Marlowe Hood
Editor, Agence France Presse
Maitre de Conference, French Press
Institute (Sorbonne)
Paris, France
15 June 2000
Randolph A.
Nanna
Publisher, Physics
Today
One Physics
Ellipse
College
Park, Maryland 20740
Dear Mr.
Nanna:
What did you
gain by firing Jeff Schmidt? I am
flummoxed by this question as I consider all the things you damaged or lost: Physics
Today's most competent articles editor; the magazine's perennially fragile
collective morale; and, most flagrantly, AIP's public image and
credibility. Let's take these one by
one.
Unless
another blue-pencil virtuoso of even greater talent has joined the staff since
my year-long stint with the magazine in the early 1990s, Jeff was the best
articles editor you ever had or are likely to have. (I've spent more hours than I care to count doing the same thing,
so I know whereof I speak.) Not only
does he edit with an all-too-rare technical precision, he has an uncanny
ability to coax even the most prickly of authors toward clarity and
coherence. Titles and hubris do not cow
him, and he is doggedly but politely persistent. Ask any of the hundreds of authors who have benefited from his
patient — dare I use the word — professionalism. Jeff would no doubt bristle at such a compliment, but what else
does one call the ability to perform consistently at such high levels even if
one is, assuming for a moment that your inference from his book is correct,
less than "fully engaged" in one's work? Indeed, what more can you ask of an articles editor — even one
with a PhD — except that he do his job well?
Is it reasonable to also demand devotion? Do you even have the right to?
If misuse of
company time is the principal crime for which Jeff has been tried and
convicted, then I can assure you that — during the time I worked in the same
office — he was far from the most egregious offender. Others must come forward on their own, but I certainly can speak
for myself: Not only did I spend time
researching and writing a weekly column for a major daily newspaper while
sitting at my desk, the staff spent a fair amount of time discussing the topics
I chose. It was no secret. I did every scrap of work that was given to
me as soon as it was given to me. But I
reclaimed the time left over as my own.
As for the
morale of the magazine's staff, what did you anticipate the impact of
dismissing Jeff would be? Is this
intended as a lesson to his erstwhile colleagues? If so, the lesson will probably have backfired. Do you expect that things will run more
smoothly now that you are rid of this alleged rabble rouser? Jeff was open and above-board in his efforts
to improve, as he saw it, the work environment at Physics Today. One could disagree with his ideas, as I
sometimes did, but still respect the integrity and aim of his efforts. The fact that neither these activities nor
the writing of his book interfered with his contractual duties is evident from
his long-term tenure at the magazine.
Finally, it
is AIP's credibility that will suffer most.
How can an organization purporting to represent the highest form of
science summarily dismiss a proven employee of long standing without an inquiry
or even offering him the chance to defend or explain himself? Where is the scientific method in that? Did it ever occur to you to ask how much
time Jeff actually 'stole' or whether the opening line to his book was simply
an attention-grabbing, rhetorical flourish?
I'm sorry to put it so bluntly, but the whole sorry affair makes you
look just plain bad, and it will not pass unnoticed. The article in the Chronicle of Higher Education is only a
foretaste of the interest this episode is likely to generate.
In the end,
you will, I am convinced, regret firing Jeff Schmidt and frog-marching him out
the door. Alas, it will probably be for
the wrong reasons.
Sincerely,
Marlowe Hood
cc: Marc H.
Brodsky, James H. Stith