THE ASPR AS MEDIATOR BETWEEN THE TWO CULTURES: THE PHYSICAL AND THE SPIRITUAL

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• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
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• Publication Date: October 3, 1991
• Content Type: OPEN

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ILLEGIB
University of Pittsburgh
Robert McConnell Y 'I 6
Room A234, Langley Hall
Biological Sciences Department
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260, U.S.A.
Office: [phone]
To: The Trustees of the American Society for Psychical Research:
Dr. C.B. Scott Jones, President; Dr. Irvin L. Child; Ms. Emily W. Cook, Ms. Eleanor Frieder
Mr. Eric C. Fruhstorfer; Dr. Robert Jahn; Dr. Edward F. Kelly; Dr. Stanley Krippner;
Mr. Alan F. MacRobert; Ms. Marilyn Schutz; Dr. Nancy P. Sondow; Mr. Bret Suval
Date: October 3, 1991
Subject: The ASPR as Mediator Between tb.: '?'we Cula;res: Thy P:~?, sical and the Spirit~.~al
Please note: In lieu of an Abstract, I have underlined some key passages.
BACKGROUND
As a Voting Member of the American Society for
Psychical Research. I have received from President
Jones a letter dated 7 August 1991, transmitting, and
requesting comment upon, a draft copy of proposed
ASPR Bylaws together with six pages of criticism
by Trustee Emily Cook.
I am sending this letter of comment to each of the
Trustees because they have the legal power to revise
the Bylaws and thus determine the future of the
Society.
Because of the importance of the matters dis-
cussed, I am sending this letter to the Voting Mem-
bers also and to others who may value the ASPR as
a means for advancing the scientific understanding
of psychic phenomena.
I hope that members of the ASPR who wish to
express a viewpoint will write to the individual
Trustees, "caze of ASPR," 5 West 73rd Street, New
York, NY 10023, marking their letters "Please for-
ward." I would be pleased to receive copies of such
letters. Nonmembers of the ASPR who wish to ex-
press agreement or disagreement with ideas in this
letter may write directly to me.
As most of you know, the ASPR has its 1884
roots in the British Society for Psychical Research
and took its present legal form in 1904. The prin-
cipal assets of the ASPR are two:
A worldwide reputation for scientific integrity,
principally established and maintained by the publi-
cation of the Journal of the American Society for
Psychical Research, but dependent upon all of the
activities of the Society.
A net worth of about $3 million, one million of
which is in its wholly-owned home building located
in the Borough of Manhattan, New York City.
The ASPR had an operating deficit of $205,000 in
1989 and $292,000 in 1990. Unless this trend is
reversed, the ASPR will soon cease to exist. Sup-
positional methods for eliminating operating deficits
have been a cause of recent contention within the
ASPR. I shall not discuss our financial problems in
this letter except to say that stable solvency will re-
quire increased membership, increased endowment,
and decreased spending.
The ASPR has a mixed scientific and lay mem-
bership of about 1100. Ultimate control of the or-
ganization rests with some 60 Voting Members
whose only legal obligation is to elect the Trustees.
The ASPR is the only sizable open-membership
organization in the U.S. devoted to the furtherance
of pazapsvchology as a science, and it is cleazly the
most powerful such organization in the world. I am
writing because I believe that the future of the ASPR
as a scientific organization is in danger. I regard this
as important because the ASPR is the major bridge
between scientific parapsychology and the general
uP bhc
In a recent opinion survey of the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences membership (JASPR,
85[ 1991], 333-365) it was found that even after 100
years of scientific parapsychological research our
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The ASPR as Mediator Between the Two Cultures Page 2 October 3. 1991
leading scientists will not examine the experimental
evidence for psychic phenomena. For that reason,
the ASPR remains in my opinion, the last best hope
in our lifetimes of gaining recogmrion by our
nation's civil leaders of the fact that parapsychology
is a science and not a superstition.
Now more than ever I view the ASPR as belong-
ing collectively to all of us who have devoted a sub-
stantial part of our lives to the study of psvcluc
phenomena and not merely to the Votuzg Members
who have accepted the responsibility for the well be-
ing and productivity of the Society. In this letter I
am speaking not only to the Trustees and other
Voting Members but also to the larger cotnmumry
of all those who believe in the potential importance
of psychic phenonteris:.
ADOPTION OF THE BYLAWS
First, I must deal with a technical matter primarily
of interest to the Voting Members.
In his 7 August 1991 transmitting letter our Presi-
dent proposed the following schedule far adopting
his revision of the ASPR Bylaws:
15 August: Draft Bylaws completed and dis-
tributed to Voting Members [including Trustees] for
comment." [Distributed along with Trustee Emily
Cook's criticisms.]
15 September: Closing date for receiving com-
ments from Voting Members. Bylaws reviewed and
revised on basis of comments."
10 October: "Final draft of Bylaws distributed to
Board of Trustees."
26 October: "Board of Trustees meeting. Discus-
sion and approval of Bylaws."
This schedule allows little time for interaction
among Voting lvlembers and between Voting Mam-
bers and Trustees. According to the President's 7
August transmittine letter the 7 August Bylaws
draft was created by the President with the assis-
tance of his Executive Director but without input
from other members of the Bylaws Committee (the
other members being Trustee Emily Cook and
Voting Member Michael Knudsen).
As stated in his schedule, after the President has
received the Voting Member comments, changes
will be made as may be deemed desirable and a
modified version, never seen by the Voting Mem-
bers, will be submitted to the Boazd of Trustees.
The Trustees, who are mostly busy professional
people with little time for ASPR affairs, will be
given only two weeks to consider complex issues
with which, in some cases, they have had no ex-
tended experie ce. President Jones has said that he
would prefer to get the Bylaws in place without get-
ting bogged down in discussion.
In my opinion, Dr. Jones's schedule for the adop-
tion of new Bylaws is unrealistic. If followed, I fear
its practical effect will be to put the future of the
ASPR into his hands. The immediate risk in this
situation stems from the fact that Dr. Jones has not
revealed his organizational aims and intended
methods to any of the many Voting Members whom
I have queried, and he has no known professional
experience in science. His professional track record
is only in the military and in politics. I shall have
more to say later concerning what is known about
Dr. Jones.
As I see it the issues that must be decided by the
Trustees in zdopting new Bylaws are so com lex
and important that I urge the Trustees to delay adop-
tion of any Bylaws at this time.
My detailed recommendation, which I shall state
now but justify below, is (1) that the Trustees table
any Bylaws draft presented to them at their next
meeting, (2) that the Trustees order an independent
revision of the Bylaws by a new Bylaws Committee.
(3) that the President provide to each member of the
new Bylaws Committee a copy of every com-
munication he has received from Voting Members
concerning the Bylaws revision, (4) that the ASPR
paid staff be asked to provide all possible assistance
to the new Bylaws Committee, (5) that the new
Bylaws Committee be instructed to develop, by poll-
ing or otherwise, a clear picture of what the Voting
Members, collectively, wish to have as the ASPR's
objectives, and what methods they wish the ASPR to
use in pursuing those objectives, (6) that the new
Bylaws Committee be instructed to incorporate their
findings into a new draft of Bylaws, (7) that this new
draft be submitted to the Voting Members including
the Trustees with ample opportunity for discussion
and amendment before adoption. (8) that, after ap-
proval by the Voting Members, formal adoption take
place no sooner than at the Trustee meeting after the
next annual meeting of the Voting Members.
TI-~ METHOD OF SELECTING TRUSTEES
The proposed 7 August 1991 version of ASPR
Bylaws contains a number of technical problems
needing resolution. However, in this letter I shall
consider only some broader issues.
For reasons I shall explain. the proposed Bylaws
appear intended to allow the president to control the
policy of the ASPR. Although there aze important
supplementing paragraphs elsewhere in the Bylaws
draft the heart of the problem lies in the first
paragraph of Article IV, Section 3, which I quote
here for your convenience.
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The ASPR as Mediator Between the Two Cultures Page 3 October 3. 1991
Section 3. Composition and Officers: The
Board of Trustees shall consist of the President,
two (2) Vice .Presidents, Secretary, and
Treasurer, and up to five (5) additional Boazd
members. The total number (of Trustees] shall
not exceed ten (10). At least seven (7) members
of the Board shall reflect experience, training
and education outside the field of parapsychol-
ogy and shall not be members of the governing
bodies or staff of other psychical research (or
parapsychological) organizations.
There are two features in this paragraph that need
discussion: The reduction of Trustees from 12 to 10
and the restriction on the percentage of parapsvchok-
ogists to be allowed on the Board.
