title: Ghostbusters II

text: The RMS "Titanic" was one of the first shots ILM completed; they wanted a powerful image for the scene and considered using the "Hindenburg" airship complete with flaming passengers and luggage, a subway train carrying rotting passengers, and a graveyard with exploding headstones. A miniature model of the "Titanic" with slightly modified aspects was used instead; the position of the ship's name was altered to make it clearly identifiable. Extras were filmed wearing period costume, seaweed, and dripping water but many of the minor details were lost in the wide shot. A scale model of the museum was created because Reitman wanted to be able to show the slime oozing from cracks and seams. Several last-minute effect shots were added due to the hectic schedule. The ghost train was intended to be a subway car but there was no time to find a suitable model and an antique train was used. The severed heads were sourced from multiple places; poorer quality heads were placed further away from the camera. The theater ghost took three weeks to build and required four puppeteers. The Washington Square monster was animated in stop motion by Phil Tippett, who accepted the job on the condition that the effect was no longer than 160 frames, was built on an existing model, and could be done in one take. Tippett was seriously injured in a car accident during development but continued to work and finished his effect in time. The slime-possessed fur coat was achieved using four coats with parts controlled with servo motors. ILM considered using live animals for the segment but abandoned the idea.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: The concept for the physical form of the central villain Vigo went through many changes, including a plan to transform him into a large monstrosity. There was difficulty determining how Vigo would interact outside his painting. Vigo was intended to have heavier creature makeup, but after Von Homburg was cast, his distinctive look meant the extra makeup was largely unnecessary.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: In early 1989, ILM contacted Glen Eytchison to develop a painting that could come to life. Eytchison specialized in "tableaux vivants" - the use of static sets and stationary actors to create the illusion of a flat painting. Muren said that his team could have worked out a way to achieve the desired effect, but they did not have enough time and needed to enlist an expert. The aim was to depict what appeared to be a painting of Vigo that would come to life to shock the audience. ILM spent months producing concepts of the painting's look but Reitman rejected them for being too similar to "Conan [the Barbarian]". Eytchison and his team researched the look of a 16th-century warlord and references the period's painters to match the contemporaneous art styles.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Eytchison's team painted a background and individual items including skies, skulls, and trees on acetate. This allowed Reitman to view combinations quickly; he chose his favored design in 15 minutes. Local painter Lou Police produced a painting from this concept; Reitman approved it but Eytchison realized a painting would not be realistic enough to allow them to switch between it and the actor. Eytchison's team decided to create a small set resembling the painting; it had structural elements, including styrofoam skulls, in which Von Homburg could stand. Von Homburg's costume and the set were painted by the same team to ensure they had the same texture and blended together.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Once the set arrived at ILM, Von Homburg was positioned in it wearing full costume, makeup, and prosthetics. Lighting was used to eliminate shadows, creating a flat image. A photograph was then taken and enlarged to be used as the painting. Welch's department treated the photograph to make it closely resemble an oil painting. Scenes of Von Homburg on the set delivering his dialog and stepping out of the set as if leaving the painting were filmed; according to Eytchison, the actor struggled with the action and Reitman did not like the effect. The ending was changed completely, eliminating the living picture concept. When Vigo interacts from the painting in the finished film, the image is replaced by Von Homburg's disembodied head floating over a miniature river-of-slime set built from foam by ILM. When leaving the painting, Vigo disappears and materializes into the scene. Another concept had him "peel" from the canvas, and another had the slime bring other paintings to life to aid him. A molded mask was created to represent his inner evil; it was worn by Harold Weed as the possessed version of Aykroyd's character.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: "Ghostbusters" hardware consultant Stephen Dane was responsible for much of the Ghostbusters' equipment and their vehicle, the Ectomobile; he designed new equipment for "GhostbustersII" in an uncredited role. Dane revised the designs of the proton pack weapons, the ghost trap, and the Ectomobile, which became the Ectomobile 1A. Dane designed new equipment including the giga-meter, the slime scooper, and the slime blower—a large tank connected to a slime-spewing nozzle. He re-purposed leftover prop warning labels and symbols from his work on "Blade Runner" (1982) to make the equipment look more authentic.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: The slime blower weapons were three times heavier than the proton packs; the tanks did not contain slime, which was pumped through the guns from off-camera. The bulky proton packs, which were considered heavy and uncomfortable during the filming of "Ghostbusters", were redesigned to weigh in comparison with the and versions used on the previous film. The new design offered more comfort while removing some of the powered effects. Muren's team redesigned the proton pack neutrino wand beams to be multi-functional, allowing them to be used as lassos or fishing lines to capture ghosts instead of being straight beams. Five remotely controlled baby strollers were used to create the possessed stroller in the film's opening; motors and driveshafts were concealed with the stroller's chrome body, and brakes that could stop it immediately or slow it gradually were used. Gaspar employed two-time national miniature-car champion Jay Halsey to drive the stroller; he had to weave it between traffic from up to away.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: In the late 1980s, film sequels were still quite rare, but the concept of the media franchise had quickly developed following the success of the original "Star Wars" trilogy. In 1989, more sequels were released than in any previous year, including "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", "The Karate Kid Part III", "", and "Lethal Weapon 2". Also released that year were original hits that would become popular classics like "Uncle Buck"; "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"; "When Harry Met Sally..."; and "Dead Poets Society". That year's most anticipated film was "Batman", which was scheduled for release a week after "GhostbustersII", and whose logo had become ubiquitous through a significant marketing campaign aided by its mega-congomlerate owner Time-Warner. Shortly before its release, a "major theater chain" executive said they expected "GhostbustersII" to make approximately $150 million during its run, behind "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" ($225 million) and "Batman" ($175 million), and ahead of "Lethal Weapon 2" ($100 million).


title: Ghostbusters II

text: "GhostbustersII" was originally scheduled for release in July 1989 but less than three months before release, it was brought forward to June to avoid direct competition with "Batman". The premiere of "GhostbustersII" took place on June 15, 1989, at Grauman's Chinese Theater, with an after-party that required payment to attend at the Hollywood Palladium; the entrance fees collected were donated to Saint John's Health Center.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: "GhostbustersII" received a wide release on June 16, 1989, in 2,410 theaters, compared with the original film's opening on 1,339. Compared to "Ghostbusters" $13million opening weekend, "GhostbustersII" film earned $29.5million—an average of $12,229 per theater—as the number one film of the weekend, ahead of the action-adventure film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" ($11.7million) which was in its fourth week of release and drama film "Dead Poets Society" ($9.1million), which was in its third. Based on its gross and an average increase in ticket price of 22% since "Ghostbusters" release, an estimated 2million more people went to see the film's opening. It broke the all-time record for a one-day opening with approximately $10million on its opening Friday; it was also the biggest non-holiday opening weekend with $29.5million, narrowly beating "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"s opening three-day gross of $29.4million.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: "GhostbustersII" revenue was exceeded the following weekend by "Batman"s $15.6million opening day takings, and $43.6million opening weekend earnings earned from 2,194 theaters. "GhostbustersII" earned another $13.8million—a 53% drop from the previous weekend—bringing its 10-day total to $58.8million, putting it in third place behind "Batman" and another new release, the Moranis-starring comedy film "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" ($14.3million), which was bolstered by a heavily marketed seven-minute "Roger Rabbit short" film playing before it. This weekend gross saw "GhostbustersII" contribute to the highest-grossing weekend ever at the time, with total box office takings of $92million across all theaters.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Compared to the original "Ghostbusters" seven-week run at number one, "GhostbustersII" never regained the top slot, falling to number four in its third week behind the debuting drama "The Karate Kid Part III", and to number 5 in its fourth week behind the action film "Lethal Weapon 2" and black comedy "Weekend at Bernie's", both of which were new releases. "GhostbustersII" left the top-ten-grossing films by its seventh week and was removed from cinemas entirely by late-September after fifteen weeks. In total, "GhostbustersII" earned $112.5million in North America, less than half that of the original's revenue, making it the seventh-highest-grossing film of the year, behind "Back to the Future Part II" ($118.4million), "Lethal Weapon 2" ($147.3million), "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" ($130.7million), "Look Who's Talking" ($140.1million), and the highest domestic grossing film of that year, "Batman" ($251.2million).


