An Open Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Regarding P.J. Crowley’s Resignation
March 14, 2011
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Madam Secretary,
We the undersigned are writing to express our severe disappointment at the resignation of P.J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Public Affairs at the State Department.
A number of us were present at the meeting where Mr. Crowley expressed his personal opinions, but all of us are concerned to learn that Mr. Crowley’s statements appear to have led to his resignation. In the context of an open and honest discussion in an academic institution, we were eager to hear Mr. Crowley’s views and willing to give him our opinions and advice. It is this type of openness to dissenting opinions, frankness of assessments, and honesty of discourse that leads to both the advancement of human knowledge and the healthy function of an open, democratic society. We are discouraged to find such dialogue prompting the resignation of a public official. If public officials are made to fear expressing their truthful opinions, we have laid the groundwork for ineffective, dishonest, and unresponsive governance.
We hope that you agree with such sentiments and we look forward to seeing renewed support for frank civic dialogue at the State Department.
Signed:
Dan Schultz
Research Associate, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Charles DeTar
MIT Center for Future Civic Media Fellow
Christopher P. Csikszentmihályi
Director, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Lisa Williams
CEO, Placeblogger
Ethan Zuckerman
MIT Center for Future Civic Media Fellow
Nadav Aharony
MIT Center for Future Civic Media Fellow
Audubon Dougherty
Research Associate, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Jay Silver
MIT Center for Future Civic Media Fellow
Lorrie LeJeune
Program Manager, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Nitin Sawhney
Lecturer and Research Fellow, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology
Matthew Hockenberry
Visiting Scientist, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Teru Kuwayama
TED Global Fellow, Dart/Ochberg fellow, John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University
Ian Wojtowicz
Graduate Student, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology
Pablo Rey Mazón
Visiting Scientist, MIT Center for Future Civc Media
Susan Tresch Fienberg
Development Officer, MIT Comparative Media Studies
Tahir Amin
TED India Fellow
Jim Paradis
Interim Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, Robert M. Metcalfe Prof. of Writing
Rick Borovoy
Research Scientist, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Rahul Bhargava
Researcher, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Regan St. Pierre
Community Outreach Manager, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Anthony P. Vanky
MIT School of Architecture + Planning
Jing Wang
Professor of Chinese Cultural Studies, FL&L/Comparative Media Studies, MIT
William J. Uricchio
Professor of Comparative Media Studies
Scot Osterweil
Research Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies Program
Thomas Levenson
Professor of Science Writing, MIT
Sviatlana Fahmy
Assessment Researcher, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Adam Holt
One Laptop per Child Community Manager, Sugar Labs Board
Stefan Candea
Nieman Fellow 2011, Harvard University; Co-founder of the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism
Jeffrey Warren
Center for Future Civic Media Research Affiliate
Andrew Whitacre
Communications Manager, MIT Center for Future Civic Media
Dharmishta Rood
MIT Center for Future Civic Media Researcher
Ian Condry
Associate Professor, Comparative Media Studies
The original letter and the full list of signatories - including any new signatories not listed here - can be found at http://protecthonesty.tumblr.com/.
