In the wake of the resignation of former Comic Book Legal Defense Fund executive director Charles Brownstein, Paul Levitz is retiring from the CBLDF board of directors and the board has accepted the resignations of board members Jeff Abraham and Katherine Keller.
Brownstein resigned from his position last week following renewed allegations of sexual assault.
Jeff Abraham is the president of Penguin Random House Publisher Services. Katherine Keller is a librarian at UNLV’s College of Education. Paul Levitz is a teacher, an award-winning comics writer, and former president and publisher of DC Comics.
In a statement released by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the board of directors said:
"We respect the decisions that Paul, Katherine and Jeff have made to leave the Board. We realize it will be a long path to earning back the trust of our members, supporters and the industry. We recognize that it's been our inability to react, or act at all, that's been the cause of pain in our community. Even last week, when we took the necessary action in accepting Charles’s resignation, our communications were stilted and clumsy. To everyone who has come forward, we haven't done justice to your bravery and we are truly sorry. We vow to be better.”
The board also said that the CBLDF will begin a nationwide search for a new executive director; and that they plan to expand the mission of the organization, which is a nonprofit First Amendment rights watchdog.
The board’s release concluded: “We want to keep listening. If you have a story to tell, whether it involves the CBLDF or not, we want to hear it. We’ve created the email feedback@cbldf.org where you can share your story or voice your concerns. We don’t expect our words to earn us anything. We hope our actions will."