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Outside North America, "GhostbustersII" is estimated to have earned approximately $102.9million, nearly doubling the original's overseas takings and raising its worldwide total to $215.4million. This figure makes it the eighth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 1989, falling approximately $67million short of "Ghostbusters" original theatrical revenue.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: "GhostbustersII" received generally negative reviews from critics. Audiences responded more positively; CinemaScore polls reported that moviegoers gave an average rating of "A−" on a scale of A+ to F.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Dave Kehr and "USA Today"s Mike Clark were critical of attempts at making the Ghostbusters more mature which made the film feel "tired" and lacking in surprises. They said that "Ghostbusters" had succeeded by projecting childlike fantasies onto adult characters who snubbed authority and bonded in a clubhouse, but by taking a surreal comedic fantasy and adding humanity to the central characters, the sequel had become "Four Ghostbusters and a Baby", a reference to the 1987 comedy film "Three Men and a Baby". Roger Ebert called it a disappointment, saying he reviewed "GhostbustersII" in a public screening and heard only one laugh during the entire film.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Several reviewers criticized the film for too closely emulating the structure and story elements of its predecessor. Gene Siskel called it a poor copy that offered nothing new, as though they "were filming the first draft of a script". Richard Schickel was critical of the glut of sequels in 1989 in his review. He said that "GhostbustersII" offered only slight variations over the original without further developing the characters, and had a "shamelessly" similar ending. "Time Out" echoed sentiments that the film largely retraced the events of its predecessor, and the addition of an infant came across as a convenience. Desson Thomson said "GhostbustersII" felt like an extended version of its predecessor without as many impressive special effects. Writing for "Empire", William Thomas said the script was sharp but certainly aimed towards entertaining younger audience members.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Sheila Benson praised the film and said its denouement was superior to that of the original. She appreciated that despite being a sequel, it did not rely on inside jokes that might alienate audiences and that the interplay between the actors felt inclusive. Hal Hinson said that while "big and dumb and clunky" like the first film, "GhostbustersII" offered more personality. Hinson considered sequels to be generally lazy and reliant on the success of the previous film, but felt that "GhostbustersII" looked better and was confident enough to experiment with the source material. He nevertheless criticized it for what he saw as a lack of tension and plot development. Vincent Canby said the film was funnier and not as "oppressively extravagant" as "Ghostbusters"; he believed the plot lacked depth but that the overall tone of the film was "remarkably cheerful".


