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Professor's Snub of Creationists Prompts U.S. Inquiry
New York Times ^ | 2/02/03 | NICK MADIGAN

Posted on 02/03/2003 3:53:13 AM PST by kattracks


LUBBOCK, Tex., Feb. 2 — A biology professor who insists that his students accept the tenets of human evolution has found himself the subject of Justice Department scrutiny.

Prompted by a complaint from the Liberty Legal Institute, a group of Christian lawyers, the department is investigating whether Michael L. Dini, an associate professor of biology at Texas Tech University here, discriminated against students on the basis of religion when he posted a demand on his Web site that students wanting a letter of recommendation for postgraduate studies "truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer" to the question of how the human species originated.

"The central, unifying principle of biology is the theory of evolution," Dr. Dini wrote. "How can someone who does not accept the most important theory in biology expect to properly practice in a field that is so heavily based on biology?"

That was enough for the lawyers' group, based in Plano, a Dallas suburb, to file a complaint on behalf of a 22-year-old Texas Tech student, Micah Spradling.

Mr. Spradling said he sat in on two sessions of Dr. Dini's introductory biology class and shortly afterward noticed the guidelines on the professor's Web site (www2.tltc.ttu.edu/dini/Personal/letters.htm).

Mr. Spradling said that given the professor's position, there was "no way" he would have enrolled in Dr. Dini's class or asked him for a recommendation to medical school.

"That would be denying my faith as a Christian," said Mr. Spradling, a junior raised in Lubbock who plans to study prosthetics and orthotics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "They've taken prayer out of schools and the Ten Commandments out of courtrooms, so I thought I had an opportunity to make a difference."

In an interview in his office, Dr. Dini pointed to a computer screen full of e-mail messages and said he felt besieged.

"The policy is not meant in any way to be discriminatory toward anyone's beliefs, but instead to ensure that people who I recommend to a medical school or a professional school or a graduate school in the biomedical sciences are scientists," he said. "I think science and religion address very different types of questions, and they shouldn't overlap."

Dr. Dini, who said he had no intention of changing his policy, declined to address the question of his own faith. But university officials and several students who support him say he is a religious man.

"He's a devout Catholic," said Greg Rogers, 36, a pre-med student from Lubbock. "He's mentioned it in discussion groups."

Mr. Rogers, who returned to college for a second degree and who said his beliefs aligned with Dr. Dini's, added: "I believe in God and evolution. I believe that evolution was the tool that brought us about. To deny the theory of evolution is, to me, like denying the law of gravity. In science, a theory is about as close to a fact as you can get."

Another student, Brent Lawlis, 21, from Midland, Tex., said he hoped to become an orthopedic surgeon and had had no trouble obtaining a letter of recommendation from Dr. Dini. "I'm a Christian, but there's too much biological evidence to throw out evolution," he said.

But other students waiting to enter classes Friday morning said they felt that Dr. Dini had stepped over the line. "Just because someone believes in creationism doesn't mean he shouldn't give them a recommendation," said Lindsay Otoski, 20, a sophomore from Albuquerque who is studying nursing. "It's not fair."

On Jan. 21, Jeremiah Glassman, chief of the Department of Justice's civil rights division, told the university's general counsel, Dale Pat Campbell, that his office was looking into the complaint, and asked for copies of the university's policies on letters of recommendation.

David R. Smith, the Texas Tech chancellor, said on Friday afternoon that the university, a state institution with almost 30,000 students and an operating budget of $845 million, had no such policy and preferred to leave such matters to professors.

In a letter released by his office, Dr. Smith noted that there were 38 other faculty members who could have issued Mr. Spradling a letter of recommendation, had he taken their classes. "I suspect there are a number of them who can and do provide letters of recommendation to students regardless of their ability to articulate a scientific answer to the origin of the human species," Dr. Smith wrote.

Members of the Liberty Legal Institute, who specialize in litigating what they call religious freedom cases, said their complaint was a matter of principle.

"There's no problem with Dr. Dini saying you have to understand evolution and you have to be able to describe it in detail," said Kelly Shackelford, the group's chief counsel, "but you can't tell students that they have to hold the same personal belief that you do."

Mr. Shackelford said that he would await the outcome of the Justice Department investigation but that the next step would probably be to file a suit against the university.



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To: HumanaeVitae
Imagine a university professor denying a Ph.D. to Einstein because Einstein thought Newtonian physics to be flawed and incomplete.

I can certainly imagine him denying a "personal recommendation." I imagine Einstein dealing with it without recourse to the court system.

121 posted on 02/03/2003 9:42:13 AM PST by VadeRetro
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To: Physicist
insisting that pi=3, based on his interpretation of the Bible?

It says no such thing. It gives some measurements of the circumferance of some ceremonial shields in Solomon's temple; it doesnt say, "the circumference is exactly three times the radius."

Heck, you as a scientist should know about approximations. For a rough estimate, pi = 3 is relatively decent.

122 posted on 02/03/2003 9:45:31 AM PST by jude24
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To: Catspaw
That is because you do not have a fu%&*#g clue what you are talking about.
123 posted on 02/03/2003 9:46:07 AM PST by TheCause
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To: TheCause
I see by your disguised profanity that you cannot discuss this on a coherent level. Did you learn that in Bible class?
124 posted on 02/03/2003 9:47:29 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Catspaw
Maybe he figured if he stirred up a lot of stuff, he'd get something for nothing.
125 posted on 02/03/2003 9:48:04 AM PST by stuartcr
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To: HiTech RedNeck
Somehow I suspect that aspiring medical students take more than a single biology course at the undergraduate level, thus ensuring that these students get more than just the one shot at a letter of recommendation.
126 posted on 02/03/2003 9:49:07 AM PST by Under the Radar
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To: jude24
For a rough estimate, pi = 3 is relatively decent.

