Posted on 07/02/2007 4:29:41 PM PDT by wagglebee
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- A Massachusetts Institute of Technology stem cell researcher who has been denied tenure has no been locked out of his laboratory. Dr. James L. Sherley, a black associate professor of biological engineering who opposes embryonic stem cell research and human cloning, has said he is a victim of racism.
Sherley has been an outspoken advocate against human cloning -- including the kind of therapeutic cloning his colleagues and other scientists want to use to create and destroy human embryos for their stem cells.
He has been fighting for tenure at MIT for over two years and hoped a hunger strike would change the minds of top school officials earlier this year but it didn't.
Now the researcher, who saw his appointment at MIT end June 30, has been locked out of his lab on campus.
Sherley was unable to access the lab over the weekend to complete the transfer of his experiments and property to a new location.
According to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Dr. Sherly wrote an email to MIT President Susan Hockfield saying he is concerned about the live rats, animal stem cells and human adult stem cells at his lab that he had been using in research.
Sherley wrote that “the forced closure of my laboratory is an illegitimate injustice by your office” and said that the institute had not yet given him a “fair hearing” regarding his complaints of discrimination.
The publication said that Douglas Lauffenburger, who heads the biological-engineering division at MIT, wrote to Sherley on June 20 confirming he would need to leave by the June 30 expiration of his appointment.
In the letter, Lauffenburger complained that Sherley had not provided enough information to MIT officials about the transfer of his research and when he would vacate his laboratory.
Sherley's hunger strike in February lasted for twelve days and ended without the hoped for results. However, Sherley said the attention he received for his efforts justified the strike.
Though he decided to end the strike, he posted comments on the MIT web site saying he still wants the administration to grant him tenure and to address his allegations of racism.
The university posted its response on the college's web site and said it will "continue to work toward resolution of our differences with Professor Sherley."
"MIT is fully committed to addressing these issues," the MIT statement at that time said of the allegations of racism.
MIT says that less than half of its junior professors obtain tenure and Sherley's colleagues in the university's Biological Engineering Division wrote a letter saying the decision about his tenure was a "fair and honest" one.
"We state with certainty and a clear conscience that race did not play any role in the decision that resulted in Prof Sherley's case not being taken forward," the letter said.
Sherley regards embryonic stem cell research as the taking of human life because days-old unborn children are destroyed in the process.
His adult stem cell research has been widely heralded and, in September, he won a prestigious Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health and a $2.5 million grant.
Sherley, the son of a Baptist minister, told the Boston Globe in January 2005 that fellow professors label him “stubborn” instead of “independent-minded" because he refuses to endorse human cloning and embryonic stem cell research.
Sherley was hired in July 1998 as an assistant professor and later promoted to associate professor. He previously said Lauffenburger told him that he had strong recommendations letters for tenure but that he was denied it because of his views on stem cell research.
It's a small world! I grew up in the Highlands...how about you?
“How did you wind up being a conservative?”
My dad was a conservative(mom was a bleeding heart lib, but a great mom). When I was 14, I happened across a copy of National Review. Russell Kirk, WFB, et.al. I was sold on the truth a few issues later.
“So are the Harvard business faculty any more sane than their arts faculty?”
Much more sane!
Good to hear. GWB also got his MBA from Harvard, but his conservative credentials have turned out to be much more lacking than even the skeptics thought.
I grew up in Newtonville, right off Albemarle Rd, near the Fessenden School.
“And there’s certainly *no* way that word has gotten around the scientific community about his moral/philosophical position about stem cell research and that he was “black balled” (no pun intended) by the editors of publications in which researchers of his ilk would submit articles,right?
Given his CV and his very,*very* un-PC views on stem cell research I’d bet my last nickel that lack of productivity or scholarship isn’t the *real* reason he was denied tenure.”
Agree 100% !
BUMP
I never the Bush clan were conservatives....they both threw us a bone, and went for the NWO!
The prof was NOT a victim of racism.
He was dumb enough to use bad science that he knew was false.
So he should lose his job.
In a furtherence of “symbolism over substance” embraced by the left, the University is more interested in Grant Money than beneficial Scientific/Medical Research.
Says who?
Why.
His adult stem cell research has been widely heralded and, in September, he won a prestigious Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health and a $2.5 million grant.
His departmental peers. Look at what they did to achieve tenure.
ArmyBratproud :He was dumb enough to use bad science that he knew was false.
Did you both miss this gem?
His adult stem cell research has been widely heralded and, in September, he won a prestigious Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health and a $2.5 million grant.
Would you care to hazard a guess as to what his departmental peers think about embryonic stem cell research? Or would you hazard a guess as to what the editors of publications connected to stem cell research think of the opinions of individuals like this man?
Do you think it might be possible that the embryonic stem cell research "community" might see views of those like Dr Sherley as a threat to the research grant "gravy train"?
Most of his colleagues work with adult stem cells, and NIH funding for work with adult stem cells far exceeds funding for ES cells. The theory that he was opposed for his stem cell opinions does not hold water. Some of his colleagues, like him, object to creation of ES cells. You can easily find such information in the press releases this year about work by his colleagues (no press released about his work, as he does not publish).
He may be being discriminated against but certainly not because of race. The discrimination comes from opposing view points.
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