I believe it would be unwise to reduce the number
of Trustees, both because such a reduction would
make capture of the Boazd by any one ideological
faction substantially easier and because I believe
that the number 12 allows the election of the min-
imum numbers of parapsychologists and other
professionals needed to ensure wise and diverse
thinking from inside as well as outside the field. If a
change is to be made, I would hope that the number
of Trustees could be increased.
Many persons unfamiliar with psychical research
do not realize that among reputable parapsychol-
ogists there are widely divergent views about the na-
ture of psychic phenomena and about the best way
to advance pazapsychology. These views aze all
legitimate to the degree that they aze held by intek-
ligent, knowledgable persons. In apre-theoretical
science all such views must be allowed to flourish
until they can be sorted out by time and experience.
While such views cannot all be represented on the
Board of Trustees, the Voting Members must be per-
mitted to choose a sufficient number of parapsychol-
ogists to ensure breadth of representation and to al-
low for an occasional poor choice.
The proposal to limit the percentage of para-
psychologists on the Board might be examined for
advisability and for feasibility. First, as to ad-
visability:
Parapsychology is the scientific study of psychic
phenomena, and parapsychologists are those who
seriously study psychic phenomena from a scientific
point of view.
The ASPR is concerned solely with psychic
phenomena.. Any change in the Bylaws that will
limit for Board membership the number of scientists
most knowledgable about psychic phenomena will
chance the basic character of the Society. Such a
change is outside the power of the Trustees to make
and can properly be made only by, or with the per-
mission of the Voting Members of the Society,
whose res nsibility 't i to elect the Trustees.
Hence. the intention of President Jones to ask the
Trustees to change the character of the ASPR with-
out the approval of the Voting Members is tmproper.
This hasty plan to change the governing structure
of the Society, coupled with the position of the
ASPR as the pre-eminent bridge between scientists
and the lay public, leads me to believe that as an
organization we are facing a crisis of grave propor-
tions.
The proposal to limit the number of pazapsychol-
ogists on the Board to 30% of the total can also be
examined for feasibility. In view of the impropriety
of the proposal itself, the question of its feasibility is
of interest only as it may illuminate the thinking be-
hind the proposal.
According to the Bylaws proposal, at least 7 out
of 10 Trustees "shall reflect experience, training, and
education outside the field of parapsychology .... "
This clause is intended as a legal basis for permitting
or forbidding a Voting Member to be a Trustee can-
didate. It is essential that we know exactly what
these words mean and how they aze to be applied.
We have all had some "experience, training, and
education outside the field of parapsychology" and,
inevitably, our behavior "reflects" it. Hence, on that
count, every Voting Member would be eligible to be
a Trustee candidate. This Bylaw requirement is
meaningless unless it is modified, as by the insertion
of the word "only" after "reflect." The sentence then
becomes stazkly offensive. Perhaps, instead, the
word "primarily" was intended? If so, what does
"primarily" mean, or who will decide its meaning?
The same Bylaw sentence says: "At least seven
members of the Boazd shall ...not be members of
the governing bodies or staff of other psychical
research (or pazapsychological) organizations."
Because our field is small, one effect of this rule
would be to eliminate as potential Trustees a sub-
stantial fraction of those most competent to serve.
An analogous rule among the directors of industry
would be considered ridiculous or sinister unless
some cleaz and compelling public purpose were
thereby to be served.
Upon second reading, this Bylaw sentence be-
comes even more puzzling. How is the expression
"psychical research (or parapsychological) organiza-
tion" to be interpreted. Several organizations largely
concerned with research on psychic phenomena
make a point of avoiding use of the identifying
words, "psychical" and "parapsychological." Who
will decide whether or not an organization is paza-
psychological, and by what definition? This is not a
cazefully thought out Bylaw paragraph, and I doubt
that it reflects the wishes of the Voting Members.
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ASPR OBJECTIVES
When I first learned of Dr. Jones's plan to
decrease the number of scientists to a minority on
the Board of Trustees. it occurred to me that. even if
this decrease were to be attempted informally, it
wauld be necessary to take the following actions to
safeguard the essential character and purpose of the
Society:
(1) Create through the Bylaws a legal presumption
favoring the scientific principles that have guided
the ASPR since its recapture from the Spiritualists in
1941 by Gardner Murphy and George Hyslop.
(2) Strengthen the role of the Voting Members so
that control of the organization could not be wrested
from them by a small t~oup of waywazd Trustees.
(3) Specify and perhaps modify our organizational
objectives in the light of recent progress in our
knowledge of parapsychology and in consideration
of the temper of the times in which we live.
To that end, I sent a letter to the Voting Members
on 7 June 1991, followed by a supplementing letter
on 9 3uly 1991. For your convenience I have added
an appendix hereto, summarizing and extending my
earlier thoughts.
In my earlier letters I offered for possible incor-
poration into the Bylaws:
? A simple, clear statement of the kind of members
we wish to serve.
~ Ways of tightening the qualifications far Voting
Membership and for increasing the power of the
Voting Members.
? Some tactical rules of conduct to be followed in
reaching our long-range goals.
? Several strategic objectives and activities that the
ASPR should avow and pursue.
? Two reputation-damaging activities that the
ASPR should avoid.
None of these ideas appears in the 7 August
Bylaws draft, and there is no hint that they were
considered.
Instead, what appears in the Bylaws draft as "Ar-
ticle II: Objectives" are vague promises and hopes
that lack intellectual incisiveness and would allow
this or any future president to proceed in almost any
direction he chose without guidance or restraint.
Under the draft's "Objectives" there would be noth-
ing to discourage the "New Age" equivalent of the
infamous Margery Crandon research circa 1930.
The first listed objective in this Bylaws draft will
serve to illustrate the illusional quality of all six:
"!1) To promote, conduct, and support psychical
research and to disseminate research findings."
These words make beautiful, comforting music.
but I find them insulting to common sense because
they fail to specify what methods will be used and
what is meant by "research." So vague are the Ob-
jectives that the quasi-religious activities of the
Association for Research and Enlightenment, which
is devoted to the veneration of the deceased psychic.
Edgaz Cayce, could be regarded as suitable for the
ASPR.
The absence of any statement of cleazcut objec-
tives (other than to continue our azchival library), or
of principles to guide the attainment of those objec-
tives, or of safeguards against deviation from those
principles suggests to me that the 7 August draft of
the Bylaws is part of awell-intended plan to take
control of ASPR policy away from those unimagina-
tive, foot-dragging scientists.
ABOUT OUR PRESIDENT
(A personal assessment)
Dr. C. B. Scott Jones has a history of distin-
guished public service. He was a U.S. Navy flier for
30 years. He fought in the Korean War in 1950 and
1952 and later served in Naval Intelligence. After
leaving the Navy, he worked for seven years in cor-
porate research under the auspices of the intelligence
community and the Defense Nuclear Agency. He
was awarded a Ph.D. by American University for his
political knowledge of South Asia. For six years en-
ding with 1990, he served as an aide to the Chair-
man of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee.
In early 1991 Dr. Jones created a private or-
ganization called the "Human Potential Foundation."
A transitional letterhead suggested that this or-
gatuzation is related to his "Center for Applied
Anomalous Phenomena," which has existed for
some yeazs at his home address. I have not yet
received from Dr. Jones a promised brochure
describing his Human Potential Foundation, and.
hence, am not privy to its public purposes.
It is reported that Dr. Jones has experienced
repeated spontaneous ESP. It is reasonable to as-
sume that these experiences led him to devote much
of his energy to the field of psychic phenomena for
the last nine yeazs. Dr. Jones is now serving his
third consecutive year as president of the ASPR.
Dr. Jones and I share many values and opinions
relating to psychic phenomena. We also have dif-
ferences of a profound nature. If my following es-
timation of him is in error, I trust he will offer a cor-
rection by whatever medium he deems appropriate.
