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9/11 theories put BYU prof on paid leave
Controversy: He has posited that the plane attack was a diversion for bombs
inside buildings
By Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:09/09/2006 02:27:04 AM MDT
Brigham Young University placed physics professor Steven Jones on paid leave
Thursday while it reviews his controversial research on the collapse of the
World Trade Center.
Jones published the paper, "Why Indeed Did the World Trade Center
Collapse?" in the book, 9/11 And The American Empire: Intellectuals Speak
Out, and online, and began lecturing in Utah and across the country about
his theories, which allege that the planes crashing into the towers created
a diversion for an unnamed group, possibly the U.S. military, that had
planted bombs inside the towers.
Jones in recent media interviews has said materials found at Ground Zero
and studied at BYU found traces of thermite, an explosive compound used by
the military. However, Jones did not name any specific people or groups
responsible for the explosion.
"We are looking at the increasingly speculative and accusatory nature of
Dr. Jones' statements, and the fact this work hasn't been published in
appropriate scientific venues," said Carri Jenkins, a BYU spokeswoman.
Jones also was recently appointed co-chairman of Scholars for 9/11 Truth,
"a nonpartisan association of faculty, students, and scholars, in fields as
diverse as history, science, military affairs, psychology and philosophy,
dedicated to exposing falsehoods and to revealing truths behind 9/11,"
according to its Web site. In addition, he is co-editor of Journal of 9/11
Studies.
Attempts to reach Jones Friday were unsuccessful. His home phone number
had been disconnected, and he did not respond to several telephone messages
and e-mails left at his office.
While mainstream media outlets have published little about Jones'
research, dozens of blogs quote Jones as a leading academic expert on the
theory that the twin towers collapsed due to explosions instead of the
planes.
Ben Peckham, a Bountiful resident who has followed Jones' work since
2002, said Friday it is "hypocritical" of BYU to place Jones on leave.
"Universities are supposed to convey old knowledge, search for new
knowledge and teach critical thinking," Peckham said. "BYU is doing none of
those by suspending Dr. Jones."
He wishes people would read Jones' paper, which can be found online at
http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org, and decide for themselves "who is using
science, and who isn't."
Jones' two classes are being taught by other professors this fall, and
Jenkins said the review will last at least throughout fall semester.
"BYU has a policy of academic freedom, but what's expected is that
professors submit their work to academic peer reviews so it can be
challenged and debated by experts," Jenkins said.
While the investigation is under way, Jones "will be allowed to do
research on campus in areas of his academic scholarship," she said.
Whether BYU will allow him to keep his posts with Scholars for 9/11 Truth
and Journal of 9/11 Studies is part of what will be reviewed, Jenkins said.
It is rare for a tenured professor to be put on paid leave at BYU. Jones
has taught at BYU since 1985 and has been widely published in scientific
journals. He garnered international attention in 1987 when he claimed to
have created small amounts of cold fusion, though he said it was not enough
for a stable energy source.
Jones has had no other research cause a stir like that generated by his
9/11 paper, Jenkins said.
BYU's review of his 9/11 research will involve the school's
administration, the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and the
Physics Department.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
===========================
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650200587,00.html
BYU professor in dispute over 9/11 will retire
Jones had been placed on leave 6 weeks ago By Tad Walch Deseret Morning
News
PROVO - Professor Steven Jones and Brigham Young University finalized a
retirement package Friday, six weeks after the school placed the
physicist on paid leave to review his statements and research about the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.
"I am electing to retire so that I can spend more time speaking and
conducting research of my own choosing," Jones said in a statement
released by the university. "I appreciate the wonderful opportunity I
have had to teach and serve and do research at BYU for more than 21
years."
Jones and BYU worked on the package for weeks, Jones said in an
interview with the Deseret Morning News. The university abandoned its
review of his 9/11-related work Friday after the agreement was reached,
university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said.
Jones' retirement is effective Jan. 1. He hasn't decided what he'll do
next, though he has received a feeler from another school and intends
to keep talking about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Both sides declined to release details about the retirement package,
but Jones said he was told it was pretty standard.
"The university's been great," he said. "I feel like they've been fair
with me in this settlement we've reached in this retirement. I feel
pretty chipper." Jenkins said BYU's aborted review, which was expected
to last the rest of the semester, was still in the early stages.
"It was at the department level, and we were still in the process of
putting together a review panel," she said.
Jones submitted a letter to the editor of the Deseret Morning News via
e-mail Friday afternoon. Written two weeks ago, the letter did not
mention his decision to retire and avoided any reference to BYU. In it,
Jones renounced the Iraqi War, questioned the official explanations of
the collapses of the World Trade Center towers and expressed concern
that a future terrorist attack might be blamed on Iran or Syria to
justify American aggression against those nations.
"I stand firmly against the war in Iraq and any war of aggression,"
Jones wrote. "I support scientific scrutiny of the events of 9/11/2001,
a day which will live in infamy."
BYU stripped Jones of two classes he was teaching when the university
placed him on paid leave on Sept. 7 to review a paper he wrote about
the physics behind the collapse of three towers on Sept. 11. He
published a paper saying experiments he conducted at BYU on material
from ground zero and other evidence led him to believe the towers fell
because pre-set explosives were detonated throughout the buildings
after the hijacked jets struck the Twin Towers.
