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Gonzalez appeal turned down – Academic freedom petition, and where to go to sign

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In the wake of the fact that Guillermo Gonzalez’s appeal has been dismissed by the Iowa Board of Regents (this was expected, actually, and more later), Discovery Institute has launched an Academic Freedom petition:

Across America, the freedom of scientists, teachers, and students to question Darwin is coming under increasing attack by self-appointed defenders of the theory of evolution who are waging a malicious campaign to demonize and blacklist anyone who disagrees with them. You can help by signing the Academic Freedom Petition

If you are an American, you can go here to sign.

By the way, academic freedom is under severe attack in many forums, not just the study of design in the universe.

Go to The Fire to find out the rights you no longer have on many campuses. You can see Indoctrinate U on line, which gives you the idea.

Relax, it’s actually worse in Canada (but never mind, you must hear a Canadian publisher’s opening salvo  against the tyranny of vague “human rights” charges, beginning “My name is Ezra Levant”). Be like him.

Also: Will the Expelled film be ignored by its friends as well as its foes?

Excerpt: “Establishment savvies knows that most people – even those who should make the time to see the film – won’t bother if there isn’t a big razzmatazz about it in the media controlled by the establishment. And there isn’t one.

Comments
[...] Gonzalez Appeal Turned Down – The Iowa Board of Regents Assumed Guillermo’s Guilt in Advance [Uncommon Descent] [...]La censure systématique des scientifiques créationnistes | Causalité du Cosmos
April 21, 2011
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Sorry, but that petition asks for more information than I'm going to volunteer over an unencrypted web page.jstanley01
February 9, 2008
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Correction -- Gonzalez is at Iowa State University, not the University of Iowa (BTW, they are two different schools).Larry Fafarman
February 9, 2008
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I believe that the arbitrariness of this decision to deny tenure will discourage people from accepting tenure-track faculty positions at the U. of Iowa (and probably also Iowa State U.). The pretexts for denying tenure were that Gonzalez did not bring in a lot of grant money and did not advise a lot of graduate students who got degrees, but he did have a lot going for him: he was author or co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed papers, he co-authored an astronomy textbook that is used by his own department, and he wrote a book for the popular market, "The Privileged Planet."Larry Fafarman
February 8, 2008
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About Expelled: I think that a lot of people will see it and will create some buzz. Most of the media stories will give the obligatory shot at the movement by saying something like "despite its loss in the Dover trial..." I am confident though that this movie will have an impactCollin
February 8, 2008
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Unless Dr Gonzalez really likes to teach then perhaps the Discovery Institute could hire him to start an astrobiology project. The Cosmologic InstituteJoseph
February 8, 2008
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American universities have become bastions of mindless, ruthlessly enforced, leftist-secular intellectual conformity and intolerance. It is quite ironic, since these are the same people who preach that tolerance and diversity are the highest virtues. The only problem is that they are only tolerant of those with whom they agree, and diversity is acceptable only if everyone thinks alike.
What about John Yoo and Phil Johnson at UC Berkeley? I suspect that there are similar examples of conservative scholars in places like Hopkins, Yale and Harvard, as well as in public institutions. Of course, they're outnumbered by those of leftist persuasions. Must make for interesting conversations around the water cooler.
It’s time for those of us who pay these people’s salaries to rise up in revolt.
Unfortunately, we taxpayers are not directly paying the salaries of profs at private universities. If they're doing government-supported research we might try to get their grants (and the attendant salaries) suspended.Daniel King
February 8, 2008
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Daniel King wrote Does anyone know what Sternberg is doing now?
According to some of the follow-up comments at Uncommon dissent (post) @ Coincidence Theories, Sternberg is still a research associate at the Smithsonian, though I guess life around the water cool is still uncomfortable.William Wallace
February 8, 2008
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Please keep things straight. Gonzalez is not guilty of anything.
Of course he is (in the eyes of the Board of Regents and many of his bigotted colleagues at ISU). He's guilty of proposing that science suggests there might be design behind the workings of the universe, which is heresy and a crime against the groupthink of modern academics. I framed my comment as I did to draw a parallel between the Board's proceedings and those of our legal system, in which one is presumed innocent until the evidence demonstrates guilt. The Board reached its conclusion of guilt before even considering the evidence, which it refused to ever consider. This is an ethical travesty. You can bet that if the situation were reversed, and Guillermo had been denied tenure because he proposed that science demonstrates there is no design in the universe, the ACLU would jump in immediately with a civil-rights lawsuit. American universities have become bastions of mindless, ruthlessly enforced, leftist-secular intellectual conformity and intolerance. It is quite ironic, since these are the same people who preach that tolerance and diversity are the highest virtues. The only problem is that they are only tolerant of those with whom they agree, and diversity is acceptable only if everyone thinks alike. It's time for those of us who pay these people's salaries to rise up in revolt. I'll gladly contribute to Guillermo's legal fund should he and his attorney decide to file suit. How about the rest of you?GilDodgen
February 8, 2008
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The Iowa Board of Regents assumed Guillermo’s guilt in advance, and denied his defense the opportunity to present evidence in favor of his innocence.
Please keep things straight. Gonzalez is not guilty of anything.Daniel King
February 8, 2008
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William Wallace #3: A deep embarrassment to the establishment, to be sure. Does anyone know what Sternberg is doing now?Daniel King
February 8, 2008
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Me too noticed that the petition is discriminative to USA residents only. You are not only ones who are being pressed by Darwinoids! Europa needs such petition too! :)Shazard
February 8, 2008
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G'day Denyse, Although the issue is in America about an American, is there a petition elsewhere that can be signed to support Gonzalez in this next phase for non-US citizens? The ramifications of what occurs on the campuses in the States slowly, but surely, ebbs and oozes across to the halls of academia throughout the world. A global petition also shows that academic freedom being stifled is wrong everywhere, and that the eyes of the world is on this public case and will continue to be. Being north of the border, I thought you may have had some offering on this viewpoint.AussieID
February 7, 2008
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Here is an old news story on Academic freedom that drives liberals crazy: Intelligent Design and Academic Freedom by Barbara Hagerty of National Public Radio fame.William Wallace
February 7, 2008
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Denyse, has FIRE (not "the FIRE," but anyway) weighed in on the Gonzalez case. I went to your link to them but couldn't find anything. Seems it'd be right up their alley. Do you know if they'll be taking a position?larrynormanfan
February 7, 2008
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The Iowa Board of Regents assumed Guillermo's guilt in advance, and denied his defense the opportunity to present evidence in favor of his innocence. As has been reported: 1) The Board of Regents would not allow into the record extensive e-mail documentation showing that Dr. Gonzalez was denied tenure not due to his academic record, but because he supports intelligent design. 2) They denied his due process rights throughout this entire appeal. 3) They refused Dr. Gonzalez the opportunity to present his case fully to the Board and to have face-to-face contact with the Board through oral arguments. 4) They refused to let him cite key NASA/Smithsonian Astrophysics Database information that shows how he outperformed many of the tenured faculty in his own department in productivity. In general I am opposed to lawsuits. However, in this case I hope one is filed, with demands for severe punitive damages against the Board of Regents of the State of Iowa and Iowa State University. It would be nice if such a suit, with nationwide exposure, would coincide with the release of the Expelled documentary this April.GilDodgen
February 7, 2008
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