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Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001001420001-3 Pressure within the scientific community is best shown by the 1984 award of a $750,000 endowment for parapsychology research to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Leading British universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, “decided not to apply for the endowment, primarily on the grounds that it would throw doubt on the credibility of other research programs” (16: 1274), Obviously this is an example of the “suspicion” Dr. Beaumont was talking about; it is an indication that major self-imposed obstacles continue to impede psychic research. The first great battle of any “mind race” must be fought within ourselves. If each of us becomes more aware and open-minded to the reality of paranormal Phenomena, we can learn to use these treasures rather than fear then. This greater psychic awareness has perhaps already begun. A survey by the president of the American pociety for Social Psychiatry revealed in 1981 that 58 percent of medical faculties polled. felt that “understanding of PSychic phenomena is important to future fraduates of psychiatry programs", and that the American public accept the reality of psychic phenomena with 51 percent believing in ESP and 37 percent believing in precognition. The June 1983 Congressional Research Service report says, All polls of both the public and the scientific community in recent years have yielded _ evidence of a generally positive attitude toward the existence and relevance of psi phenomena as a class and research into then. The general public accepts the concept of PSi, often based on personal experience (17: CRS-21) Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001001420001-3 tO