Ball State University president Jo Ann Gora has announced her school will no longer teach creation or intelligent design in science classes, the Associated Press reported.
In a letter to faculty and staff Wednesday, Gora stated the teaching of intelligent design at public universities undermines its academic integrity since the subject is known to be religious.
"Intelligent design 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 wrote.
She said that because it is not since a large amount of scientific communities do not consider intelligent design to be actual science, it could not be taught in such courses. She said the topic does have a place humanities or social science courses as long as it is presented with other views and perspectives.
"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," she wrote. "As I have said, this is an issue of academic integrity, not academic freedom."
The Discovery Institute in Seattle, a supporter of intelligent design, criticized the letter for attacking minority perspective. Senior fellow John West called it "outrageous" and claimed she did in fact violate academic freedom.
"If all it means - which seems to be the argument that she is making - is that you have the freedom to teach what the majority of people think in a discipline then that is a sham. It really is Orwellian," he said. "It's no news that there is evidence of intelligent design is a minority viewpoint in the sciences."
Gora's letter followed a complaint about the hiring of a science professor, Eric Hedin, had been criticized for teaching Christianity. The school had also hired Guillermo Gonzalez, a science professor who had written a book on intelligent design. Gonzalez lost his tenure at Iowa State University, but said he never taught intelligent design there nor would he at Ball State.
According to a school spokeswoman Joan Todd, provost Terry King had reviewed a report by a Ball State panel on Hedin. The report has not been released for privacy purposes.
Hedin did not comment and it not known if he will continue to teach "Boundaries of Science," the course that got him into trouble.
