NCSE Evolution Education Update for 2010/09/03
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2010-09-03 14:07.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear Friends of NCSE, The Institute for Creation Research appears to concede defeat in its lawsuit over its graduate school. Plus selected content from RNCSE 30:3 is now available on-line.
ICR CONCEDES DEFEAT OVER ITS GRADUATE SCHOOL The Institute for Creation Research is apparently conceding defeat in its lawsuit over the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's 2008 decision to deny the ICR's request for a state certificate of authority to offer a master's degree in science education from its graduate school. The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, finding that "ICRGS [the Institute for Creation Research Graduate School] has not put forth evidence sufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact with respect to any claim it brings," granted summary judgment to the defendants in a June 18, 2010, ruling. It was not until the September 2010 issue of the ICR's Acts & Facts, however, that the ICR seems to have publicly commented on the decision, with Henry Morris III, the ICR's chief executive officer, writing, "ICR's legal battle is over." Information about the graduate school vanished from the ICR's website over the summer of 2010, but writing in Creation Ministries International's Journal of Creation (forthcoming 2010; 24 [3]: 54-55), Chris Ashcraft reported, "On 25 June 2010 the ICR board of directors voted to close the Grad School," citing a June 30, 2010, e-mail from Henry Morris III. Replacing it, apparently, is the ICR's School of Biblical Apologetics, which offers a Master of Christian Education degree; Creation Research is one of four minors. The ICR explains, "Due to the nature of ICR's School of Biblical Apologetics -- a predominantly religious education school -- it is exempt from licensing by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Likewise, ICR's School of Biblical Apologetics is legally exempt from being required to be accredited by any secular or ecumenical or other type of accrediting association." For the court's ruling (PDF), visit: http://ncse.com/webfm_send/1380 For NCSE's collection of documents from the case, visit: http://ncse.com/creationism/legal/institute-creation-research-graduate-school-v-paredes-et-al For Morris's article in Acts & Facts, visit: http://www.icr.org/article/5527/ For Ashcraft's article (PDF), visit: http://nwcreation.net/articles/Is_there_a_future.pdf For the ICR's explanation of SOBA's status, visit: http://www.icr.org/soba/faq/#q11 CATCHING UP WITH RNCSE Selected content from volume 30, number 3, of Reports of the National Center for Science Education is now available on NCSE's website. Featured are George F. Bishop, Randal K. Thomas, Jason A. Wood, and Misook Gwon's "Americans' Scientific Knowledge and Beliefs about Human Evolution in the Year of Darwin" and Shelley Emling's "Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter." Plus reviews of Richard Dawkins's latest as well as books for children about the Scopes trial, Darwin's adventures, and even Darwin's marriage. If you like what you see, why not subscribe to RNCSE today? The upcoming issue (volume 30, number 5) features articles debunking young-earth creationist claims about geology, with Kevin R. Henke on helium diffusion in zircons, Lorence Collins and Barbara Collins on the formation of polonium halos, and Tom Ballieul on the creationist use of polonium halos (which have been billed as "creation's tiny mystery"). Plus there's the usual batch of news, reviews, and commentary. Don't miss out -- subscribe (or renew) today! For the selected content from RNCSE 30:3, visit: http://ncse.com/rncse/30/3 For subscription information, visit: http://ncse.com/membership Thanks for reading! And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution education and threats to it. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x310 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/membership
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