BYU planned to review the paper to see if it met scientific standards of peer review. The university also expected to look at statements made by Jones at conferences and in the media and determine if Jones was appropriately distancing himself from BYU when he spoke about his explosives theory.

Jones said Friday he welcomed the review because he hoped it would encourage people to read his paper for themselves. He said he feels a responsibility to bring attention to questions about what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.

"My stewardship is to get people thinking about and studying these things," he said. "I have my stewardship, and I'm going to keep going at it doggedly. The administrators (at BYU) have their stewardship. We both were just doing our best in our stewardships, and I'm not mad at them at all. I sense it is a friendly type of arrangement. It's probably the best thing, and we'll move on. I feel good about it."

A member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, co-founded by Jones in December 2005, launched a drive to get 10,000 signatures on a petition in support of Jones to send to BYU President Cecil Samuelson. As of Friday afternoon, the petition had 2,924 signatures.

James Fetzer, the other co-founder of the scholars group, published an open letter to Samuelson on www. scholarsfor911truth.org. Fetzer wrote that the buildings were constructed to withstand impact from airplanes and the fires that resulted. Physics can't explain the rapid, pancaking fall of the towers either, he said.

Jones said he hoped news coverage of his retirement would spur media organizations to print his entire letter and explore his paper at www.Journalof911Studies.com.

Jones' letter quoted two Swiss researchers who announced last month that they believe explosives were responsible for the collapse of the building not struck by a plane.

He closed the letter saying he wants to avoid a military draft to fight what he considers unnecessary wars.

"Because of my concern for college-age students I have taught and loved for decades, I am motivated to speak out emphatically against what I judge — after thorough study and reflection — to be terrible wars, wars of aggression, founded on deceptions."

Jones will finish the semester by transferring duties as chairman of a committee within the Physics Department to his successor and working with students under his tutelage to complete their research.

He said his wife hopes he'll spend more time with her and at their home in Sanpete County.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com