“Yet another Zoom meeting beckoned, pulling University of Colorado scientist Detlev Helmig from his data. On Monday, April 7, 2020 he clicked into a meeting organized by Merritt Turetsky, director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) where Helmig worked. She asked if Helmig had received an email. He hadn’t. He refreshed his screen and opened a document that might as well have been a bomb: a termination letter. The allegations? Improper use of public funds and compromising his “professional loyalty to the university.”
A group of 39 organizations and 162 individuals wrote an open letter to CU President Mark Kennedy on May 5, stating: “Many citizens in the state believe that [Helmig’s] science in service of the people is the root cause of his firing.””
