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Voyage LA Magazine Rising Stars: Meet Zachary Ellison
FEBRUARY 26, 2024
Today we’d like to introduce you to Zachary Ellison.
Hi Zachary, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Today, I’m an independent journalist and a whistleblower, so what I write is what’s known as whistleblower journalism. The reason I went public as a whistleblower was the “October Surprise” of the LA Fed Tapes, an event that I had feared would come from my time in the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost. I worked there from October 2015 to August 26, 2022, when I was subjected to a hostile termination. I became suspicious that something was amiss from observing a senior official at USC speak and predicted that he would appear in the middle of leaked materials. This was discussed during the termination and reported to a senior security official at the university after the termination hearing.
My role was in academic operations and legal matters for the Provost’s Office, and I took it very seriously. We had difficult times navigating the Carmen Puliafito scandal, the former Dean of the Keck School of Medicine, but it was the George Tyndall sexual abuse scandal, the former campus gynecologist who recently died, that shook me the most. The victims were classmates, and the impact on the university community was profound. The Mark Ridley-Thomas and Marilyn Flynn bribery scandal that followed further corroded trust in the university. What moved me to action, though, was the lack of consistency in following the Resolution Agreement that President Carol Folt and former USC Chairman Rick Caruso signed.
Link: https://voyagela.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-zachary-ellison-of-lawndale/
Today we’d like to introduce you to Zachary Ellison.
Hi Zachary, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Today, I’m an independent journalist and a whistleblower, so what I write is what’s known as whistleblower journalism. The reason I went public as a whistleblower was the “October Surprise” of the LA Fed Tapes, an event that I had feared would come from my time in the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost. I worked there from October 2015 to August 26, 2022, when I was subjected to a hostile termination. I became suspicious that something was amiss from observing a senior official at USC speak and predicted that he would appear in the middle of leaked materials. This was discussed during the termination and reported to a senior security official at the university after the termination hearing.
My role was in academic operations and legal matters for the Provost’s Office, and I took it very seriously. We had difficult times navigating the Carmen Puliafito scandal, the former Dean of the Keck School of Medicine, but it was the George Tyndall sexual abuse scandal, the former campus gynecologist who recently died, that shook me the most. The victims were classmates, and the impact on the university community was profound. The Mark Ridley-Thomas and Marilyn Flynn bribery scandal that followed further corroded trust in the university. What moved me to action, though, was the lack of consistency in following the Resolution Agreement that President Carol Folt and former USC Chairman Rick Caruso signed.
Link: https://voyagela.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-zachary-ellison-of-lawndale/