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By historically different routes. Dr. Jones and I. respects science in terms of its utility. However, by
have been convinced that, in a scientific sense, con- his public endorsements, by his writing and speak-
sciousness transcends the sensory-motor channels to ing, and by his August 7 draft of Bylaws as analyzed
the brain. We both recognize that the acceptance of above, Dr. Jones has led me reluctantly to the con-
this idea by the majority of well-educated people elusion that he does not understand the method and
would alter the world view upon which Western col- ethic of science.
tore is based and would have profound social Dr. Jones has been known to base his judgment of
consequences. the reality of a phenomenon upon the sincerity and
We both are of the opinion that our scientific self-assurance of its advocates or upon their standing
leaders have betrayed a trust by failing to examine among their similarly committed colleagues. Per-
the evidence for psychic phenomena. My response haps this is because he is unable to bring to bear a
to this situation is as follows: I think I understand comprehensive scientific perspective of his own that
the complex of reasons for scientists' individual and could yield useful estimates of the probability of
collective failure in this regard, but I also have deep truth in specific pioneering claims. Such estimates
appreciation for the contributions to the welfare of are facilitated by knowing the criteria by which one
humanity these same scientists have rendered in can usually distinguish frontier science from pseudo-
their own specialiries. science. Without such estimates there can be no es-
Dr. Jones and I agree that, because of scientists' cape from the morass of nonsensical claims that con-
refusal to examine the experimental evidence, their stantiy threaten to engulf us.
opposition to psychical reseazch will have to be cir-
cumvented by appealing directly to educated lay APPENDIX:
people. However, I believe that the ultimate accep- SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
tance of psychical phenomena by orthodox science
is crucial and must have our continuing attention SCOPE OF MEMBERSHIP
and, indeed, that we must exert every effort to earn I believe that the ASPR's educational program
the respect of our colleagues in other areas of should be oriented to attract parapsychologists, of
science. It is not clear that Dr. Jones shares this course, but also to (1) persons who "think most suc-
belief. cessfully with the right brain" (e.g., artists), (2) edu-
We both are impatient with the unwillingess of called persons who believe they have had psychic ex-
many parapsychologists to consider the possible im- periences, and (3) members of the helping profes-
plications of psychic phenomena, and with their ap- sions who might find in parapsychology a promise
parent inability to analyze their own motivations for of an answer to some of their professional concerns.
opposing the publication of parapsychological ideas For bylaw purposes, however, we might write
with which they disagree. simply:
Dr. Jones believes that it is time for pazapsychol- The ASPR aims to serve all those who seek scien-
ogists to begin applying psychic phenomena. I do
not go that far. For several reasons I believe it is tific understanding of the phenomena commonly
urgent for parapsychologists to begin research called "psychic" which they or others claim to have
directed toward the useful application of psychic experienced.
phenomena even though we still have only the GUIDING RULES
faintest glimmer of theoretical understanding and
control. However, I believe that the attempted We must attract and hold the kind of members
contractural use of psychic phenomena at this time who will help us reach our long-range goals.
would create a conflict of interest and would destroy ~ dealing with our members and the public, we
the scientific credibility of any parapsychological or- must act at all times to preserve and enhance the
ganization that advocated it. I use the expression Society's historical reputation far scientific integrity.
"attempted contractural use" in a broad sense, mean- There must be no turning inward upon ourselves
ing, "offering to produce useful psychic effects." or away from the Intellectual Establishment even
We both believe that the ASPR is in need of though, for the present, it rejects parapsychology.
rebirth, but I regard this as a dangerous venture that pURpOSES AND ACTTVIT'lES
must be safeguarded by public discussion and by a
legally binding declaration of our principles, objec- The ASPR's governing document should contain
fives, and methods. statements describing its role and expressing its ob-
Dr. Jones has spent a professional lifetime divided lectives in a way that clearly differentiates it from
between the military establishment and national other somewhat related organizations, such as the
politics. He is a practical man of action. He Pazapsychological Association, The Society for
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T"he ASPR as Mediator $etween the Two Cultures Wage
Scientific Exploration, the International Society for
the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine,
the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and the Association
for Research and Enlightenment. The role I suggest
for the ASPR would be distinguished by the follow-
ing proposed Bylaws:
[1] The ASPR aims to advance scientific under-
standing of psychic phenomena and also understand-
ing of the sociological status of parapsychology as a
science.
Comment: The sociological status of parapsychol-
ogy will determine societal support and, in turn,
scientific progress. To improve our image, we need
to know how we are perceived.
[2) The ASPR pro~zdes a bridge for uhe direct pa~-
sage of knowledge of parapsychology between
scientists and lay persons.
Comment: This is an aim we have always tacitly
pursued. It clearly differentiates the ASPR from
other existing U.S. organizations and is a crucial im-
plementation of our first above purpose.
[3] By acting as a broker of information. the ASPR
will strive to transform the relationship between the
Two Cultures, the physical rand the spiritual, from
one of mutual rejection to one of common
understanding.
Comment: This proposed goal is a logical exten-
sion of our aim to provide a bridee for the transfer of
information. This goal would address indirectly but
fundamentally what many consider the most
desperate need of our time, namely, the need for
common values by which inter-national and inter-
cultural differences may be resolved. If we choose
this aim for our Society, we shall ennoble our efforts
and amact support from new sources.
What is lacking, to begin with, between the physi-
cal and the spiritual camps is mutual respect. By its
findings, parapsychology provides a .scientific basis
for such respect. In its work, the ASPR should build
confidence by displaying understanding and ap-
preciation for the values of both sides. Unification
of views will come in due time, but only on the basis
of empirical observation.
The word "spiritual" as used here does not imply
the existence of spirits or of a soul having existence
independent of the brain; these being matters of
which we cannot, at least for the present, speak with
scientific knowledge.
(4] The ASPR is concerned with psychic phenomena
primarily as they relate to the mind-body problem in
its basic scientific, philosophic, and potentially prac-
tical aspects rather than as these phenomena might
have immediate relevance to medicine, spiritual
uplift individual self-development, or to scientific
anomalies in general.
Comment: These other concerns are being pursued
by other organizations, often necessarily by "rough
and ready" methods. Their pursuit by the ASPR in
the present state of scientific uncertainty cannot be
done effectively without compromising the ASPR's
role as a public arbiter of parapsychological
knowledge.
Moreover, while these concerns aze of great and
lazgely self-centered interest to many people, they
are not at the core of the intellectual dispute between
the Two Cultures. They are nor where the
philosophical battle is being fought and where the
peace mu st be won.
[5] The ASPR attempts to separate what is reason-
ably well established as knowledge in the field of
parapsychology from what is only surmised, and
emphasizes the gradation of scientific certainty of
parapsychological knowledge.
[6] The ASPR encourages uninhibited speculation
by experts within its field but requires that specula-
tion be so labelled.
[7] To maintain its scientific status and to carry out
its mission, the ASPR is guided primarily by scien-
tists.
Comment: In this way, the knowledge of the scien-
tists can be made available, while their agenda
within the ASPR are limited by the Bylaws.
[8] Through its Journal and Newsletter the ASPR
publishes within its field, refereed experimental
reports, summaries, reviews, news, tentative
theories, and sociological studies.
[9] Within budgetary limits the ASPR financially
supports promising parapsychological reseazch
projects proposed by qualified researchers.
ACTIVITIES TO BE SPECIFICALLY AVOIDED
Proposed Bylaw:
Except incidentally in its Journal and Newsletter,
the ASPR does not give or sponsor instruction on
how to develop or enhance psychic ability.
Comment: There aze, of course, widely recognized
techniques for increasing the likelihood that psi will
occur. However, those techniques are mazginal in
their efficacy and any attempt to gain members or
money for the ASPR by offering training on the use
of those techniques would be viewed by skeptics as
well as by some parapsychologists as anunethical
pretense to more knowlege than we possess.
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The ASPR as Mediator Between the Two Cultures Paee 7
Proposed Bylaw:
The ASPR does not attempt to test, measure, or cer-
tify the psychic ability of individuals. However, the
ASPR welcomes information from persons who
believe they may have unusual psychic abilities and
who might be willing to participate in scientific
research. The ASPR will try to assist experimenters
in finding such persons. The ASPR assumes no
responsibility for, and does not endorse, the conclu-
sions reached by any experimenters (including its
own employees) to whom it may have referred
potentially psychic persons.
Comment: There is not now, and may never be, an
objective experimental procedure by which one can
sepazate those who do, from those who do not, have
exceptional psychic ability." Many highly psychic
persons cannot produce psi in a specific test or with-
out considerable psychological preparation. To
pretend to assess individual psychic ability would be
ethically wrong and legally hazazdous. Amore use-
ful procedure may be to question an individual about
his or her claimed psychic experiences and to make
a tentative f private estimate of credibility. That
should be enough for informally advising such an in-
dividual.
PRINCIPLES AND POLICY
I would like to suggest two guiding principles for
the ASPR: (1) Activities must conform to present
knowledge in parapsychology. (2) Policies must
conform to the ethic of science.
In practice, to be certain of satisfying these two
principles, policy decisions must be made, not by
one person, but by the Boazd of Trustees in consul-
tation with ad hoc committees of senior paza-
psychologists.
Adherence to the first of these principles is il-
lustrated by the above-recommended proscription
against certifying psychics. The second principle is
more subtle.
What is the ethic of science? Why is it important
that the ASPR avoid its violation. I shall speak to
the second question first, and then I shall answer the
first by giving in the next section an example of
what I perceive to be an ethic violation.
