Jo Ann Gora, President of Ball State University in Indiana, announced last Wednesday in a letter that she has decided to eliminate intelligent design theory from science courses, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
In the letter addressed to faculty and staff, Gora claimed the theory is "overwhelmingly deemed by the scientific community as a religious belief and not a scientific theory. Therefore, intelligent design is not appropriate content for science courses."
Gora said that since more than 80 scientific societies have concluded intelligent design does not fall under the science category, it belongs in humanities and social science courses instead. She also noted that even while being taught in separate courses, it needs to be discussed evenly with other theories -- none of which get a higher endorsement over the rest.
She continued in her statement to express that this is an issue of "academic integrity, not academic freedom:"
"Our commitment to academic freedom is unflinching. However, it cannot be used as a shield to teach theories that have been rejected by the discipline under which a science course is taught. Our commitment to the best standards of each discipline being taught on this campus is equally unwavering," Gora said. "As I have said, this is an issue of academic integrity, not academic freedom."
John West, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a non-profit supporter of intelligent design theory, accused Gora of being "Orwellian." In a response to her elimination of the theory in science class, West claimed "It's no news that there is evidence of intelligent design is a minority viewpoint in the sciences." He criticized Gora's decision as a "sham."
Gora's letter was in response to a recent controversy over a college in Muncie, Indiana that hired a science professor who wrote a book on intelligent design and had another professor teach the theory.
In March, the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint against a course called "Boundaries of Science" claiming that it violated separation of church and state as it was taught at a public university.
An attorney from the Freedom Found Religion Foundation said Gora's letter and decision "raised all the right concerns."
