Explorers Club Controversy Part II: Flag and Honors Committee

I must be quick with this post, but I wanted to give an update about the situation with The Explorers Club.

After my post yesterday I received a very gracious email from Matt Williams.  I also am in the process of playing phone tag with Lorie Karnath.  We have not had a chance to talk just yet, but are hoping to connect very soon.  

In addition, over the course of the past day, I have received more testimony from other Club members, both verifying what I had previously heard, and also explaining more about what happened with the Flag and Honors Committee.

For those of you who are just tuning in, the Flag and Honors Committee-- the Committee within The Explorers Club that distributes the Club's very prestigious annual awards-- had a mass resignation of its members in the past few weeks, but there has been some discrepancy as to why this took place.

I am piecing this all together based on the testimony of multiple sources.

As best I can tell, the problem boiled over after Lorie Karnath and a few other Club leaders recommended certain individuals for awards and these individuals were not selected.  These Club members, along with Lorie, accused the Flag and Honors Committee of having "rigged" the selection process and questioned the integrity of the Committee.

According to multiple sources, Lorie then shared the confidential recommendations of the Committee (ie- the names of those who the Committee actually recommended for the awards) as well as the confidential discussions of the Committee about the candidate she nominated, with the nominee.  This nominee then promptly showed up at 9:00am the next morning to demand an executive Board meeting (even though this nominee is not on the Board) and lobbied on his own behalf for the award-- a highly irregular circumstance.

Lorie and her supporters then pressed the Explorers Club Board to override the recommendations of the Flag and Honors Committee and give an award to this nominee even though the Committee had felt that there were at least two stronger candidates.

Multiple Flag and Honors Committee members were so incensed over this situation-- not only that their recommendations had not been accepted, but that the confidentiality of their discussions had been breached and their integrity assaulted (by being accused of inappropriately "fixing" the awards process)-- that they wrote a letter to Lorie and the Board stating that they would resign unless they were granted a hearing before the entire Board.  Below is the letter from the Flag and Honors Committee with the names of those agreeing with its contents:

The Flag & Honors Committee

The Explorers Club

December 3, 2011

The Explorers Club

46 East 70th Street

 New York, New York

Dear Directors and Officers,

We, the members of the Flag and Honors Committee, with the exception of the President and her husband, Robert Roethenmund, are grievously offended by the breach of sound governance shown by the Officers and Directors of The Explorers Club, including the recent violations of the Committee’s due process and attack on its integrity. Accordingly, unless the Board takes concrete and credible action to correct this situation and guarantee the confidentiality of the Committee’s deliberations and votes on or before the January 27, 2012 Board Meeting, we unanimously tender our resignations as of that date.

We remind the Board and Officers that our credentials include Explorer Medalists, an Honorary Member,the Honorary President, several Sweeney Medalists, Citations of Merit, Lowell Thomas Awardees, the senior Past President, nine past Board Members, four present and former Chairs of the Flag and Honors Committee, former Chapter Chair, and the former Chair of the Legal Committee. Collectively, we have over 200 years of Club membership and over 80 years of experience as Officers or Directors of our great Club.

Respectfully submitted,

John Bruno

Leroy Chiao

David Concannon

Constance Difede

Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Max Gallimore

Ken Kamler

Mike Manyak

Lee Talbot

Don Walsh

After this letter was received, the following email response was sent back to these Committee members by Lorie Karnath on December 7th, 2011:

Dear Members of the F&H Committee,

I have spoken with a number of you over the last couple days and I appreciate the time that each of you with whom I have spoken so far was able to dedicate at this particularly busy time of the year. I was most distressed to learn from these discussions that not only was the confidentiality of our board's executive session compromised. It was also misrepresented.

I was also dismayed to learn that a couple of you had been approached by one of our board members asking for a copy of an email. Understandably a number of you would like to wait to decide your involvement going forward with the Flag and Honors committee until we have been able to establish a set policy as to how this committee will review awards going forward. As we will not receive a draft of this report until late January, I accept effective today the resignations of those who signed the letter to the board dated December 5. I very much appreciate those who agreed to help in other capacities until this report is finalized.

