Re: [asa] Can God Love Darwin, Too?

Pvm,

*"Note that Gonzalez was not even mentioned in the petition although it
was Gonzalez's work that was causing ISU to be seen as an ID school."*
I think that's a bunch of crap. Maybe Gonzalez deserved tenure, maybe he
didn't, but the fear that he would make ISU known as an ID school is
nonsense. It would be like saying that Paul Mirecki has made the University
of Kansas known as the school where professors post under usernames like his
(Evil Dr. P.) and make childish comments like he did (talking about a nice
slap in the big fat face of the fundies.) Fortunately for UK it doesn't work
that way. One professor does not an institutional reputation make, so
Mirecki has not made UK into an institution of jackasses.
If one professor behaving badly could affect the reputation of the whole
school, then Avalos has now given ISU the reputation of a univeristy where
it is OK to use the cheapest, most unscholarly, most cowardly strategy (a
petition) in an attempt to influence, in a very public way, what is supposed
to occur behind closed doors (tenure review.)
David Heddle
Associate Professor of Physics
Christopher Newport University &
The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

On 9/11/07, PvM <pvm.pandas@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> What about Baylor with Marks and Dembksi? Does Baylor have the right
> to protect its good name? Even with Gonzalez, does his 'academic
> freedom' somehow prevent others from expressing their worries as to
> how their institutional name is being used for poor science?
>
> Note that Gonzalez was not even mentioned in the petition although it
> was Gonzalez's work that was causing ISU to be seen as an ID school.
>
>
> <quote>Avalos helped spearhead a faculty petition urging "all faculty"
> at ISU to "uphold the integrity of our university" by "reject[ing]
> efforts to portray Intelligent Design as science." Avalos later
> conceded to a local newspaper that Gonzalez was the key motive for the
> petition.</quote>
>
> and
>
> <quote>One of those authors, Hector Avalos, told The Tribune at the
> time he was concerned the growing prominence of Gonzalez's work was
> beginning to market ISU as an "intelligent design school."</quote>
>
> What I have found interesting is how academic persecution is so easily
> claimed by ID in cases which suit their needs while they seem to
> remain quiet on other similar cases.
>
> On 9/11/07, Ted Davis <tdavis@messiah.edu> wrote:
> > The story Pim links is important. The president of Olivet was in a
> tough
> > spot, given the views of certain constituents (no school can survive if
> it
> > just ignores its constituents), and I understand his decision in that
> light.
> > Our president (not our current president) made a similar call many
> years
> > ago, banning the use of the film, "The Last Temptation of Christ," in
> > classes when important questions were raised over how it was being used
> in a
> > couple of classes. I supported that decision. Obviously I am not close
> to
> > the situation at Olivet, but I disturbed by the decision to remove
> Colling
> > from teaching the general biology course. In the absence of further
> > information (I stress that), this seems similar to what happened to Dean
> > Kenyon, who was also moved out of teaching general biology when he
> became a
> > critic of evolution. It's hard to know how to balance academic freedom
> with
> > an institution's commitment to it's own understanding of truth.
> >
> > Going beyond anything in this story, I do not see much parallel here
> with
> > the petition against Guillermo Gonzalez, who was not teaching ID in his
> > courses. That one continues to be for me a black & white situation: the
> > facts continue to suggest to me that Avalos was worried about Gonzalez'
> ties
> > to conservative Christians, and sought to discredit him via a petition
> > directed at Gonzalez' book, not his classroom teaching. Incidentally, I
> > spoke not long ago with someone who signed that petition entirely
> without
> > having knowledge of the context (I won't say more about that), someone
> who
> > is not a theist but who has come to regret signing the petition, b/c
> this
> > person now sees it as an unwarranted attack on Gonzalez' academic
> freedom.
> >
> > Ted
> >
> >
>
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Received on Tue Sep 11 14:08:29 2007