Disciplined Minds Author Seeks Reinstatement
by
TAA Staff
DESPITE 19 YEARS of widely praised work as a staff editor
at Physics Today magazine, controversial author Dr.
Jeff Schmidt was fired last May. The official reason? His
statement that he wrote his book, Disciplined Minds,
at least in part, “at the office.”
According to Schmidt, however, his bosses had disliked his
outspoken views ever since he had questioned company policies
at a retreat in 1997. A few days after reading the provocative
opening sentences in Schmidt’s book, magazine executives escorted
him to the human-resources office, had someone gather his
personal items and told him never to return.
Schmidt’s book, Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at
Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System that
Shapes Their Lives (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), is a
radical and disturbing look at the lives of today’s 21 million
professionals (read a review
of the book: Adjunct Advocate, Mar/Apr 2001).
Profits from the book, however, have not eased his financial
plight.
“I understand the book is doing quite well,” Schmidt says,
but adds that he never expected royalties to be a significant
source of income. Officials at Rowman & Littlefield say Disciplined
Minds has “broad national distribution” and may soon appear
in paperback. According to Mary Sestric at Rowman & Littlefield,
1,800 copies have been sold since April, 2000.
Since his dismissal, life for Schmidt has not been easy.
His former employer tried to deny him unemployment compensation,
forcing him to take his case to the Maryland Department of
Labor. There, a hearing determined that Physics Today
had fired Schmidt without evidence that his writing had interfered
with his work for the magazine and awarded him benefits. He
is asking for his job back, but so far Physics Today
officials have been unsympathetic to his plea. Sixteen former
Physics Today staff members have written a letter to
the publisher protesting his firing. In addition, Noam Chomsky,
distinguished linguist and social critic at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, helped solicit more than 130 signatures
on a protest letter. Schmidt has created a web site at disciplined-minds.com
containing letters of support and other updated information
about his book and his firing.
Schmidt, who holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University
of California, Irvine, has said he might look for adjunct
work at the University of the District of Columbia, near his
home. However, he has no illusions about academe. Search committees
screen applicants, he believes, so that only the most intellectually
and politically timid gain entrance to the academy. This is
especially true of adjuncts, whose marginalization, according
to Schmidt, is a form of ideological coercion.
Schmidt knows that a nonconformist remark in the faculty
lounge can cost an adjunct his job.
“Those who need the protection of tenure don’t get it,” he
says, “and those who get it don’t need it, because they have
nothing provocative to say.”
If Physics Today doesn’t respond to the growing public
pressure, then Schmidt may supplement it with legal action
with help from Dickstein Shapiro, one of Washington’s largest
law firms.
Subscribe to The Adjunct Advocate before June 30,
2001, and you will be automatically entered in a drawing to
win an autographed copy of Disciplined Minds.
