Subscribe to RSSLSU shoots messenger, fires Ivor van Heerden
Ivor van Heerden, Ph.D. (Photo from NY Times)
The Times-Picayune carries a Mark Schleifstein story on April 10 that describes the decision on the part of LSU to fire Professor Ivor van Heerden. This has been a long time coming; a NY Times story on May 30, 2006 by John Schwartz was a pretty good sign that Ivor’s days at LSU were numbered.
I would guess that the 1,080 days elapsed between Schwartz’s article and Schleifstein’s is not so much a sign of uncertainty on the part of the university as fervant hope that the public would lose interest. For LSU to fire the founder of its Hurricane Center, someone who has Anderson Cooper’s cell phone number, is presumably not a pill swallowed lightly by the university administration. I assume that the decision had the blessing of the Jindal administration; perhaps it was part of a package deal for downsizing LSU.
Firing Dr. van Heerden is only the latest example of what I see as a pattern of shortsighted thinking on the part of the state and its flagship university when it comes to coastal priorities and opportunities. This time the story involves a coastal scientist who I have known since he first arrived in Baton Rouge as a new graduate student from South Africa in 1977.
Ivor’s doctoral research in coastal geology focused on the development of the newly emerged Atchafalaya and Wax Lake subdeltas following the 1973 high river stages that threatened the Old River Control Structure. This research gave him exceptional experience in the processes that build deltaic landscape – experience that is absolutely vital to restoring our coast.
During the early days of our evolving coastal protection and restoration program I found Ivor’s suggestions particularly innovative. He was an early proponent of pooling the money from several annual Breaux Act funding cycles (Coastal Wetlands Planning Protection and Restoration Act) in order to build a large scale barrier shoreline project, rather than a series of small and insignificant efforts. At the time I was the (nonvoting) state member of the Breaux Act Task Force.
I clearly remember that EPA was the only task force member agency to support this far sighted concept, which was soundly defeated by the Corps of Engineers, The US Fish and Wildlife Service, The Natural Resources Conservation Service and The National Marine Fisheries Service. Of course we’ll never know for sure, but had this effort been undertaken back then (~1994) Katrina’s impacts may have been significantly reduced.
Hurricane Katrina created a number of local and even national heroes, some of whom I am proud to know and Dr. van Heerden is high on that list. If having the cajones to blow the whistle on the most catastrophic and expensive coastal disaster in recent US history is grounds for firing, what can possibly be grounds for advancement?
Ivor is one of the most interesting and independent figures on my personal list of people who have shaped our approach to saving our coast. Unfortunately, these two “i” adjectives can clearly impede professional careers in this state.
Candor is another characteristic that is not always appreciated locally. Dr. van Heerden’s book, published during the aftermath of Katrina (The Storm: what went wrong and why during Hurricane Katrina–the inside story from one Louisiana scientist) provides plenty of examples of frank comments.
I vividly remember sitting next to Ivor during a very stressful hearing on Capitol Hill in the early nineties. At that time I was Gov. Edwards’ coastal advisor and Ivor was the assistant secretary of coastal restoration and management in Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Ivor was being grilled by former Louisiana congressmen Jimmie Hayes and Billy Tauzin over a quote that he had made to the press in which he opposed on technical grounds a controversial coastal issue strongly supported by both congressmen*. I remember Ivor’s distinctive South African accent as he recommended in classically undiplomatic terms that we should “knock bad ideas over the head.” He didn’t flinch as both congressmen became apoplectic, their eyes drilling holes through the both of us.
Following this bizarre event, Ivor’s boss, former DNR Secretary Jack McClanahan, fired off an appropriately biting letter to Congressmen Hayes and Tauzin suggesting that in the future they pick on someone their own size. McLanahan deserved credit at the time for recognizing and supporting Ivor’s value to the state, in the face of raw political pressure. I don’t suppose that Jack influences either the current governor or the LSU administration.