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Some reviewers found the film to be poorly paced, leaving scenes feeling overlong, and that its best moments felt both few and infrequent. Others echoed this sentiment, saying that it lacked the energy of "Ghostbusters", and was too laid back. Writing for "The Globe and Mail", Rick Groen considered the film self-important and mediocre, and criticized Reitman's direction for lacking visual imagination. The film's special effects generally received praise. Benson called them "impressive", and Caroll highlighted moments like the ghostly, resurrected "Titanic", but she felt that the creatures lacked any real menace. According to "Variety", the film's slime and visuals would appeal to children, while adults could appreciate the witty dialogue.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Unlike "Ghostbusters", reviewers were more conflicted over Murray's performance in the sequel. Kehr said that his performance retained "bright" moments, but he seemed less energetic than in his previous film "Scrooged". Rosenbaum concurred, stating that the actor's trademark comedic indifference seemed to be lacking commitment, and Caroll said that his well-received performance in "Ghostbusters" had been replaced by a "smug swagger and constant smirking" that she found irritating. "Variety" considered his character is central to the film because of his ad-libbed dialog, and Groen argued that Murray essentially carried the film alone. Hinson said that Murray's comedic performance was vital to tempering the film from becoming over-sentimental when discussing battling negativity with positivity.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Thomas claimed that the previous film had allowed Murray's character to be aloof, selfish, and immature, while "GhostbustersII" pushed him towards being in a mature relationship and demonstrating genuine human warmth, which he felt did not work. Benson commented that Murray's and Weaver's characters felt unconnected and more like rivals than lovers. Thomas and Siskel said that the film's emphasis on this romantic subplot was to its detriment, both occupying too much of its runtime and largely removing Murray from the action scenes. Clark lamented that Weaver was underutilized in a stereotypical working mother role.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: MacNicol's performance was consistently praised. Groen, who was critical of much of the cast for lackluster performances, said that his "wickedly funny" performance was the film's sole surprising feature. Canby and Kehr concurred on MacNicol being a highlight of the film, Thomas saying that his character would be impersonated by children everywhere. Carroll called it a "deliriously over-the-top performance". Moranis was also singled out for his comedic performance. Kehr and Clark appreciated the "rewarding" romantic subplot between his character and Potts'. Thomson said that the film's best moments, provided by Murray, Moranis, and Aykroyd, were too few, which left him wanting more.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Financially, "GhostbustersII" was a relative success but it failed to meet studio expectations as a sequel to the highest-grossing comedy of all time. Despite being predicted to outperform its rival films before its release it failed to do so. As a part of the most successful summer for film to that date, "GhostbustersII" was seen as a critical and commercial failure; it also failed to garner the same passionate response from critics and fans as its predecessor. While Columbia did not comment, industry experts believed the film was undone, at least partly, by the combination of "Batman" attracting teenage audiences and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" taking family audiences. Another issue was the quantity of films being released close together and unexpected successes that meant films were staying in theaters longer than anticipated. By only mid-July, one theater was alternating "GhostbustersII" and "The Karate Kid III" on the same screen because of their diminishing returns to play "Batman" and "Lethal Weapon 2" on other screens.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Reitman blamed changes in what audiences wanted from films. He felt contemporaneous society was more negative and cynical, and noted the popularity of "Batman", which had a darker tone whereas "GhostbustersII" is more positive, particularly its upbeat, optimistic ending that shows New Yorkers coming together to help defeat Vigo. Reitman also felt the novelty of "Ghostbusters" could not be repeated because big surprises like ghosts and epic finales were now expected. In 2014, he said that "it didn't all come together... we just sort of got off on the wrong foot story-wise on that film". Reviewers often noted that the film largely resembles its predecessor down to the story structure, a giant figure stomping through New York, and a mid-film montage set to a theme song. Some noted that releasing a film set at Christmas in June may also have worked against it. It has been suggested the five-year gap between films worked against it, both losing the momentum generated by the original and setting expectations too high. This period also allowed a potential cultural saturation of the brand through the cartoon series and merchandise.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Reitman was disappointed with "GhostbustersII" performance and said making the film had not been as much fun an experience as working on "Ghostbusters". He told Columbia he would not be part of a third film, and intended to break from comedies altogether. In a 2008 interview, Murray said: "We did a sequel and it was sort of rather unsatisfying for me, because the first one to me was... the real thing... They'd written a whole different movie than the one [initially discussed]. And the special-effects guys got it... There were a few great scenes in it, but it wasn't the same movie". Moranis said: "To have something as offbeat, unusual, and unpredictable [as] the first "Ghostbusters", it's next to impossible to create something better. [And] with sequels... they want better". Much as with the first film, Hudson was disappointed his role was relatively small. In "Ghostbusters", many of his major scenes had been given to Murray who was better-known, and Hudson felt the sequel continued to marginalize his character. He affirmed that despite this, he appreciated the role because of the positive way fans have reacted to it.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: "GhostbustersII" was released on VHS on November 22, 1989, only shortly after the end of its theatrical run. Since the early 1980s, home media was normally released at least six months after films launched in theaters, and in the case of blockbusters like "GhostbustersII" and "Batman", anywhere from nine to twelve months later. To take advantage of the Christmas season, "GhostbustersII", "Batman", and "When Harry Met Sally..." were all released before the end of the year. The "GhostbustersII" VHS was priced at $90 and aimed towards rentals rather than individual purchases. The film entered the rental chart at number 10 and by late December it peaked as the second top VHS rental behind "Batman". The home video release was controversial because the letterboxed versions reformatted the film to a less wide 1.66:1 aspect ratio, resulting in much of the original 2.35:1 picture being cropped out despite the use of black bars on the screen. A DVD version was released in 1999.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Blu-ray disc editions were released to celebrate the film's 25th and 30th anniversaries in 2014 and 2019 respectively; the film was remastered and the releases feature 4K resolution video, deleted scenes, alternate takes, and an interview with Aykroyd and Reitman. The 30th-anniversary version was packaged in a limited-edition steel book cover, and also included "Ghostbusters" and commentary by Reitman, Aykroyd, and producer Joe Medjuck. The film was released as part of the 8-disc "Ghostbusters: Ultimate Collection" Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray boxset in February 2022, alongside "Ghostbusters" and its second sequel "" (2021), and the 2016 reboot "". Presented in a ghost trap-shaped box, the release features unreleased deleted scenes from "Ghostbusters II" and an edited-for-TV version including alternate scenes and takes.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: The original soundtrack of "GhostbustersII" was first released on compact disc in 1989, peaking at number fourteen on the "Billboard 200" music chart. Brown's song "On Our Own" was a number-one song on the "Billboard" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs music chart for one week in early August before being replaced by "Batman"s own hit song "Batdance" by Prince. "On Our Own" peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, again behind "Batdance", and later behind "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx. "On Our Own" spent 20 weeks on the chart. The Run-DMC version of "Ghostbusters" failed to develop the same level of enduring fandom as Parker, Jr.'s original. In 2014, the Run-DMC version was released on a special-edition, white vinyl record that was presented in a marshmallow-scented jacket. The record also contains the Parker, Jr. version of the song and was released to celebrate the 30th and 25th anniversaries of "Ghostbusters" and "GhostbustersII" respectively. The same year, the soundtrack was first released in digital format. Edelman's score remained unreleased until 2021. Available on vinyl, compact disc, and digital formats, the release included 16 tracks from the film, some of which were re-recorded for the album, and an unused song made for the film.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Several elements of "GhostbustersII" deal with the consequences of actions. Instead of being lauded as heroes after defeating Gozer, the Ghostbusters are driven out of business because of the associated destruction they caused. The slime amasses beneath the city as a consequence of negative emotions projected by New Yorkers. When writing the script, Aykroyd and Ramis wanted to show that negativity had a lasting impact on the person inflicting it or the one receiving it. Aykroyd noted that, at the time, he considered major cities to be places where danger was rife and life held little value. Writing for "Mashable" in 2019, Pravit Chatterjee argues that this theme is more relevant in the contemporary age of social media and hate speech.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Similarly, positivity is presented as a uniquely powerful force. Their previous combined efforts defeated Gozer, a god of destruction, but the Ghostbusters are completely powerless against Vigo and the accumulated negativity fuelling him. It is only when the citizens gathered outside the museum unite to sing a chorus of "Auld Lang Syne" that their positivity overwhelms Vigo, allowing the Ghostbusters to defeat him. In 2016, A. Bowdoin van Riper wrote that while destruction-heavy films set in New York made before the September 11 terrorist attack had taken on darker, unintended meanings, "GhostbustersII" was now more relevant. Its ending, which can be seen as "hokey" or false, now seemed "touchingly real". Murray described it as a "story about innocence restored, and good values, and the power of faith in ordinary people". Unlike "Ghostbusters", "GhostbustersII" lauds the values of community and family over their Ghostbusters' personal successes. Indeed, the Ghostbusters' involvement in the sequel comes from the threat to their personal acquaintance Dana Barrett and her son. They are drawn out of retirement and break the rules of their legal settlement with the city to help, despite the lack of financial rewards and the personal risk to themselves.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: "GhostbustersII" is among many films released during the 1980s and 1990s that dealt with issues of fatherhood; these included "Three Men and a Baby" (1987), "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (1989), "Uncle Buck" (1989), "Kindergarten Cop" (1990), "Parenthood" (1989), "Hook" (1991), and "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993). These film types appeared among their respective release years' highest-grossing films, and focus on redeeming or celebrating the concept of fatherhood in different forms from warm and friendly to authoritarian. These father figures are initially unprepared for their responsibility. Nicole Matthews argues that the need to present a film targeted at both adults and children leads to the central characters being infantilized and immature. These films each share a similar concept, that female characters are either absent or not important to the overall story.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: "GhostbustersII"s driving plot is ostensibly about a mother (Dana Barrett) trying to protect her son who is the target of a malevolent force. Instead, it becomes about Peter Venkman and his relationship to the child, both representing a surrogate paternal figure and lamenting that he is not the child's biological father. The film focuses on moments of paternal tenderness such as Venkman using his treasured football shirt to clothe Oscar. This focus is evident during the film's finale where Vigo's portrait is replaced by an image of the Ghostbusters as four paternal figures surrounding Oscar, with no female present. Instead a sword is depicted penetrating a stone; a symbol of fertility.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Jim Whalley wrote that when Dana describes Venkman as "the most charming, kindest and most unusual" man she has met, "kind" would not be an applicable description of his character in "Ghostbusters", evidencing his growth and maturity in the intervening years. Venkman's inability to commit to Dana ended their original relationship, but he is shown to have changed and now be willing to serve as a partner and father. Similarly, Murray's comedic talents are seemingly ineffective throughout the film, unable to charm his way out of difficult situations as in "Ghostbusters" and further the narrative. He instead serves as comic relief, and it is the Ghostbusters' noble heroism that progresses the story.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: As with the previous film, "GhostbustersII" criticizes political institutions. The team actively questions authority in a deteriorating city filled with unhappy people. Government representatives are shown to be more concerned with proper processes than the imminent threat of the ghosts. They are shown to be incompetent or pursuing an agenda of self-interest that means they cannot be trusted to protect the people they represent.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: The Ghostbusters' outspokenness results in them being sent to a psychiatric institution to silence them. The Ghostbusters are freed from the governmental bonds—the legal requirements barring them from operating as paranormal exterminators—but only while they are solving more problems than they create. Christine Alice Corcos describes the courtroom scene, in which the executed Scoleri brothers' return to wreak havoc, as a demonstration of the failure of the legal system. The government must again empower the Ghostbusters to deal with the problem, reaffirming the team's personal liberty over government influence. Corcos also analyzed the slime as a symbol of pollution. The human soul is polluted by negativity, which is given a physical form as slime beneath the city until there is too much for the Earth to handle.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Zoila Clark considered the ghosts to represent immigrants to America. Several antagonists and ghostly forces are foreign—the Scoleri brothers, the passengers of the Titanic, Janosz, and Vigo. Vigo is compared to Count Dracula, a threatening foreign entity that hypnotizes subjects with his eyes, and aims to take an American woman for his own. The Statue of Liberty is of French origin and although it is described as a symbol of purity, Murray's character sexualizes it, defining it outside the American stereotype of purity.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Since its release, "GhostbustersII" has been labeled as the film that "killed" the franchise because it made less money from a larger budget than "Ghostbusters" and because the filming experience and resulting reception dissuaded Murray from involvement in a third film. While some modern critics continue to criticize it as a bad film or inferior to its predecessor, others argue that it suffers from being compared with "Ghostbusters" and is otherwise above average. In a 2014 interview, Reitman defended the film, saying while it was unfairly compared with "Batman" at the time, he felt "GhostbustersII" still holds up well against the superhero film.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Digital Spy defended the film as being as good as or better than "Ghostbusters". It said the plot of "GhostbustersII" is arguably better executed than that of the first film, with multiple threads coming together in a "seamless" third act with a positive ending that works better with modern audiences. Den of Geek compared it to sequels to other genre-specific classics like "Back to the Future Part II" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984), which were considered not as good as the original but as good films in their own right, while "GhostbustersII" is perceived as being a bad film despite a close similarity to the original. "Deadspin" said that like those aforementioned films, "GhostbustersII"s darker setpieces and comedy made it more suited for adults than children, but that it is better than most people remember. Uproxx called it the ideal film to watch during the New Year period because it offers an unsubtle, simple morality tale about treating others well.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Contemporary review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes offers a approval rating from critics, with an average rating of . The site's consensus reads: "Thanks to the cast, "Ghostbusters 2" is reasonably amusing, but it lacks the charm, wit, and energy of its predecessor". The film has a score of 56 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 14 critical reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In 2009, Den of Geek listed it as the eighteenth best blockbuster sequel of all time.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Film merchandising was a relatively new concept created mainly by the success of the "Star Wars" series. Merchandising for "Ghostbusters" was unsuccessful; toys in particular sold poorly until the release of the cartoon spin-off "The Real Ghostbusters". Sequels were seen as a brighter prospect because they are based on established characters. Over 24 tie-in toys were released alongside the film including water guns, colored slimes, coloring books, comics, and children's meals. "Ghostbusters" action figures were the fifth-most in-demand toy for the 1989 Christmas season according to a survey of 15,000 retailers. Approximately 2.8 million units of a promotional noisemaker toy called the "Ghostblaster", which was released across 3,100 outlets of the fast-food restaurant Hardee's, were recalled in June 1989 because of reports children were ingesting its small batteries. Now Comics released a three-part comic book miniseries adaptation of the film set in "The Real Ghostbusters" cartoon universe. The story included subplots from the film including Ray's possession while driving the Ectomobile and Tully trying to capture Slimer.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Several video games were released around the release of the film; "GhostbustersII" in 1989 for personal computers, "GhostbustersII" (published by Activision) in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and "New Ghostbusters II" (as "GhostbustersII"), also in 1990 for the Nintendo Game Boy. "New GhostbustersII" was also released for the NES in Europe and Japan but could not be released in America because Activision held the rights to the game there.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Since its release, "GhostbustersII" merchandise has included Playmobil sets with action figures and a model of the Ectomobile 1A. A board game, "Ghostbusters: The Board Game II", was released in 2017 by Cryptozoic Entertainment. Based on the film, it casts the players as the Ghostbusters and tasks them with defeating Vigo and his ghostly minions. The game's creation was crowdfunded, raising over $760,000. The 2019 Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida held a 'Ghostbusters-themed haunted maze that featured locations, characters, and ghosts from "Ghostbusters", and the Scoleri Brothers.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Discussion about a sequel took place during filming of "GhostbustersII", but Ramis was dismissive because of the actors' ages and the difficulty in getting the cast together. Despite "GhostbustersII" relative failure, the name recognition and popularity of the actors and their characters meant a third film was still pursued by the studio. The concept failed to progress for many years, reportedly primarily because of Murray's reluctance to participate. "The Real Ghostbusters" series continued to air until 1991 and ended after seven seasons; according to Medjuck, the cartoon series technically took place after the events of "GhostbustersII". "The Real Ghostbusters" was followed in 1997 by a sequel series called "Extreme Ghostbusters", which aimed to reinvigorate the franchise but lasted for only one season. In the years that followed the release of "GhostbustersII", Aykroyd continued attempts to develop a film sequel throughout the 1990s to the early 2010s. By 1999, he had completed a 122-page concept for a sequel called "Ghostbusters III: Hellbent", which would add several new characters and take them to ManHellton, a demonic version of Manhattan, where they would encounter the demon Lucifer.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: In 2009, "" featuring story consulting by Ramis and Aykroyd, and the likenesses and voice acting of Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, Hudson, Potts, and Atherton, was released. Set two years after "GhostbustersII", the story follows the Ghostbusters training a new recruit (the player) to combat a ghostly threat related to Gozer. The game was well-received, earning award nominations for its storytelling. Aykroyd said the game is "essentially the third movie". The game establishes that following the events of "GhostbustersII" the still-possessed portrait of Vigo became a decoration at the Ghostbusters' firehouse. "Ghostbusters: The Return" (2004) was the first in a planned series of sequel novels before the publisher, iBooks, went out of business. Several "Ghostbusters" comic books have also continued the original characters' adventures across the globe and in other dimensions.


