Glenn and others,
I never claimed that Bill was a martyr. Nor did I claim that Bill's press
release was tactful and conciliatory. I'm inclined to believe it was neither.
(All I asked of Glenn was that Bill be treated respectfully, and that we be
careful to get the facts straight. Now I'm asking that Glenn use care when
publicly posting his unverified assumptions about what I believe.) In my view,
however, Bill's faux pas pales in comparison to the more significant issue, i.e.
academic freedom. Glenn has repeatedly mentioned typical employer-employee
responsibilities in defense of Baylor's decision. But with respect to faculty in
institutions of higher education, employer-employee relations are not supposed
to operate like those in businesses. This is why there is tenure (something Bill
does not have). As an example, on 60 Minutes this past Sunday Prof. Cohen of the
University of Michigan took his employer to task before the whole nation
regarding the university's acceptance policy. Is Prof. Cohen in danger of losing
his job? No. Why not? Not just because he has tenure, but because institutions
of higher learning are supposed to value freedom of expression so much that they
permit public expression of dissenting opinions by their faculty. There are
limits to freedom of expression of course, but, at least in his press release, I
don't think Bill crossed them. The unbelievably harsh attacks on him by certain
Baylor faculty members since this past March were far more virulent, and yet of
course those faculty members were not disciplined. To be sure, the standards for
administrative staff are significantly different than they are for faculty. As
director of the MPC Bill was standing in both sets of shoes (and that itself was
part of the problem, especially without tenure, effectively eliminating the
protections of academic freedom). That makes it much harder to determine where
the line between academic freedom and administrative responsibility meet. I
think Mike Beaty is a reasonable, fair-minded person, and I assume that he used
his best judgment in making the decision that he did. But I also know that Bill
has endured a tremendous amount of public criticism this year, even by those who
knew nothing of Bill and hadn't read a page of his work. Often such criticism
was motivated by worries that Baylor (esp. its science dept.) would lose its
academic reputation by sanctioning 'creationists'. The worries extended far
beyond Bill and ID to Baylor's history in relation to its Baptist roots. In
light of all this, it didn't surprise me at all that Bill would seek publicly to
vindicate himself and his *academic* work, and the External Committee's decision
was in fact such a vindication. I understand that Bill needed to stand up for
himself and his academic work, and I think he should have the academic freedom
to do so. I also think I understand Mike Beaty's decision, because even without
Bill's press release, just the effect of being the object of faculty invective
for seven months may have made some of Bill's administrative activities (esp.
those requiring work with other Baylor faculty members) quite difficult. I hope
that academic freedom has not been compromised, that we will learn some lessons
from the unfortunate affair, and that the hoopla can die down soon so we can all
get back to work discovering the truth about God's creation.
- Bryan
glenn morton wrote:
> It is interesting that Baylor is saying the same thing that I am
> saying--that Dembski was not the victim of persecution and thus was not a
> martyr to the evil evolutionists. I am sure that there are some here who
> still won't believe this, but Dembski simply isn't a martyr in spite of the
> fact that he is about to be turned into one. Any response, Bryan?
>
> This was on metanews:
>
> http://listserv.omni-list.com/scripts/wa.exe?S2=metanews&L=metanews&q=beaty&
> s=&f=&a=&b=
>
> Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 16:43:44 -0400
> Reply-To: "Michael D. Beaty" <Bruce_Gordon@BAYLOR.EDU>
> Sender: Metanews <metanews@META-LIST.ORG>
> From: "Michael D. Beaty" <Bruce_Gordon@BAYLOR.EDU>
> Subject: Baylor University Responds to Misconceptions about the
> Polanyi
> Center Controversy
>
> In light of remarks on the META list that indicate a significant
> misunderstanding of the recent events surrounding the Polanyi Center at
> Baylor University, most particularly the removal of Dr. Dembski as its
> director, I think it is important to clarify the significance of what has
> happened.
>
> Dr. Dembski was not removed from the directorship for any academic failure.
> Baylor recognizes the value and legitimacy of his academic work, as did the
> External Review Committee. Baylor fully supports his academic freedom to
> pursue his research and hopes that he will continue to do so. Dr. Dembski
> was removed from his post as director on administrative grounds. In order
> to
> function in his administrative capacity, it was necessary that Dr. Dembski
> be able to work well with other Baylor faculty, first and foremost an
> advisory committee. It was the judgment of the administration that some of
> his recent actions severely compromised his ability to perform his central
> administrative duties. It was for this reason, and this reason alone, that
> he was removed from his directorial post.
>
> There also has been a suggestion that the removal of Dr. Dembski as
> director
> is a sign that Baylor has succumbed to political pressure to squelch work
> on
> intelligent design. Nothing could be further from the truth. Having been
> freed from administrative tasks, Dr. Dembski will be able to devote himself
> exclusively to research, which arguably is the most valuable contribution
> he
> can make to design theory.
>
> Finally, some have claimed that this sad episode suggests that Baylor is
> weakening its commitment to being a Christian university. Baylor University
> remains committed to encouraging a faithful intellect and an intellectually
> responsible faith.
>
> Michael Beaty
> Director, The Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning
>
> glenn
>
> see http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
> for lots of creation/evolution information
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 31 2000 - 20:18:08 EST