Best wishes,

Lorie Karnath

 In essence, these Committee members were "fired" without a hearing from the Board.  In addition, a "Management Committee" was assembled to run the responsibilities of the Flag and Honors Committee. Both the "firing" of the Committee members and the giving of their responsibilities to a "Management Committee" are violations of the Club's bylaws I am told.

It was after these events that a New York Post reporter somehow received confidential Club information about the "disciplining" of Josh Bernstein.  Instead of simply reporting the disciplinary actions, this reporter contacted a few prominent Club members to ask their opinion of Bernstein's reprimand.  When contacted, these Club members were so upset by what they had been witnessing (and experiencing) that they spoke out in defense of Josh and were quoted in the Post article.

Now, that was a summary of what I have been told by multiple sources, all independently verifying the incidents in question.

Here are a couple of troubling issues:

1. The only two members of the Flag and Honors Committee to not sign the letter to the Board were Lorie Karnath and her husband, Robert Roethenmund.

2. I am told that the Club members who were quoted in the Post article are being brought before the Board this Saturday, January 28th, for a disciplinary hearing!  This is in spite of the fact that they only spoke out after being contacted by a reporter who already had been given confidential Club information and after the incident with the Flag and Honors Committee and in defense of a friend who was being publicly attacked for what appears to be a ridiculous offense.

Okay, that was the most brief and balanced report I have been able to create about the situation regarding the Flag and Honors Committee.

I also want to say publicly that if there are others within the Club who would like to air their side of the story-- especially if they have objective evidence that the narrative I have produced is incorrect-- I would be more than willing to post whatever information they would like to provide.

Also, for those who might criticize me for posting this information in a public forum, please know that this has been a very difficult decision.  My reasons for posting this information are to encourage frank discussion within the Club about what has been going on behind closed doors, and also in hopes that the leadership of the Club will review this information and ensure that the "disciplinary hearings" of all those involved are both fair and according to the bylaws of the Club.

Both of the letters included in this post are already in the public domain, they just have not been disseminated thoroughly among the Club members. 

I have posted this information on my own website because I know of no other way that I could bring these issues quickly to light, and without concern that my sources would be revealed or my message tainted.

Comments

[Moki Kokoris, MN'07]

On behalf of myself and many other fellow Explorers Club members, I want to thank you for bringing this serious matter into the open. For many weeks now, we have all been witnessing perplexing activity, and yet whenever questions about the issue were raised in the group's internal social media forum, those inquiries were met with shrewd and swift censorship. Such actions only raise suspicions further, and without open dialogue, members are left to speculate or they are forced to do their own independent investigating. It is with bittersweet relief that I read your illuminating entries here, which only validate my own theories.

Last week, I chose to write a formal letter to the EC's Ethics and Governance Committee, from which I offer the following few excerpts:

***

"As the Explorers Club is an organization very close to heart, I have been intently following the recent executive developments with increasing disappointment and dismay, and I feel it is now necessary to not only express my discontent -- on record -- but to also emphatically state that the membership in its entirety deserves to have its collective questions answered. The exasperation with the lack of factual clarification is reaching critical mass, and it is beyond sad to witness friend pitted against friend, and to observe the slow deterioration of values of what has been and should remain a venerable institution."

"[...] from the chronology and content of letters sent out by Don Walsh, Jim Folwer and Lorie Karnath, interspersed by surreptitious mass Emailings with erroneous content sent by a few Chapter Chairs, as well as the stories in the press and larger blogosphere, it has been relatively easy to reach certain conclusions."