Speaking of the Old War Skule and its performance record, the following paragraph is a quote from UC Berkeley Professor Raymond B. Seed in a 42 page letter written on October 30, 2007* to Dr. William F. Marcuson, III, President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Among many other issues the letter refers to federal pressure on LSU to fire Prof. van Heerden for his criticism of the shoddy assessment of levee failures by the Corps of Engineers and ASCE.
My own University (U.C. Berkeley) was also approached in an inappropriate manner during that same Winter of 2005-06, but such untoward pressures were simply rebuffed. That, in the end, probably goes right to the heart of what really separates a top-flight university with one of the top Colleges of Engineering in the nation (and the top-rated Department of Civil Engineering in the nation) from a university like LSU.
According to Schleifstein’s article, Marc Levitan, director of the Hurricane Center, is resigning in support of Prof. van Heerden. I also have high respect for Marc and this decision represents another important loss to Louisiana. Firing our coastal experts and heroes, especially those with exceptional experience, technical insight, outspokenness, and public support is not a formula that engenders confidence in the ultimate success of our coastal program.
Len Bahr
* I think the congressmen were angry that their large landowning constituents had to obtain coastal use permits from DNR before developing private wetlands; perhaps Ivor can help me out here.
**Prof. Raymond B. Seed, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 423 Davis Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
Addendum: On April 10 Harry Shearer posted an interesting piece on huffingtonpost.com about LSU firing Ivor van Heerden. He also links to another blog source suggesting that former LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe had a hand in the decision because of animus for Ivor on the part of the Bush admnistration.
Addendum 2: A Baton Rouge TV station (WBRZ TV 2) carried an interview with Ivor last night.
Addendum 3: On April 13, the Times-Picayune published two letters to the editor on this issue that have each generated comments. The first is by Prof. Rich Campanella at Tulane and the second is by Lynn R. LaMotte in Jefferson.
Addendum 4: The Nation published an article on Ivor that implicates Sean O’Keefe.
Katrina memorial in the Bywater District of NOLA with quote by Ivor. Note that his statement suggests that he could design a coastal protection/restoration package for 1/10th of the $100 billion figure that the Governor's Office has been saying (using the Iraq war cost of $10 billion/mo). Photo from Wikipedia
16 Comments
2009-09-01
11:43:07
I’m dishearten at the fact that LSU along with her state’s political mover’s would let someone of Dr. van Heerden’s academic skills and candor be fired. What an awful example to the students of LSU as this firing is directly related to the straightforwardness of Dr. van Heerden’s character, as well as his testifying in the MRGO lawsuit. LSU students and/or citizens of Louisiana take note at your state’s flagship university’s leaders and her state’s government, while you marinate over your freedom and it’s cost, as in Dr. van Heerden latest experience with LSU. Grasp all that Dr. van Heerden has done at LSU and for the safety of the people in Louisiana. How much are you paying LSU and/or the state of Louisiana to one day fine your character is on a political diet.
2009-08-01
00:09:25
[...] high up did the approval for this firing go? Did Governor Jindal give the nod? (So suggests Len Bahr, a former official in the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities and former director of Applied [...]
2009-07-31
23:18:01
[...] endangerment that LSU’s banana republic vice chancellors inflicted on the state in firing Ivor van Heerden and downgrading the LSU Hurricane [...]
2009-05-04
18:31:56
[...] Times-Picayune’s Bob Marshall: LSU Ousts Most Honest Appraiser of City’s Levee Failures * Coastal Specialist Len Bahr’s View of van Heerden Firing | Ivor ‘high on list’ of post-Katrina heroes * ‘The Man Who Knew’ | PBS–NOVA’s [...]
2009-04-20
16:32:53
If LSU has chosen to be a flagship university, it seems the flag they've chosen is the Jolly Roger. The action taken by LSU in firing "the messenger", Dr. van Heerden, and removing him from his leadership role in the LSU Hurricane Center, has all the markings of vendetta, and with the cited pending testimony from the good Dr., his firing has the appearance of unethical and potentially criminal interference with his testimony. This really smells. I am contacting the LSU Alumnis Assn., and telling them to take me off their Luddite rolls. The university administration should expect ZERO support from alumni when they pull such a mean-spirited, unethical attack on academic freedom.
