The Conservative Voice, NC
06-01-07
Iowa State Silencing Intelligent Design by Jason T. Christy
Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez is not your average scientist. Dr. Gonzalez is an assistant professor of astronomy at Iowa State University and is a highly regarded academic in his field. Additionally, he is a published author and was found to have the highest test scores among the entire faculty at Iowa State, this according to the Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System, which measure the individual impact of scientists in astronomy. Dr. Gonzalez, is no ordinary professor, he also assisted in discovery of two new planets, helped build technology that discovered extra solar planets and even found time to write a college textbook. Dr. Gonzalez is not your average professor —he also believes in intelligent design.
With a resume that includes publishing books, discovering planets and the highest achievement levels among your colleagues, it would seem that Dr.
Gonzalez should be on the path to tenure. However, Iowa State University, in an attempt to silence and discredit the esteemed author/professor, who wrote a book entitled Prileged Planet where he asserts that there is evidence for design in the universe, has denied Dr. Gonzalez tenure.
From all accounts it appears that Dr. Gonzalez has met and/or exceeded the requirements for tenure. According to Iowa State University, a prospective tenure candidate is required to have written fifteen peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Gonzalez has authored s whopping sixty-eight papers and even found time to discover two planets and write a textbook. Meanwhile, ninety-one percent of the professors who applied for tenure this year were successful.
Dr. Gonzalez has fallen victim to a university that is trying to distance itself from theories other than evolution and has gone as far as to draft a statement that outlines their support of evolution. Through the tenure review process, Hector
Avalos, a professor of religious studies, has been the vocal in his disapproval of
Gonzalez. Avalos, who was recently given tenure by the university, circulated a petition in 2005 that denounced intelligent design. Additionally, Avalos most recent book goes as far as suggesting that the Bible is worse than Hitler’s Mein
Kampf.
Aside from Dr. Gonzalez’ tenure, there is more at stake in the cornfields of Iowa.
According to Dr. John West, of the Seatttle-based Discovery Institute, a vocal proponent for Gonzalez, “all he (Gonzalez) was doing was making arguments from physics and astronomy about the design of the universe, which is something that even some evolutionists accept, but that was too much for the

though police.” West is concerned that this denial of tenure will resort in the effective silencing of ideas and further examination of Darwinian theories and intelligent design, not only at Iowa State University, but at all institutions of higher learning.
It is this silencing of ideas and dialogue that concerned Republican Presidential candidate, Senator Sam Brownback. Sen. Brownback said, “observation, testing and the development of reasonable hypotheses have long been integral to good science. Scholars, such as Professor Guillermo Gonzalez, ought not to be intimidated nor silenced by those in the academic community who would rather dismiss a well-reasoned hypothesis that debate it on its merits. Such an assault on academic freedom does not bode well for the advancement of true science.
Dr. Gonzalez has filed an appeal with Iowa State University whose president,
Gregory L. Geoffroy has until June 8 to make his final decision.