More than 100 biology professors at Texas universities have signed a letter protesting the forced resignation of the state’s science-curriculum director after she forwarded an e-mail message that her superiors believed questioned the idea that life is a result of intelligent design, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Chris Comer, who oversaw the science curriculum for the state’s public schools, said she was forced to resign days after she forwarded the e-mail message to colleagues. The message, from a pro-evolution group, announced a speech about the intelligent-design movement in schools.

The biology professors sent a letter to the state commissioner of education, Robert Scott, saying that Texas Education Agency employees should not have to remain neutral on evolution.

“I think it is a clear sign of how far we have slipped into scientific illiteracy in this country when a science director at the Texas Education Agency is fired for merely forwarding an e-mail about a talk related to science education,” one of the letter’s signers, David Hillis, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, told the American-Statesman. “It is extraordinarily unfortunate and inappropriate that religious views are dictating hiring and firing decisions at the Texas Education Agency.”

The letter was also signed by professors at other institutions, including Baylor, Rice, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Texas State Universities, and the Universities of Houston and North Texas.

State officials contend that Ms. Comer’s resignation stemmed from a pattern of violating the agency’s policies. —Katherine Mangan