---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Alan Freeman" <a.freeman@greenwich.ac.uk> Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 02:36:14 -0000 Subject: Obstacle to pluralism removed Dear Friend I wrote to a number of colleagues in June last year about RRPE's solicitation of funds to fight a defamation suit by Dr Andrew Kliman. For legal reasons Andrew was unable to reveal the substance of the accusation against him, and that is why I took the exceptional step of drawing attention to the facts of the case as I saw it. I am now writing on a happier note to inform you that URPE has retracted the false charge it made against Andrew and has lifted the publishing ban imposed on him. RRPE and its agents falsely charged that Andrew violated professional ethics by submitting a paper to another journal while it was still under review at the RRPE, and banned all further articles authored by him. In its retraction, which I reproduce below, URPE accepts that the paper was no longer under review when Andrew submitted it elsewhere. Although the fundamental underlying issue of pluralism remains unresolved, since Andrew's paper was never reviewed again and the appeal he requested was never granted, nevertheless the retraction removes a decisive obstacle to genuine scholarly debate around this substantive question. This must now develop on the basis of a recognition of the legitimate contribution and right to be heard of all principal schools of thought, unfettered by any restrictions or charges concerning persons which in any way restrict the access of the reading public to the ideas that they hold. Below is the text of URPE's retraction which is published on its website at (http://www.urpe.org/rrpehome.html) STATEMENT BY URPE STEERING COMMITTEE, HAZEL DAYTON GUNN, MANAGING EDITOR OF RRPE, THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF RRPE: Dr. Andrew Kliman believed that Hazel Dayton Gunn disseminated a claim that he had violated professional ethics by publishing an article in another journal while it was still under review by the RRPE. We wish to acknowledge that when he submitted a revised version of the article in question to another journal, the manuscript had already been rejected by RRPE. However, a misunderstanding arose after Dr. Kliman requested an appeal of the original rejection. The matter has now been settled and the Editorial Board has removed the sanction denying Dr. Kliman the right to submit articles to RRPE for publication. There was no intention to inflict harm on Dr. Kliman.
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