The conclusion of an independent investigation into executive misconduct at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has yielded no evidence of wrongdoing, according to a statement published by the organization’s Board of Directors on Monday, August 26th.
The report from law firm Miller & Chevalier also ruled out any "regular conduct" on the part of any national office staffers or members of the AIA Leadership team.
“The Board has reviewed the law firm’s proposed recommendations for improvement in the areas of policy and process, and we are assessing how best to implement those recommendations. We anticipate sharing additional details regarding these recommendations with our members.” their statement reads.
Accusations stemming from an early April letter circulated through the membership ranks and signed by twenty former AIA presidents include nepotism, unlawful firing and retaliation, the abuse of office privileges by CEO Lakisha Ann Woods, and a $152,000 staff retreat to the Dominican Republic in early March. A previous Board review also concluded there to be no wrongdoing in June.
The episode highlights growing criticism of the organization by architects across the country. Our Archinect Forum thread features a number of these. Neither Woods nor current AIA President Kimberly Dowdell has yet to issue a public statement on any of the claims.
10 Comments
ahem .... ah .... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
What a big surprise!!! The crew hired by the the AIA board and staff determines that said board and staff did nothing wrong!
Back to business as usual!
I thought it was an independent investigation.
AIA ultimately paid the law firm's bills, so there's inherent conflict there. Technically, it was probably the AIA board supposedly acting in its oversight capacity. . The board should be the watchdog, but a scandal on the employee side would expose the board as failing to provide proper oversight and embarrass them. It's easier all around to just cover things up.
Certain people may be quietly ushered out in the next 6-12 months. It will be resignations and placement somewhere else or retirements. That's how the elite crowd with this kind of stuff. Getting publicly called out and fired is for poor folk.
I used to be a member of AIA. It's not worth it and I told them so when they called to ask me to come back. I was then informed that they are working with NCARB to see if they could have a joint membership agreement. AKA - if you want to be a member of NCARB you also must be an AIA member.
That would almost certainly be a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and the 70s Consent Decree as well.
I thought the '70s stuff was mainly to shut down the old AIA fee guidelines and put us in race to the bottom on our pricing. Which tidily sums up the past 50 years of US practice. I don't know that the feds would care if there was a kind of AIA-NCARB axis of evil established.
The Consent Decree was primarily about AIA setting standardized fee schedules, but it also puts a bunch of other limitations on what AIA can do as a professional organization acting for "all architects" in cartel/guild mode. Some of that would likely apply to this, since it would dramatically restrict access to reciprocal licensure certification. That's an interstate commerce issue too, so directly under federal jurisdiction.
Well, that's good to hear. AIA+NCARB would hardly be a good thing. Both are already laughably overpriced and run by a clique of establishment clowns and cronies.
Miller and Chevalier are going to rule in favor of whomever appointed and paid them.
what were the questions to which they were asked to respond?
why specifically was the legal counsel fired?
When will this information be available in its entirety on the AIA website?
The long delay in providing information could be making matterseven worse!
KH AIA em.
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