title: Ghostbusters II

text: Following Ramis's death in 2014, Reitman chose to no longer consider directing a potential third Ghostbusters film. He decided the creative control shared by himself, Ramis, Aykroyd, and Murray was holding the franchise back and negotiated a deal with the studio to sell the rights; he spent two weeks persuading Murray. Reitman refused to release details about the deal but said that "the creators would be enriched for the rest of our lives, and for the rest of our children’s lives". He and Aykroyd set up a production company called Ghost Corps to continue and expand the franchise, starting with the 2016 female-led reboot, "Ghostbusters", which was directed by Paul Feig and starred Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon as the Ghostbusters. Before its release, the film was beset by controversies and on release it attracted mixed reviews and was considered a box office bomb. "Ghostbusters: Afterlife", a sequel to the original two films, was directed by Reitman's son Jason. Written by him and Gil Kenan, the film was released in November 2021. Several members of the original cast appear in the film alongside new cast members Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, and Paul Rudd.


title: Whistleblower

text: A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whistleblowers can use a variety of internal or external channels to communicate information or allegations. Over 83% of whistleblowers report internally to a supervisor, human resources, compliance, or a neutral third party within the company, hoping that the company will address and correct the issues. A whistleblower can also bring allegations to light by communicating with external entities, such as the media, government, or law enforcement. Whistleblowing can occur in either the private sector or the public sector.


title: Whistleblower

text: Retaliation is a real risk for whistleblowers, who often pay a heavy price for blowing the whistle. The most common form of retaliation is abrupt termination of employment. However, several other actions may also be considered retaliatory, including extreme increases in workloads, having hours cut drastically, preventing task completion, or bullying. Laws in many countries attempt to protect whistleblowers and to regulate the whistleblowing activities. These laws tend to adopt different approaches to public and private sector whistleblowing.


title: Whistleblower

text: Whistleblowers do not always achieve their aims. For their claims to be credible and successful, they must have compelling evidence to support their claims that the government or regulating body can use or investigate to "prove" such claims and hold corrupt companies and/or government agencies to account.


title: Whistleblower

text: U.S. civic activist Ralph Nader is said to have coined the phrase in the early 1970s in order to avoid the negative connotations found in other words such as "informer" and "snitch". However, the origins of the word date back to the 19th century.


title: Whistleblower

text: The word is linked to the use of a whistle to alert the public or a crowd about such problems as the commission of a crime or the breaking of rules during a game. The phrase "whistle blower" attached itself to law enforcement officials in the 19th century because they used a whistle to alert the public or fellow police. Sports referees, who use a whistle to indicate an illegal or foul play, also were called whistle blowers.


title: Whistleblower

text: An 1883 story in the "Janesville Gazette" called a policeman who used his whistle to alert citizens about a riot a "whistle blower", without the hyphen. By the year 1963, the phrase had become a hyphenated word, "whistle-blower". The word began to be used by journalists in the 1960s for people who revealed wrongdoing, such as Nader. It eventually evolved into the compound word "whistleblower".


title: Whistleblower

text: Most whistleblowers are internal whistleblowers, who report misconduct on a fellow employee or superior within their company through anonymous reporting mechanisms often called hotlines. One of the most interesting questions with respect to internal whistleblowers is why and under what circumstances do people either act on the spot to stop illegal and otherwise unacceptable behavior or report it. There are some reasons to believe that people are more likely to take action with respect to unacceptable behavior, within an organization, if there are complaint systems that offer not just options dictated by the planning and control organization, but a "choice" of options for absolute confidentiality.


title: Whistleblower

text: Anonymous reporting mechanisms, as mentioned previously, help foster a climate whereby employees are more likely to report or seek guidance regarding potential or actual wrongdoing without fear of retaliation. The coming anti-bribery management systems standard, ISO 37001, includes anonymous reporting as one of the criteria for the new standard.


title: Whistleblower

text: External whistleblowers, however, report misconduct to outside people or entities. In these cases, depending on the nature of the information, whistleblowers may report the misconduct to lawyers, the media, law enforcement or watchdog agencies, or other local, state, or federal agencies. In some cases, external whistleblowing is encouraged by offering monetary rewards.


title: Whistleblower

text: Sometimes organizations use external agencies to create a secure and anonymous reporting channel for its employees, often referred to as a whistleblowing hotline. As well as protecting the identity of the whistleblower, these services are designed to inform the individuals at the top of the organizational pyramid of misconduct, usually via integration with specialised case management software.


title: Whistleblower

text: Implementing a third party solution is often the easiest way for an organization to promote compliance, or to offer a whistleblowing policy where one did not previously exist. An increasing number of companies and authorities use third party services in which the whistleblower is anonymous also towards the third party service provider, which is made possible via toll free phone numbers and/or web or app-based solutions which apply asymmetrical encryption.


title: Whistleblower

text: Private sector whistleblowing is arguably more prevalent and suppressed in society today. An example of private sector whistleblowing is when an employee reports to someone in a higher position such as a manager, or to external factors, such as their lawyer or the police. Whistleblowing in the private sector is typically not high-profile or openly discussed in major news outlets, though occasionally, third parties expose human rights violations and exploitation of workers.


title: Whistleblower

text: Many governments attempt to protect such whistleblowers. In the United States, for example, there are organizations such as the United States Department of Labor (DOL), and laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (FSGO) that protect whistleblowers in the private sector. Thus, despite government efforts to help regulate the private sector, the employees must still weigh their options. They either expose the company and stand the moral and ethical high ground; or expose the company, lose their job, their reputation and potentially the ability to be employed again. According to a study at the University of Pennsylvania, out of three hundred whistleblowers studied, sixty nine percent of them had foregone that exact situation; and they were either fired or were forced to retire after taking the ethical high ground. It is outcomes like that which makes it all that much harder to accurately track how prevalent whistleblowing is in the private sector.


title: Whistleblower

text: Recognition of the value of public sector whistleblowing has been growing over the last 50 years. In the United States, for example, both state and Federal statutes have been put in place to protect whistleblowers from retaliation. The United States Supreme Court ruled that public sector whistleblowers are protected from retaliation by their First Amendment rights. After many federal whistleblowers were covered in high-profile media cases, laws were finally introduced to protect government whistleblowers. These laws were enacted to help prevent corruption and encourage people to expose misconduct, illegal, or dishonest activity for the good of society. People who choose to act as whistleblowers often suffer retaliation from their employer. They most likely are fired because they are an at-will employee, which means they can be fired without a reason. There are exceptions in place for whistleblowers who are at-will employees. Even without a statute, numerous decisions encourage and protect whistleblowing on grounds of public policy. Statutes state that an employer shall not take any adverse employment actions any employee in retaliation for a good-faith report of a whistleblowing action or cooperating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit arising under said action. Federal whistleblower legislation includes a statute protecting all government employees. In the federal civil service, the government is prohibited from taking, or threatening to take, any personnel action against an employee because the employee disclosed information that they reasonably believed showed a violation of law, gross mismanagement, and gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public safety or health. To prevail on a claim, a federal employee must show that a protected disclosure was made, that the accused official knew of the disclosure, that retaliation resulted, and that there was a genuine connection between the retaliation and the employee's action.


title: Whistleblower

text: Individual harm, damage to public trust, and threats to national security are three categories of harm that may come as a result of whistleblowing. Revealing a whistleblower's identity can automatically put their life in danger. Some media outlets associate words like "traitor" and "treason" with whistleblowers, and in many countries around the world, the punishment for treason is the death penalty, even if whoever allegedly committed treason may not have caused anyone physical harm. In some instances, whistleblowers must flee their country to avoid public scrutiny, threats of death or physical harm, and in some cases criminal charges.


title: Whistleblower

text: Whistleblowers are often protected under law from employer retaliation, but in many cases punishment has occurred, such as termination, suspension, demotion, wage garnishment, and/or harsh mistreatment by other employees. A 2009 study found that up to 38% of whistleblowers experienced professional retaliation in some form, including wrongful termination. Following dismissal, whistleblowers may struggle to find employment due to damaged reputations, poor references and blacklisting. The socioeconomic impact of whistleblowing through loss of livelihood and family strain may also impact on whistleblowers' psychological well being. Whistleblowers often experience immense stress as a result of litigation regarding harms such as unfair dismissal, which they often face with little or no support from unions. Whistleblowers who continue to pursue their concerns may also face long battles with official bodies such as regulators and government departments. Such bodies may reproduce the "institutional silence" adopted by employers, adding to whistleblowers' stress and difficulties. Thus, whistleblowers often suffer great injustice that is never acknowledged or rectified.


title: Whistleblower

text: In a few cases, however, harm is done by the whistleblower to innocent people. Whistleblowers can make unintentional mistakes, and investigations can be tainted by the fear of negative publicity. An example occurred in the Canadian health ministry, when a new employee wrongly concluded that nearly every research contract she saw in 2012 involved malfeasance. The end result was the sudden firing of seven people, false and public threats of a criminal investigation, and the death of one researcher by suicide. The government ultimately paid the victims millions of dollars for lost pay, slander, and other harms, in addition to CA $2.41 million spent on the subsequent 2015 investigation into the false charges.


