Moon Publishing Co. Taps Professor

A Harvard Medical School professor serves as one of 18 scholars on the editorial board of Paragon House, a publishing firm owned by Revend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.

Claude A. Villee, professor of biochemistry, joined the board at its inception 18 months ago. He was invited to become a board member because he had participated in several conferences sponsored by the Unification Church's International Cultural Foundation, he said yesterday.

"Paragon House is a scholarly press that publishes scholarly works," said Villee, who denied Reverend Moon influenced its work.

Bad Report

Most of its publications deal with nonfiction in academic subjects ranging from history to science. Paragon House "aims to be a modified university press," said editorial board chairman Frederick E. Sontag, a Pomona College professor.

But critics charge that Paragon and other firms (including the New York Tribune, the Washington Times, and Noticas del Munde) are simply attempts by the controversial religious group to gain legitimacy.

"[Paragon House] is a long-term project to get people affiliated with them--it gives them [the Church] legitimacy," said Stephen Hassan, an ex-follower of Reverend Moon.

Church and Board

All of the company's budget--$5 million for the next five years--comes from the Unification Church and includes money to pay each board member $250 for each meeting they attend.

"The issue is basically whether you care where the money comes from," said University of Pennsylvania professor Arthur Dole, whose daughter was a member of the church for five years.

"It might make him [Villee] uneasy to realize that the money that is paying him is raised in large part by people who are being exploited."

Villee said that Paragon "hopes to make itself self-supporting" eventually. "[Our decisions] are completely independent" of the Reverend Moon, added Villee yesterday.

The Unification Church--whose membership numbers 40,000--is led by Rev. Moon, Who cam to the United States from Korea in the 1960's

The Church has drawn criticism from ex-members and parents of members who accuse Church representatives of brainwashing its members.

Paragon recently published "Mind and Brian: the Many faceted Problems," editied by Sir John Eccles, a 1963 Nobel Laureate.

Professors from such prestigious universities as Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia and the University of Chicago also serve on the editorial board.