A lawsuit filed by two professors against the University of Denver for yanking their published article from two online services spotlights what they claim is a growing risk: corporate pressure on campus authorities to restrict academic research and publishing. PNS correspondent Kent Patterson is a freelance journalist based in Albuquerque, NM

Professor William Wines says he was stunned when he opened the letter.

In March 1999, the Boise Cascade Corporation wrote the University of Boise instructor to inform him that an article by Wines and two co-authors had been retracted by its publishers, Colorado's privately-run University of Denver (DU).

In addition to issuing a printed retraction, DU yanked the article -- which appeared two years earlier in the Spring 1998 issue of the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy -- from two online services, Westlaw and Lexis.

"I was just dumfounded that a major university would pull a scholarly article without so much as the courtesy of a phone call or letter or discussion with the author," he recalls.

Wines says he has been unable to get a satisfactory explanation from University officials. On August 31, the veteran professor of legal environment and business ethics and his co-authors, Mark A. Buchannan and Donald J. Smith, sued the university for defamation and breach of contract.

According to the lawsuit, Boise Cascade pressured the University of Denver to retract or republish portions of the article without giving the authors an opportunity to respond.

Wines says that the survival of critical, independent research and academic freedom, at a time when corporate influence in academic life is growing, is at the heart of his legal case.

"I think this particular case is groundbreaking because it shows the possibility for a corporate template on what is acceptable research at a university," asserts Wines. "And I think that should concern everybody who has a love of freedom and free speech, and people like me who have devoted their lives to universities, teaching and research."

Even a glance at the article's title -- "The Critical Need for Law Reform to Regulate the Abusive Practices of Transnational Corporations: The Illustrative Case of Boise Cascade Corporation in Mexico's Costa Grande and Elsewhere" -- reveals why the firm might be unhappy.

The 62-page analysis, takes the giant timber firm to task on a host of matters including mill closures, union-busting and logging contracting in the conflictive southern Mexican state of Guerrero where Boise Cascade operated a mill from 1995 to 1998.

Wine's article accuses the firm of trying to stifle unfavorable publicity about its practices in both Mexico and the United States.

DU's published retraction in the Summer 1999 issue of the Denver Journal characterizes the article as not being "consistent" with the school's editorial standards, citing some references to Boise Cascade as "clearly inappropriate." But Wines and co-author Don Smith counter that the article was thoroughly documented and researched and that no representative from DU has been able to specify any false or defamatory statement in their article.

DU officials will not comment directly about the lawsuit. University spokesman Warren Smith concedes that the university takes the lawsuit "very seriously," but he adds that it would be "inappropriate" to comment because of the existing litigation. Although it is not named as a defendant in the case, calls to a Boise Cascade spokesman went unreturned.

Since Boise Cascade pulled out of Guerrero more than two years ago, the issue of its former logging operation has not gone away. For months, the firm's website has prominently featured a disclaimer denying any involvement in the predicament of imprisoned Mexican anti-logging activist Rodolfo Montiel.

Members of Montiel's group blocked logging trucks ostensibly headed for Boise Cascade's mill in Guerrero shortly before the company pulled out. After a year of fleeing from government threats, Montiel was arrested by the Mexican Army in a violent 1999 incident that left one man dead.

Last month, Montiel was slapped with a 6 year, 8-month prison term. A co-defendant, Teodoro Cabrera, got 10 years. His supporters claim he is being framed on drug and weapons charges in order to quash the anti-logging movement in Guerrero.

"We sincerely hope that no injuries or mistreatment has occurred," reads Boise Cascade's statement. "We share in the values of protection of individual liberties and free expression of opinions in the U.S., in Mexico, and everywhere."

Spearheaded by the Sierra Club, Amnesty International, and other groups, the Free Montiel Movement has become an international cause. Protesters have even managed to make their voices heard in company meetings.