This is a response to a post on Katrin Wehrheim's web-page
math.berkeley.edu/~katrin/wwpapers. This post followed a mediation by the AMS Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) requested by myself, which resulted in a decision that Katrin found unfavorable to her. The dispute
concerned my attempts to post corrected versions of these papers and get them published, after a dispute over what might be called creative process left us unable to complete the papers jointly. These attempts were opposed by Katrin, who declined to participate in the revision project. Wehrheim writes that she intended to leave the
2010 preprints unpublished: "My intention was to keep these preprints
unpublished (and rather visibly
preliminary than seemingly finished)" [Retrieved January 2016 from math.berkeley.edu/~katrin/wwpapers.] Furthermore, she claimed she had a right to an indefinite veto of their publication. After an unsuccessful mediation attempt by Dusa McDuff, whose suggested compromise Wehrheim refused to accept, I appealed for guidance from AMS COPE. Katrin also refused to accept the COPE decision. After the mediation decisions,
several of the papers were submitted, and have received referee reports
with minor corrections. Two of these papers have now been accepted and are in press; for the remainder, I'm sure there will be few more minor
corrections and clarifications as publication proceeds; please let me
know if you find places where such are required.
- Chris Woodward, Highland Park, New Jersey, January 2016, updated June 2016.