University of Virginia Library

Cranberg Confers With University,
Settle 1970 Rights, Contract Suit

By Philip Kimball
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Nuclear Physicist Lawrence Cranberg's
$350,000 suit of March 20, 1970 against
the University of Virginia for breach of
contract and violation of constitutional
rights was settled out of court, it was
announced Monday, January 25 in a press
release from Mr. Cranberg and his
lawyers.

A statement released on the 25th from
Mr. Cranberg and University officials
stated, "We are pleased to announce that
a settlement has been reached in the suit
against the University." The statement
continued to say that there would be no
further comment from the parties involved and
their lawyers. While further inquiries of both
University officials and Mr. Cranberg produced
no details, reliable sources state that a cash
settlement was involved.

The suit filed in the U.S. District Court in
Richmond claimed that the breach and
violations resulted from the actions of the
University in 1968 when Mr. Cranberg was
dismissed from the directorship of the
University's $1.2 million Van de Graaff nuclear
accelerator and its related position of principal
investigator on federal grants for research in
nuclear physics on the accelerator.

Mr. Cranberg charged that his removal of
directorship was a breach of contract, failed to
afford him due process, violated his freedom of
speech and academic freedom and caused
irreparable injury to his reputation through
actions he terms "without cause and without
due process." His suit claimed $50,000 for
breach of contract, $200,000 for injury to
reputation and $100,000 for mental anguish
and restoration to laboratory directorship.

The defendants in the case were University
Provost Frank L. Hereford Jr., University
President Edgar F. Shannon Jr., former Rector
Frank Rogers and members of the Board of
Visitors in office when Mr. Cranberg was
relieved.

In a newspaper interview Mr. Cranberg
stated that an "indispensable condition for his
acceptance of an appointment at the University
was that he have primary responsibility for the
program of nuclear research to be conducted at
the Physics Accelerator Laboratory."

Dismissed as director on September 1, 1968
after being notified on March 21 of that year,
by University Provost Frank L. Hereford Jr.,
"Without right and in violation of aforesaid
commitments" Mr. Cranberg claimed that he
would no longer "be approved by the
defendants as principal investigator in new
proposals for support grants for the operation
of the accelerator."

While no longer director of the University's
accelerator according to the settlement, Mr.
Cranberg still holds a position in the Physics
Department.