July 08, 2007
Zoo Director Should be Shown the Door
The old saying “it’s a zoo out there” might be taking on extra meaning when applied to world of charity ethics, or so thinks Rosetta Thurman.
Ms. Thurman, director of development and finance at the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, writes on her Perspectives from the Pipeline that she is outraged over recent doings at the Detroit Zoo she read via Tuesday’s Philanthropy Today
After the zoo’s board discovered that executive director Ron Kagan falsified his resume—listing a doctoral degree in zoology he did not possess—the trustees decided to keep him at his post and dock him a month’s pay as punishment.
That did not sit well with Ms. Thurman, who said the board seemed to be saying: “Hey, we like him so much that we don’t care if he’s a liar. Let’s keep him at the helm of the Detroit Zoo and keep trusting him with the public’s dollars.”
She says nonprofit groups need to hold themselves “to a higher standard” and is concerned that the zoo board’s action has “given the public another reason to mistrust the nonprofit sector.”
Her solution? “Please Ron, for the greater good of the nonprofit community, resign. That is the only action that would make this right.”
Ms. Thurman adds: “As a young nonprofit professional, I can’t believe these are the kinds of leaders we’re supposed to be looking up to. Without good role models, future leaders have a hard road to follow.”
What do you think? Was the action of the Detroit zoo appropriate?
Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.
— Brennen Jensen
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Integrity and trust are core values integral to leadership. Without them, leaders have no compass to guide them through the myriad of challenges and opportunities that they regularly encounter.
There is no dispute that falsifying credentials is a serious lapse in judgment; however, there could be more to the story than we know through this posting.
I agree that emerging leaders need role models and mentors to help them chart their future courses. But sometimes the most valuable lessons can be learned through failures and mistakes, either our own or others.
Unfortunately the board has escalated the issue so that it is no longer about the director; its now about them and the organization.
Feed them all to the lions! ;-)
Fair Winds,
Peter A. Mello
Sea-Fever Consulting LLC
http://sea-fever.org
508.264.5629
— Peter A. Mello Jul 8, 11:09 AM #
There is a bit more to the story. According to the Detroit News, Mr. Kagan did do the the coursework for his doctorate, but never had his dissertation fully approved. There are several related articles at http://www.detnews.com.
— Katie Z. Jul 9, 01:17 PM #
It’s pretty clear that Kagan is punished not for falsifying his degree, but for getting caught.
— David Jul 10, 12:23 PM #