For a hexnut, anyway.

127 posted on 02/03/2003 9:49:09 AM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Every minute a man dies and one and one-sixteenth is born.)
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To: stuartcr
He may have wanted to stir thinks up, but there is that law of unintended consequences.
128 posted on 02/03/2003 9:49:28 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Alamo-Girl
... point being whether the professor denied the student a right under the law because of the student's religious beliefs.

No student has a right, under law, to a personal, positive, recommendation from a professor.

129 posted on 02/03/2003 9:51:09 AM PST by Nebullis
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To: kattracks
"The policy is not meant in any way to be discriminatory toward anyone's beliefs, but instead to ensure that people who I recommend to a medical school or a professional school or a graduate school in the biomedical sciences are scientists,"

Sorry, this is crap. Requiring belief in an unproven theory as a basis for a recommendation is intended to do what? One need not believe in a evolution to practice good science. This is akin to saying one needs to believe in ESP in order to get a recommendation as a psychologist. So who is he trying to keep out of the field? This won't stand up to scrutiny of the courts.

130 posted on 02/03/2003 9:52:28 AM PST by Havoc ((Honor above convenience))
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To: Doctor Stochastic
Religion could be tested, I suppose, in some ways (for instance, the Dim Sun Paradox). But in this case, the professor here holds that skepticism of evolution is simply incompatible with scientific inquiry in biology.

But because evolution, like every doctrine that purports to be more than 'superstition', must expose itself to being falsified, it would seem that the professor would have to accept some general level of skepticism about it(and about every other doctrine he teaches) from all of his students . 'Physicist' said in one of his earlier posts that a 'closed mind is incompatible with science' (paraphrasing). It looks like this biologist is actually encouraging close-mindedness. Unless of course, there's more at stake in the evolution debate than just a scientific doctrine...

131 posted on 02/03/2003 10:00:27 AM PST by HumanaeVitae (The DNC is a WMD)
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To: Nebullis
Thank you for your post!

No student has a right, under law, to a personal, positive, recommendation from a professor.

I understand what you are saying, however a recommendation is required for medical school.

In other words, if the voluntary nature of a letter of recommendation can be used as justification and excuse to override a student's civil rights - it would be possible to keep any minority out of medical school.

Between the civil rights movement and the establishment cause of the Constitution, the court may issue a ruling that many professors will not like.

132 posted on 02/03/2003 10:01:23 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: HumanaeVitae
Then came the...

SPLIT SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHO-EVO/NWO Soviet-LIBERAL-Socialist GULAG America---

the post-modern age of switch-flip-spin-DEFORMITY-cancer...

Atheist secular materialists through ATHEISM/evolution CHANGED-REMOVED the foundations...demolished the wall(separation of state/religion)--trampled the TRUTH-GOD...built a satanic temple/SWAMP-MALARIA/RELIGION(cult of darwin-marx-satan) over them---made these absolutes subordinate--relative...

REDACTING them

and calling/CHANGING---

all the... residuals(technology/science) === TO evolution via schlock/sMUCK IDEOLOGY/lies/bias...

to substantiate/justify/validate their efforts--claims...social engineering--PC--atheism...

anti-God/Truth RELIGION(USSC monopoly)---

and declared a crusade/WAR--JIHAD--INTOLERANCE/TYRANNY(breaking the establishment clause)...

against God--man--society/SCIENCE(religious oath-TEST for office/employment)!!

133 posted on 02/03/2003 10:01:33 AM PST by f.Christian (( Orcs of the world : : : Take note and beware. ))
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To: VadeRetro; Doctor Stochastic; Physicist; general_re
"I can certainly imagine him denying a "personal recommendation."

By the way, I find it quite ironic that you libertarians would support this egregious use of state power to stifle scientific dissent here. This professor is getting paid off the public dole.

I guess we all have a little "fundamentalism" in us, don't we?

134 posted on 02/03/2003 10:03:56 AM PST by HumanaeVitae (The DNC is a WMD)
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To: Alamo-Girl
It is amazing to me how many putative Conservatives use left-wing rationale when it suits their purpose.
135 posted on 02/03/2003 10:03:59 AM PST by Under the Radar
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To: Alamo-Girl
I understand what you are saying, however a recommendation is required for medical school.

He can get a letter from his aunt.

In no way is this student, or any student, denied an education.

136 posted on 02/03/2003 10:04:29 AM PST by Nebullis
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To: TheCause
The funny part is that this kid better learn where the "Supersize It" button is on the cash register, and he'd better hope he isn't allergic to polyester fast food uniforms, hehehehe.
137 posted on 02/03/2003 10:06:24 AM PST by Chancellor Palpatine (toward an unassailable America)
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To: Under the Radar
Thank you so much for your post! But I'm not sure which rationale has gotten your attention. If you'd care to explain it a little further, I'd appreciate it.
138 posted on 02/03/2003 10:07:48 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: HumanaeVitae
Are you really going to pretend that you don't know what a personal letter of recommendation is?
139 posted on 02/03/2003 10:09:57 AM PST by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro
Yes, I know what it is.

"If you're losing the broad point, argue the specifics."

140 posted on 02/03/2003 10:11:51 AM PST by HumanaeVitae (The DNC is a WMD)
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