Great Letter!

I was on the scientific faculty of a "well-known American university" for 10 years. Academic freedom is a fairy tale, and universities are essentially corrupted by their funding. Here's why:

- A faculty member is a nobody if he/she doesn't pull in enough grant money. To get, say, $100,000 in grant funding, we had to get $167,000, of which the administration immediately took away $67,000 ('overhead'). This 'overhead' determined your stature with the boss ('dean').

- 90% of the grants in my department were with either federal agencies or the military.

- The administration's evaluations of faculty were largely based on grant income (not teaching or research). Untenured faculty without grants were fired, period.

- Even tenured faculty were considered 2nd-class citizens (low pay, lousy assignments) if they had no grants. It was a grim fate.

To promote 9/11 Truth, a professor would have to throw it all away: no grants, no research, low pay, crappy treatment. Also, his administration would desperately try to shut him up, out of fear of losing university-wide grants.

This is why so few academics have spoken up, and amounts to corruption of what should be a free-thinking part of society. One has to admire the courage of people like Steven Jones (and he left BYU, remember?).

Great letter, Christian, and my heart is with you as you rattle the cages at BU. It takes guts to do what you have done.