Lack of understanding of the ethic of science of-
ten leads to its violation by scientists as well as by
lay persons. Violation, in turn, invokes social
penalties (e.g., restriction of employment oppor-
tunities) which, as a rule, are unposed by the Intel-
lectual Establishment under the influence of the
scientific community.
Working in a "prepazadigmatic science," we must
Approved
act at all times with the greatest circumspection to
avoid giving the leaders of what T. 5. Kuhn calls
"normal science," an excuse to ignore or unfairly at-
tack our ideas. At the same time, if we are to mar-
shall the forces of intelligent support, we need the
assistance of persons such as our President who are
thoroughly skilled in dealing with human resistance
to change.
Atlantic University and the Ethic of Science
Shortly before the recent trustee election I sent to
our president a selection from the promotional
materials I had received over the years from the
Association for Reseazch and Enlightenment. My
purpose was to sharpen the distinction between the
ASPR as a scientific organizatior. and the A.R.E.,
which is a financially successful, 80,000-member
quasi-religious organization built upon the writings
of psychic-healer Edgaz Cayce.
Subsequently, when the topic of the A.R.E. came
up, I asked our president what he knew about its
subsidiary Atlantic University. He said that he had
just accepted a position as a trustee of that tuuver-
siry.
I responded, "What do they teach? A `univer-
sity,' by definition, must have a number of schools
or colleges covering a wide range of topics. Is At-
lantic University accredited?" His reply was that
they are seeking accreditation.
Surprised by this turn of events, I visited our
university library. Although Atlantic University has
been advertising its existence at least since 1987, I
did not find it listed in World of Learning 1991 or in
Peterson's Register of Higher Education 1991. The
latter lists 3600 American postsecondary institutions
of learning that aze accredited or in pre-accreditation
status.
Since teen, I have obtained a.*:d examined Atlanric
Utuversity's first catalog (copyright 1991). It does,
indeed, list Dr. Scott Jones as a Trustee. Its table of
contents follows in detail the format of other univer-
sity catalogs I have seen, offering information about
admission requirements, the add/drop period for
courses, incomplete grades, tuition refunds, etc., etc.
These details aze artfully intended to create an aura
of authenticity that should count in this
organization's favor in its pursuit of accreditation by
the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
As printed in its catalog, the "Ideal of Atlantic
University" is a 250-word excerpt from psychic
healer Edgaz Cayce's inspirational reading No.
2087-1. Its key clause, which is to be "kept first and
foremost in the heart and mind of each and every
individual," is "that we [should] make manifest our
love, my love, all love, for God and man." (Page 8.
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 Approved For Release 2003/09/09 :CIA-RDP96-00792R000400300005o6tober 3, 1991
The ASPR as Mediator Between the Two ~tltures Page 8
"The curriculum focuses on the nature of
humanity, the nature of the universe, and holistic
living (Page 9). Depending upon how sharply it is
focused, this curriculum could include every subject
ever taught at any university. Classes meet one
night a week for three hours.
According to the catalog, "The faculty of Atlantic
University is composed primarily of adjunct profes-
sors." None of the faculty, however, is listed as
teaching at another university.
One cannot have a "university" with only one
full-time faculty member, no matter how estimable
his scientific reseazch. In the jazgon of advertising,
such misuse of the word "university" is called
"hype." Among critical thinkers, it is called
"dishonesty." For scientists, it is a violation of the
scientific ethic.
As well as one can judge frorn its catalog, Atlan-
tic University might acceptably be renamed as an
"Institute of Religious and Consciousness Skills."
Its course titles aze largely "New Age" in flavor.
Presumably the subject matter taught includes azeas
of reality long ignored by Western science and only
now being nibbled at by cognitive psychology. If
these realities aze to be effective in changing the
world, they must eventually be definitively under-
stood by the empirical-theoretical method of science
and not simply remain as nebulous, shifting, quasi-
religious beliefs shazed by, among others, an or-
ganization built around the recent memory of an ex-
ceptionally psychic individual.
The ASPR artd the Ethic of Science
I shall try to explain why our president's becom-
ing a tnrstee of Atlantic University and thereby en-
dorsing their deception suggests to me a lack of un-
derstanding of the ethic of science and why I belreve
that. if he continues his close association with the
ARE the contempt that many scientists feel for
that or anization may rub off onto the ASPR.
Among -the principles of scientific method, the
foremost is honesty in dealing with ourselves and
others in matters of science.
Scientists are jealous of scientific truth. They will.
not deal collegially with those who, while operating
ostensibly within the scope of science, are dishonest
or egregiously incompetent in their professional
representations. Moreover, scientists judge their fel-
lows by the care with which they discriminate be-
tween competent intellectual honesty and imposture
or ignorance.
The same ideas apply among scholars generally
and. indeed, among men of good will in every walk
of life, but in science there is a special need for
honesty.
The explanation of that need rests with the word
"compromise " To live successfully. we all learn to
compromise In matters of physical reality. a com-
promise may be an agreement to accept less than
one wants. However, in matters of the intellect, a
successful compromise is a joint statement of
opitrion so cleverly worded that given the vagueness
of language, each party can believe that the state-
ment represents his or her own point of view. This
kind of compromise may be essential for successful
day-to-day living but in science it is anathema.
In science the objective is not to deceive one's
self or one's antagonist and thus preserve a happy
relationship Rather each side words its positron as
precisely as possible so that differences can be
detected and studied. and so that the truth can be
discovered--usually by experiment in conjunction
with linear-logical thinking.
The merits of linear-logical thirilflng aside, the
ASPR needs the talents of our president if we are to
deal effectively with the fact that most persons, in-
cluding scientists outside their nazrow specialty, do
not ofren respond to reason but only to persuasion. I
see no difficulty in being persuasive and conser-
vative at the same time.
My association with our president has led me to
believe that his ultimate personal objective is to has-
ten the universal acceptance of the occurrence of
psychic phenomena so that a new civilization can
arise conforming more closely to reality. That is an
objective that all of us can accept as our own.
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To: The Trustees of the American Society for Psychical Research:
Dr. C.B. Scott Jones, President; Dr. Irvin L. Child; Ms. Emily W. Cook, Ms. Eleanor Frieder
Mr. Eric C. Fruhstorfer; Dr. Robert Jahn; Dr. Edward F. Kelly; Dr. Stanley Krippner;
Mr. Alan F. MacRobert; Ms. Marilyn Schlitz; Dr. Nancy P. Sondow; Mr. Bret Suval
From: Voting Member Robert McConnell, Room A234 Langley Hall, Biological ~~
Sciences Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, U.S.A.
Subject: MATTERS OF GRAVE CONCERN TO THE ASPR
Date: February 17, 1992
As a Voting Member of the ASPR my aim in this
letter is to present certain information to you as
Trustees that may help you decide what actions of
yours will best serve to maintain the Society and to
advance our understanding of psychic phenomena.
Because I believe that all matters of policy within
the ASPR deserve the widest possible consideration, I
am mailing this letter to our Voting Members and to
others who may be interested in the future of the
ASPR.
THE FINANCIAL STATUS OF THE ASPR
As calculated from data furnished to the Board by
the Executive Director, for each of eleven years
(1980-1990) the ASPR has had an operating deficit
{expenses minus revenue), growing from $93,000
(39% of expenses) in 1980 to $293,000 (61% of ex-
penses) in 1990. Over. these 11 years, the average
operating deficit was $148,000. Even when gifts and
bequests are counted as offsetting the deficits, there
was a deficit in 9 out of 11 years, averaging $64,000
per year over the 11 years.
The deficit for 1991 is not yet known, and no 1991
budget was submitted. The situation is summarized in
the following table. The 1989 and 1990 figures are
from the independent auditors' report found in the
Society's Annual report for 1990 (not made available
to the Voting Members until May 1991) and omit
from "Revenue" any gifts or bequests. The 1992
figures are from the budget approved with 3 dissent-
ing votes by the Board at its 26 October 1991 meeting
and do not include gifts or bequests projected at
$15,000.
year
Revenue
Expenses
1989
(actual)
$206,000
$411,000
1990
(actual)
$188,000
$481,000
1991
(budgeted)
none
none
1991
(actual)
unknown
unknown
1992
(budgeted)
$406,000
$543,000
The minutes of the 26 October meeting of the
ASPR Board show no discussion of how the 1992
revenue figure was calculated nor of how such an as-
tonishing expected revenue increase from $188,000 to
$406,000 would be achieved.
In a separate letter to our Treasurer, dated 3
February 1992, I have discussed the 1992 budget of
the ASPR in some detail, as well as the "total return"
method of determining endowment revenue, which I
infer has been applied, albeit incorrectly, in deriving
the above 1992 revenue projection.
