to share:
Although I disagree with the conclusion shared in Chair Galea’s message, that’s almost beside the point as I did not ask for the specifics of my situation to be reconsidered. Instead, I asked that the broader systems and processes be reviewed in light of the information I shared publicly. I was disappointed that this request was not acknowledged, although it’s possible that this was indeed done without my participation.
I am more disappointed that I was not taken up on my offer to share additional information. I will be very blunt—that information included emails and other communication from senior JSI leaders that I believe reflect a deeply troubling and hostile work environment, and also included stories from other former JSIers of harassment, retaliation, and discrimination by senior JSI leaders (including some of the same people involved in my situation). I can’t underscore my surprise and sadness that, yet again, JSI leadership made it crystal clear that they do not want to know about the skeletons in their own closet.
Finally, I still do not know what to think of the inclusion of JSI’s CFO, Janice Clark, on Chair Galea’s response. Although I did not name her in my open letter, I will say here that Janice Clark was the senior leader who oversaw both compliance and HR and was informed of my concerns around filing a retaliation complaint that named Laura Colantropo (JSI’s HR Director) prior to Colantropo being assigned to lead an investigation into herself.
At the end of the day, I felt it was important to say things out loud that JSI had no appetite to hear. The Open Letter was my last attempt to share what I knew in a constructive way to help the organization take important first steps towards a better, healthier workplace. I don’t regret trying, and hope to be able to share more in the coming weeks and months.
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This blog post reflects my personal experiences and opinions. It is based on my recollection of events and the information available to me at the time of writing. While I strive for accuracy, if any individual or organization believes a factual statement is incorrect, I welcome the opportunity to address and, if necessary, correct the record. Please contact me directly with any concerns, and I will promptly review and consider corrections in good faith.