Evolution Education and the Law

We have recently learned the expert witnesses that each side has declared in Association of Christian Schools International et al. vs. Roman Stearns, special assistant to the U.C. president, et al., aka ACSI v. Stearns, aka the creationists versus the University of California.

Plaintiffs (the creationists, represented by famous creationist lawyer Wendell Bird, of Edwards v. Aguillard fame)

* Derek Keenan (of ACSI) — standardized tests
* Donald Ericson — various education issues
* Paul Vitz — psychologist, History and Government textbooks
* Sandra Stotsky — the American Literature anthology
* Daniel Guevara — Religion and Ethics Policy
* Michael Behe — Biology and Physics textbooks

Defendants:

* Francisco Ayala — UC Irvine, Biology
* Donald Kennedy — Stanford, Biology
* Gary Nash — UCLA, History
* Mark Petracca — UC Irvine, Political Science
* John Douglass — UC Berkeley, history of the UC’s a-g requirements
* Michael Kirst — Stanford, Education
* Samuel Otter — UC Berkeley, English
* Robert Sharf — UC Berkeley, Religion

I have started an ACSI v. Stearns directory and uploaded Michael Behe’s expert witness report.

See also commentary at the Panda’s Thumb blog.

And for NCSE’s coverage of events in Ohio, visit:
Link

EVOLUTION IN KANSAS BOARD OF EDUCATION RACES

Two antievolution incumbents retained their seats on the Kansas state board of education, meaning that supporters of the integrity of science education will have only a 6-4 majority on the new board. In the primary election, Sally Cauble, a supporter of evolution education, defeated antievolution incumbent Connie Morris for the Republican nomination in District 5, and Jana Shaver, a supporter of evolution education, defeated antievolution candidate Brad Patzer, son-in-law of antievolution incumbent Iris Van Meter, for the Republican nomination in District 9. Since Cauble and Shaver’s Democratic opponents, Tim Cruz and Kent Runyan, also support evolution education, supporters of evolution education were expected to have at least a 6-4 majority on the board, no matter who prevails in the November election, and to press for a reversal of the antievolution version of the state science standards, rewritten under the guidance of local “intelligent design” activists and adopted by the board in November 2005. As it happens, Cauble defeated Cruz by 65% to 35%, and Shaver defeated Runyan by 55% to 45%.

But in District 3, John Bacon, a Republican, prevailed over his Democratic challenger, Don Weiss, by 55% to 45%, and in District 7, Ken Willard, a Republican, prevailed over his Democratic challenger, Jack Wempe, by 51% to 49%. Both Willard and Bacon were avid supporters of the antievolution version of the state science standards adopted in November 2005, and their views on evolution education were deemed relevant during the race, with the Kansas City Star (October 28, 2006) describing Willard and Bacon as having excited “national ridicule for voting to criticize the theory of evolution in state science standards,” and the Johnson County Sun (October 12, 2006) castigating Bacon and his allies for their “antics on evolution instruction,” which were “an embarrassment for Kansas around the world.” Despite their re-election, the Associated Press (November 8, 2006) observed, “Come January, moderates will be calling the shots and one of the first things they’re expected to do is rework the science testing standards for students to once again make them more pro-evolution oriented.”

Also in Kansas, incumbent governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, defeated her Republican opponent Jim Barnett by 58% to 41%. Sebelius issued a statement deploring the adoption of the antievolution standards in November 2005, and subsequently told the Topeka Capital-Journal (October 11, 2006) that she intended to work toward a constitutional amendment to change the state board of education to a purely advisory body, in large part because of the controversy over the place of evolution in the state science standards. Barnett told the Johnson County Sun (July 13, 2006) that public schools should be allowed to teach “intelligent design” in science classes, adding, “I believe all views should be taught, but these decisions should be made by local school boards without state mandates or restrictions.” And incumbent attorney general Phill Kline, a Republican, was defeated by his Democratic opponent Paul Morrison by 58% to 42%; in February 2005, Kline offered to defend the state board of education if it were to decide to require warning labels about evolution to be placed in biology textbooks.

For NCSE’s coverage of events in Kansas, visit:
Link

“INTELLIGENT DESIGN” SUPPORTER RICK SANTORUM OUSTED

Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who as the chair of the Senate Republican Conference is considered the third most powerful Republican in the United States Senate, was defeated by his Democratic opponent Bob Casey Jr., who received 59% of the vote to Santorum’s 41% in the November 7, 2006, general election. Santorum was perhaps the most influential political ally of the “intelligent design” movement, a connection on which Casey’s campaign capitalized. United Press International (November 7, 2006) reported: “Ads cited his intervention in the dispute about disconnecting Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube and his attempt to amend the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ to teach the controversy between evolution and intelligent design.” (For more on the so-called Santorum Amendment, see Glenn Branch and Eugenie C. Scott, “The Antievolution Law that Wasn’t.”)

