As a tenured member of the Princeton Mathematics Department, I am dismayed at the lawsuit brought by the Institute in July of this year against Piet Hut, a tenured Professor there since 1985.
It is not my purpose to defend Professor Hut's work. That has been done by many leading scholars in his field; see the lawsuit page. My dismay is at the violation of Hut's tenure and academic freedom. By their own words, the trustees of the Institute admit to flagrant violation of the accepted norms of tenure and academic freedom. The following quotations are from the Institute's submission to the court. It should be understood that Hut denies some of these allegations, especially that there were any particular conditions attached to his grant of tenure.
The unique and essential role of the Institute is to provide the independence necessary for the finest scholars and scientists to engage in research that is curiosity driven, creating an environment in which original and often speculative thinking provides the wellspring for new paradigms and whole new fields of knowledge....The direction of my own research is quite different from whatever expectations Princeton University may have had when it hired me. But I have not been brutally told that I abrogated the terms under which I was hired, that I should look for a position elsewhere, and that salary actions would be taken against me. Nor has Princeton University instituted a lawsuit against me.The Institute hired Hut with the express understanding that he would continue to concentrate his efforts in astrophysics ...
... the understanding that the Institute had concerning his future scholarly direction and with it implicitly the terms under which he accepted his position at the Institute have been abrogated ...
The Director at the time, Marvin Goldberger, expressed clearly to Hut that he (Hut) should be looking for opportunities elsewhere....
In or about May of 1996, the Director was instructed by the Institute's Board of Trustees' Executive Committee that he should ``freeze'' Hut's salary at $140,000 (annually) for the academic year 1996-1997 because of Hut's continued substandard performance. Other faculty members received salary increases to $145,000. The Director was further instructed that he should inform Hut that the Institute might consider taking additional salary action in the future. In June 1996, the Institute so advised Hut.
Whether the Institute loses or wins its court case, great harm will have been done to the reputation of the Institute and to the entire scientific and scholarly enterprise in this community. Only by withdrawing their lawsuit can the trustees minimize the damage it is causing.