Baylor Professors Criticize Denial of Tenure to Conservative Colleague; Indiana Community-College Figure Will Retire; Professor Is Islamic Society's First Female President

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STILL FIGHTING: An already divisive controversy over a tenure denial at Baylor University appears to be getting even uglier.

Last spring Francis J. Beckwith, 45, an associate professor of church-state studies, was denied tenure despite a long list of publications and a recent teaching honor. Some saw the professor as a casualty in a battle between conservatives and liberals at the Baptist university. Now Mr. Beckwith is alleging that the former chairman of his department, who resigned under a cloud, worked to undermine his tenure application.

Mr. Beckwith, who is appealing the tenure decision, is a conservative Christian who has often written on hot-button issues like gay marriage and abortion. He is also a fellow at the Discovery Institute, which promotes the intelligent- design movement. A legal scholar, Mr. Beckwith says that he is not a supporter of intelligent design but that teaching it in public schools is legally permissible.

It was Mr. Beckwith's teaching, not his scholarship, that was criticized in his tenure denial. He was accused of disregarding the curriculum and using the classroom to spread his Christian views — a charge he denies. Some of his colleagues were outraged by the university's decision. C. Stephen Evans, a professor of philosophy and humanities, says he will consider resigning if the decision is not reversed. Mr. Evans, who calls himself a liberal democrat, says Mr. Beckwith is being "railroaded for his conservative views, even though he clearly merits tenure on the basis of his scholarly work and teaching."

In a new twist, Mr. Beckwith alleges that the then-chairman of the church-state-studies department, Derek H. Davis, never provided him with its tenure guidelines and encouraged colleagues to vote against his tenure. Mr. Davis denies this.

Mr. Davis is involved in a controversy of his own. He resigned from the university at the end of the spring semester following allegations that he neglected to properly cite sources for two of his articles. In one case, Mr. Davis closely paraphrased passages from a 1986 book by Ronald L. Numbers, a professor of the history of science and of medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Mr. Davis acknowledges the improper citation, calling it "human error," not plagiarism. Mr. Numbers, who notified Baylor officials about the passages and later exchanged e-mail messages with Mr. Davis, says he is not satisfied with that explanation.

Mr. Davis says he was not forced to resign from Baylor but chose to do so after university officials discussed the allegations with him. "I resigned because I told people 'If you consider this a problem, then I will resign,'" he says. "They said they weren't sure if it was a problem or not." Mr. Davis is now dean of humanities at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, which is not affiliated with Baylor University.

Baylor's provost, J. Randall O'Brien, would not comment on the circumstances of Mr. Davis's resignation or on Mr. Beckwith's tenure case, citing privacy restrictions. He did say that he expected a decision on Mr. Beckwith's appeal this month. Thomas Bartlett

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A LONG RUN: Gerald I. Lamkin, described as the "father of the community-college system in Indiana" by the state's governor, will step down next year as president of the Ivy Tech Community College system.

Mr. Lamkin, 70, has held the position since 1983. Since that time, enrollment at Ivy Tech has exploded by 300 percent to more than 100,000 students. In 2005 the institution became the community college for the entire state, with 23 separate campuses.

Mr. Lamkin has worked at Ivy Tech for nearly 40 years, starting in 1967 as an accounting instructor in Indianapolis. A national search is planned to replace Mr. Lamkin, who will serve as president emeritus.

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FEMALE FIRST: Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic studies at Hartford Seminary, in Connecticut, has been elected the first female president of the Islamic Society of North America.

A Canadian convert to Islam, she specializes in Islamic law and early Islamic history and was elected vice president of the society in 2001. The society, an umbrella group that represents other Muslim associations, describes itself as the largest Muslim organization in North America.

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