title: Whistleblower

text: Whistleblowers are seen by some as selfless martyrs for public interest and organizational accountability; others view them as "traitors" or "defectors". Some even accuse them of solely pursuing personal glory and fame, or view their behavior as motivated by greed in qui tam cases. Culturally it still has connotations of betrayal, from ‘snitching’ at one level to ‘denunciations’ at the other. Speaking out is difficult, especially in a culture where this is not promoted or even actively discouraged. Some academics (such as Thomas Faunce) feel that whistleblowers should at least be entitled to a rebuttable presumption that they are attempting to apply ethical principles in the face of obstacles and that whistleblowing would be more respected in governance systems if it had a firmer academic basis in virtue ethics.


title: Whistleblower

text: It is likely that many people do not even consider blowing the whistle, not only because of fear of retaliation, but also because of fear of losing their relationships at work and outside work.


title: Whistleblower

text: Employees in academia, business or government might become aware of serious risks to health and the environment, but internal policies might pose threats of retaliation to those who report these early warnings. Private company employees in particular might be at risk of being fired, demoted, denied raises and so on for bringing environmental risks to the attention of appropriate authorities. Government employees could be at a similar risk for bringing threats to health or the environment to public attention, although perhaps this is less likely.


title: Whistleblower

text: There are examples of "early warning scientists" being harassed for bringing inconvenient truths about impending harm to the notice of the public and authorities. There have also been cases of young scientists being discouraged from entering controversial scientific fields for fear of harassment.


title: Whistleblower

text: In order to help whistleblowers, private organizations have formed whistleblower legal defense funds or support groups. Examples include the "National Whistleblowers Center" in the United States, and "Whistleblowers UK" and "Public Concern at Work (PCaW)" in the United Kingdom. Depending on the circumstances, it is not uncommon for whistleblowers to be ostracized by their co-workers, discriminated against by future potential employers, or even fired from their organization. This campaign directed at whistleblowers with the goal of eliminating them from the organization is referred to as mobbing. It is an extreme form of workplace bullying wherein the group is set against the targeted individual.


title: Whistleblower

text: There is limited research on the psychological impacts of whistle blowing. However, poor experiences with whistleblowing can cause a prolonged and prominent assault upon the well being of the whistleblower. As workers attempt to address concerns, they are often met with a wall of silence and hostility by management or colleagues. Depression is often reported by whistleblowers, and suicidal thoughts may occur in up to about 10%. General deterioration in health and self care has been described. The range of symptomatology shares many of the features of posttraumatic stress disorder, though there is debate about whether the trauma experienced by whistleblowers meets diagnostic thresholds. Increased stress related physical illness has also been described in whistleblowers.


title: Whistleblower

text: The stresses involved in whistleblowing can be huge and may deter whistleblowing out of fear of failure and reprisals. Some whistleblowers speak of overwhelming and persistent distress, drug and alcohol problems, paranoid behaviour at work, acute anxiety, nightmares, flashbacks and intrusive thoughts. This fear may indeed be justified, because an individual who feels threatened by whistleblowing, may plan the career destruction of the 'complainant' by reporting fictitious errors or rumours. This technique, labelled as "gaslighting", is a common approach used by organizations to manage employees who cause difficulty by raising concerns. In extreme cases, this technique involves the organization or manager proposing that the complainant's mental health is unstable. Organizations also often attempt to ostracise and isolate whistleblowers by undermining their concerns by suggesting that these are groundless, carrying out inadequate investigations or by ignoring them altogether. Whistleblowers may also be disciplined, suspended and reported to professional bodies upon manufactured pretexts.


title: Whistleblower

text: Such extreme experiences of threat and loss inevitably cause severe distress and sometimes mental illness, sometimes lasting for years afterwards. This mistreatment also deters others from coming forward with concerns. Thus, poor practices remain hidden behind a wall of silence, and prevent any organization from experiencing the improvements that may be afforded by intelligent failure. Some whistleblowers who break ranks with their organizations have had their mental stability questioned, such as Adrian Schoolcraft, the NYPD veteran who alleged falsified crime statistics in his department and was forcibly committed to a mental institution. Conversely, the emotional strain of a whistleblower investigation is devastating to the accused's family.


title: Whistleblower

text: 'Ethics' is the set of moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. Deeper questions and theories of whistleblowing and why people choose to do so can be studied through an ethical approach. Whistleblowing is a topic of several myths and inaccurate definitions. Leading arguments in the ideological camp, maintain that whistleblowing is the most basic of ethical traits and simply telling the truth to stop illegal harmful activities, or fraud against the government/taxpayers. In the opposite camp, many corporations and corporate or government leaders see whistleblowing as being disloyal for breaching confidentiality, especially in industries that handle sensitive client or patient information. Hundreds of laws grant protection to whistleblowers, but stipulations can easily cloud that protection and leave whistleblowers vulnerable to retaliation, sometimes even threats and physical harm. However, the decision and action has become far more complicated with recent advancements in technology and communication.


title: Whistleblower

text: The ethical implications of whistleblowing can be negative as well as positive. Some have argued that public sector whistleblowing plays an important role in the democratic process by resolving principle agent problems. However, sometimes employees may blow the whistle as an act of revenge. Rosemary O'Leary explains this in her short volume on a topic called guerrilla government. "Rather than acting openly, guerrillas often choose to remain "in the closet", moving clandestinely behind the scenes, salmon swimming upstream against the current of power. Over the years, I have learned that the motivations driving guerrillas are diverse. The reasons for acting range from the altruistic (doing the right thing) to the seemingly petty (I was passed over for that promotion). Taken as a whole, their acts are as awe inspiring as saving human lives out of a love of humanity and as trifling as slowing the issuance of a report out of spite or anger." For example, of the more than 1,000 whistleblower complaints that are filed each year with the Pentagon's Inspector General, about 97 percent are not substantiated. It is believed throughout the professional world that an individual is bound to secrecy within their work sector. Discussions of whistleblowing and employee loyalty usually assume that the concept of loyalty is irrelevant to the issue or, more commonly, that whistleblowing involves a moral choice that pits the loyalty that an employee owes an employer against the employee's responsibility to serve the public interest. Robert A. Larmer describes the standard view of whistleblowing in the Journal of Business Ethics by explaining that an employee possesses prima facie (based on the first impression; accepted as correct until proved otherwise) duties of loyalty and confidentiality to their employers and that whistleblowing cannot be justified except on the basis of a higher duty to the public good. It is important to recognize that in any relationship which demands loyalty the relationship works both ways and involves mutual enrichment.


title: Whistleblower

text: The ethics of Edward Snowden's actions have been widely discussed and debated in news media and academia worldwide. Edward Snowden released classified intelligence to the American people in an attempt to allow Americans to see the inner workings of the government. A person is diligently tasked with the conundrum of choosing to be loyal to the company or to blow the whistle on the company's wrongdoing. Discussions on whistleblowing generally revolve around three topics: attempts to define whistleblowing more precisely, debates about whether and when whistleblowing is permissible, and debates about whether and when one has an obligation to blow the whistle.


title: Whistleblower

text: Many whistleblowers have stated that they were motivated to take action to put an end to unethical practices, after witnessing injustices in their businesses or organizations. A 2009 study found that whistleblowers are often motivated to take action when they notice a sharp decline in ethical practices, as opposed to a gradual worsening. There are generally two metrics by which whistleblowers determine if a practice is unethical. The first metric involves a violation of the organization's bylaws or written ethical policies. These violations allow individuals to concretize and rationalize blowing the whistle. On the other hand, "value-driven" whistleblowers are influenced by their personal codes of ethics. In these cases, whistleblowers have been criticized for being driven by personal biases.


title: Whistleblower

text: In addition to ethics, social and organizational pressure are a motivating forces. A 2012 study shows that individuals are more likely to blow the whistle when others know about the wrongdoing, because they fear the consequences of keeping silent. In cases where one person is responsible for wrongdoing, the whistleblower may file a formal report, rather than directly confronting the wrongdoer, because confrontation would be more emotionally and psychologically stressful. Furthermore, individuals may be motivated to report unethical behavior when they believe their organizations will support them. Professionals in management roles may feel responsibility to blow the whistle to uphold the values and rules of their organizations.


title: Whistleblower

text: Legal protection for whistleblowers varies from country to country and may depend on the country of the original activity, where and how secrets were revealed, and how they eventually became published or publicized. Over a dozen countries have now adopted comprehensive whistleblower protection laws that create mechanisms for reporting wrongdoing and provide legal protections to whistleblowers. Over 50 countries have adopted more limited protections as part of their anti-corruption, freedom of information, or employment laws. "For purposes of the English Wikipedia, this section emphasizes the English-speaking world and covers other regimes only insofar as they represent exceptionally greater or lesser protections."


title: Whistleblower

text: There are laws in a number of states. The former NSW Police Commissioner Tony Lauer summed up official government and police attitudes as: "Nobody in Australia much likes whistleblowers, particularly in an organization like the police or the government." The former Australian intelligence officer known as "Witness K", who provided evidence of Australia's controversial spying operation against the government of East Timor in 2004, face the possibility of jail if convicted.


