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The Dominion
August 5, 2000
Academics in sex abuse row
by David McLoughlin
A row over academic freedom has erupted after attempts by a group of
child sexual abuse campaigners to have a leading American academic stopped
from giving a keynote speech to the New Zealand Psychological Society's
annual conference this month.
The dispute is so bitter that an executive member of the society, John Read
of Auckland University, has resigned in protest at
the society's refusal to revoke its invitation to Elizabeth Loftus of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Professor Loftus is a world authority on the memory capabilities of children
and was one of the first academics to question the belief of child-abuse
therapists that adults could "recover' memories of sexual abuse
supposedly inflicted on them at a very young age.
Opponents of her speaking at the conference, to be held at Waikato University
from August 27, say her research is flawed and has enabled child-abusers to
walk free from courts because defence lawyers have used her work to discredit
prosecution evidence.
Dr Read, a senior lecturer in Auckland
University's psychology
department, is a prominent campaigner on issues concerning child sexual
abuse. Until his resignation over the invitation he was the director of
scientific affairs on the society's executive.
Approached yesterday, he said he did not wish to comment on his resignation
or about Professor Loftus. "Things may happen when she arrives," he
said. One of Dr Read's supporters, Wellington clinical psychologist and
Victoria University lecturer Judith McDougall, said it was not appropriate
that Professor Loftus be given the prominence of a keynote speaker.
"Elizabeth Loftus has shown that memory is fallible, which is useful,
but it's gone beyond that. She argues long-term memory is fallible. That's
not true. Adult memories of childhood are quite robust. The problem is that
her work is being used by defence counsel to discredit sex abuse cases in
American courts.
" The society's conference convenor, Michael O'Driscoll of Waikato University, said the issue was one of
academic freedom.. "Academic freedom is paramount at our conferences. Dr
Read strongly opposes Professor Loftus's views and said by inviting her we
were endorsing her. That is not so. We are not endorsing her views, we are
giving her the opportunity to state them.
"Professor O'Driscoll said Dr Read had rejected an offer of a full hour
after Professor Loftus's speech for a forum to comment.
"Her talk will deal with childhood memory. Recovered memory is not the
focus of it. Dr Read was making an assumption that she will say something controversial.
That may well be the case but there is nothing wrong with a bit of
controversy," Professor O'Driscoll said.
Victoria University psychology lecturer
Maryanne Garry, who worked with Professor Loftus in Seattle, said her opponents thought it was wrong
for someone to do the scientific equivalent of raising a hand from the back
of the room and asking, "Are we sure about this?"
Research in the United
States and in Britain showed that "the
leading cause of convicting the innocent is a memory error", Dr Garry
said.
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