Using the traditional accounting method followed
in the past by our ASPR auditors, and by projecting
the dividends and interest earned by our endowment
in the first ten months of 1991, I roughly estimate that
our total revenue for 1992 from all sources (including
dues, space rental, etc., less possible gifts) will be no
more than $207,000 and probably much less. This
would leave a deficit of $320,000, or 2.6 times the
1992 deficit shown by subtraction in the above table.
This is all the more alarming when it is Considered
that the still unknown 1991 deficit, like the 1990
deficit before it, will probably also be in the vicinity
of $300,000; thus bringing close to $900,000 the
deficit accumulated under President Jones.
For several years it has been recognized by some of
us that these annual deficits must end promptly. The
Society's endowment as of 31 October 1991 was
$1,656,000. Assuming a constant rate of expenditure
and no added income from other sources, as capital is
eaten into, investment revenue will drop at an ever-
increasing rate so that the Society could be bankrupt
in five years under favorable economic conditions or
in as little as three years if the present economic
depression deepens--as many economists think likely.
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S
EMPLOYMIIV'f CONTRACT
Among our larger budget items is the employment
contract of our new Executive Director. I have sub-
mitted this contract for comment to various people
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 Approved For Release 2003/09/09 :CIA-RDP96-007928000400300005-6
PARAPSYCHOLOGY AND THE ASPR
Emily W. Cook
In my view, parapsychologists now have two primary functions: One is to demonstrate to the
satisfaction of the scientific community that we are studying phenomena that have not yet been
adequately understood or explained, but that must be, because of their possible implications for
our understanding of the nature of mind and human personality. This will only be done by ad-
hering strictly to the scientific method, that is, to observation, experiment, critical evaluation and
inference, and the public exchange of ideas with peers.
The other primary fLnction of parapsychologists is to educate the general public about the
scientific attitude and approach that they too must adopt and apply when confronted with ex-
periences and events we call pazanormal.
In my view, therefore, these should be the functions of the ASPR: to uphold without com-
promise the strict application of the scientific method to pazapsychological phenomena, and to
teach the general public the critical attitude that the scientific method entails. Obviously, this
can only be done by people who themselves understand the nature of the scientific method.
The present leadership of the ASPR, however, seems overvvhehningly to believe that, despite a
century of applying the scientific method, we have failed to convince the scientific community,
and therefore we must abandon this approach and appeal, not to scientists, but to the general
public for intellectual support.
In my view, this will worsen the status of parapsychology even more, since it will contribute
further to--not ameliorate--the polarization that has continually plagued this field. The scientists
will deplore ever more strongly this occult nonsense, and the general public will fail to absorb
the standards of difficult, critical thinking that all new knowledge requires. Like the 19th
Century's Spiritualism, parapsychology will then be alive and thriving as a religion or belief
system, but as a science it will be dead.
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 Matters of Grave C9~hPiK~ FQ~p~elease 2003/09/Q.I~~C~IA-RDP96-00792R000400300005~~, 17,1992
who are knowledgable about the hiring of senior su-
pervisory personnel. Their comments ranged from
"fiscally irresponsible" to "preposterous." For reasons
that will be evident after reviewing the contract, I
think of the ASPR as undergoing a process analogous
to a leveraged corporate takeover--with one bizarre
twist: the "golden pazachute" is for the incoming
manager.
Before I refresh your memory as to the terms of the
contract, it may be worthwhile to comment on the
qualifications of the new Executive Director for
whom the contract was written. Although I do not
remember ever meeting her, I have been told by many
who know her that Patrice Keane has a charming per-
sonality, is a highly persuasive speaker, inspires
loyalty in her subordinates, and is intelligent and
clever.
On the other hand, Ms. Keane has not earned a
bachelor's degree, shows no record of having studied
science at the college level, and has had no scientific
experience beyond that gained in several pazapsycho-
Iogical experiments as a student investigator at New
York City's Maimonides Hospital 14 years ago
{reported orally to the Parapsychological Association:
RIP--1978, 40-41, 72-74, 82-84).
Ms. Keane's resume, submitted when she applied
for her present position, was too vague for critical
evaluation. By personal inquiry I have discovered
that when she described herself as being a "Research
Associate" with a well known psychiatrist, she meant
that she was one of a group of volunteers who met
usually once a week under his direction to explore and
encourage ESP in their dreams (RIP--1983, 145-152).
Ms. Keane may be unawaze that in the scientific
world a "research associate" is a colleague having the
same formal education but less experience than his or
her mentor.
Before assuming the position of Executive Duector
in May 1991, Ms. Keane assisted in educational ac-
tivities at the ASPR, part- or full-time, from 1975 to
1986. From 1986 to 1990, with the title of Director of
Education beginning in 1987, she led public discus-
sion sessions and arranged public lectures. President
Janes appointed her Acting Executive Director in
1990.
Term of the contract:
Three years, from 15 May 1991 to 15 May 1994.
Compensation:
$55,000 salary for first yeaz, increasing by $5,000
each year, plus fringe benefits estimated to cost
$12,250 the first year, plus a $7,000 lump sum
labelled "Educational Allotment" to be paid at the
beginning of each contract year for unspecified use by
the employee. Thus, the total cost to the ASPR will
be $74,250 for the first year, $80,000 for the second
yeaz, and $85,750 for the third--under the unlikely as-
sumption that the cost of medical insurance will not
increase.
Extent of Services:
Full time.
Vacation and Sick Days
Six weeks vacation each year "plus a reasonable
number of personal and sick days."
Termination and Severance.
Ninety days notice required for termination by ei-
ther employer or employee. Except in case of gross
and willful misconduct, termination and severance
payments will be made to the employee as follows:
If termination is by employer in first two years of
contract, ASPR must pay the employee the full three
years of salaries plus the educational allotments.
Alternatively, ASPR must make severance pay-
ment in the amount of one yeaz of current salary plus
the $7,000 educational allotment under the following
circumstances:
1. If termination is by the employee for any
reason.
2. If termination is by employer in last year of con-
tract.
3. If contract expires and is not renewed.
CRITICISM OF CONTRACT
The term of the contract should, in my opinion,
have been no more than one yeaz, especially in view
of the minimal experience of the employee and the
financial condition of the Society. There could ap-
propriately have been a nonbinding expectation to
continue for a second yeaz. Any pay increases should
have been decided by the Boazd at the end of each
yeaz on the basis of performance and the financial
resources of the Society.
The payment of the so-called "educational allot-
ment" is unjustified. The employee was hired in com-
petition with others on the premise that she was fully
trained for the job. How then can one argue that a
training grant is necessary to allow her to fulfill her
duties? The "educational allotment" has no require-
ment for accountability as to purpose and results.
Consequently, as the Internal Revenue Service would
view it, this "educational allotment" is in reality noth-
ing more than a bonus under another name.
Aside from a lack of reasons for giving this bonus,
how will Ms. Keane find time to use it for an educa-
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To: The Voting Members and others with an interest in
The American Society for Psychical Research.
From: Voting Member Robert McConnell
Room A234, Langley Hall, Biological Sciences Department
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.
Subject: Information concerning the interests and activities of Dr. C. B. Scott Jones.
Date: February S, 1992.
Because I am deeply concerned about the financial and administrative disarray of the American
Society for Psychical Research, I have been trying to understand not only the factual nature of
our problems but also the thinking of the people in chazge.
Recently, Ireceived amagnetic-tape recording of a lecture titled "The Dolphin Connection,"
given in 1988 to a Parapsychology Symposium at the Association for Research and Enlighten-
ment at Virginia Beach, Virginia, by Dr. C. B. Scott Jones. (This Association is dedicated to
venerating the memory of Edgar Cayce, a psychic healer.) The only previous information I had
about this two-day symposium was a printed announcement at the time, inviting me to paz-
ticipate and saying that anyone could attend for a fee of $30.
The above-mentioned lecture provides information about interests and activities of Dr. Jones of
which I was previously unaware. Dr. Jones has served as a Trustee of the American Society for
Psychical Reseazch for seven yeazs beginning in 1985 and has held the office of President for
three yeazs beguuiing in April 19$9. In my mind, this lecture raises doubt as to whether Dr.
Janes is qualified to participate in the guidance o~ any scientific organization, including the
American Society for Psychical Research. I am enclosing an abridgment of the lecture to allow
the reader to judge for himself the evaluative statements offered below.
The enclosed abridgment is complete except for the ellipses-indicated omission of historical
material showing that one-way interstellar electromagnetic transmission between intelligent be-
ings is conceivable by some well known scientists; whereas interstellar travel by physical beings
is not believed possible because of the time/distance barrier.
