Fury over Dahlem dismissal

Senior scientists in the United States and Europe are considering whether to resign from the board of the long-established Dahlem Konferenzen in protest over the unceremonious removal of the organization's well regarded program director.

Dahlem has organized some 90 international multidisciplinary conferences since 1974. Since 1990, it has been integrated into the Free University Berlin, but board member Norbert Baer, professor of conservation at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, told The Scientist that scientists around the world have become increasingly dissatisfied with Free University administrators.

Board members told The Scientist that Free University Berlin's administrative actions have been a major destabilizing force, slowing down publication of manuscripts for recent Dahlem Workshops and undermining the independent scientific integrity of the conferences.

In a letter seen by The Scientist, William C. Clark, a professor at Harvard University and member of the National Academy of Sciences, wrote: "If the [Free University] ...