RW govt agent gets NSF program officer fired for political activism 30 yrs ago

[zazen]

This just sickens me. There 's a good article about this at the Chronicle of Education too, but this is the linked article from CHE from ScienceInsider. The comments sections are interesting.

Basically, this anti-liberal agent (see blog posting referenced in story) with the Office of Personnel Management hounded this woman with guilt-by-association and then falsely (according to her) accused her of lying about her involvement with two non-violent left-wing groups in the early 80s, even though she described her work with them in detail. Because some members of those first two groups also belonged to a third group that did commit a domestic terror crime, and she knew those members (but didn't know what they were going to do, nor was a member of their group), she's accused of "covering up" her involvement, especially since after their conviction she visited one of them (who was dying of AIDS) until he died in prison.

On that basis, NSF has now lost a strong advocate for women and minorities in computer science, who just happens to be a very open, unapologetic lesbian. I'm sure that had nothing to do with this agent's "impartial" investigation of her.


"Researcher loses job at NSF after government questions her role as 1980s activist"

http://news.sciencemag.org/people-events/2014/09/researcher-loses-job-nsf-after-government-questions-her-role-1980s-activist

"Valerie Barr was 22 and living in New York City in 1979 when she became politically active. A recent graduate of New York University with a master’s degree in computer science, Barr handed out leaflets, stood behind tables at rallies, and baked cookies to support two left-wing groups, the Women’s Committee Against Genocide and the New Movement in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence. Despite her passion for those issues, she had a full-time job as a software developer—with 50-plus-hour workweeks and frequent visits to clients around the country—that took precedence.

After a few years, she found herself devoting even less time to those causes. By the late 1980s, she had resumed her pursuit of an academic career. A quarter-century later, she’s a tenured professor of computer science at Union College in Schenectady, New York, with a national reputation for her work improving computing education and attracting more women and minorities into the field.

That social conscience also led her to decide it was time to “give something back to the community.” So in August 2013 she took a leave from Union College to join the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a program director in its Division of Undergraduate Education. And that’s when her 3-decade-old foray into political activism came back to haunt her.

. . . . . In her 11 August response, Barr questioned whether the special agent who conducted the investigation “can be an impartial evaluator of academic scientists, or anyone with liberal political beliefs.” As evidence, she points to a posting on a blog maintained by the agent, a veteran who served in Iraq, and his family. The item is a copy of a popular Internet meme about an incident that supposedly took place in an introductory college biology course. . . . . . According to the story, a “typical liberal college professor and avowed atheist” declares his intent to prove that there is no God by giving the creator 15 minutes to strike him from the podium. A few minutes before the deadline, a Marine “just released from active duty and newly registered” walks up to the professor and knocks him out with one punch. When the professor recovers and asks for an explanation, the Marine replies, “God was busy. He sent me.”

[Historic NY]

1. Sorry she lied about her affiliation with a known terrorist organization....

"Barr describes that activity as being a “worker bee” on behalf of two groups advocating for women and Puerto Rican independence. Federal investigators say those groups were affiliated with a third, the May 19 Communist Organization (M19CO), that carried out a string of violent acts, including the killing of two police officers and a security guard during a failed 1981 robbery of a Brink’s truck near Nyack, New York."

Barr’s first background interview was held in November 2013, 3 months after she began working at NSF. During that session, Barr answered “no” when asked if she had ever been a member of an organization “dedicated to the use of violence” to overthrow the U.S. government or to prevent others from exercising their constitutional rights.

However, according to an OPM summary report that served as the basis for NSF’s decision, Barr was being less than forthright. “You provided no information regarding your affiliations with subgroups of M19CO—a known terrorist organization,” the report notes. Her answers during the interview, it concluded, “constituted a deliberate misrepresentation, falsification, deceit, or omission of material fact.”

Those events happened not far from where I live and are still firmly planted in people minds here. In addition to this the organization planted pipe bombs all over NY City endangering lives and property. Worker bee....is she boasting???? The May 19th communist Organization was involved with other criminal and terrorist groups.

[zazen]

2. according to her, she didn't lie--she didn't belong to that organization

nor did she have any knowledge that they were going to do those things. I'm not sure that constitutes a "deliberate misrepresentation" of material fact.

Guilt by association isn't a principle of a free society.

If you happen to know someone who's an activist, and it turns out they commit a crime of which you had no prior knowledge, and you don't dump them as a friend (including the dying one) if they're convicted, that doesn't retroactively make you a member of their group nor require you to disclose that they're your friends unless you're explicitly asked.

That guy didn't explicitly ask her that. And he's clearly got a beef with "liberal college professors."

Sorry about the violence near where you live, but she had nothing to do with it, and the tens of thousands of people served by the NSF program in which she was involved (in fact, many NSF programs) are hurt by removing academics who spend their lives in outreach trying to reduce barriers to their fields.

I know several POs and many academics considering being a PO, and I can tell you this will have a chilling effect.

[hobbit709]

3. Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?

[tkmorris]

4. She wasn't involved with M19. Did you even read the article?

[Historic NY]

5. Yes I did...

The Women’s Committee Against Genocide was also involved with Assata Shakur formerly known as Joaann Chesimard who is still on the FBI's Terrorist list. You can probably find some of those worker bee, leaflets if you choose.