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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 08/23/2006 : 16:47:37
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Jim Sparks, a biologist, tells his story in a column published by the Institute for Humanist Studies:
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In July of 2006 I was stripped of my position as an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) for trying, unsuccessfully, to expose the creationist influence in the biology department.
http://www.humaniststudies.org/enews/?id=259&article=3
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2006 : 17:30:08 [Permalink]
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This is really bad when biology is taught falsely for ideological or religious reasons, anywhere. I wonder, is VCU a public-supported university?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2006 : 19:04:50 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
This is really bad when biology is taught falsely for ideological or religious reasons, anywhere. I wonder, is VCU a public-supported university?
I think so, 'Mooner. Since Virginia is one of the few, uh, entities (?) to call itselt a "commonwealth" then VCU must be the same (more or less?) as the such-and-such State Universities seen all over the place. |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2006 : 19:33:16 [Permalink]
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Yes it's a public university. I'm sure that their code of ethics means something to most members of their faculty, staff and administration.
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Excellence. We will strive for excellence in all that we do.
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Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2006 : 01:15:15 [Permalink]
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NYT:Evolution Major Vanishes From Approved Federal List (You can use BugMeNot to login)quote:
Evolutionary biology has vanished from the list of acceptable fields of study for recipients of a federal education grant for low-income college students.
The omission is inadvertent, said Katherine McLane, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, which administers the grants. “There is no explanation for it being left off the list,” Ms. McLane said. “It has always been an eligible major.”
Another spokeswoman, Samara Yudof, said evolutionary biology would be restored to the list, but as of last night it was still missing.
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The list of eligible majors (which is online at http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/GEN0606A.pdf) is drawn from the Education Department's “Classification of Instructional Programs ...
Though references to evolution appear in listings of other fields of biological study, the evolutionary biology sub-subsection is missing from a list of “fields of study” on the National Smart Grant list — there is an empty space between line 26.1302 (marine biology and biological oceanography) and line 26.1304 (aquatic biology/limnology). [page 7]
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Mr. Nassirian said people at the Education Department had described the omission as “a clerical mistake.” But it is “odd,” he said, because applying the subject codes “is a fairly mechanical task. It is not supposed to be the subject of any kind of deliberation.”
“I am not at all certain that the omission of this particular major is unintentional,” he added. “But I have to take them at their word.”
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"Any religion that makes a form of torture into an icon that they worship seems to me a pretty sick sort of religion quite honestly"
-- Terry Jones |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2006 : 02:35:58 [Permalink]
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So it looks like the post-Dover strategy of the Creationists is the destruction of the biology curriculum by stealth. Cowardly, lying theonazis!
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2006 : 05:56:32 [Permalink]
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| "But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to be watchful in your States as well as in the Federal Government." -- Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, March 4, 1837 |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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| Edited by - pleco on 08/24/2006 05:59:11 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2006 : 11:22:12 [Permalink]
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BTW, I heard that a replacement adjunct faculty member has been hired to replace Jim Sparks in the Biology Department at VCU. The replacement instructor comes from Fresno State in California. This transfer has the remarkable effect of raising the academic level of both universities.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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