Dear Members of SSE [Society for the Study of Evolution],
The Joint Council of SSE, ASN and SSB has recently appointed a committee to deal with the issues of creationism and intelligent design to the teaching and funding of evolutionary biology in the U.S.
The goals of the committee are spelled out in a document available at
http://www.evolutionsociety.org/download/anti-wedge.pdf, and this message is to let the membership know of the existence of the committee, as well as to ask for suggestions and help from the membership.
The committee will work together with the education section of SSE, which is already working in this area, as well as with the nonprofit National Center for Science Education (http://www.ncseweb.org/default.asp) which promotes education about evolution and creationism.
We would like the members of the three societies to be aware current issues in the states of Texas and Kansas (see,
for example, http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060707/sff022.html?.v=56). Individual members wishing to get involved in the ongoing events in these states, and/or make financial donations can obtain more information from Texas Citizens for Science (http://www.texscience.org/) and/or the Kansas Alliance for Education (http://www.ksalliance.org/). The National Center for Science Education (NCSE, http://www.natcenscied.org/ )can provide local support in case of hearings or other public appearances related to these and similar issues. Of course, the issue is ongoing in many other states as well, and NSCE is an excellent source of current news.And just-breaking good news from Aug. 3 for the ‘see-saw’ state of Kansas, see:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Kansas-Evolution.html?hp&ex=1154577600&en=b27dd58aa1df8bbb&ei=5094&partner=homepage or
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/us/03evolution.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Sincerely,
Massimo Pigliucci (Stony Brook U.)
David Baum (U-Wisconsin)
Mark McPeek (Dartmouth)