Big N&R front pager on the “last days” of International Civil Right Center and Museum director Lacy Ward. Reporter Joe Killian’s anonymous sources (don’t worry —N&R publisher and editor Grits Gauger signed off) say Ward wasn’t fired because he was being to frank about the museum’s dire financial position but because —wait for it —he was sexual harrasser:
…Ward’s detractors were wielding a new weapon: charges of inappropriate behavior with a female museum staffer, even of sexual harassment.
..The female employee at the center of the allegations against Ward was interviewed at least twice by groups of board members, including the board’s chairwoman, Deena Hayes-Greene.
According to one board member, the woman told those interviewing her that she never considered Ward’s behavior inappropriate. She told them she felt more pressure from the board to condemn Ward’s behavior than she ever felt from Ward himself, one board member and a museum employee close to the process said.
But just for good measure, museum board member Deena Hayes-Greene said Ward looked down her sister’s low-cut blouse at the Wyndham Championship. The museum’s old guard -Hayes-Greene, Earl Jones, Skip Alston and John Swaine —who brought the charges against Ward —-can’t call Ward a racist —the way they did Mayor Nancy Vaughan when she floated the plan for the city to take over the museum –because he’s already black. So the next available option is calling him a sexual harasser. Still, a cynic might worry if Killian’s anonymous sources were setting him up to plant the idea in the public’s mind that there was a reason to fire Ward, no matter how absurd it it.
What’s hilarious is the idea that that Ward’s alleged behavior could “besmirch the museum’s reputation.” Really.
