Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[SeriousMoney]

Very good, ml, that's using your mind.

BTW, you might enjoy a piece that Walter posted and linked on his website...

UC Berkeley sued over evolution website
Posted by Walter Olson at 12:19 AM, October 25, 2005

"The University of California at Berkeley is being sued for running a website for school teachers called Understanding Evolution. Anti-evolutionists claim that the site breaches the American constitution on the separation of church and state because it links to religious organisations which believe faith can be reconciled with Darwin's theory of evolution". (Donald MacLeod, "Intelligent design opponents [sic] invoke US constitution", EducationGuardian (U.K.), Oct. 18; Katie McCulloch, "Citing Religious Web Site, Parent Sues UC Berkeley", Daily Californian, Oct. 14). More: CalStuff, Tim Sandefur, Ed Brayton, Not Your Father's America.
http://www.overlawyered.com/schools/

Not Your Father's America
October 22, 2005
Creationism Bullies Advance
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed. Posted October 19, 2005.

The battles over the teaching of evolution are moving from high schools to universities.

In the battles over the teaching of evolution, it's usually the critics of evolution who are accused of crossing church/state lines.

But last week, some of those critics filed suit in federal court against the University of California at Berkeley, charging that its views on evolution are leading it to violate the separation of church and state. Berkeley was sued for maintaining a Web site, Understanding Evolution, to help schoolteachers. The site contains a links section that notes the many religious organizations that have stated that faith is not incompatible with evolution, and these links violate the First Amendment, according to the suit.

While much of the debate over evolution is taking place in public schools, not colleges, the lawsuit is the latest example of how these discussions can spill into higher education -- even when there is a wide and strongly held consensus among scientists backing evolution. In fact, this is the second lawsuit this year in which anti-evolution groups have gone after the University of California. The university system was sued in August over its refusal to certify high school courses on creationism and "intelligent design" as meeting the entry requirements for admission.

"These suits are attempts to bully academic institutions into compromising the science education that they provide, and I hope universities continue to stand up and not take it," said Alan I. Leshner, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He said that efforts to oppose evolution have already moved from elementary and secondary schools to theme parks and science museums "so it's not surprising to see this directed at institutions of higher education."

One irony of the Berkeley lawsuit is that science organizations have been calling on universities to sponsor projects that reach out to public schools to explain evolution. "Berkeley is doing exactly what it ought to be doing," Leshner said. http://carapace.weblogs.us/archives/032907.html