Posted on 01/30/2003 7:15:04 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-evolution-dispute0130jan30,0,713004.story
Professor's Letter Refusal Causes Probe By LISA FALKENBERG Associated Press Writer
January 30, 2003, 9:50 AM EST
DALLAS -- A biology professor who refuses to write letters of recommendation for his students if they don't believe in evolution is being accused of religious discrimination, and federal officials are investigating, the school said.
The legal complaint was filed against Texas Tech University and professor Michael Dini by a student and the Liberty Legal Institute, a religious freedom group that calls Dini's policy "open religious bigotry."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
I know good profs and I know bad ones. The main difference is that the bad ones believe THEY are the final answer. The good ones want to know and teach the truth. You sir, are a bad one.
The centerfold/pizza box idea would probably pass muster in most collegiate fine arts programs today, but it might be just a bit of a stretch as an English thesis. Then again, given what's happening in the English Lit. biz, you never know.
But back to the point. You pose an amusing strawman, but I very much doubt the student in question was handing in creationist screeds as biology assignments. We don't know precisely what flavor of biology course this was, but I'd imagine the kid had mastered whatever it was he was supposed to know about organic systems, comparative anatomy, biochemistry, etc. Let's assume he is a solid student, since he is supposedly angling for med school. Very likely, he got an A in the course if he was asking for a recommendation in the first place.
It still seems to me this prof is quite simply imposing a religious test. Dataman called it blackballing, which is exactly right. I will grant that someone's views on the first chapter of Genesis might affect his fitness to hold the Stephen Jay Gould Chair of Evolutionary Theory at the local cow college, but I don't see what it has to do with being a perfectly fine physician.
I'm crushed.
You don't have enough evidence to keep your own. Remember I was an indoctrinated evo and you couldn't keep me. The evidence just wasn't there. I was being asked to believe many things that just weren't true. So you lost me as you have lost many others... not just students but professors and scientists as well.
All of the above is available to you in any case; why should we spoon feed it to you?
I believe you should spoon feed it to those students who paid for you to do just that. Otherwise, any old algore can teach a college class- just make the students research the subject themselves.
We really don't care if you're persuaded; we just want to make sure you don't get in the way of our science.
Oh. It's your science. It's an elite club that only allows members who know the password? What an elitist attitude!
By and large our encounters with you have been met with nastiness on your end.
An accusation which can never be made of your side, right? Another double standard.
Yes Wilbur???
Well now, you do ave a point. his particular professor is not known for his sense of humor. And yes he is rather egotistical. And yes he thinks his opinion is the final answer. OK, I'll do this. Why don't you all ask him about the valisity of Creation and then use his response as an example of humor. I know at the very least it will make the intelligent ones among you roll with laughter.
Class, let me introduce to you Mr. Right Wing Professor."
Tell you what; pay your tuition and I will, or better yet, I'll point you to a colleague who teaches it on a regular basis.
What? Darwin, a naturalist, set out to abolish the Design Theory based on philosophical, moral, and theological reasons. Surely you have heard of the “X” Club and the Young Guard.
Yes Wilbur???
Well now, you do have a point. This particular professor is not known for his sense of humor. And yes, he is rather egotisticalto the point of thinking that his opinion is the final answer.
OK, I'll do this. Why don't you all ask him about the valisity of Creation and then use his response as an example of humor. I know at the very least it will make the intelligent ones among you roll with laughter.
Class, let me introduce to you Mr. Right Wing Professor."
I personally lived to discredit it but there was no better theory out there and so I choose to accept the one that made the most sense scientifically speaking.
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