Friday, October 27, 2006
Ohio: Science Faculty at Case Send Open Letter to the Voters
Over 80 percent of the science faculty at Case Western Reserve have signed a statement urging voters to remove creationist candidate Deborah Owens Fink from the State School Board and to vote for good science on Nov 7th.
Here's their letter:
Current Board Member Deborah Owens Fink has referred to the National Academy of Science, the nation’s most prestigious scientific body, as “a group of so-called scientists”, and more generally to all scientists as a “dogmatic community”. During her tenure on the State School Board she has continued to sideline important issues associated with improving public education in her effort to debase and distort the teaching of science in high schools while attempting to cast controversy on biological evolution in favor of an ill-defined notion called Intelligent Design that courts have ruled is religion, not science.
We represent the bulk of faculty in the science departments of the College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, one of the premier research institutions in Ohio, and our views thus reflect the views of the majority of the science community in Northeast Ohio. Science Education is of vital interest to us and to the economic future of the state, and thus we have chosen to come together in this unprecedented way to voice our concerns. Voters in the 7th district have a unique opportunity to send a message to the Board that they are interested in moving forward with quality science education by voting for someone with experience and interest in the real educational issues facing the state.
We urge voters to stand up for quality science education by supporting the candidacy of Tom Sawyer on Nov 7th.
Here's their letter:
Current Board Member Deborah Owens Fink has referred to the National Academy of Science, the nation’s most prestigious scientific body, as “a group of so-called scientists”, and more generally to all scientists as a “dogmatic community”. During her tenure on the State School Board she has continued to sideline important issues associated with improving public education in her effort to debase and distort the teaching of science in high schools while attempting to cast controversy on biological evolution in favor of an ill-defined notion called Intelligent Design that courts have ruled is religion, not science.
We represent the bulk of faculty in the science departments of the College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, one of the premier research institutions in Ohio, and our views thus reflect the views of the majority of the science community in Northeast Ohio. Science Education is of vital interest to us and to the economic future of the state, and thus we have chosen to come together in this unprecedented way to voice our concerns. Voters in the 7th district have a unique opportunity to send a message to the Board that they are interested in moving forward with quality science education by voting for someone with experience and interest in the real educational issues facing the state.
We urge voters to stand up for quality science education by supporting the candidacy of Tom Sawyer on Nov 7th.
