Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium
However, psychiatrist Dr. John Mack received an unusual public warning from the dean not to let his enthusiasm for UFO research steer him from the path of professionalism.
The decision disclosed Thursday followed a one-year investigation that Mack's lawyer called a challenge to academic freedom.
``This is the type of thing that almost by its existence can be intimidating,'' Roderick MacLeish said.
Mack's fellow professors supported him for fear that they might be next in line for scrutiny, MacLeish said. All members of the faculty contacted by The Associated Press during the investigation refused to speak for the record.
The review began after Mack appeared on ``Unsolved Mysteries'' and other TV programs to promote his 1994 book ``Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens'' about his patients, including a man who remembers an alien female extracting a sperm sample from him, a woman who says she gave birth to a human-alien hybrid and a man who says he had an alien wife in a parallel universe.
The faculty committee investigated whether Mack's work met professional standards and whether it could be considered research on human subjects, which requires special permission.
Medical school spokeswoman Keren McGinity declined to say how often such investigations are conducted. The school would not release the findings, and McGinity refused to answer questions.
by CNB