In this connection, when I looked in anthropologist Loren Eiseley's book, The Immense
Journey, I found that a quotation used by Dr. Janes in his lecture is from a chapter titled "Little
Men and Flying Saucers," where it is presented in a context gently ridiculing the possibility of
finding an information-gathering probe sent by intelligent beings from outer space. As used by
Dr. Jones, this quotation suggests that in his book Eiseley is receptive to the idea of finding such
an artifact, whereas the reverse is true. (Dr. Eiseley's book is an autobiographical survey for the
layman of what is known, what might be discovered, and what can never be known by science
about the origins of Homo sapiens.)
I know nothing in the scientific literature of pazapsychology that would suggest the prospect of
success in a seazch for an interstellar probe. More to the point, I know of no pazapsychologist
who would consider the probability of finding under the earth's oceans, through dolphin ESP, a
physical artifact sent by intelligent beings from outer space as anything but vanishingly small--a
probability that a mathematician might lightly refer to as a higher order infuutesimal. In other
words, the rationale of this project is a fantasy with no basis in reality.
Moreover, while I have heard of some slight unpublished evidence for ESP in dolphins, I would
expect that any such effect will prove to be as fragmentary and unpredictable as ESP between
humans. I know of no evidence suggesting that extrasensory messages "channeled" from living
humans to living humans (or between animals and humans) through a third party acting as a
psychic medium could provide the kind of accurate detailed conversational information
presented in Dr. Jones's lecture. If Dr. Jones's methods can objectively demonstrate that kind of
ESP, he will have made a revolutionary breakthrough in experimental parapsychology. (See Ar-
thur Hastings: With the Tongues of Men and Angels, Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1991}.
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 Approved For Release 2003/09/09 :CIA-RDP96-007928000400300005-6
To: The Trustees of the American Society for Psychical Research:
Dr. C.B. Scott Jones, President; Dr. Irvin L. Child; Ms. Emily W. Cook, Ms. Eleanor Frieder
Mr. Eric C. Fruhstorfer; Dr. Robert Jahn; Dr. Edward F. Kelly; Dr. Stanley Krippner;
Mr. Alan F. MacRobert; Ms. Marilyn Schlitz; Dr. Nancy P. Sondow; Mr. Bret Suval
From: Voting Member Robert McConnell, Room A234 Langley Hall, Biological ~~
Sciences Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, U.S.A. .
Subject: MATTERS OF GRAVE CONCERN TO THE ASPR
Date: February 17, 1992
As a Voting Member of the ASPR my aim in this
letter is to present certain information to you as
Trustees that may help you decide what actions of
yours will best serve to maintain the Society and to
advance our understanding of psychic phenomena.
Because I believe that all matters of policy within
the ASPR deserve the widest possible consideration, I
am mailing this letter to our Voting Members and to
others who may be interested in the future of the
ASPR.
THE FINANCIAL STATUS OF THE ASPR
As calculated from data furnished to the Board by
the Executive Director, for each of eleven years
{1980-1990) the ASPR has had an operating deficit
{expenses minus revenue), growing from $93,000
(39% of expenses) in 1980 to $293,000 {61% of ex-
penses) in 1990. Over. these 11 yeazs, the average
operating deficit was $148,000. Even when gifts and
bequests are counted as offsetting the deficits, there
was a deficit in 9 out of 11 years, averaging $64,000
per year over the 11 years.
The deficit for 1991 is not yet known, and no 1991
budget was submitted. The situation is summarized. in
the following table. The 1989 and 1990 figures are
from the independent auditors' report found in the
Society's Annual report for 1990 {not made available
to the Voting Members until May 1991) and omit
from "Revenue" any gifts or bequests. The 1992
figures are from the budget approved with 3 dissent-
ing votes by the Board at its 26 October 1991 meeting
and do not include gifts or bequests projected at
$1S,aoo.
year
Revenue
Expenses
1989
(actual)
$206,000
$411,000
1990
(actual)
$188,000
$481,000
1991
(budgeted)
none
none
1991
{actual)
unlmown
unknown
1992
(budgeted)
$406,000
$543,000
The minutes of the 26 October meeting of the
ASPR Boazd show no discussion of how the 1992
revenue figure was calculated nor of how such an as-
tonishing expected revenue increase from $188,000 to
$406,000 would be achieved.
In a separate letter to our Treasurer, dated 3
February 1992, I have discussed the 1992 budget of
the ASPR in some detail, as well as the "total return"
method of determining endowment revenue, which I
infer has been applied, albeit incorrectly, in deriving
the above 1992 revenue projection.
Using the traditional accounting method followed
in the past by our ASPR auditors, and by projecting
the dividends and interest earned by our endowment
in the first ten months of 1991, I roughly estimate that
our total revenue for 1992 from all sources (including
dues, space rental, etc., less possible gifts) will be no
more than $207,000 and probably much less. This
would leave a deficit of $320,000, or 2.6 times the
1992 deficit shown by subtraction in the above table.
This is all the more alarming when it is Considered
that the still unlmown 1991 deficit, like the 1990
deficit before it, will probably also be in the vicinity
of $300,000; thus bringing close to $900,000 the
deficit accumulated under President Jones.
For several years it has been recognized by some of
us that these annual deficits must end promptly. The
Society's endowment as of 31 Ot;tober 1991 was
$1,656,000. Assuming a constant rate of expenditure
and no added income from other sources, as capital is
eaten into, investment revenue will drop at an ever-
increasing rate so that the Society could be bankrupt
in five years under favorable economic conditions or
in as little as three years if the present economic
depression deepens--as many economists think likely.
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S
EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT
Among our lazger budget items is the employment
contract of our new Executive Director. I have sub-
mitted this contract for comment to various people
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 Halters of Grave ~ld~ F,~p~elease 2003/09/(~~~IA-RDP96-00792R000400300005~bruary, 17,
who are knowledgable about the hiring of senior su-
pervisory personnel. Their comments ranged from
"fiscally irresponsible" to "preposterous." For reasons
that will be evident after reviewing the contract, I
think of the ASPR as undergoing a process analogous
to a leveraged corporate takeover--with one bizarre
twist: the "golden parachute" is for the incoming
manager.
Before I refresh your memory as to the terms of the
contract, it may be worthwhile to comment on the
qualifications of the new Executive Duector for
wham the contract was written. Although I do not
remember ever meeting her, I have been told by many
who know her that Patrice Keane has a charming per-
sonality, is a highly persuasive speaker, inspires
loyalty in her subordinates, and is intelligent and
clever.
On the other hand, Ms. Keane has not earned a
bachelor's degree, shows no record of having studied
science at the college level, and has had no scientific
experience beyond that gained in several parapsycha-
logical experiments as a student investigator at New
York City's Maimonides Hospital 14 years ago
(reported orally to the Parapsychological Association:
RIP--1978, 40-41, 72-74, 82-84).
Ms. Keane's resume', submitted when she applied
for her present position, was too vague for critical
evaluation. By personal inquiry I have discovered
that when she described herself as being a "Research
Associate" with a well known psychiatrist, she meant
that she was one of a group of volunteers who met
usually once a week under his direction to explore and
encourage ESP in their dreams (RIP--1983, 145-152).
Ms. Keane may be unaware that in the scientific
world a "reseazch associate" is a colleague having the
same formal education but less experience than his or
her mentor.
Before assuming the position of Executive Duector
in May 1991, Ms. Keane assisted in educational ac-
tivities at the ASPR, part- or full-time, from 1975 to
1986. From 1986 to 1990, with the title of Director of
Education beginning in 1987, she led public discus-
sion sessions and arranged public lectures. President
Jones appointed her Acting Executive Director in
1990.
Term of the contract:
Three years, from 15 May 1991 to 15 May 1994.
Compensation:
$55,000 salary for first yeaz, increasing by $5,000
each yeaz, plus fringe benefits estimated to cost
$12,250 the first yeaz, plus a $7,000 lump sum
labelled "Educational Allotment" to be paid at the
beginning of each contract year for unspecified use by
the employee. Thus, the total cost to the ASPR will
be $74,250 for the first year, $80,000 for the second
year, and $85,750 for the third-under the unlikely as-
sumption that the cost of medical insurance will not
increase.
Extent of Services:
Full time.
Vacation and Sick Days
Six weeks vacation each year "plus a reasonable
number of personal and sick days."
Termination and Severance.
Ninety days notice required for termination by ei-
ther employer or employee. Except in case of gross
and willful misconduct, termination and severance
payments will be made to the employee as follows:
If termination is by employer in first two years of
contract, ASPR must pay the employee the full three
yeass of salaries plus the educational allotments.