title: Whistleblower

text: Whistleblowers Australia is an association for those who have exposed corruption or any form of malpractice, especially if they were then hindered or abused.


title: Whistleblower

text: The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (PSIC) provides a safe and confidential mechanism enabling public servants and the general public to disclose wrongdoings committed in the public sector. It also protects from reprisal public servants who have disclosed wrongdoing and those who have cooperated in investigations. The office's goal is to enhance public confidence in Canada's federal public institutions and in the integrity of public servants.


title: Whistleblower

text: Mandated by the "Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act", PSIC is a permanent and independent agent of Parliament. The act, which came into force in 2007, applies to most of the federal public sector, approximately 400,000 public servants. This includes government departments and agencies, parent Crown corporations, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other federal public sector bodies.


title: Whistleblower

text: Not all disclosures lead to an investigation as the act sets out the jurisdiction of the commissioner and gives the option not to investigate under certain circumstances. On the other hand, if PSIC conducts an investigation and finds no wrongdoing was committed, the commissioner must report his findings to the discloser and to the organization's chief executive. Also, reports of founded wrongdoing are presented before the House of Commons and the Senate in accordance with the act.


title: Whistleblower

text: The act also established the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal (PSDPT) to protect public servants by hearing reprisal complaints referred by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner. The tribunal can grant remedies in favour of complainants and order disciplinary action against persons who take reprisals.


title: Whistleblower

text: The European Parliament approved a "Whistleblower Protection Directive" containing broad free speech protections for whistleblowers in both the public and the private sectors, including for journalists, in all member states of the European Union. The Directive prohibits direct or indirect retaliation against employees, current and former, in the public sector and the private sector. The Directive's protections apply to employees, to volunteers, and to those who assist them, including to civil society organizations and to journalists who report on their evidence. It provides equal rights for whistleblowers in the national security sector who challenge denial or removal of their security clearances. Also, whistleblowers are protected from criminal prosecution and corporate lawsuits for damages resulting from their whistleblowing, and provides for psychological support for dealing with harassment stress.


title: Whistleblower

text: Good government observers have hailed the EU directive as setting "the global standard for best practice rights protecting freedom of speech where it counts the most—challenging abuses of power that betray the public trust," according to the U.S.-based Government Accountability Project. They have noted, however, that ambiguities remain in the Directive regarding application in some areas, such as "duty speech," that is, when employees report the same information in the course of a job assignment, for example, to a supervisor, instead of whistleblowing as formal dissent. In fact, duty speech is how the overwhelming majority of whistleblowing information gets communicated, and where the free flow of information is needed for proper functioning of organizations. However it is in response to such "duty speech" employee communication that the vast majority of retaliation against employees occurs. These observers have noted that the Directive must be understood as applying to protection against retaliation for such duty speech because without such an understanding the Directive will "miss the iceberg of what's needed".


title: Whistleblower

text: In France, several laws, all recent, have established a protection regime for whistleblowers. Prior to 2016, there were several laws in force which created disparate legislation with sector-specific regimes. The 2016 law on transparency, fight against corruption and modernization of economic life (known as the "Sapin 2 Law") provides for the first time a single legal definition of whistleblowers in France. It defines him or her as ""an individual who discloses or reports, in a disinterested manner and in good faith, a crime or an offence, a serious and manifest breach of an international commitment duly ratified or approved by France, an unilateral act of an international organization adopted on the basis of such a commitment, of the law or regulations, or a serious threat or harm to general interest, which he or she has become personally aware of."" It excludes certain professional secrets such as national defense secrecy, medical secrecy or the secrecy of relations between a lawyer and his client.


title: Whistleblower

text: In 2022, two laws are passed to transpose the European Directive 2019/1937 of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law. One of them strengthens the role of the Défenseur des droits - the French ombudsman - tasked with advising and protecting whistleblowers. The second amends the Sapin 2 law to bring it into line with the directive and adds substantial guarantees not included in the directive among which:


title: Whistleblower

text: The law allows any person to apply to the Défenseur des droits for an opinion on his or her status as a whistleblower. A response should be given within six months after receiving the application. The organic law provides that the Défenseur des droits will publish a report every two years on the overall functioning of whistleblower protection addressed to the French President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly and the President of the Senate.


title: Whistleblower

text: In Jamaica, the Protected Disclosures Act, 2011 received assent in March 2011. It creates a comprehensive system for the protection of whistleblowers in the public and private sector. It is based on the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.


title: Whistleblower

text: The Government of India had been considering adopting a whistleblower protection law for several years. In 2003, the Law Commission of India recommended the adoption of the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Act, 2002. In August 2010, the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010 was introduced into the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India. The Bill was approved by the cabinet in June 2011. The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010 was renamed as The Whistleblowers' Protection Bill, 2011 by the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice. The Whistleblowers' Protection Bill, 2011 was passed by the Lok Sabha on 28 December 2011. and by the Rajyasabha on 21 February 2014. The Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011 has received the Presidential assent on 9 May 2014 and the same has been subsequently published in the official gazette of the Government of India on 9 May 2014 by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India.


title: Whistleblower

text: The government of Ireland committed to adopting a comprehensive whistleblower protection law in January 2012. The Protected Disclosures Act (PDA) was passed in 2014. The law covers workers in the public and private sectors, and also includes contractors, trainees, agency staff, former employees and job seekers. A range of different types of misconduct may be reported under the law, which provides protections for workers from a range of employment actions as well as whistleblowers' identity.


title: Whistleblower

text: The Netherlands has measures in place to mitigate the risks of whistleblowing: the House for Whistleblowers (Huis voor klokkenluiders) offers advice and support to whistleblowers, and the Parliament passed a proposal in 2016 to establish this house for whistleblowers, to protect them from the severe negative consequences that they might endure (Kamerstuk, 2013). Dutch media organizations also provide whistleblower support; on 9September 2013 a number of major Dutch media outlets supported the launch of Publeaks, which provides a secure website for people to leak documents to the media. Publeaks is designed to protect whistleblowers. It operates on the GlobaLeaks software developed by the Hermes Center for Transparency and Digital Human Rights, which supports whistleblower-oriented technologies internationally.


title: Whistleblower

text: The Swiss Council of States agreed on a draft amendment of the Swiss Code of Obligations in September 2014. The draft introduces articles 321a to 321a, 328(3), 336(2)(d). An amendment of article 362(1) adds articles 321a to 321a to the list of provisions that may not be overruled by labour and bargaining agreements.


title: Whistleblower

text: Article 321a introduces an obligation on employees to report irregularities to their employer before reporting to an authority. An employee will, however, not breach his duty of good faith if he reports an irregularity to an authority and


title: Whistleblower

text: Article 321a provides that an employee may exceptionally directly report to an authority. Exceptions apply in cases


title: Whistleblower

text: The draft does not improve on protection against dismissal for employees who report irregularities to their employer. The amendment does not provide for employees anonymously filing their observations of irregularities.


title: Whistleblower

text: Whistleblowing in the United Kingdom is protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA). Amongst other things, under the Act protected disclosures are permitted even if a non-disclosure agreement has been signed between the employer and the former or current employee; a consultation on further restricting confidentiality clauses was held in 2019.


title: Whistleblower

text: The Freedom to Speak Up Review set out 20 principles to bring about improvements to help whistleblowers in the NHS, including:


title: Whistleblower

text: Monitor produced a whistleblowing policy in November 2015 that all NHS organizations in England are obliged to follow. It explicitly says that anyone bullying or acting against a whistleblower could be potentially liable to disciplinary action.


title: Whistleblower

text: Whistleblowing tradition in what would soon become the United States had a start in 1773 with Benjamin Franklin leaking a few letters in the Hutchinson affair. The release of the communications from royal governor Thomas Hutchinson to Thomas Whately led to a firing, a duel and arguably, both through the many general impacts of the leak and its role in convincing Franklin to join the radicals' cause, the taking of another important final step toward the American Revolution.


title: Whistleblower

text: The first act of the Continental Congress in favor of what later came to be called whistleblowing came in the 1777-8 case of Samuel Shaw and Richard Marven. The two seamen accused Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy Esek Hopkins of torturing British prisoners of war. The Congress dismissed Hopkins and then agreed to cover the defense cost of the pair after Hopkins filed a libel suit against them under which they were imprisoned. Shaw and Marven were subsequently cleared in a jury trial.


title: Whistleblower

text: To be considered a whistleblower in the United States, most federal whistleblower statutes require that federal employees have reason to believe their employer violated some law, rule, or regulation; testify or commence a legal proceeding on the legally protected matter; or refuse to violate the law.


title: Whistleblower

text: In cases where whistleblowing on a specified topic is protected by statute, U.S. courts have generally held that such whistleblowers are protected from retaliation. However, a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court decision, "Garcetti v. Ceballos" (2006) held that the First Amendment free speech guarantees for government employees do not protect disclosures made within the scope of the employees' duties.


title: Whistleblower

text: In the United States, legal protections vary according to the subject matter of the whistleblowing, and sometimes the state where the case arises. In passing the 2002 Sarbanes–Oxley Act, the Senate Judiciary Committee found that whistleblower protections were dependent on the "patchwork and vagaries" of varying state statutes. Still, a wide variety of federal and state laws protect employees who call attention to violations, help with enforcement proceedings, or refuse to obey unlawful directions. While this patchwork approach has often been criticized, it is also responsible for the United States having more dedicated whistleblowing laws than any other country.


