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May 30, 2007, 01:45 PM ET
Intelligent Design vs. Tenure?
Astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, a vocal proponent of the theory of intelligent design, was recently denied tenure by Iowa State University, according to an article in The Chronicle. Gonzalez has appealed the decision with Iowa State president Gregory L. Geoffroy, who has until June 6 to respond.
Gonzalez believes it was a clear-cut case of discrimination: “I’m concerned that my views on intelligent design have been a factor,” he told Chronicle reporter Richard Monastersky.
Gonzalez is co-author of the controversial book, The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery (Regnery Publishing Inc., 2004), which claims that the universe and life on earth is the product of an intelligent designer, a concept rejected by much of the scientific community.
The book’s publication prompted 120 Iowa State faculty members to issue a statement denouncing intelligent design as contrary to science.
Monastersky notes that Gonzalez has a stronger publication record than most of the astronomy faculty, but also that he did his best work while he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin and at the University of Washington, where he earned his Ph.D.
According to university spokesman John McCarroll, that may have been the problem: “Tenure review only deals with his work since he came to Iowa State.”
Categories: Faculty-hiring
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