In mid-June, Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit legal aid organization that supports employees who seek to expose unlawful activity taking place in private companies and the government, sent a letter to the commissioners of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) with the subject line: “Detroit Institute of Arts Does Not Meet AAM Criteria for Accreditation.” It was signed by John M. Tye, who in October represented Frances Haugen — the Facebook whistleblower who revealed that its algorithm was geared to sow discord and that the company knew Instagram was responsible for body image issues in adolescents. The letter reiterated complaints about museum leadership that were originally aired in 2021, when a recording of a confidential meeting was leaked and published by the Metro Times.
Changes are “long overdue” at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), the missive alleged. It cited findings that had been reached in DIA’s own independent investigation, which the museum hired the law firm Crowell & Moring to conduct. Salvador Salort-Pons, who assumed the position of director, president, and CEO of the museum in 2015, had “on more than one occasion” told staff members to hire applicants solely on the basis of race and gender with no regard for qualifications, the investigation found. And a disproportionate number of those who left during his directorship were women: In 2018, for instance, 27% of women in managerial and professional positions left their roles, in contrast to only 2%...
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) will pay more than $17 million to settle allegations it violated federal anti-discrimination rules tied to government contracts, the U.S. Department of ...