Alternatively, ASPR must make severance pay-
ment in the amount of one yeaz of current salary plus
the $7,000 educational allotment under the following
circumstances:
1. If termination is by the employee for any
reason.
2. If termination is by employer in last year of con-
tract.
3. If contract expires and is not renewed.
CRITICISM OF CONTRACT
The term of the contract should, in my opinion,
have been no mare than one yeaz, especially in view
of the minimal experience of the employee and the
fmancial condition of the Society. There could ap-
propriately have been a nonbinding expectation to
continue for a second year. Any pay increases should
have been decided by the Boazd at the end of each
year on the basis of performance and the financial
resources of the Society.
The payment of the so-called "educational allot-
ment" is unjustified. The employee was hired in com-
petition with others on the premise that she was fully
trained for the job. How then can one argue that a
training grant is necessary to allow her to fulfill her
duties? The "educational allotment" has no require-
ment for accountability as to purpose and results.
Consequently, as the Internal Revenue Service would
view it, this "educational allotment" is in reality noth-
ing more than a bonus under another name.
Aside from a lack of reasons for giving this bonus,
how will Ms. Keane find time to use it for an educa-
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Matters of Grave Concern to the ASPR Page 3 February 17, 1992
tional purpose if she is to give full time to the
Society? I would think. that "full time" for an ad-
ministrator from whom so much is expected would
begin at 50 hours per week.
The ASPR has no present policy allowing educa-
tional allotments to employees and no such policy
should be initiated in the light of the desperate finan-
cial position of the Society.
(The payment to Mr. Charles Honorton in the same
budget, of funds for graduate study at Edinburgh nei-
ther established a general policy nor provided a prece-
dent for the bonus given to Patrice Keane since the
terms of the two grants aze not comparable. Honorton
is not an employee of the ASPR. Keane is. Honorton
is a scientist of distinction. Keane is not. Mr.
Honorton's experimental contributions to para-
psychology over a period of nearly three decades are
brilliant .and painstaking. He is clearly the leader in
his own area and one of the leaders of the field. His
work with the Ganzfeld is one of the main pillars of
the experimental evidence for the occurrence of ESP.
His stay at Edinburgh University will be primarily
devoted to research, the encouragement of which has
been the ASPR's mission since its founding in 1904.)
Six weeks paid vacation is excessive for an
employee formally accepting an executive director-
ship after one year as an acting director in which she
achieved no substantial improvement in the Society's
financial position. Had she already shown several
years of financially successful administrative service,
the picture would be different.
A cap should be placed on the number of sick and
personal days.
The contractual guarantee of three-year's salary
payment if released from employment is outrageous,
and the one year's severance pay is excessive. In my
opinion, three month's severance pay after three
months notification is all that should be given to a
person with no more administrative service than Ms.
Keane. Moreover, the contracted payment of one
year's severance salary in the event the employee
quits by her own choice is managerial buffoonery.
As the contract is written, if the Executive
D'irector's services prove unsatisfactory, or if for any
other reason such as financial stringency, the Execu-
tive Director's services must be terminated at or be-
fore the end of three years, she will have received an
average compensation that will range, depending
upon circumstances, between $104,000 and $213,250
per year of service. The fact that such an arrangement
could have been written into the contract and signed is
a serious indictment of the managerial judgment of
both the President and the Executive Director.
ATTACI-IIvIII~1T A TO THE CONTRACT
Attachment A, describing the duties of the position
needs a careful review, including especially the 23
numbered pazagraphs under "Duties, Responsibility,
and Authority." Pazagraph 7 needs revision some-
what as follows to discourage the hiring of staff on
the basis of friendship rather than competence. "Any
contracts between the ASPR and staff personnel must
be in writing, must not extend beyond one year, and
must be proposed by the Executive Director, ap-
proved by the President, and reported in writing to the
Board members within one week after approval."
LEGAL STATUS OF THE CONTRACT
The present Board of Trustees held its first meeting
on May 11, 1991, immediately following the annual
meeting of the Voting Members held to elect
Trustees. After organizing itself, the first action of
the Board under the leadership of President Jones was
to pass a resolution withdrawing the previous Board's
offer of Executive Directorship to Prof. Sybo
Schouten of Utrecht University. The second motion
offered that position to Ms. Patrice Keane with this
added sentence: "In order to facilitate conclusion of
the contract, the terms of the contract may be
negotiated by the Executive Committee plus the
Treasurer" [instead of by the Board as a whole]. The
Executive Committee members aze Dr. C. B. Jones
(President), Dr. Stanley Krippner (First Vice-
President), and Ms. Marilyn Schutz (Second Vice-
President). The Treasurer, or fourth member of the
Negotiating Committee, is Mr. Bret Suval, who began
his first term as Trustee in May, 1991:
The negotiations were, in fact, conducted between
Dr. Jones and Ms. Keane without participation by
Krippner, Schutz, or Suval. At some point, Dr. Jones
discussed a draft of the contract by telephone
separately with Krippner, Schutz, and Suval. Krip-
pner and Schutz have told me that what was read to
them by telephone included no mention of termination
or severance pay. Subsequently, Schutz wrote a letter
to the other members of the Executive Committee,
dated 12 June 1991 in which she approved a salary of
$45,000, objected to automatic salary increases, and
requested more information on the proposed educa-
tional allottment. Krippner wrote to the Executive
Committee on June 14, saying that the Schutz letter
expressed his own point of view.
Unbeknown to Krippner, Schutz, and Suval, the
contract was signed by Jones and Keane on July 27
and 26, 1991, respectively. The first and only written
communication of any kind from Jones to Schutz on
the subject of the contract was a letter dated 5 Sep-
tember 1991 informing her that the contract had been
signed and promising to send her a copy. Except for
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the above-mentioned letters of June 12 and 14, Krip-
pner could find in his files no correspondence be-
tween himself and any member of the Negotiating
Committee concerning the Keane contract. Krippner
told me that, as far as he was concerned, the signing
of the contract was a fait accompli in which he had no
part. The contract was first distributed to the
Trustees, including the Negotiating Committee, by
mail immediately before the next Board meeting,
which took place on 26 October 1991. Schlitz got her
first look at the contract by requesting a copy at an
intermission in the 26 October meeting. Trustee
Emily Cook's copy arrived at her home in Virginia on
the day she was attending the Board meeting in New
York City.
The minutes of this Board meeting show no discus-
sion of, or action upon, the contract.
It would appear that the condition for full exchange
of all relevant information among Jones, Krippner,
Schlitz, and Suval, implied by the May 11 delegation
of negotiating authority jointly to these four persons,
was never met and that this contract was not legally
validated by approval by a majority of the Negotiating
Committee.
Moreover, the terms of the contract, taking into ac-
count the charitable nature, size, and financial weak-
ness of the ASPR, and the meager education and ex-
perience of the new Executive Director, are so grossly
inappropriate as to convvnce me that the contract was
not negotiated competently by the President.
RECOMIvIENDATIONS TO THE BOARD
It is evident from the information I have provided
that the ASPR is in a state of crisis in which its con-
tinued existence is at stake.
My foremost recommendation to you as individual
Board members is that you take no corrective, as op-
posed to investigative, action until you have satisfied
yourself that you are in possession_of all the facts.
For the long haul we need to determine and expli-
cate the objectives and policies of the Society in terms
specific enough to provide operational guidance so
that the present financial debacle will not be repeated.
Immediately, however, in view of the clandestine
manner in which the President and Executive Director
have been operating in the year since it became
known to the Voting Members that there was "trouble
in paradise," it is necessary that the issues of the terms
of the contract and the manner in which the contract
was developed be given a full and impartial examina-
tion.
As ~ Trustee of the ASPR you are convinced of the
importance of scientifically investigating psychic
phenomena and of rationally exploring their potential
consequences for the destiny of humankind.
Yours is a public and freely assumed obligation to
respond to the challenge of a letter such as this in ac-
cordance with your own high ideals. You will be
rewarded by the approval of those whose values you
share. Toward that end, it will be my pleasure to dis-
seminate the news of your individual actions in this
matter.
At a practical level, what seems to me to be needed
for the protection of the ASPR and of you as an in-
dividual Trustee is the passage of a Board resolution
somewhat as follows:
Whereas, claimed gross deficiencies in both the
terms and manner of negotiation of the 26-27 July
1991 employment contract between the ASPR and
Executive Director Patrice Keane have been brought
to the attention of the Boazd of Trustees by a letter
from Voting Member Robert McConnell, itr is
resolved that:
1. The Board, acting through a member other than
the President, will promptly seek from an attorney not
currently or previously associated with the ASPR,
competent, independent, and disinterested legal ad-
vice on haw to proceed.
