Posted on 02/09/2009 10:37:36 AM PST by GodGunsGuts
No Tolerance Allowed: Stein declines university speech after 'hundreds' of angry emails
by Christine Dao*
Comedian/economist/lawyer Ben Stein backed out of delivering a spring 2009 commencement speech because of complaints to the university about his views on evolution.
The University of Vermont’s president, Daniel Mark Fogel, was bombarded with angry messages, including one from British atheist and Darwin fanatic Richard Dawkins, after inviting Stein to deliver the university’s commencement speech. Stein had given a sold-out economics lecture at UVM on April 25, 2008, and it was for his economics expertise, not his views on evolution, that Fogel invited Stein back.
After Fogel shared “profound concerns” with him over the protest, Stein voluntarily withdrew from the May 17 appearance and declined the 7,500 (USD) honorarium that came with the invitation.
“I did not ask him to withdraw,” Fogel said at a news conference. “I wrote to Ben and, because his talk last spring was about the economy, I had always assumed that that would be the subject of his talk.”
“[L]et me be clear, I did not ask Ben Stein not to come,” he reiterated. “I had invited him and I was not going to retract the invitation. But I was not going to let him be blind-sided by the controversy…. I asked him to confirm that he would speak about the economy and it was at that point that he withdrew.”1
In a university press release, Fogel wrote:
Mr. Stein has also expressed opinions on subjects unrelated to economics, most notably with respect to evolutionary theory, intelligent design, and the role of science in the Holocaust. Those views are highly controversial, to say the least. Following the announcement of Mr. Stein as Commencement speaker, profound concerns have been expressed to me by persons both internal and external to the University about his selection. Once I apprised Mr. Stein of these communications, he immediately and most graciously declined our Commencement invitation.2
Stein, who has spoken at Columbia, Yale, Stanford, and many other universities, told The Burlington Free Press that he initially didn’t want the UVM engagement but agreed to it, as well as an approximate 80 percent cut in his usual fee, because of mutual friends he and Fogel share. Stein called the whole episode “pathetic” and the university’s response “chicken sh**, and you can quote me on that.”
“I am far more pro-science than the Darwinists,” Stein told Free Press. “I want all scientific inquiry to happen—not just what the ruling clique calls science.”3
The Holocaust reference in the press release, Stein said, probably came from the 2008 documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed when he interviewed the curator of a former Nazi “hospital” called Hadamar, who had cited “Darwinism” as the reason behind the horrific killings that happened there.
“I like Dr. Fogel and feel sorry that he is caught in the meat grinder of political correctness. My heart goes out to him. He’s a great guy trying to do his best in difficult circumstances.”3
Fogel said he received hundreds of emails, but only a few came from people at UVM, a signature implication of evolutionists and their intolerance bullying their way into arenas where they are not concerned, invited, or involved.
References
UVM’s president responds to questions about commencement speaker Ben Stein. Straight from the Source. Posted on straightfromthesource.wordpress.com on February 2, 2009, accessed February 4, 2009.
Office of the President, Campus Communication. The University of Vermont press release, February 2, 2009. Available on straightfromthesource.wordpress.com
Johnson, T. Ben Stein responds to UVM flap. The Burlington Free Press. Posted on burlingtonfreepress.com on February 4, 2009, accessed February 4, 2009.
* Ms. Dao is Assistant Editor.
LOL. Sometimes I respond as I go. Big mistake in this case. And although I have never been tested, don’t be so hard on my ADD, it has kept me single-mindedly interested in many subjects long enough to at least understand the basics. I will be the first to admit my basic understanding of science gets me into trouble, and often causes me to fall into some pretty big holes. But I have to say, my understanding of the same is all the better once I figure out how to crawl back out of it :o)
Although he DOES talk a bit about evolution (if you think all species are descended from primordial “kinds” that could all fit on a boat, you certainly believe in SOME kind of evolution (and at a rate hundreds of times what biologists claim)); you might like the book “GENOME” by Matt Ridley.
GENOME by Matt Ridley
I will purchase it in your honor. Come to think of it, I just purchased a $200 dollar graduate-level textbook on epigenetics that I can’t understand. Surely that should count for something?
PS Is this book going to be filled with acronyms that cause me to spend hours looking up stuff from paragraph to paragraph, or does the author explain things on a layman’s level as he goes?
I would have loved to have taken a course in epigenetics but none was ever offered at any of the Universities I attended. Fascinating stuff.
My favorite book on Molecular Biology is Lehninger’s “Principles of Biochemistry”. A friend of mine used it for any class on the subject rather than buying the text they recommended. It is meant for a graduate student in Biology, but they explain everything in basic language.
“Eukaryotic Transcription Control” was a good one as well, with the added bonus that it is SHORT and CHEAP (reminds me of this bird I once knew!;)), but written for a graduate student in Biology.
I'll find that one for you, I think I have it at work.
I read the first page on Amazon and you are going to disagree with the timeline given on the very first page, but just forge ahead undaunted and read about the science and the scientists. I think you will enjoy it, and you cannot help but learn from it; I read it twice I enjoyed it so much (once many moons ago, and again recently).
==Ouch. Which one?
This one:
I thought I was buying an introductory textbook on the subject, but they obviously assume that you have spent a great deal of time understanding the basics. It is shelved until I can find something more basic to get me ready for the big time.
==My favorite book on Molecular Biology Lehninger’s “Principles of Biochemistry”.
Then that is the book I will start with.
==I would have loved to have taken a course in epigenetics but none was ever offered at any of the Universities I attended. Fascinating stuff.
I did however read an interesting popular-level book on epigenetics, etc (even though they took great pains to distance epigenetics from creation science). Have you heard of it?:
Also, I have found a fascinating site devoted mostly to book and paper reviews on a variety of scientific subjects, to include creation/evolution here:
http://home.planet.nl/~gkorthof/index.htm
I don’t agree with the site-owner re: the direction he is taking with respect to a “new evolutionary synthesis”, but I find it a fairly cutting edge source re: the “new biology.”
“darwinists can’t stand debate”
Hi - what don’t you understand?
It was actually THAT book that my friend used for any course on the subject rather than buying the text the instructor recommended (he got A's).
Then Losish and Baltimore’s book is the one I will start with. Thanks for the tip—GGG
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