Discovery Institute, WA
05-16-07
Two Astronomers at Iowa State Tied to Statement Denouncing Intelligent Design
as "Creationist Pseudoscience"
Two of the five active tenured astronomy professors in the department that
denied tenure to Guillermo Gonzalez at Iowa State University are connected to a
widely-publicized statement that denounces intelligent design as "creationist
pseudoscience."
Professor Steven Kawaler, the Program Coordinator for astronomy in the
Department of Physics and Astronomy at ISU, actually signed the statement,
and he provides a link to both the statement and an article about it on his
website.
University Professor Lee Anne Willson, meanwhile, is married to ISU
mathematics professor Stephen J. Willson, who also signed the anti-ID
statement.
Known as "Project Steve," the anti-ID statement was the brainchild of the proDarwin National Center for Science Education. The statement declares that "it is
scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible for creationist
pseudoscience, including… 'intelligent design,' to be introduced into the science
curricula of our nation's public schools."
Iowa State University has made much of the fact that Dr. Gonzalez's tenure
application was rejected starting at the level of his department. Now we know
that at least 40% of the tenured faculty in astronomy in his department are
connected to a statement that regards intelligent design as "creationist
pseudoscience" and insists that "it is scientifically inappropriate and
pedagogically irresponsible" for it "to be introduced into… science curricula."
Typically it is the tenured faculty in one's own area who have the most weight in a
department when it comes to tenure recommendations. And, of course, only the
tenured faculty of a department are allowed to vote on a tenure recommendation.
Can any fair-minded person still believe that the denial of tenure to Gonzalez had
nothing to do with his views on intelligent design?