title: Whistleblower

text: The first US law adopted specifically to protect whistleblowers was the 1863 United States False Claims Act (revised in 1986), which tried to combat fraud by suppliers of the United States government during the American Civil War. The Act encourages whistleblowers by promising them a percentage of the money recovered by the government and by protecting them from employment retaliation.


title: Whistleblower

text: Another US law that specifically protects whistleblowers is the Lloyd–La Follette Act of 1912. It guaranteed the right of federal employees to furnish information to the United States Congress. The first US environmental law to include an employee protection was the Clean Water Act of 1972. Similar protections were included in subsequent federal environmental laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976), Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (through 1978 amendment to protect nuclear whistleblowers), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or the Superfund Law) (1980), and the Clean Air Act (1990). Similar employee protections enforced through OSHA are included in the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (1982) to protect truck drivers, the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act (PSIA) of 2002, the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century ("AIR 21"), and the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, enacted on 30 July 2002 (for corporate fraud whistleblowers). More recent laws with some whistleblower protection include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA", the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act ("CPSIA"), the Seamans Protection Act as amended by the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 ("SPA"), the Consumer Financial Protection Act ("CFPA"), the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act ("FSMA"), the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act ("MAP-21"), and the Taxpayer First Act ("TFA").


title: Whistleblower

text: Investigation of retaliation against whistleblowers under 23 federal statutes falls under the jurisdiction of Directorate of Whistleblower Protection Program of the United States Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). New whistleblower statutes enacted by Congress, which are to be enforced by the Secretary of Labor, are generally delegated by a Secretary's Order to OSHA's Directorate of Whistleblower Protection Program (DWPP).


title: Whistleblower

text: The patchwork of laws means that victims of retaliation need to be aware of the laws at issue to determine the deadlines and means for making proper complaints. Some deadlines are as short as 10 days (Arizona State Employees have 10 days to file a "Prohibited Personnel Practice" Complaint before the Arizona State Personnel Board), while others are up to 300 days.


title: Whistleblower

text: Those who report a false claim against the federal government, and suffer adverse employment actions as a result, may have up to six years (depending on state law) to file a civil suit for remedies under the US False Claims Act (FCA). Under a "qui tam" provision, the "original source" for the report may be entitled to a percentage of what the government recovers from the offenders. However, the "original source" must also be the first to file a federal civil complaint for recovery of the federal funds fraudulently obtained, and must avoid publicizing the claim of fraud until the US Justice Department decides whether to prosecute the claim itself. Such "qui tam" lawsuits must be filed under seal, using special procedures to keep the claim from becoming public until the federal government makes its decision on direct prosecution.


title: Whistleblower

text: The Espionage Act of 1917 has been used to prosecute whistleblowers in the United States including Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. In 2013, Manning was convicted of violating the Espionage Act and sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking sensitive military documents to WikiLeaks. The same year, Snowden was charged with violating the Espionage Act for releasing confidential documents belonging to the NSA.


title: Whistleblower

text: Section 922 of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) in the United States incentivizes and protects whistleblowers. By Dodd-Frank, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) financially rewards whistleblowers for providing original information about violations of federal securities laws that results in sanctions of at least $1M. Additionally, Dodd-Frank offers job security to whistleblowers by illegalizing termination or discrimination due to whistleblowing. The whistleblower provision has proven successful; after the enactment of Dodd-Frank, the SEC charged KBR (company) and BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (company) with violating the whistleblower protection Rule 21F-17 by having employees sign confidentiality agreements that threatened repercussions for discussing internal matters with outside parties. Former President Donald Trump announced plans to dismantle Dodd-Frank in 2016. He created the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection as a part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which reportedly instead punished whistleblowers.


title: Whistleblower

text: The US Department of Labor's Whistleblower Protection Program can handle many types of retaliation claims based on legal actions an employee took or was perceived to take in the course of their employment. Moreover, in the United States, if the retaliation occurred due to the perception of who the employee is as a person, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may be able to accept a complaint of retaliation. In an effort to overcome those fears, in 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was put forth to provide great incentive to whistleblowers. For example, if a whistleblower gave information which could be used to legally recover over one million dollars; then they could receive ten to thirty percent of it.


title: Whistleblower

text: Whistleblowers have risen within the technology industry as it has expanded in recent years. Protection for these specific whistleblowers falls short; they often end up unemployed or worse- in jail. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act offers an incentive for private sector whistleblowers, but only if they go to the SEC with information. If a whistleblower acts internally, as they often do in the technology industry, they are not protected by the law. Scandals, such as the Dragonfly search engine scandal and the Pompliano lawsuit against snapchat, have drawn attention to whistleblowers in technology.


title: Whistleblower

text: The federally recognized National Whistleblower Appreciation Day is observed annually on 30 July, on the anniversary of the country's original 1778 whistleblower protection law.


title: Whistleblower

text: There are comprehensive laws in New Zealand and South Africa. A number of other countries have recently adopted comprehensive whistleblower laws including Ghana, South Korea, and Uganda. They are also being considered in Kenya and Rwanda. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2008 that whistleblowing was protected as freedom of expression. Nigeria has progressed into formulating the Whistleblowing Policy in 2016. However, this has not yet been established as law. The Whistle-blower Protection bill is still pending at the National Assembly. In February 2017, Nigeria also set up a whistleblowing policy against corruption and other ills in the country.


title: Whistleblower

text: Many NGOs advocate for stronger and more comprehensive legal rights and protections for whistleblowers. Among them are the Government Accountability Project (GAP), Blueprint for Free Speech, Public Concern at Work (PCaW), the Open Democracy Advice Centre or in France, the Maison des Lanceurs d'Alerte (MLA). An international network - the Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) - aimed at gathering these NGOs.


title: Whistleblower

text: Frank Serpico, an NYPD whistleblower, prefers to use the term "lamp-lighter" to describe the whistleblower's role as a watchman. The Lamplighter Project, which aims to encourage law enforcement officers to report corruption and abuse of power and helps them do so, is named based on Serpico's usage of the term.


title: Whistleblower

text: Whistleblowers who may be at risk from those they are exposing are now using encryption methods and anonymous content sharing software to protect their identity. Tor, a highly accessible anonymity network, is one that is frequently used by whistleblowers around the world. Tor has undergone a number of large security updates to protect the identities of potential whistleblowers who may wish to anonymously leak information.


title: Whistleblower

text: Recently specialized whistleblowing software like SecureDrop and GlobaLeaks has been built on top of the Tor technology to incentivize and simplify its adoption for secure whistleblowing.


title: Whistleblower

text: In business, whistleblowing hotlines are usually deployed as a way of mitigating risk, with the intention of providing secure, anonymous reporting for employees or third party suppliers who may otherwise be fearful of reprisals from their employer. As such, implementing a corporate whistleblowing hotline is often seen as a step towards compliance, and can also highlight an organization's stance on ethics. It is widely agreed that implementing a dedicated service for whistleblowers has a positive effect on an organizational culture.


title: Whistleblower

text: A whistleblowing hotline is sometimes also referred to as an "ethics hotline" or "'Speak Up' hotline" and is often facilitated by an outsourced service provider to encourage potential disclosers to come forward.


title: Whistleblower

text: In 2018, the "Harvard Business Review" published findings to support the idea that whistleblowing hotlines are crucial to keeping companies healthy, stating "More whistles blown are a sign of health, not illness."


title: Whistleblower

text: One of the subplots for season6 of the popular American TV show "The Office" focused on Andy Bernard, a salesman, discovering the printers of his company catch on fire, struggling with how to deal with the news, and the company's response to the whistleblower going public.


title: Whistleblower

text: The 1998 film "" involved Picard and the NCC-1701-E "Enterprise" crew risking their Starfleet careers to blow the whistle on a Federation conspiracy with the Son’a to forcibly relocate the Ba’ku from their planet.


title: Whistleblower

text: In 2014, the rock/industrial band Laibach on its eighth studio album "Spectre" released a song titled "The Whistleblowers". It was released on 3 March 2014 under Mute Records.


title: Whistleblower

text: In 2016, the rock band Thrice released a song titled "Whistleblower" off of the album "To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere". The song is written from the perspective of Snowden.


title: Whistleblower

text: In July 2018, CBS debuted a new reality television show entitled "Whistleblower", hosted by lawyer, former judge and police officer Alex Ferrer which covers "qui tam" suits under the False Claims Act against companies that have allegedly defrauded the federal government.


title: University of Miami

text: The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, including the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Miami's Health District, the law school on the main campus, and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science on Virginia Key with research facilities in southern Miami-Dade County.


title: University of Miami

text: The University of Miami offers 138 undergraduate, 140 master's, and 67 doctoral degree programs. Since its founding in 1925, the university has attracted students from all 50 states and 173 foreign countries. With 16,954 faculty and staff as of 2021, the University of Miami is the second largest employer in Miami-Dade County. The university's main campus in Coral Gables spans , has over of buildings, and is located south of Downtown Miami, the heart of the nation's ninth largest and world's 65th largest metropolitan area.


