Letter to ISU President Re: Guillermo Gonzalez

_{Granville Sewell

May 13, 2007

Intelligent Design}

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The letter here will be sent to the ISU President (in about 10 days), with cc to the Ames Tribune and possibly other media outlets. For further background, see the May 12 story at www.evolutionnews.org and the links from this story. If you are a university engineering or science professor and would like to co-sign the letter, please e-mail me at sewell@math.utep.edu.

Comments

[...] URGENT PRAYER ALRERT Our friends at uncommon descent have put together an open letter to the board of ISU complaining about the unfair treatment that our dear Guillermo has received: To: Gregory Geoffroy [...]SHELLEY THE REPUBLICAN : THE FREEDOM BLOG » Christian persecution, and unequal opportunities_{May 27, 2007
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"What would the powers that be say about a professor who sought to deny him tenure on those terms?" For some people, "academic freedom" is not a principle, but a means to an end. When it ceases to be useful, they drop it like a hot potato.russ_{May 15, 2007
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I am an ISU alumnus and part of the social context at JT75, thank you for your post. It is a useful and valuable perspective. It also got me thinking. Suppose there was a professor in a hard science (astronomy) who was nationally known and recognized by his peers as insightful with interesting ideas but who was an outspoken communist -- someone who defended Castro. What would the powers that be say about a professor who sought to deny him tenure on those terms? About students who defended him?tribune7_{May 15, 2007
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The Scubaredneck, When the liberals protested in vain in the 1960's they were told that in order to change the system you had to change it from within. So they were told to enter the universities, the press, the government and push their liberal agenda from within. They learned their lesson well and now 40 years later control the universities, the popular media, the press, the legal profession to some extent and are entrenched at upper middle levels in most government agencies. Few ever went into business which is where most conservatives went starting at the same time. Business school degrees sky-rocketed starting in the late 1960's. Most people don't care as long as the economy is doing well and they can go to the mall and shop when they want, watch their favorite sports team or take a nice vacation once or twice a year. It will only change when the economy tanks. Then there will be an outcry. Now people are doing everything they can to get their kids into prestigious schools at sky high tuitions because the country is incredibly rich. Nobody cares and we only debate what the liberal want to debate because they control the press and the news.jerry_{May 14, 2007
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The notion of "a very influential atheistic religious studies department..." is a bit like a biology department that studies unicorns and pixies. Just as you would not hire biologists to study unicorns and pixies, why on earth would one build a religious studies department around a group of outspoken atheists? The ScubaredneckThe Scubaredneck_{May 14, 2007
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Just curious... 1. Is the tenure process at state schools a matter of public record? If not, why not? 2. Can we know who the faculty members on the committee were, and is there any requirement or expectation that such committee members provide (public) reasons for their decisions? If not, why not? 3. What are the criteria against which a given (generic) faculty memberÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s performance is measured when making the tenure decision? Are these criteria known in advance? What were they in GonzalezÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ case? How do these stack up against other science-department professors who were granted tenure? Could these or similar questions, be forwarded to the afore-mentioned legislators and newspapers? I'd be curious to hear the answers.SteveB_{May 14, 2007
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Here's a fuller picture for ISU. Fire Avalos, discontinue religious studies altogether, and put all the savings into the science** and engineering departments. **Except for evolutionary biology which of course must be discontinued with the other religious studies. DaveScot_{May 14, 2007
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Check this out. Gonzalez gets over 450 hits on Google scholar. Most appear to be mainstream, high impact, peer reviewed journals. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Guillermo+Gonzalez+astro&sourceid=navclient&hl=en Heads should roll at ISU. Namely the president and whatever asshat hired an atheist to be a professor of religious studies which might be same asshat first mentioned.DaveScot_{May 14, 2007
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I am an ISU alumnus and part of the social context at the campus is a very small, almost non-existent, philosophy department, a very influential atheistic religious studies department headed up by the loud and intimidating Hector Avalos, and a large (between 7-900 kids) active student evanglical organization (The Salt Co.). The student organization has many bright young people that are a constant irritation in Avalos' classes. Granting Gonzalez tenure might be seen as adding fuel to the fire since, whether Gonzalez desires it or not, he would undoubtedly become a rallying point or icon for the already vocal evangelical students. I agree that denying a seasoned expert like Gonzalez tenure based upon such considerations is a gross prejudice; I just thought everyone might like a fuller picture.JT75_{May 14, 2007
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"These IDists are undoubtedly looking for a martyr" Very sorry for Guillermo but let us remember the famous citation: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." (Quintus Septimius Tertullianus).kairos_{May 13, 2007
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This entire affair is really an example of Le ThÃƒÂ©ÃƒÂ¢tre de l'Absurde (one of many silly and depressing things the French have come up with, including Sartre and Camus). How many of these anti-ID guys have read and understood the arguments made in the prominent ID literature, including Guillermo's The Privileged Planet? Even Peter Ward (coauthor of Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe) in his debate with Stephen Meyer, referred to Guillermo's book as "The Perfect Planet." Did he even read it? Materialist academic ideologues are digging themselves into a very deep hole.GilDodgen_{May 13, 2007
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Here's some info from President Geoffroy's bio page: http://www.iastate.edu/~president/about/bio.shtml Priority #4 of his "four top priorities for ISU": "...enhancing the university's efforts to foster diversity and ensure an inviting and welcoming climate that supports success for all members of the university community. To these ends, Dr. Geoffroy has made recruitment and retention of top faculty, staff and students a major focus, and he has emphasized the need to raise private funds to support faculty positions, graduate assistantships and student scholarships." They seem to be promoting a "diversity through conformity" program at ISU.russ_{May 13, 2007
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I just received an e-mail from a physics professor claiming that Guillermo did actually speak in public in support of ID once, and they have an eyewitness account of this. Of course, should this new information turn out to be correct, weÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll have to not only deny him tenure, but burn him at the stake. And please discretely dispose of the ashes. These IDists are undoubtedly looking for a martyr. Next thing you know someone is likely to say something like all men are created equal.pk4_paul_{May 13, 2007
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I just received an e-mail from a physics professor claiming that Guillermo did actually get caught speaking in public in support of ID (in biology) once, and they have an eyewitness account to prove it. Of course, should this new information turn out to be correct, we'll have to not only deny him tenure, but burn him at the stake.Granville Sewell_{May 13, 2007
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Those are very good suggestions, tribune7. You must be an Iowan!Lutepisc_{May 13, 2007
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cc to the Ames Tribune and possibly other media outlets. Send it the the Tribune then send it separately to the Des Moines Register (although they very well might not run it) ccing those on the education committess in the State House and Senate.tribune7_{May 13, 2007
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