From: Doug Roberts (doug@nolimits.demon.co.uk) 03/08/95 Reuters World Service August 3, 1995, Thursday, BC cycle

After a secret probe, Harvard Medical School has decided against censuring a tenured professor who believes that extraterrestrial beings have visited this planet and abducted earthlings.

Dr. John Mack, an award-winning writer, psychiatrist and nationally known UFO researcher, was told last week by the dean of Harvard Medical School that a review of his activities had ended and no action would be taken against him.

Harvard Medical School dean Daniel Tosteson "reaffirmed Dr. Mack's academic freedom to study what he wishes and to state his opinions without impediment," the university said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Mack, who has publicly stated that aliens from outer space have "invaded our physical reality and (are) affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people," had been under investigation by a peer committee convened by Tosteson.

The review, a highly unusual probe of activities of a tenured professor conducted behind closed doors, was sharply criticised by some academics at the university as an assault on academic freedom.

Mack, who won a Pulitzer Prize for a biography of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and has taught at Harvard for more than three decades, was not available for comment.

He has long been a controversial figure.

Last year he burst into the limelight with the publication of his book "Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens," which drew sharp attacks from the media and prompted headlines like "E.T. Call Harvard."

Despite the adverse publicity, Harvard's investigation of Mack deeply divided the academic community, with many arguing that the probe was a violation of the academic freedom that tenure is supposed to protect.

Others contended that the review was a legitimate attempt to establish whether Mack was conducting his research in accordance with Harvard's standards, or whether he was exploiting his patients.

Harvard said Tosteson had discussed at length with Mack his treatment of patients who believe that they had been abducted by aliens.

"He has urged Dr. Mack that, in his enthusiasm to care for and study this group of individuals, he should be careful not, in any way, to violate the high standards for the conduct of clinical practice and clinical investigation that have been the hallmark of this faculty," Harvard Medical School said.

"Dr. Mack remains a member in good standing of the Harvard Faculty of Medicine," it added.

Arnold Relman, chairman of the review committee, said the university had never intended to revoke Mack's tenure.