title: University of Miami

text: University of Miami faculty include a number of notable academics across nearly all disciplines, including four Nobel Prize recipients. The university is classified among "Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity". As of 2021, it is the 71st largest research university in the nation with research expenditures of $375 million. Its undergraduate academic admissions standards are ranked the most selective among all of Florida's 171 universities and colleges, and the university's library system ranks among the top 50 research libraries in North America with over four million volumes, including exceptional holdings in Cuban heritage and music.


title: University of Miami

text: As of 2021, the University of Miami has 218,817 total alumni since its 1925 founding, including several globally notable alumni who have gone on to prove enormously influential in a wide range of fields, including academics, business, government, scientific innovation and healthcare, non-profit organizational leadership, thought leadership and activism, television and film, music, professional and Olympic athletics, art, literature, and writing.


title: University of Miami

text: The University of Miami's intercollegiate athletic teams are collectively known as the Miami Hurricanes and compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Its football team has won five national championships since 1983 and its baseball team has won four national championships since 1982.


title: University of Miami

text: In 1925, the University of Miami was chartered by a group of citizens who sought to offer "unique opportunities to develop inter-American studies, further creative work in the arts and letters, and conduct teaching and research programs in tropical studies". They believed that a local university would benefit the Miami metropolitan area and were optimistic that the university would be a beneficiary of future financial support, especially since South Florida was benefiting from the historic 1920s land boom. During this era of Jim Crow laws, there were three large state-funded universities in Florida for white males, white females, and black coeds: the University of Florida in Gainesville and Florida State University and Florida A&M University, both in Tallahassee). Like most private universities of the time, the University of Miami was founded as a coeducational institution but not yet open to Black students.


title: University of Miami

text: The university began in earnest in 1925 when George E. Merrick, founder of Coral Gables, granted and nearly $5 million ($ million, adjusted for current inflation) for the university's founding. The contributions included land contracts and mortgages on real estate that had been sold in the city. The university was formally chartered April 8, 1925 by the Circuit Court for Dade County. But by 1926, as the first class of 372 students enrolled at the new university, the land boom had collapsed and hopes for a speedy recovery were dashed by the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926. For the next 15 years, the university struggled financially, bordering on insolvency. The first building on campus, now known as the Merrick Building, was left half built for over two decades due to the economic difficulties, requiring that classes be held off-campus at the nearby Anastasia Hotel in Coral Gables. Partitions separated the classrooms, giving the university the early but long since discarded nickname Cardboard College.


title: University of Miami

text: In 1929, the University of Miami's founding member William E. Walsh and other members of the university's board of regents resigned following the widespread collapse of Florida's economy. The university's plight was so severe that students went door to door in Coral Gables collecting funds to keep it open. A reconstituted ten-member board was chaired by the university's first president Bowman Foster Ashe (1926–1952) and included Merrick, Joseph H. Adams, Theodore Dickinson, E.B. Douglas, David Fairchild, James H. Gilman, J. C. Penney, Richardson Saunders, and Frank B. Shutts. In 1930, several faculty members and more than 60 students entered the University of Miami when the University of Havana closed amidst political unrest in Cuba. But none of it proved enough, and the university was forced to seek bankruptcy protection in 1932.


title: University of Miami

text: The troubles, however, were short-lived. In July 1934, the University of Miami was reincorporated and a board of trustees was installed, replacing the board of regents. By 1940, community leaders were replacing faculty and administration as trustees. During Ashe's presidency, the university grew considerably, adding the School of Law (1928), the School of Business (1929, renamed the Miami Herbert Business School in 2019), the School of Education (1929), the Graduate School (1941), the Marine Laboratory (1943, renamed the Rosenstiel School in 1969), the School of Engineering (1947), and the School of Medicine (1952).


title: University of Miami

text: During World War II, the University of Miami was one of only 131 colleges and universities nationally to participate in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which offered students a path to commissioning as a U.S. Navy officer.


title: University of Miami

text: In 1952, Jay F. W. Pearson, one of Ashe's long-time assistants, was appointed the University of Miami's second president. A charter faculty member and marine biologist, Pearson held the university's presidency for a decade, until 1962. Under Pearson's leadership, the University of Miami began awarding its first Ph.D. degrees, and student enrollment increased substantially, exceeding 4,000.


title: University of Miami

text: From 1961 until 1968, the university leased buildings on its south campus to the Central Intelligence Agency that were used in the JMWAVE operation against Fidel Castro's government in Cuba. The university no longer owns land at the south campus.


title: University of Miami

text: In 1961, the university dropped its policy of racial segregation and began admitting Black students and allowing their full participation in student activities and athletic teams. Five years later, in 1966, Ray Bellamy, a Black student at the University of Miami, became the first major Black college athlete in the Deep South to receive an athletic scholarship.


title: University of Miami

text: Until the early 1970s, as was widespread practice at colleges and universities nationally, the university regulated female student conduct more strictly than that of male students, including employing a staff under the Dean of Women charged with watching over female students. Under Pearson, however, the university began incrementally liberalizing these policies. In 1971, he consolidated the separate Dean of Men and Dean of Women positions in one. The same year, the university established a Women's Commission, which issued a 1974 report on the status of women on campus, leading to the university's first female commencement speaker, day care, and the launch of a Women's Study minor. Following enactment of Title IX in 1972 and over a decade of litigation, University of Miami organizations, including honorary societies, were opened to women's participation and inclusion. The Women's Commission also secured more equitable funding for women's sports. In 1973, Terry Williams Munz became the first woman in the nation awarded an athletic scholarship when she accepted a University of Miami golf scholarship.


title: University of Miami

text: Henry King Stanford, then president of Birmingham–Southern College, was appointed the University of Miami's third president in 1962. Stanford led an increased emphasis on the university's research, reorganization of its administrative structure, and construction of new campus facilities. New research centers established under Stanford included the Center for Advanced International Studies (1964), the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Evolution (1964), the Center for Theoretical Studies (1965), and the Institute for the Study of Aging (1975). In 1965, the University of Miami also began actively recruiting international students. Beginning with the 1968 football season, Stanford barred playing of "Dixie" by the university's band.


title: University of Miami

text: In 1981, Edward T. Foote II, then dean of Washington University School of Law, was appointed the University of Miami's fourth president. Under Foote's leadership, the university continued and accelerated its objective of attracting elite faculty and students. As part of the university's strategic plan under Foote's leadership, the university consciously limited and even reduced the number of its undergraduates with a conscientious focus on quality alone. He also led a successful effort to convert on-campus student housing into a system of residential colleges and the university launched its largest fundraising campaign to date, a five-year, $400 million campaign that began in 1984 and ultimately substantially exceeded that goal, raising $517.5 million, and the University of Miami began being cited as one of the nation's premier universities. Under Foote, the University of Miami's endowment expanded almost ten-fold from $47.4 million in 1981 to $465.2 million in 2000.


title: University of Miami

text: Foote was succeeded by Donna Shalala, former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1988 to 1993 and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 2001. Shalala was named the University of Miami's fifth president in November 2000. Under Shalala, the University of Miami built new libraries, dormitories, symphony rehearsal halls, and classroom buildings. The university's academic quality also continued improving, a trend that began in earnest under Foote.


title: University of Miami

text: Roughly a year into Shalala's presidency, on November 5, 2001, an 18-year-old University of Miami fraternity pledge drowned while attempting to swim across Lake Osceola, the campus lake, while intoxicated. Police reports later cited the student's dangerously high blood alcohol content in conjunction with dropping water temperatures and exhaustion as primary factors in his death, and two fraternity members who accompanied him were criminally charged with "negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of duty to aid and/or rescue." The university responded by making swimming in Lake Osceola, which was already prohibited, punishable by expulsion.


title: University of Miami

text: In 2002, the University of Miami launched a new and even more ambitious multi-year fundraising campaign that ultimately raised $1.37 billion, the most ever raised by any university or college in Florida history . From these proceeds, over half, $854 million, was allocated to construct and improve the University of Miami's Leonard M. School of Medicine medical campus. In November 2007, the University of Miami acquired Cedars Medical Center in Miami's Health District, renaming it University of Miami Hospital and giving the Miller School of Medicine its first dedicated in-house teaching hospital rather than having to rely on academic affiliations with area hospitals.


title: University of Miami

text: In 2003, Shalala controversially chose to close the University of Miami's North-South Center, which was established by the U.S. Congress in 1984, had secured a partnership with the Rand Corporation, and had become, as Associated Press reported in 2003, "a respected public policy think tank specializing in Latin American and Caribbean issues including trade and economic policy, migration, security, public corruption, and the environment."


title: University of Miami

text: On September 30, 2004, the University of Miami hosted one of three nationally televised U.S. presidential debates between presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. The debate was moderated by Jim Lehrer of "PBS NewsHour" and held on the University of Miami campus inside the Watsco Center. It drew 62.5 million viewers.


title: University of Miami

text: In February 2006, University of Miami custodial workers, who had been contracted to the university through a Boston-based company, alleged unfair labor practices, substandard pay, lack of health benefits, and workplace safety concerns and began a strike. The strike drew support from several University of Miami students, who began a hunger strike and on-campus vigil in support of it. The strike settled May 1, 2006 when a card count union vote was permitted and led to establishment of the first collective bargaining unit in the university's history. The university raised wages for its custodial workers from $6.40 to $8.35 per hour and provided health insurance.