On this episode we provide breaking news and the latest developments in the ongoing controversy over Iowa State University's denial of tenure to noted astronomer Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez.
***U.S. Senator Sam Brownback has just issued a statement defending Gonzalez and expressing alarm over the action by ISU. The statement is available on the Brownback campaign website here.
***At the same time ISU denied tenure to Gonzalez, it promoted to full professor his chief persecutor--Hector Avalos, whose most recent book argues that the Bible is worse than Hitler's Mein Kampf.
***We recently reported that 2 of the 5 tenured astronomers in Gonzalez's department are tied to a statement put out by a national pro-Darwin group denouncing intelligent design as "creationist pseudoscience" and stating that it is inappropriate for it to be included in science curricula. One ISU astronomy professor actually signed the statement, and the other has a spouse (also an ISU faculty member) who signed the statement. ISU has made much of the fact that Dr. Gonzalez was rejected for tenure starting at the level of his department. Now we have evidence that at least 40% of the active tenured faculty in Dr. Gonzalez's area were tied those who are crusading against intelligent design.
***Contrary to a university statement issued this week claiming that the tenure standard at ISU is "so high, that many good researchers have failed to satisfy the demands of earning tenure," statistics obtained by Evolution News & Views show that the tenure approval rate at the university has gone from 85% in 2003 to 91% in 2007!
Action Item Help Guillermo Gonzalez in his fight for academic freedom. Contact ISU President Gregory L. Geoffroy at (515) 294-2042 or email him at president@iastate.edu and let him know that you support academic freedom for Dr. Gonzalez to follow the evidence wherever it leads.
For complete coverage of this story be sure to visit Evolution News & Views at www.evolutionnews.org.
