Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Discovery Institute Files Public Records Request in Bryan Leonard Case
A news release from the Discovery Institute announces it has filed a public records request with the Ohio State University (OSU) seeking all documents related to the
What this amounts to is a desperate bid to change the subject away from Leonard's manipulation of OSU's School of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education rules on the composition of dissertation committees and the ethics of human experimentation.
Robert DiSilvestro and Glen R. Needham, both intelligent design proponents on Leonard's dissertation committee have already admitted the rules weren't followed in a statement issued yesterday:
What the open records request, following so closely on the heels of the statement by DiSilvestro and Needham, indicate is that they -- and Discovery -- have already given up on making their case through university channels and are laying the groundwork either for a legal challenge or a face-saving public relations campaign.
"Darwinist attacks on OSU doctoral candidate Bryan Leonard." The request was submitted under the Ohio Public Records Act.
"We are requesting all communications to and from university officials involving Mr. Leonard's Ph.D. candidacy in order to determine if university officials have violated his rights," said Cooper. "We also want to determine the extent to which university actions may have resulted from a coordinated campaign by outside pressure groups to deprive Leonard of his academic freedom and his constitutional rights."
What this amounts to is a desperate bid to change the subject away from Leonard's manipulation of OSU's School of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education rules on the composition of dissertation committees and the ethics of human experimentation.
Robert DiSilvestro and Glen R. Needham, both intelligent design proponents on Leonard's dissertation committee have already admitted the rules weren't followed in a statement issued yesterday:
Although we have now learned of an apparent policy within T&L that there be two members from science education on science education dissertation committees...
What the open records request, following so closely on the heels of the statement by DiSilvestro and Needham, indicate is that they -- and Discovery -- have already given up on making their case through university channels and are laying the groundwork either for a legal challenge or a face-saving public relations campaign.
