Frank Zindler recently asked the blogosphere what they wanted to see in American Atheists, Inc. as they shift directions following the dismissal of Ellen Johnson. High on my list of improvements that AA needs to make before I consider rejoining are these: more member involvement in decisions, less bureaucracy in general, join the Secular Coalition of America and stop being so belligerent about partnering with other organisations, but most of all, administrative transparency. I want to know what any organisation I’m involved with is planning on doing and saying before they do and say it and I want to know why.
If that’s too much to ask of Mr. Zindler or any of the other American Atheists higher-ups, I would suggest a career change.
After Mrs. Johnson was fired, I thought the organisation would head toward a brighter future. I was wrong, boy howdy! I was ever so wrong!
Let us examine the evolution of the press releases, shall we?
First, the news was vague:
1. Ellen Johnson is leaving her post as President of the organization.
“Is leaving?” So she’s deciding to leave of her own accord? Good. After causing such an uproar in the Atheist community, it was the most dignified and respectable way for her to go. She realised her mistakes and stepped down to focus her strength on raising her children.
Very responsible and very noble of her. It’s Nixonesque… in a positive way.
BUT WAIT!
2. Ellen Johnson is no longer President of the organization.
WHOA WHOA WOAH! Hold on there! That’s a significant change in wording! All of a sudden, she’s no longer leaving, being the object performing the action, she is simply “no longer the president!” This could mean anything! Anything at all! Did she quit? Was she fired? Was she consumed by a tiger? Did she get plastic surgery and a name change and now ‘he’ is the president of the organisation? What a gripping cliffhanger this is turning out to be!
Her “personal reasons” were that you changed the locks on her and left her high and dry? Really? That sounds more like a “personal issue” of Mr. Zindler to me. (Sorry, Frank. One thing you’ll have to learn as you run American Atheists is that all the positive things the organisation does reflect well on the whole Atheist community and all of the negative things the organisation does fall solely on your head.) You didn’t have to be honest about firing Ellen. You could have opted for Dan Silverman’s approach of vagueness to the point of meaninglessness. You, however, decided to say that she left her position (she didn’t leave… she was ejected from her position) for “personal reasons.”
Many of us called for apologies from Mrs. Johnson and showed concern and disgust for her call to political apathy by Atheists, but none of us wanted her to be fired. At least not the more rational of the bloggers. She had a fantastic 13-year career with American Atheists and her few recent faux-pas were not justified grounds for firing her. A firm reprimand would have been nice.
And then after Ellen spilled the beans that she was fired, Zindler ‘fessed up.
4. Ellen Johnson was involuntarily removed from the office of President of American Atheists, Inc. and from the office of President of the other four corporations.
It took a lot of pussyfooting around, but the truth came out.
Frank, here’s what I want from American Atheists, Inc. in the future. I want members to be consulted regarding major changes in policy and major statements. I want members informed in advance when major events such as this occur. I want to know why all major decisions are made, including the firing of staff. As a member of the rationalist community, I want to know your rationale for doing things like this.
Once more, if that’s too much to ask, find a new job.
Hat tip to Hemant.
Interesting site, peculiar post.
” … organisation I’m involved with is planning on doing and saying before they do and say it and I want to know why.”
Not sure how many members AA has but your ultimatum is a highly ineffective way of running an organization. Anyway, good luck with your demands.
Comment by Michael — 8 May 2008 @ 9:36 pm
How is it ineffective to tell your organisation in advance what’s going on. I’m not necessarily asking that everything be submitted for membership approval, all I’m saying is that an email or an alert should go out before a press release. I want to know what the organisation is going to say before the official press release. This would have definitely helped the “Atheists, don’t vote” fiasco.
Comment by Rev. Reed Braden — 8 May 2008 @ 10:44 pm
I am Gil Gaudia. My wife Jeanne and I have been editorial assistants for the past two years at American Atheists. In doing so, we have worked closely with Ellen Johnson whom we respect and admire greatly. We have also had telephone and email contact with a few of the board members, especially with regard to editing their manuscripts. We were not impressed with their interpersonal skills. I have also contributed several articles to the magazine. We have just concluded an hour long telephone conversation with Ellen.
We are extremely biased in her favor, because we found her to be hard-working, honest, courageous, competent and caring of us and appreciative of our volunteer contributions.
This board’s action, in our opinion, will almost certainly result in the end of the organization and publication as we know it. We say this because, from first-hand experience we are aware of the number of hours, the amount of coordination and the knowledge of the operation that are all required to successfully produce a monthly publication, and we have no evidence that any of the board members are willing and able to invest that degree of commitment. Indeed, we have some reason to believe that the opposite is true. To those members who propose hiring Dawkins, Hitchins, Harris and others for the presidency, first see if they’ll agree to work for 38K, or thereabouts, in addition to doing latrine duty in their spare time.
For the board of directors of the most well-known Atheist group in America to have taken such a suicidal action is incomprehensible, but whatever their reasons, unless the
members protest strongly and demand her reinstatement, (which she may not even want) it will only be a matter of time before we no longer have an organization to uphold the civil rights of Atheists.
As a contributor of many articles to this magazine, and as volunteers in editing other journal articles, spending many hours of our time in assisting Ellen in producing this publication, we are no longer interested in writing, editing or assisting in any way a magazine whose board has acted in such an irresponsible, unfair and self-destructive manner.
Gil and Jeanne R. Gaudia
Comment by Gil Gaudia, Ph.D. — 9 May 2008 @ 6:10 pm
Gil & Jeanne,
Always glad to listen to stories like this. No matter what the opinion, and I neither agree nor disagree with your positions, nor do I judge you for not participating in AA after Ellen was fired (as some would), I’m here to listen and try to understand everyone’s stance on this troublesome incident.
I tend to take the role of the “relief fag” after break-ups, deaths and other assorted losses. I’m the homo in the room with the upset broken-up-with girls and the Haagen-Dazs watching old Katharine Hepburn films. If you feel the need to unload, scream and holler or grieve, I’ll be glad to listen to you.
- Reed
Comment by Rev. Reed Braden — 9 May 2008 @ 6:20 pm
I’m writing to Gil and Jeanne, my neighbors over 40 years ago. They were friends with my parents and Gil taught me a lot of phobias (definitions of such) when I was a kid. Triskadekaphobia is fear of the number 13. He taught me that. My mother died a few months ago and I’d like to get in touch so could you give them my email address above? Appreciate your work and commitment to it. Dee
Comment by Dee — 12 June 2009 @ 12:47 am