Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Humanities Endowment Opens Inquiry Into Alleged Leak of Data to 'The Chronicle' By KELLY FIELD Printer friendly E-mail article Subscribe Order reprints HEADLINES   Humanities endowment opens inquiry into alleged leak of data to The Chronicle House panel cites university's cash prize to former NIH official in criticizing conflicts Scathing report assails U. of Colorado for lack of control over athletics program Lawmakers praise NCAA recruiting reforms but complain about commercialism in college sports Supreme Court rules that student-loan debts to state may be canceled in bankruptcy Thailand plans to open new university in hopes of stemming Islamic militancy Commencement speakers are announced by 40 colleges  Washington The inspector general of the National Endowment for the Humanities is investigating a former NEH employee for allegedly leaking confidential information to The Chronicle for an article it published on the agency in January. The inspector general, Sheldon Bernstein, sent a letter to Julia C. Bondanella, a former assistant chairman for programs at the endowment, in March, accusing her of disclosing information about grant applicants and employee matters. Ms. Bondanella, now a professor of French and Italian at Indiana University at Bloomington, was quoted in a January 16 article about flagging -- the practice of marking controversial applications, often for projects dealing with sexuality, race, or gender, for further review. The letter threatened Ms. Bondanella with civil and criminal penalties, said her lawyer, David Colman. Mr. Colman responded to the letter at the end of March, but he refused to release his response or the original letter, saying his client would not want to be associated with releasing that information. Mr. Bernstein also refused to release copies of the letters on Tuesday, and he referred questions to the agency's general counsel, Daniel Schneider. A receptionist for Mr. Schneider said that he was about to depart for a trip with the NEH's chairman, Bruce Cole, and was unreachable. The Chronicle has filed a request with the agency, under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking access to the public documents, but such requests often take months to process. Ms. Bondanella, an old friend of Mr. Cole's from Indiana University, where the chairman was formerly an art-history professor, said the agency is "just trying to dig up dirt" on her. Ms. Bondanella joined the NEH in 2001, but left after only one year, in part because she felt that ideology was influencing the grant-making process. "They are trying to insinuate that records have been given away," she said, describing the inspector general's letter as "vindictive." "Clearly," she added, "they're trying to keep me from saying anything." Criminal penalties for the disclosure of confidential information can include major fines and up to one year in prison. In the January article, Ms. Bondanella was quoted as saying that politics, not merit, was guiding the agency's grant-review process. She and several other people who spoke to The Chronicle suggested that flagging was on the rise at the NEH. "Obviously, any chairman is going to have a political agenda to some degree," Ms. Bondanella was quoted as saying. "I wasn't comfortable with the way in which applications were being reviewed." In the lengthy article, Ms. Bondanella is mentioned in just two short paragraphs. NEH officials would neither confirm nor deny that an investigation is under way. However, Erik Lokkesmoe, of the agency's public-affairs office, said the NEH "takes very seriously our responsibility to protect the confidentiality of our applicants and our current and former employees." Ms. Bondanella was not the only person interviewed by The Chronicle who was contacted by agency investigators. Gerardo Rénique, a history professor at City College of the City University of New York, said he had received an "extremely brief" call from the inspector general's office last Thursday. "They were trying to find out who blew the whistle," said Mr. Rénique, adding that he was offended and outraged by the call. "They asked me, in a harsh way, 'Did you call The Chronicle? Did they call you?'" Mr. Rénique was quoted in the article as saying that he was discouraged by the NEH's rejection of his grant proposal, "Chinese Diasporic Communities and Nationalism in Peru and Cuba, 1920s-1930s," which had received three "excellent" and two "very good/excellent" grades from reviewers. Two other people who criticized the NEH in the Chronicle article -- Evelyn Edson and Pedro G. Castillo, both appointed by former President Bill Clinton to the National Council for the Humanities, which oversees the endowment -- said they had not been contacted by the inspector general's office. Lobbyists for the humanities said on Tuesday that they could not recall any similar investigations at the NEH. "It's the sort of thing you expect of the Defense Department but you don't expect in the humanities," said Bruce Craig, director of the National Coalition for History, a group representing historians and archivists. But Mr. Craig said he was not surprised by the investigation. "It's sort of the nature of the times," he said. The Chronicle has not been approached by the inspector general's office about the matter. But the newspaper's editor in chief, Philip W. Semas, said today: "The Chronicle takes its obligation to protect the confidentiality of sources very seriously. That commitment is unwavering no matter who wants to know how we obtained information."