Jonathan Katz

Professor of Physics

Washington University

Saint Louis, Missouri

27 August 2001

I write in support of Jeff Schmidt, and to add my name as a signatory to the letter you have prepared. What an employee does on his own time, out of the office, is his own business. I do not wish to be part of an organization which interferes with this, and which intimidates or takes reprisals against employees because of how they choose to exercise their free press rights as citizens.

AIP suggests that Dr. Schmidt improperly used work time and facilities in the preparation of his book. I do not know the facts of this, but every desk worker occasionally uses his office telephone, computer and other facilities to engage in brief personal business such as making doctors' appointments, calling spouses to say they must work late, sending and receiving occasional personal e-mail, etc. As long as this does not consume much time or interfere with the performance of essential duties, this is universally accepted as one of the conditions of the workplace. Can Dr. Brodsky honestly say that he himself does not do this? Because AIP did not notice any work time Dr. Schmidt may have given to his book, it is fair to say it did not exceed the bounds of proper practice, and it is ethically (and probably legally) unjustified to punish him for it.

Jonathan Katz

cc: Marc Brodsky