"As a member of the Explorers Club United Nations Committee, my foremost responsibility is to serve the Club's mission, to abide by the principles on which it was founded, and to do so with respect and proper decorum. These same obligations apply to each and every member of the EC's administrative body, from the office of the President and the Board to its staff. Unfortunately, recent events suggest that 'There's something rotten in the state of Denmark...' (~William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, scene iv)"

"[...] although I am also writing this letter on behalf of a few concerned members who wish to remain anonymous for fear of possible reprisal, I am personally entreating you with the task of ensuring that the EC's ideals be returned to their rightful *ethical* stature of honor, integrity and democracy. The Club cannot and should not exist in its current "reality distortion zone" for lack of facts and honest leadership. As it does in any court of law, justice must be served here, too. The Explorers Club must not be an empire of illusion. Thus, to counteract our disillusionment, we respectively and collectively trust your providence to facilitate full disclosure and enlightenment."

***

This struggle should not be about blanket allegiance to the Club's "Oval Office" nor about siding with the cowboys or the Indians. This engagement *should* be strictly and solely about upholding the Club's founding ideals. Where is the controversy in that? And yet many members are apprehensive about speaking up because they are afraid of retaliation. Retaliation? Some have sworn that to be common practice of late.

But returning to the main topic, it is becoming increasingly evident that the content of the embarrassing article in the New York Post is not at all the epicenter of the turmoil, but rather a diversion, with the objective of deflecting attention away from the real story. Indeed, at the heart of this saga is the reason for the en masse resignation of the Flag and Honors Committee, save two individuals. Now that more details have been divulged, our collective shock is justifiable. Are medals really allowed to be purchased or handed out as rewards for favors as seems to be the case? One would assume that honors are awarded based on careful and fair assessment of merit and obvious worthiness, and even more importantly on virtue. These medals must be *earned,* not shamelessly lobbied and campaigned for, overtly or covertly.

However, if bylaws are disregarded, if Committee verdicts are over-ruled, if unfair decisions and unwarranted medals are permitted to stand, don't practices as egregious as these not efface the Club's principles? Moreover, what does such misconduct reveal to the membership about the Club's administration and its officers? Doesn't each EC member deserve a conscientious and honest governing body - one that is guided by a moral and just process? Our trust is shaken, but the full truth will eventually be exposed because, as we have all learned, facts can be stubborn things.

We, who are genuinely proud to have been inducted into a group whose members include Sir Edmund Hillary, Roald Amundsen, Neil Armstrong, Sylvia Earle and others of equal prominence, are left to wonder why and to what end has a shadow been cast on the Club precepts and its reputation. To most of us, truth and justice are not peripheral attributes; they are the very essence and heart and soul of this organization.

It is sad to learn that there are a few individuals who have disavowed themselves of these qualities, their personal desires eclipsing their dignity. My very deep personal disappointment notwithstanding, I end with the following questions, which are rhetorical to all but one person: Will you, the "honoree," who were given a medal by unethical means still have the impudence to accept it knowing that the award is the very catalyst for all the discord within our ranks? Is that medal *really* worth that much?

"...I am sick at heart." (~William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, scene i)

[EC Member]

The composition of the Flags and Honors Committee is composed of many of the same individuals, certainly the same chair, who would not allow an Explorers Club Flag to drape the casket of Sir Edmund Hillary when he passed away in 2008.

[David Concannon]

Dear anonymous "EC Member,"

Former Explorers Club President Faanya Rose hand-carried Explorers Club Flag No. 80 to Sir Edmund Hillary's funeral in 2008 and the Flag was, indeed, used in the funeral ceremony. Flag No. 80 was subsequently retired and it is now used exclusively for memorial services. In fact, it was also used for Steve Fossett's funeral.

Get your facts straight and sign your name next time, so we can all see who the liar is and determine what your motivations may be.

[Moki Kokoris, MN'07]

Thank you, David, for setting the record straight. I was just about to post the same information.

To the anonymous EC member, I would like to add that in the spirit of good will, I will choose to presume that your comment regarding the issue of the EC flag at Sir Edmund Hillary's funeral is simply an example of regurgitated rumor rather than a purposeful attempt to discredit honorable individuals by spreading lies - although your reluctance to identify yourself by name may suggest the latter. In the future, it may be wiser to verify your information before posting hearsay in the public forum.

As I have been stating all along, facts are stubborn things. Lies can never be substantiated.