Ivor van Heerden said he wasn’t surprised when University officials had a meeting with him April 9 to notify him that his contract wouldn’t be renewed as a research professor in 2009.But the outspoken coastal scientist who led the state’s investigation of the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina said he found out he was fired from his position as deputy director of the LSU Hurricane Center through the media — not through the University. “[The University] didn’t have the manners to tell me face to face,” van Heerden told The Daily Reveille on Tuesday. University officials could not legally comment on their decision. “We are not allowed to comment on personnel confidentiality,” said University spokesperson Kristine Calongne. At the meeting, University officials told van Heerden their decision wasn’t performance related and had nothing to do with the budget cuts, van Heerden said.”They didn’t tell me why,” he said. “The letter said, ‘This is to advise you, your contract expires May ’09 and won’t be renewed in May 2010.'” Along with van Heerden, Marc Levitan stepped down as director of the center. While Levitan was out of the office until April 15, van Heerden said Levitan was forced to step down, and it was not his own decision. In November 2005, only a few months after van Heerden began heading the forensic investigation team researching the levees in New Orleans, he said he realized he may be fired from the University. In his book, “The Storm: What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina — The Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist,” van Heerden predicts the University might try to keep him quiet. “When this paperback edition is published for the second anniversary of the Katrina tragedy, I have no idea where, or even if, I will be working in my chosen field,” he wrote in his book.Before van Heerden was fired, he was told in 2007 his job description as an engineering professor was changing, and he would no longer be allowed to teach. He said after teaching at the University for 14 years the University no longer allowed him to teach, and he had to renew his contract each year based on performance evaluations.”I’ve taught … and brought in millions of dollars of research money,” van Heerden said. Van Heerden has appeared in more than 44 documentaries, mostly about his research on the hurricanes while he was at the University.  Van Heerden said his job description changed after he was approached in July 2007 by attorneys and asked to be the expert witness in the Mississippi Gulf River Outlet lawsuit, a suit against U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that will go to trial April 20 in New Orleans.  University officials told van Heerden he would be fired if he agreed to be the expert witness for the $600 billion lawsuit, according to van Heerden. One of the lawyers met with former Chancellor Sean O’Keefe and asked for his permission for van Heerden to testify. After O’Keefe told the lawyer no, the lawyer sent an e-mail to van Heerden explaining the chancellor’s reasons. “LSU does not want Ivor or anyone else associated with LSU to testify against the Corps,” the lawyer said in the e-mail van Heerden forwarded to The Daily Reveille. “I am certain that LSU is concerned that if Ivor is identified as being adverse to the Corps … It could have serious adverse affects for LSU.” But the controversy involving van Heerden and the University began before 2007.In 2002, van Heerden said the Board of Regents gave him a five-year grant to study the aspects of complex disasters like hurricanes. After Hurricane Katrina hit, the board gave him permission to look into the levee failure. It became clear to the team of researchers by fall 2005 that the levee failure was related to the poor structure, van Heerden said. But van Heerden was asked to stop talking with the media in a November 2005 meeting with two vice chancellors about any of his discoveries because the University could lose opportunities for research money. In van Heerden’s book and in several news articles, he describes how the University tried to silence him and take away his academic freedoms. The vice chancellors responded with a letters to both The Times-Picayune and The New York Times defending their interview and the University. The University didn’t limit the scientist’s access to the press to talk about Katrina but questioned some of his technical and professional expertise to comment on levees and construction, former Vice Chancellor for Communications Michael Ruffner said in the June 7, 2006 letter to The New York Times. But a much less highlighted letter was written afterward, van Heerden told The Daily Reveille. Headed by a physics and astronomy professor Ravi Rau, 47 professors signed a letter claiming the University had infringed on van Heerden’s academic freedom. The LSU chapter of the American Association of University Professors also endorsed the letter that was sent to several major media outlets. “The attempt to muzzle a professor seems to have been motivated by worries that criticism of powerful men and agencies may jeopardize federal funding to LSU,” read the letter published in The Advocate on June 28, 2006.Rau told The Daily Reveille on Tuesday he and many other faculty members are concerned about the University’s recent decision to fire van Heerden. He said all the facts make it obvious the professor’s outspoken nature is directly related to the University’s decision. Charles Delzell, mathematics professor and one of the professors who signed the letter, agreed that the University’s decision is alarming.”This is a clear case of retaliation of his global criticism,” Delzell said.Delzell, also president of the AAUP, said van Heerden asked the LSU chapter for assistance. While University officials wouldn’t comment on any of their decisions, Joe Suhayda, the new interim director of the LSU Hurricane Center, said van Heerden’s position was eliminated because he was redefining the center’s direction. “I wanted to start with a clean slate,” Suhayda said. Van Heerden said the University took the Hurricane Center away from him and Levitan because certain officials want to be in charge.”The real victim is Marc Levitan,” van Heerden said. “He stood by me, and he is a tenured professor.” –Contact Joy Lukachick at [email protected]