Whistleblower Policy

May 20, 2025

There are many things which I like about Mensa. First and foremost are the people whom I have met. I met my life partner at an Annual Gathering, and I have close friends whom I met when I moved to California and joined Mensa almost five decades ago. I have Mensa friends on far-off continents. I’ve enjoyed supporting SFRM and American Mensa, editing the Intelligencer and Ecphorizer, building a well-run local group, holding successful RGs every year I was LocSec (except 2020), and giving me a plausible excuse to buy large quantities of chocolate.

There are a number of things about American Mensa Ltd (AML) I don’t like. One is that for many years, the leadership model has seemed faulty, based on bullying, deceit, and retaliation. Another is that it is unheard of for anyone in Mensa leadership to accept responsibility or be held accountable for their actions. The person responsible for the defamation lawsuit to which AML pleaded guilty a few years ago, and for the violation of the Mensa Contitution by issuing a political statement about the George Floyd murder, is currently an International Mensa officer and sits on the Hearings Committee.

When I was elected Regional Vice Chair a year ago, I and the other members of the incoming AMC went through an onboarding process, where we received documents, signed agreements, and received training about how to serve on the board of directors. One of my colleagues noticed we did not receive a copy of AML’s whistleblower policy. New York State requires one for corporations over a certain size and requires it to be distributed to directors, employees, and volunteers. The IRS 990 form which AML files annually, and which was signed by the (now former) Executive Director, states that there is one. We hadn’t seen a policy, despite the state law requirement. We were concerned that perhaps the ED had made a mistake on the IRS form, or worse, had deliberately made a false statement. We believed that we had a fiduciary duty to understand whether there was or wasn’t a whistleblower policy.

We asked Chair Lori Norris if we could see this whistleblower policy. Norris said she thought it was in the Acknowledgements of Responsibility; it’s not. After some time, we received a document which Norris claimed was AML policy, but clearly had never been adopted by the AMC. It didn’t seem to be a policy which described how AML would address complaints about harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, but something which I would have to sign as my personal obligation. We refused to sign this, asking to see the existing whistleblower policy, provided to American Mensa employees, which Norris claimed covered us. She refused, saying that we could not because American Mensa wasn’t the employer, a bit of nonsense because AML uses a professional service company to handle payroll, which, naturally, comes from AML. We eventually received a copy of the Policy Against Unlawful Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation, produced by G&A Partners, the professional services company, after the current Interim Executive Director was hired.

Why is this important? One reason is that there were credible reports of harassment on the previous AMC, and Norris had done nothing to address these complaints. Indeed, it seemed that she retaliated against the person making these complaints and supported the harasser. Another is that there had been multiple incidents of harassment and intimidation on the current AMC, which Norris again ignored. The complaint to the Hearings Commitee which resulted in their illegal January decision to remove the majority of American Mensa’s Board of Directors was explicitly in retaliation for actions taken in an Executive Session of the AMC the previous September.

You may know about state and federal whistleblower laws. These laws (like New York State LAB §740 or California’s Labor Code §1102.5) protect people who contact legal authorites about an organization’s violation of law from retaliation, harassment, or other forms of intimidation. The AML whistleblower policy contains a section prohibiting retaliation for reporting or alleging unlawful conduct. This would include filing a Petition for a Writ of Mandamus in New York Supreme Court to set aside the Hearings Commitee decision as a result of multiple violations of New York’s Non-Profit laws. Of course, American Mensa leadership apparently believes that the AML Bylaws and ASIEs trump state laws; they essentially claimed that in their response to the petition. Unfortunately, the only way to see that whistleblower laws and policy are followed is to file a lawsuit.

I have filed a whistleblower complaint with American Mensa for another incident of retaliation and harassment. I have little hope that this will stop the retaliation, especially since the person responsible for investigating and addressing retaliation and harassment would likely be AMC Chair Norris, who activly supported (if not coordinated) the previous incident of retaliation and clearly benefits from having removed the majority of the AMC. Unfortunately, as has been the case in the past, American Mensa’s leadership would rather have a court resolve these issues than stop illegal behavior or try to come to any amicable resolution.

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You should have received a ballot in the mail for the election to recall AMC Chair Lori Norris. If you have not already voted, please do so now. Despite Norris’ false claims, neither I nor the other deposed members of the AMC were involved in the recall and we are not engaged in a vendetta. I support recalling Norris because she is the epitome of AMC’s failed leadership model: incompetent, deceitful, and retaliatory. The ballots will be counted at the Annual Gathering in Chicago. I’ll pass along a request from one of the other RVCs: please ask five of your Mensa friends to vote and ask them to ask five of their friends.

The judge in the petition case in New York took the petition and arguments under advisement on April 16. In the past, she has issued rulings from 30 to 60 days after submission. We haven’t heard anything more.

I am one of ten “former” AMC members who want American Mensa to be an organization where we can be proud to say that we are members. We are willing to do the work. If you support us in this endeavor, please help us rejoin the AMC by donating at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-restore-fairness-in-american-mensa. Please pass this request on to your Mensa friends.

You can find this article and past articles on my Wiki page: https://mensa.eagerm.tech.

I do not know how this current mess will resolve. I greatly appreciate the many expressions of support I have received and I hope that we can create a better Mensa in the future.