Sir

Your News Feature 'The Arizona experiment' (Nature 446, 968–970; 2007) mentions that Robert Pettit “lost” directorship of the Cancer Research Institute at Arizona State University, as though he were an absent-minded professor who had just misplaced it. In fact, after disagreements with the university's president Michael Crow, Pettit was removed from the position and the institute was effectively closed down. All the personnel were transferred to the university's Biodesign Institute. After a year of problems and disputes, which included measures taken to stop them obtaining any new funding, the group was terminated. The reasons given by Crow and the Biodesign Institute's head George Poste, according to articles that appeared in local newspapers, were that the research was out of date and that the group had not kept up with recent advances.

A less euphoric assessment of Crow's administration and its effect on morale can be found in an article by Megan Irwin in the Phoenix New Times (http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-04-26/news/asu-inc).