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Follow-Up Week, Day Two
Oct. 2nd, 2007 08:50 amTuesday, October 2, 2007
Columbia University
Henry Yager ran a hand over his face and wished deep in his heart that he had had the sense, years ago, to say 'screw you all' and go into a field less rife with controversy and second-guessing. Tobacco farming, for example, or the mining and production of asbestos. Or pornography. There was always a market for pornography, and nobody outside the field cared very much what direction the management of any given company took or whether they made any radical course changes. Oh, sure, you worked with some thoroughly revolting people on the management side, and the actors and models probably had better things to do with their time, but really. How did that differ from what he was doing now?
He pushed the thought away and told himself firmly that this was a matter of the Public Interest. At the time he and the University trustees had made their original decision, it had made perfect sense. There'd been no results. There'd been no respectable papers. The closest any of them had ever gotten to being published in a peer-reviewed journal had been the Fortean Times, for God's sake! Of course the university wasn't going to keep throwing good money after bad. Nobody knew at the time- there was no way of predicting any of this...
It wasn't his fault. No one could say it was his fault. Even the donors had agreed it wasn't his fault. He'd done what had made sense at the time, and now it made sense to take an entirely different tack. And that was the problem. At the time, he'd done the right thing. What he was doing now was also the right thing. But this was New York City, and the subtle distinctions between one time and the other would be lost on the vast majority of the Fourth Estate. They'd never let him live it down, a thought that lingered in his mind as he fumbled for his bottle of prescription antacids and shook out half a handful. He choked the lot of them down with water as he looked over the official announcement one last time.
New York, NY -- For the second time in University history, Columbia University has established a diploma program in Parapsychology. The program, beginning next autumn, will be administered by a committee authorized jointly by the Psychology and Anthropology Departments. Frances Stuehrenberg, of the Sheldon Scheps Memorial Library, will serve as its director...
Dean Yager rubbed at his face and thought to himself, There are not enough days in the week for all the therapy I'm going to need.
Columbia University
Henry Yager ran a hand over his face and wished deep in his heart that he had had the sense, years ago, to say 'screw you all' and go into a field less rife with controversy and second-guessing. Tobacco farming, for example, or the mining and production of asbestos. Or pornography. There was always a market for pornography, and nobody outside the field cared very much what direction the management of any given company took or whether they made any radical course changes. Oh, sure, you worked with some thoroughly revolting people on the management side, and the actors and models probably had better things to do with their time, but really. How did that differ from what he was doing now?
He pushed the thought away and told himself firmly that this was a matter of the Public Interest. At the time he and the University trustees had made their original decision, it had made perfect sense. There'd been no results. There'd been no respectable papers. The closest any of them had ever gotten to being published in a peer-reviewed journal had been the Fortean Times, for God's sake! Of course the university wasn't going to keep throwing good money after bad. Nobody knew at the time- there was no way of predicting any of this...
It wasn't his fault. No one could say it was his fault. Even the donors had agreed it wasn't his fault. He'd done what had made sense at the time, and now it made sense to take an entirely different tack. And that was the problem. At the time, he'd done the right thing. What he was doing now was also the right thing. But this was New York City, and the subtle distinctions between one time and the other would be lost on the vast majority of the Fourth Estate. They'd never let him live it down, a thought that lingered in his mind as he fumbled for his bottle of prescription antacids and shook out half a handful. He choked the lot of them down with water as he looked over the official announcement one last time.
New York, NY -- For the second time in University history, Columbia University has established a diploma program in Parapsychology. The program, beginning next autumn, will be administered by a committee authorized jointly by the Psychology and Anthropology Departments. Frances Stuehrenberg, of the Sheldon Scheps Memorial Library, will serve as its director...
Dean Yager rubbed at his face and thought to himself, There are not enough days in the week for all the therapy I'm going to need.