2. If that counsel concurs, the Board will delay any
action on these matters beyond the gathering of infor-
mation until after the next annual election by the
Voting Members, currently scheduled to be held 16
May 1992.
3. The Boazd, acting without the President and
staff, will promptly appoint a special Investigating
Committee charged with collecting and verifying in-
formation related to the matters braught to its atten-
tion in Dr. McConnell's letter of [day, month] 1992.
4. The Board hereby formally notifies President
Jones and Executive Director Keane of its proposed
investigation and of its possible intention to challenge
Ms. Keane's employment contract.
5. The Board takes note of the fact that it has not
collectively approved the aforesaid contract and or-
ders that the second-yeaz payment of a $7,000 "educa-
tional allotment" to the Executive Director be delayed
until it can be considered by the new Boazd after the
next election.
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Abridgment of an unedited transcription of a talk
THE DOLPHIN CONNECTION
by Dr. C. B. Scott Jones
Presented at a Parapsychology Symposium held at the Atlantic University
of the Association for Research and Enlightenment
at Virginia Beach, Virginia, in February, 1988.
(All omissions are indicated by ellipses.)
Our next speaker and the last one before lunch,
will be Scott Jones from the Center for Applied
Anomalous Phenomena, and he'll be speaking on
"The Dolphin Connection."
****
Well, good morning. I'm delighted to be
here.... What I'd like to do in the time this morn-
ing is to describe aninter-species communication
reseazch project involving a pod of wild spotted
dolphins as a link to extraterrestrial intelligence... .
The opening round of the modern-day scientific
interest in CETI [Communication with Extrater-
restrial Intelligence] was an article written by two
physicists from Cornell University, and these .were
Giuseppi Cocconi and Philip Morrison. Their az-
ticle, "Searching for Interstellar Communications,"
was published in September of 1959 in the British
journal, Nature. And here was their concluding
pazagraph in that article:
Few will deny the profound importance, practical
and philosophical, which the detection of interstellar
communications woul~ have? We therefore feel that
a discriminating seazch for signals deserves a con-
siderable effort. The probability of success is dif-
ficult to estimate; but if we never seazch, the chance
of success is zero.
Now we know that some scientists, both in the
United States and in the Soviet Union, have agreed
with Morrison and Cocconi's conclusion and that a
modest CETI effort has been underway in the
United States and in the Soviet Union. To this
paint, however, results have been negative. They
have been listening, and they have not received any
unambiguous radio signal that is associated with
extraterrestrial intelligence life.
I feel that another undertaking, one that looks in-
ward rather than to the stars, has at least as good a
chance of establishing the CETI hypothesis that
there is extraterrestrial intelligence, and that it
wants to, and can, communicate with earth.
Now the current CETI literature is dominated 1?y
discussions of radio technology, of their procedures
and communication attempts. I am looking for
considerations of telepathic and channeling tech-
niques to establish and maintain
cammunications ... .
It has been speculated by some that there have
been extraterrestrial contact activities with earth for
thousands, if not millions, of yeazs. Now there is
folk literature and modem accounts in great abun-
dance of such activity. Obviously, I am referring to
UFO reports.
Perhaps eazly activity involved automated probes
sent to test environmental conditions, to monitor for
life forms, and to test for intelligent life and level of
technology. Perhaps they are still ambivalent about
the results for intelligent life on earth.
Loren Eiseley, in -1957 in his book, The Immense
Journey, wrote about a possible probe:
So deep is the conviction that there must be life out
there beyond the dazk, one thinks that, if they are
more advanced than ourselves they may come across
space at any moment, perhaps in our generation.
Later, contemplating the infinity of time, one wonders
if, perchance, their message came long ago. Hurtling
into the swamp muck of the steaming coal forests, the
bright projectile clambered over by hissing reptiles,
and the delicate instrtunents rttttning mindlessly down
with no report.
Now the research that we have underway is
based upon several assumptions. The first and most
critical, is that we can establish a cooperative,
working relationship with one or more pods of wild
dolphins. The dolphins are at the same time sub-
jects of telepathic research and full partners for a
larger CETI research program.
There are several theories involved. The first is
that the man-dolphin relationship is more special
than has ever been realized, that the dolphin has
been cast in a very specific communication role be-
tween earthlings and extraterrestrial intelligence.
Now this may be viewed in two ways. The
dolphin's lazge brain may have been progranuned
thousands of years ago by visiting ETI and the dol-
phin today is a living computer data bank of basic
extraterrestrial information. The second theory is
that, with or without the first theory being valid, the
dolphin is a true master of his ocean environment.
The secrets of the deep aze his. No extraterrestrial
probe or monitoring device that purposefully en-
tered or crashed into the ocean has long escaped his
detection and location.
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The Dolphin Connection
Now the parent issue is whether a cooperative
man-dolphin research, discovery, and recovery
operation can be mounted. The real issue may be
more metaphysical than archeological.
Now I find an interesting pazallel here between
the A.R.E. effort that was mounted some time ago
by Hugh Lynn Cayce to locate the "Hall of
Records" in the Giza Plain described by Edger
Cayce as being underground between the right paw
of the Sphinx and the River Nile. Now I suspect
that the Hall of Records will be located when it is
time to be found.
I wonder if there is any metaphysical constraints
involving locating extraterrestrial probes or az-
tifacts. Now the steps to date: we have had over
three or four years interaction with dolphins, our
team. We started first with dolphins in captivity to
see what capability we had in working telepathi-
cally with them. Once this was established to our
satisfaction, the next impulse we had--actually
guidance--was to go and work with the dolphins in
the wild. So last year in July we went to a spot
some 150 miles north of where Stephan is located
in the Little Bahama Bank, and worked (swam) for
about four days with a pod of spotted dolphins.
What we got from them when we arrived was,
we asked them what they wanted to do, and they
said, "Get in the water." So nine of us did get in the
water, and we enjoyed that experience immensely.
We had both telepathic and channeled information
from this group. We wanted to propose a reseazch
project with them and we wanted to ask them what
they wanted to do.
It is this exchange of information that has set up
the project that we have underway. Without getting
into detail, there is considerable hope from this first
encounter that they are willing to participate with
us as co-researchers in a locating and recovery
operation.
There is one constraint on it that is very inter-
esting. After we had swam with them for four
days, we had an interesting channel session the last
evening we were at sea. We said, "We have a num-
ber of questions we want to ask you." And we
wanted to gather information about them and their
world, and so they said, "OK. What are your ques-
tions?"
Well, they pulled us through all the questions be-
fore they gave any answers. And at the end they
said, "Well, we have something to say about all of
your questions, and we have answers to questions
more important than the ones that you asked.
However, at this time, we aze not going to say any-
thing to you."
Which was a bit disappointing, so we asked (as
you are entitled to when you aze in channeled infor-
mation), "What's going on here?
"While you have done well in this week, you
have not yet been accepted into the pod. You need
to spend more time with the dolphins."
And so we asked how this would be done--if it
had to do with them--and they said, "No. Any dol-
phin group, whether in captivity or in the wild,
provided those in captivity are respected and well
taken caze of."
Now, I've reviewed that tape several times and it
appears that what they are suggesting is not
telepathic communications at all. It's various forms
of nonverbal cammunicadon. Because they say,
"Watch the dolphins. Swim with us. Watch us
swim. Watch our movements."
Well, since that time we--various parts of the
team--have been doing that. That's why I was so
eager to accept Stephen's invitation to come dive
with him, because he says that a group of spotted
dolphins frequently come in and join them in their
work under water. My wife, Jonie, and I aze plan-
ning on going down a little later on this year and
continue our interaction with the dolphins.
Now this is a very simple project. The dolphins
either will, or will not, lead us to an underwater ar-
tifact, and we either will, or will not, recover it, and
it won't take years and yeazs to do this, except for
the possible metaphysical link.
But we'll break it off if we are not getting
results. We don't know what we are going to find.
I think it is the dolphins' responsibility to lead us to
something that they have in mind, and that's their
part of the partnership.
If it's there, and it's recoverable, we will recover
it, and then we'll decide what we do with it.
Those of you who know my job in Washington,
might suspect ~ that there is a particulaz reason for
this, and as faz as I am concerned, that step, which
is extraordinary it itself--what I've just talked
about, the recovery of an extraterrestrial artifact--is
merely a step into something that I consider equally
important, and that is to get the government, if not
the world, responsibly involved in looking at the
extraterrestrial problem and to simply be more
mindful of the universality of life.
****
Q. [Can you tell us] why you believe that there is
contact with the dolphins?
A: Well, that would take a good deal of time to
develop. But, basically, it's some things that have
come to me personally in my own meditation and it
also came from the dolphins. It was something that
they proposed in our contacts with them... .
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