BYU planned to review the paper to see if it met scientific standards
of peer review. The university also expected to look at statements made
by Jones at conferences and in the media and determine if Jones was
appropriately distancing himself from BYU when he spoke about his
explosives theory.
Jones said Friday he welcomed the review because he hoped it would
encourage people to read his paper for themselves. He said he feels a
responsibility to bring attention to questions about what happened on
Sept. 11, 2001.
"My stewardship is to get people thinking about and studying these
things," he said. "I have my stewardship, and I'm going to keep going
at it doggedly. The administrators (at BYU) have their stewardship. We
both were just doing our best in our stewardships, and I'm not mad at
them at all. I sense it is a friendly type of arrangement. It's
probably the best thing, and we'll move on. I feel good about it."
A member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, co-founded by Jones in December
2005, launched a drive to get 10,000 signatures on a petition in
support of Jones to send to BYU President Cecil Samuelson. As of Friday
afternoon, the petition had 2,924 signatures.
James Fetzer, the other co-founder of the scholars group, published an
open letter to Samuelson on www. scholarsfor911truth.org. Fetzer wrote
that the buildings were constructed to withstand impact from airplanes
and the fires that resulted. Physics can't explain the rapid, pancaking
fall of the towers either, he said. Jones said he hoped news coverage
of his retirement would spur media organizations to print his entire
letter and explore his paper at www.Journalof911Studies.com.
Jones' letter quoted two Swiss researchers who announced last month
that they believe explosives were responsible for the collapse of the
building not struck by a plane.
He closed the letter saying he wants to avoid a military draft to fight
what he considers unnecessary wars.
"Because of my concern for college-age students I have taught and loved
for decades, I am motivated to speak out emphatically against what I
judge - after thorough study and reflection - to be terrible wars, wars
of aggression, founded on deceptions."
Jones will finish the semester by transferring duties as chairman of a
committee within the Physics Department to his successor and working
with students under his tutelage to complete their research.
He said his wife hopes he'll spend more time with her and at their home
in Sanpete County.
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
======================
Steven Jones' letter of resignation
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_4528049
I stand firmly against the war in Iraq and any war of aggression.
I support scientific scrutiny of the events of Sept. 11, 2001 a day
which will live in infamy. I speak as a private citizen of the United
States.
"In a democracy we can renounce war and proclaim peace. There is
opportunity for dissent. Many have been speaking out and doing so
emphatically. That is their privilege. That is their right, so long as they
do so legally . . . We can give our opinions on the merits of the situation
as we see it." (President Gordon B. Hinckley, LDS General Conference, April
6,2003.)
Wholeheartedly agreeing, I am exercising that right and that privilege.
"A team of American and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated that
600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the 2003 American
invasion." (New York Times, 11 Oct. 11. 2006) I renounce these killings in
the Middle Eastern wars.
We must insist on complete answers to questions about what really
happened on Sept. 11, why there were no air defenses that day, and why we
have gone to war in the Middle East. These issues transcend party politics.
These yearnings for understanding of 9/11 and the wars that followed take us
to the core of our heritage as Americans -- I support the Constitution of
the United States. I am very concerned about those elected officials who
would engage in pre-emptive war rather than "common defense" to "repel
invasions" (Article I), compromise our rights against torture and cruel
punishments (Eighth Amendment), take away the right of habeas corpus
(Article I), and diminish the freedom to speak out without fear of reprisals
(1st Amendment).
Two structural engineering professors in Switzerland have recently
spoken out as I have also done, declaring that explosives were with "utmost
probability" responsible for the collapse of World Trade Center 7 on Sept.
11. "WTC7 was with the utmost probability brought down by explosives", said
one. 'Tages-Anzeiger, 9/9/2006"
After seeing the collapse of World Trade Center 7 (see wt7.net), many
instinctively want to know why this 47-story skyscraper, which was never hit
by a plane, collapsed completely seven hours after the WTC Towers had
collapsed. How could this happen? The 9/11 Commission report fails to
mention the collapse of WTC7. Federal laboratories have not officially
answered yet. FEMA explains how fire might initiate a collapse, then admits,
"Our best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence." Is it a
crime, then, to consider an alternative hypothesis, that explosives were
used?
I invite you to study this matter for yourself. Please read the
peer-reviewed articles published here: www.Journalof911Studies.com . This
Journal is supported by the Scholars for 9/11 Truth, which I co-chair, and
considers the "official theory" of what happened on 9/11 as well as
alternative explanations. One of my scientific papers on 9/11 issues is
published in this Journal (as well as in a book edited by Professors David
Ray Griffin and Peter Scott.) The paper therein by Joseph Firmage explores
evidences that US intelligence knew in advance that the hijackers were
coming and that the attacks were "allowed to happen," to justify wars in the
Middle East. At least ten nations are on record as having warned the current
administration that terrorist attacks were imminent, shortly before 9/11.
If another "9/11-like event" is "allowed to happen" in the near future,
do you not suppose that it will be blamed this time on Iran or Syria,
followed by a swift and deadly attack on the country blamed? Can you not
imagine that a military draft will follow next, with college students
constrained to enter the military, and handed rifles to go and kill people
in the Middle East, by the tens of thousands?
Because of my concern for college-age students I have taught and loved
for decades, I am motivated to speak out emphatically against what I judge -
after thorough study and reflection - to be terrible wars, wars of
aggression, founded on deceptions.
Steven E. Jones Physicist and Co-chair, Scholars for 9/11 Truth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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