ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 12, 1990                   TAG: 9006120405
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: SALT LAKE CITY                                LENGTH: Short


SCHOOL HEAD RETIRING AMIDST FUSION FUROR

University of Utah President Chase Peterson, a cheerleader for the phantom phenomenon of tabletop fusion, is retiring under fire for a hidden, $500,000 transfer of money toward its development.

Peterson, 60, said Monday he would retire next year but had no intention of resigning under pressure.

In a resolution last week, the faculty's Academic Senate had questioned Peterson's ability to run the 23,500-student university in light of the furor over the money transfer. Peterson has held the post since 1983.

Last month, controversy erupted when it became known that a $500,000 donation to the school's fusion research center that had been characterized by the university as an "anonymous," outside gift actually was the result of a Peterson-authorized transfer of money from the school's Research Foundation.



 by CNB