Harvard Investigates a Professor

From: ekomarek@Libris.Public.Lib.GA.US (Ed Komarek)

Harvard Investigates a Professor Who Wrote of Space Aliens

By WILLIAM H. HONAN

In a rather bizarre example of peer review, a committee at the Harvard Medical School has examined the work of a tenured psychiatry professor who wrote a best-selling book about people who say they were abducted by diminutive, large-eyed, gray-colored

The committee, three participants say, is about to present the dean of the school a report sharply critical of the professor, Dr. John Mack, who wrote "Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens," published last year and featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Sh

The book is a sympathetic portrait of the experiences that Dr. Mack's subjects related to him, accepting those accounts as truth.

The review by his peers has divided the academic community. Some denounce the investigation as an assault on the academic freedom that tenure is supposed to protect, while others back it as a legitimate inquiry by the university into the scientific qu

The committee was established a year ago by Daniel Tosteson, dean of the Harvard Medical School, said the three participants, who all spoke on condition of anonymity, citing their pledge to keep the proceedings confidential. The members were asked to

The dean, one committee member said, was concerned not only about Harvard's reputation but also that the cases Dr. Mack had described might have been a result of hallucinations for which his discussions with the subjects amounted to treatment that was

A strong sexual theme runs through Dr. Mack's book, published by Charles Scribner's Sons. Several of his subjects provided him accounts of being snatched out of their beds and whisked into outer space, then returned to earth after their sperm or eggs

One of the 13 cases he describes is that of Ed, a technician in his mid-40's who says he was seduced by a "female being" who had "long, silvery hair with large, black eyes without pupils or irises" and who explained to him that she needed his sperm to

The Harvard committee is headed by Dr. Arnold Relman, an emeritus professor of the medical school and former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, and includes two lawyers from the Harvard counsel's office. The members held more than 30 close

A faculty member who has seen the committee's draft report said that it vigorously defended Dr. Mack's right to pursue any subject he finds of interest but that it deplored his scholarship methods.

Among the Harvard committee's concerns, two participants said, was that Dr. Mack had not published his findings in a refereed academic journal before writing his book. And the members questioned why he had not sought a neutral psychiatrist to examine

One participant said the committee had been told that Dr. Mack had tried to publish his research in a major journal but that it had not been accepted. But the committee was also told, according to this account, that Dr. Mack had invited a number of sc

Dean Tosteson has several options once he receives the committee's report. They range from initiating procedures to cancel Dr. Mack's tenure and remove him from the faculty, to congratulating him for his bravery in following his inclinations in a line

At this point, however, "this is not a disciplinary or tenure matter," a member of the medical school faculty said.

"The dean asked the ad hoc committee to gather information about what Dr. Mack is doing, how he has been proceeding as a scholar and a clinician," this faculty member said. "It is simply a matter of the committee asking, 'John, tell us what you're doi

But after initially cooperating with the inquiry, Dr. Mack has retained a Boston lawyer, Roderick MacLeish Jr., who says the review is far from benign. "It's an issue of academic freedom," Mr. MacLeish said. "History has not been kind to individuals a

Mr. MacLeish and a second lawyer retained by Dr. Mack -- Daniel Sheehan, a West coast public-interest attorney associated with liberal causes -- helped prepare a defense of more than 100 pages.

Reached by telephone at his office, Dr. Mack was not willing to discuss his dialogue with the committee, citing a pledge of strict confidentiality made by all participants.

Dr. Mack has strong financial support. In addition to the earnings of his best seller and lecture fees, for the last three years his nonprofit research organization, the Center for Psychology and Social Change, has received $250,000 a year, about two-

And a number of scientists are intrigued by the issues raised. Some are dubious about the accounts of those who told him that they had been abducted but nonetheless believe that his work should not be dismissed out of hand.

David J. Hufford of the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa., who specializes in the social and cultural aspects of health, said: "I think John has given up prematurely on the classic methodology of science, but he's on to something much more coast public-interest attorney associated with liberal causes -- helped prepare a defense of more than 100 pages.

Reached by telephone at his office, Dr. Mack was not willing to discuss his dialogue with the committee, citing a pledge to strict confidentiality made by all participants.

David J. Hufford of the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa., who specializes in the the social and cultural aspects of health, said: "I think John has given up prematurely on the classic methodology of science, but he's on to something much more complex than the people who dismiss him allow. He is treading