Ua 16: Om konflikten ved Idrettsvitenskap (2.11.00)

I write to correct a number of factual errors that appeared in an article, written by Tore Oksholen, in the Universitetsavisa on 19th October under the title Alvorlig konflikt ved Idrett.

In this article Oksholen refers to letters sent to the Faculty of Social Sciences (September 1998) and to the Rector of the University (on 22-03-99) and signed by myself and a colleague in the Institute. In these letters we were purported to have made accusations about the validity of a Ph.d submission by a member of the academic staff of the University. For the record, we never made such accusations! In those letters we simply raised polite questions about a matter that, as members of the academic staff of the University, gave us cause for concern and asked the University to reassure us that our concerns were ungrounded. While your reporter might be forgiven for this error, as he was not one of the addressees of the letter, the Dean, as Faculty representative, was in a different position.

Now, some two years later, we have still not received that reassurance, or for that matter any response to our letters. It would not be surprising, therefore, if we were lead to the conclusion, particularly given the fact that in the interim period the thesis has not been approved, that our worst suspicions had been confirmed.

HTA (John) Whiting Department of Psychology University of York