[Peace-discuss] Blackwater USA and University of Illinois Police Training Institute

[Stuart Levy]

On Tue, Jul 31, 2007 at 01:05:29PM -0500, Robert Naiman  wrote:
> Not only might this violate UIUC rules, it might violate State of
> Illinois rules.
> 
> As anyone on this list knows who has been a UI employee in the last
> several years, to be a UI employee, even a teaching assistant, you
> have to take and pass an annual online ethics training, where you
> certify that you know what the rules are. This was part of the
> post-Ryan Blago ethics reforms.
> 
> Is there a State of Illinois investigation...?

There was mention of this on WILL-AM this morning too.
Apparently there *is* some sort of UIUC investigation at least --
Provost Linda Katehi was quoted as saying that the U was
trying to determine whether Dempsey had been employed by
Blackwater at the time of the contract.  A later report
mentioned that they are trying to contact Dempsey
(still in Afghanistan) by phone this week. 

If the N-G doesn't have an article about this soon,
no news will be bad news... 

> On 7/31/07, Roger Epperson <cgrle at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Why do we have to read about local matters in the
> > Chicago Tribune? The News Gazette was scooped again!
> >
> > A potential conflict of interest involving a
> > University of Illinois director and the military
> > security contractor Blackwater U.S.A. is being
> > investigated.
> >
> > In May, Tom Dempsey, director of the university's
> > police training institute, signed an agreement with
> > Blackwater allowing for an exchange of staff and
> > students and to share facilities, the Chicago Tribune
> > reported Tuesday.
> >
> > Then on July 19, Dempsey submitted a request for time
> > off to consult for Blackwater in Afghanistan, which
> > was granted.
> >
> > Dempsey, 58, is paid $118,178 annually by the
> > university. School conflict policy requires employees
> > to disclose whether they are receiving $10,000 or more
> > from a company doing business with the university.
> >
> > When asked about Dempsey's role in the company, a
> > Blackwater spokeswoman told the Tribune it's against
> > company policy to discuss employees in sensitive
> > positions overseas.
> >
> > Copyright 2007 by United Press International