Professor Frederick M. Dolan

Department of Rhetoric

University of California

Berkeley, California

22 January 2001

 

 

Marc Brodsky (via e-mail)

CEO and Executive Director

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse

College Park, Maryland 20740

 

Dear Dr. Brodsky:

 

Ordinarily, I would never think of intervening in cases involving hiring and firing in organizations with which I am unfamiliar.  I appreciate the complexity of such decisions and understand that they can be difficult for outsiders to understand.

 

In the matter of Jeff Schmidt's dismissal from his position at Physics Today, I feel that I must protest.  I have known Jeff for almost 25 years, and know him to be a man whose integrity and skill are simply above reproach.  Whatever suggestions he may have had for Physics Today were, I am certain, well worth considering.  While the American Institute of Physics may not appreciate the perspectives he brings to bear on its operations, you surely must know that issues such as diversity, staff participation, and the like, are not going to go away.  To suggest that taking some time on one's job to work on a book (if that is indeed what Jeff did) is a firing offense is, to put it crudely, Neanderthal.  I should think, on the contrary, that Physics Today would be eager to take credit for nurturing the author of an excellent and incisive inquiry into the state of the discipline.

 

The concerns Jeff articulates are part of American life; they are here to stay.  Firing Jeff, under the circumstances, is all too transparent an act, and is not likely to wash, anywhere, with anyone.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Frederick M. Dolan