January 28, 2000

Director of American Philosophical Association Leaves After Power Struggle; Higher-Education Economist Named President of Williams College

By ALISON SCHNEIDER and JULIANNE BASINGER

Technically, Eric Hoffman wasn't fired from his job as executive director of the American Philosophical Association. But there was one hitch to his post: The association told him last fall that he couldn't set foot on the premises.

That put a kink in Mr. Hoffman's ability to run the group's national office, his allies say, so after more than six years in the part-time job, the executive director and the A.P.A. agreed that December 31 would be his last day on the job. Now, sources say,