Santorum’s views on “intelligent design” were also cited in the endorsement of Casey by the York Daily Record (October 29, 2006), which described him as “[t]oo involved in the losing side of the divisive Dover intelligent design flap (remember, he was on the advisory board of the legal group that helped spawn that fiasco, praised the school board for ‘taking a stand’ on ID — then resigned from the legal group’s board after the judge’s decision).” Santorum also contributed a preface to Darwin’s Nemesis (InterVarsity Press, 2006), a collection of essays in honor of the godfather of the “intelligent design” movement, Phillip Johnson, in which he expresses gratitude to Johnson for help “in my efforts to inject a renewed and unbiased understanding of science and its practice into the curricula of our public schools.”

For “The Antievolution Law that Wasn’t” (PDF), visit:
Link

WHAT INSPIRED EUGENIE C. SCOTT?

NCSE’s executive director Eugenie C. Scott was among a group of “key thinkers in science, technology, and medicine” surveyed by the on-line periodical Spiked in collaboration with the research-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer. They were asked the simple question: “What inspired you to take up science?” “I don’t know,” Scott begins her reply, “maybe packs of feral dogs.” A practical interest in canine territorial behavior, coupled with a chance exposure to a college-level anthropology text, yielded a persisting fascination with evolution on her part, even though the subject was avoided in her high school biology class. “I had to wait until I got to college to study evolution,” Scott concludes, “and I’ve been learning about it ever since.”

For Scott’s essay on Spiked, visit:
Link

REMINDER

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Thanks for reading! And as always, be sure to consult NCSE’s web site:
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where you can always find the latest news on evolution education and threats to it.

Sincerely,

Glenn Branch
Deputy Director
National Center for Science Education, Inc.
420 40th Street, Suite 2
Oakland, CA 94609-2509
510-601-7203 x305
fax: 510-601-7204
800-290-6006
branch@ncseweb.org
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Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools
Link

Eugenie C. Scott’s Evolution vs. Creationism
Link

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Dear Friends of NCSE,

A summary of recent creationism/evolution controversies around the world, while in Kansas, evolution education is still a factor in electoral campaigns. And kudos for Eugenie C. Scott from the American Anthropological Association.

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Dear Friends of NCSE,

A race for state board of education in Ohio — in which evolution education is a major issue — is now attracting national attention. And the biochemist-turned-theologian Arthur Peacocke is dead.

(more…)

Dear Friends of NCSE,

Carl Zimmer takes a tour of biological complexity in the pages of National Geographic, while the American Sociological Association takes a stand for the integrity of science education. And is the controversy over evolution education in Ohio finally over?

(more…)

Dear Friends of NCSE,

A victory for evolution education in Michigan. Additionally: Judge Jones of Kitzmiller fame is interviewed by The Lutheran; the American Society for Microbiology issues a statement on the scientific basis of evolution; and NCSE’s Eugenie C. Scott is interviewed by Church and State about Not in Our Classrooms.

(more…)

Dear Friends of NCSE,

A good week for those who like to read, with a profile of NCSE’s Nick Matzke in Seed, a valuable resource on evolutionary science and society from AIBS and BSCS now freely available, a thoughtful piece on efforts to combat “intelligent design” in the Whitehead Institute’s journal, and a powerful op-ed on evolution education from the president of the Biotechnology Institute.

(more…)

Dear Friends of NCSE,

In Texas, the state board of education is reminded of the limits of its authority over textbooks, while in Michigan, creationism emerges as a burning issue in the race for governor. Meanwhile, the New York Academy unveils a set of resources stemming from a conference on “Teaching evolution and the nature of science”; NCSE will be at the National Association of Biology Teachers conference in Albuquerque in October; and it’s still not too late to reserve a place on NCSE’s Grand Canyon trip in July 2007!

(more…)

Dear Friends of NCSE,

NCSE is pleased to announce the publication of Not in Our Classrooms, a new book edited by Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch. In Ohio, a proposed “Framework for Teaching Controversial Issues” is apparently stalled — for now. People for the American Way just unveiled a set of on-line resources for those concerned about the integrity of science education. And it’s still not too late to sign up for NCSE’s Grand Canyon trip in July 2007!

(more…)

As a service to writers, historians, and the public, NCSE is making available an online archive of all public legal documents filed in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case. Over 300 filings were made in the case, and this does not include exhibits and other documents.

Legal rulings, briefs, etc., are U.S. government documents and so free redistributable. Exhibits of consisting of governmental documents are also public; however, books and articles retain copyright so they are not included here, although the exhibit lists used in the case are available.

NCSE Kitzmiller v. Dover Legal Documents Archive
http://www2.ncseweb.org/kvd/

Navigation: The Kitzmiller Archive follows a simple clickable directory structure, and each file is described with a short text description. The file size is also listed for each file (note that some PDFs of scanned documents can be larger than 1 megabyte).

Important note: most of the documents are PDF files, and some are quite large (several megabytes). Rather than trying to open PDFs within your web browser, which can stall or crash the browser, the best option to read these files is to use Right-click, Save As, and download the PDFs to your hard drive.