See below. Very interesting, a major physics scandal still
ongoing. Perhaps consider sending your snailmail opinion to
the AIP and also the APS.
((((((((((((((((((((((( ( ( (o) ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty http://staff.washington.edu/wbeaty/
Research Engineer UW Chem Dept, Bagley Hall RM74
beaty@chem.washington.edu Box 351700, Seattle, WA 98195-1700
ph:206-543-6195 fax:206-685-8665
From: Denis Rancourt <dgr@physics.uottawa.ca>
To: <beaty@chem.washington.edu>
Subject: Victory in Disciplined Minds case
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 23:54:54 -0400
Dear fellow physicist,
Your courage to take a public stand on a close-to-home issue has won
justice for a fired fellow physicist and has promoted free expression
within the physics community.
Over five years ago we sent you an appeal beginning: "Physics Today
magazine recently gave a punishing review to a book written by physicist
Jeff Schmidt..."[1] For 19 years Jeff was a staff editor at our
professional journal, Physics Today -- until his supervisors saw his book
Disciplined Minds. Based upon examples from physics graduate training and
beyond, it provocatively critiques workplace hierarchy in general and the
politically subordinate role of people hired to do creative work.[2] The
magazine's review: "...[they] fired him."
The resulting appeal to physicists and others landed in fertile soil and,
through your efforts, justice has finally been done. You will not read
about it in Physics Today, and so we are writing now to give you the story
and to thank you for your support.
Your public response, from over 35 countries, was unprecedented. More than
1000 scientists, activists, and others in many fields -- including the
largest number of physicists ever to speak out on a freedom-of-expression
issue in the United States -- sent the American Institute of Physics
(AIP), which publishes Physics Today, strongly worded demands for justice,
all now public.[3] A human-rights committee of scientists affiliated with
a unit of the IEEE investigated and issued a public report[4] condemning
Jeff's dismissal.
Bringing such public judgment on Jeff's firing was already a form of
justice because of the toll on AIP's image. Such punitive justice is
available to any wronged individual unafraid to go public. Jeff deeply
appreciates and thanks you for your support.[2] You can contact him at
jeffschmidt@alumni.uci.edu.
*Compensatory justice*
Encouraged by your passionately expressed view that our institutions
should uphold our community values, we continued the campaign for free
expression -- with the goal of compensatory justice.
We took your protests to the American Physical Society, which plays a
major role in governing AIP, and asked[5] the organization to oppose
Jeff's dismissal, as it does when dissident physicists outside the United
States are punished for expressing their views. APS officials, in what
amounts to tacit approval of Jeff's firing, refused even to investigate
the same issue close to home. This prompted us to urge Jeff to take legal
action.
Hence, Jeff approached the most prominent Washington, D.C., civil-rights
law organization, which, impressed by your protests, took the case pro
bono publico. ("That's Latin for 'free,'" says Jeff.) The lawyers filed
suit[6] and obtained internal AIP documents. After AIP handed over the
embarrassing and incriminating documents -- which are now public[7] -- it
capitulated and signed a legally binding settlement agreement. Some
highlights:
1. Payment. AIP paid Jeff what we estimate[8] to be at least half a
million dollars.
2. Public settlement. AIP agreed to Jeff's demand that the settlement
agreement be a public document.[9]
3. Symbolic reinstatement. AIP reinstated Jeff to his position at
Physics Today magazine.[10] A few hours later Jeff resigned.
4. Public statement by AIP. The American Institute of Physics publicly
acknowledged that Jeff's supervisors and others praised his work and that
AIP fired him for his provocative expression.[11]
5. Employment reference. AIP has given Jeff a positive reference
letter.[12]
6. Discrimination remediation. While employed at Physics Today, Jeff led
a contentious effort to force the magazine to change its long-standing
pattern of hiring and training only whites as editors, and to live up to
its claim of being an affirmative- action employer. These actions were
part of the expression for which Jeff was fired.[6,13] Thus, to settle the
case, AIP agreed[14] to...
..Support the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) and the National
Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP) in becoming a member society of AIP
and appointing a member of the AIP governing board.
..Encourage each of the ten AIP member societies to work with the NSBP and
NSHP diversity council.
..Offer a science-writing course at an NSBP annual conference, which will
increase the pool of talented minority-group editors.
..Maintain a program of mandatory diversity training for all AIP
employees.
*Freedom of expression not embraced*
Although AIP's repressive behavior backfired, the organization has not
welcomed free expression within the physics community. To settle the case,
AIP demanded various censorships, including deleting text from critical
articles published by the American Physical Society and by the Canadian
Undergraduate Physics Journal.[15] AIP's behavior prompted the Canadian
Undergraduate Physics Journal to lodge a strong, public protest.[16] It is
posted at
<http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sanjoy/schmidt/chronology/aipletter.pdf>
After the settlement, the American Institute of Physics, represented by
the notorious union-busting law firm Jackson Lewis, slapped Jeff with a
half-million-dollar legal action[17] to silence him and to prevent
physicists from discussing the settlement. AIP claimed that snippets of
text posted at the disciplinedminds.com website (such as the two words,
"symbolic reinstatement," and the five words, "Schmidt's concessions to
AIP's demands") each did $20,000 worth of damage to AIP, for a total of
half a million dollars. AIP told Jeff that it would stop its legal action
if he removes those phrases from the web and refrains from "all commentary
regarding the settlement." We therefore regard AIP's legal filing as a
SLAPP action (strategic lawsuit against public participation), one whose
primary purpose is to stifle discussions of public interest.
We found this repressive behavior unacceptable for an institution of
physics, which should show the public that physicists come to the truth
through free discussion, not through censorship and intimidation. We
wrote to AIP twice[18] demanding that it drop its SLAPP action and reverse
the censorship of articles published by the American Physical Society and
the Canadian Undergraduate Physics Journal.
AIP has not undone the censorship or compensated Jeff for the legal costs
of defending against its SLAPP action, but -- in another victory for free
expression -- AIP announced, in its response to our letters, that it would
stop pursuing the legal action.
*We would like to hear from you*
Thank you for taking a public stand.
We hope that you will share your thoughts with us. Please share your
thoughts with AIP too. (Send us a copy and, with your permission, we'll
post it on the web.) Do let us know if you would like to know about
further developments in this case or about similar cases. You can reach
us at DGRancourt@aol.com (Denis Rancourt), and you can reach AIP at
millie@mgm.mit.edu (AIP governing board chair Mildred Dresselhaus).
Sincerely,
Denis Rancourt for
Fay Dowker, Physics Department, Imperial College London, UK
Sanjoy Mahajan, Physics Department, University of Cambridge, UK
Talat Rahman, Physics Department, University of Central Florida
Denis Rancourt, Physics Department, University of Ottawa, Canada
George Reiter, Physics Department, University of Houston