2009-04-14
17:02:36
[...] LSU shoots messenger, fires Ivor van Heerden | lacoastpost.com (tags: louisiana wtf douchebaggery) [...]
2009-04-13
14:39:55
Talk about hitting the nail on the head - this is from Monday's Washington Post:
"Universities could facilitate interest in the world by giving junior faculty members greater incentives to participate in it. That should include greater toleration of unpopular policy positions. One could multiply such useful suggestions, but young people should not hold their breath waiting for them to be implemented. If anything, the trends in academic life seem to be headed in the opposite direction."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti...
2009-04-12
23:00:12
As a graduate student in Louisiana, this is particularly disheartening. What an awful reputation for the state's flagship university to carry. That quote from Raymond B Seed is a shot to the gut.
That said, it seems that there are other opportunities for him in the state. I would keep my fingers crossed that he ends up at UNO(my school).
2009-04-11
18:14:26
I'm aware that conversations have begun about keeping Ivor productively occupied in south Louisiana. We can't afford to lose the benefit of his knowledge, experience, creativity and candor. I'm hopeful.
2009-04-11
17:15:59
Any thoughts on what Ivor is going to do now? Len, maybe you could get some details from him...
2009-04-11
10:44:29
And rumor has it that there will be public protest in support of Dr. van Heerden in Nola this coming week.
I would check in with levees.org
This cannot stand.
2009-04-11
10:41:54
Len, as I told said before... well, never mind.
I am absolutely sick over this miscarriage of academic justice, but even more shocked at what this means for our future flood safety and coastal restoration.
How much does this have to do with Ivor testifying in the eminent MRGO lawsuit?
[Mr. van Heerden said he was fired because LSU officials sought to silence him. He said his firing also may be related to a pending trial of the Army Corps of Engineers about flooding caused by the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. Mr. van Heerden may testify at the trial. ] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/11/k...
Do you think that this may boil down to competition for a dominant Modeling System for Hurricanes and Storm Surge? The business of Storm Modeling -vs- the Science of Storm Surge Modeling?
How do you think Corpsman Gerry Galloway (who supports the Virginia Tech/Titan modeling)(and is on the board of the AWRC) and the rest of the Water Industry play in this game of NFIP Flood Zone Certification?
http://www.awra.org/meetings/NewOrleans2008/doc/N...
And, Len, if they can take down Dr. van Heerden's Hurricane Pam Modeling system, and promote him as a loose cannon, then aren't you other Coastal Scientists simply Milk Toast?
Really. I was fortunate to meet the man. This is wrong wrong wrong.
I do not believe that a Business Model is the correct way to evaluate Hurricanes and storm surge.
Thank you,
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder
2009-04-11
01:00:25
This is as much an opportunity as a problem. This is exactly how the worlds greatest engineering disaster was created---by silencing the very people who know how to fix the problems. We now have the opportunity to sit back and watch it happen again OR to stand up and make sure it is done right this time.
The ecnomic impact this will have on the rebuilding of New Orleans will be larger than you will ever know. How many people considering returning will now be too scared to come back. How many companies will view this as a signal that New Orleans is not a safe place to locate. You will never know but the impact will be large. Probably larger than just fixing the problem to begin with. Not to mention the risk of anouther disaster.
This is not what was promised to New Orleans after Katrina. Governments first and primary roll is the safety of its citizens. Jindal has failed as Governor to instill in the people of New Orleans a belief that they are safe from future disasters.
2009-04-10
19:46:26
Sandy--ironic that Ivor got the sack on the day commemorating the martyrdom of penultimate gadfly!
2009-04-10
17:14:17
Dr. van Heerden needs to go to work in some other state with a more sympathetic government agency (one that is not beholden to the Corps for its flood protection), or for an NGO, or start a website--the world needs more professional gadflies.
2009-04-10
16:39:57
And notice the timing that van Heerden received notice. One day before a holiday weekend. But one can be certain this story will have more than a 12 hour shelf life.
Founder and Executive Director, Levees.org