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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2002

News Release

NEA Honors Northwestern Professor

David Protess to Receive Civil Rights Award

Washington, D.C. -- Dr. David Protess, a professor in the Journalism Department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. wages his quest for justice on an unusual front - the prison system. After investigating a story on miscarriages of justice for Chicago Lawyer Magazine during the 1980s, "I was able to help free an innocent man convicted of murder,'' Protess says. He hasn't stopped since. Protess, with help from students in his investigative reporting class "Miscarriages of Justice", has helped exonerate eight people, including three on Death Row.

His role as a champion of justice, his courage in showing that government can be racist and insensitive in doling out justice, have earned him a National Education Association (NEA) Human and Civil Rights Award.

Protess is one of 11 recipients - six of whom are educators - who will be honored by NEA President Bob Chase and more than 2,000 other educators and invited guests July 1 during a dinner at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Dallas. This is the 36th annual event.

Two Congressmen, John Lewis of Georgia and Betty Karnette of California were also selected this year. Each award is named in honor of a prominent human and civil rights leader or NEA activist. Protess receives one of two H. Councill Trenholm Awards. Trenholm, one of the USA's most outstanding black educators, helped the Black American Teachers Association merge with the NEA. Trenholm awards go to individuals who work beyond the call of duty to free the education profession from inequities based on race. Two are awarded each year - one to a black educator, the other to a non-black educator like Protess.

This professor's successes are legendary. Thanks to him and his students, four black men charged with the double murder and rape of a white couple at a gas station in Chicago in 1970, were released from prison after collectively serving 65 years. Although no physical evidence tied the quartet to the case, politicians pressured police to put someone in jail for the murders. Dr. Protess and his students discovered that police received tips on the identities of the real killers, but continued their case against the group known as the Ford Heights Four. After combing through documents and re-interviewing witnesses, they learned of the informant's tip and convinced authorities to give the four the DNA tests that ultimately proved their innocence. They were released, uncompensated by the state.

Since then, Protess and his students have helped exonerate a man unfairly accused of murdering his daughter during the 1980s and freed Anthony Porter, a black man who spent 17 years on Death Row for murder. Through it all, "I was struck by the excellent investigative work done by my students," Protess says. "Ending capital punishment is a personal goal, but I also approach this first and foremost as a journalist. I want my students to take responsibility: If an innocent person has been incarcerated, they should fight to free them, to hold the system accountable when there's been a mistake." In January 2000, largely due to the work of Protess and his students, Illinois Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on capital punishment.

Today, Protess' class is so popular that he says, "I can only take 16 students a term but have 10 times as many applications as space." Although the class started out investigating cases from Illinois, Protess has received more than 2,000 requests for help from prisoners all over the country. Funds to finance his course come from foundations and individuals.

Protess is pleased that many of his students go on to cover the criminal court beat. "Some even go on to law school,'' he says. "One is a defense attorney who does pro bono work for people on Death Row."

Protess and his wife, Joan, an attorney, have two sons.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.