It’s been a month since our last post about creationism at Ball State. That was Ball State Imbroglio Heats Up Again, and it summarizes the history of the affair. To appreciate today’s news, you need to recall that this whole thing began last year when Jerry Coyne, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago, started a fuss about Ball State University’s physics professor, Eric Hedin, who was allegedly teaching intelligent design in his course on the “Boundaries of Science.”
You won’t believe what we just read in the Star Press of Muncie, Indiana — the home town of Ball State University. Here’s the headline: BSU promotes controversial prof. Yeah, Hedin is promoted. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us:
Ball State University has promoted assistant professor Eric Hedin, who was at the center of a science vs. intelligent design controversy last year, to associate professor, a giant step toward tenure.
See there? This is a good lesson in life. Be a good boy, study hard, eat your vegetables, do your homework, become a creationist, and you will reap the rewards. The newspaper also says:
Coupled with the positive outcome of a meeting between BSU officials and conservative state lawmakers, the university now might be able to put the debate to rest.
Does this put the matter to rest? Maybe. Maybe not. Is Hedin going to continue teaching creationism? The news story doesn’t say. Will this satisfy the Discoveroids? We doubt it. Nothing will satisfy them except full-blown theocracy, vigorously enforced in every institution. Hey — speaking of the Discoveroids …
John West, a vice president at The Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based intelligent design think tank, on Tuesday told The Star Press: “That’s news to me that anything has been resolved. If it has been, I think the public deserves an explanation of what exactly has been resolved.”
Hedin’s class remains canceled and a “gag order” on BSU professors remains in effect, West said.
Good point, Westie! Let’s read on:
Last week, Hedin was one of 19 assistant professors promoted to associate professor by Ball State’s board of trustees. “I am thankful that the university has confirmed its earlier statement that my academic credentials are an asset to the university, and that I remain an important and valued member of the physics and astronomy department,” Hedin told The Star Press on Tuesday.
The promotion virtually guarantees Hedin will receive tenure down the road.
Becoming an associate professor is a virtual guarantee of tenure? We continue:
Ball State’s current policy does not connect the tenure decision with a promotion to associate professor, but that policy will change next year. “In the future, those decisions will be the same — as it is as most universities,” [Ball State spokeswoman Joan] Todd said. “It has always been a 7-year probationary period for tenure, and that will continue.”
This story isn’t over yet. Oh, wait — then the newspaper reminds us of another issue:
Ball State last year hired Guillermo Gonzalez, a senior fellow at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, as an assistant professor of astronomy. Like Hedin, Gonzalez came to Ball State from a Christian school, Grove City College.
After being hired, Gonzalez, who was denied tenure at Iowa State University, said that he planned to continue his research on astrobiology and stellar astrophysics at Ball State and would not be discussing intelligent design in the classroom.
The Gonzo aspect of the story isn’t over yet either. We’ll continue watching events at Ball State.
Copyright © 2014. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
The Sensuous Curmudgeon 
The absolute gem here is the quote you included from Westie:
Poor chap is feeling terribly neglected and left out of the loop! And the DI are being deprived of a martyr; there must be great gnashing of teeth and rending of sackcloth in Seattle!
From the article: ‘… a “gag order” on BSU professors remains in effect, West said.’
That must make for some pretty dull lectures at BSU.
But this is a great opportunity for any unemployed mimes.
After all, a mime is a terrible thing to waste.
As said, tenure and promotion are generally linked in most universities. If someone is good enough to promote, they should be good enough for tenure, and vice versa.
BTW, for anyone viewing this from outside the U.S., that last line is a corruption of the slogan of the United Negro College fund…
http://www.uncf.org/sections/WhoWeAre/SS_AboutUs/aboutus.asp
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
If the board of trustees signed the promotions this week, that means that the promotion process started about a year ago. First the candidate writes a dossier of all their accomplishments, etc., then letters of recommendation from peers at other universities are solicited. Then comes the department’s personnel committee, who studies the case and writes a lengthy memo recommending yea or nay to the department head, who studies and writes the same, to the college personnel committee, to the dean, to the provost, the chancelleor, etc., etc. It takes a long time.
Meaning, all this had been happening, and all these recommendations had been made, before the creationist-class news was public. So, that couldn’t have played a part in the decision, everyone would have to go by the recommednations that had previously been written.
The tenure case, which will include the creationist teaching, will be much more difficult.
Garnetstar notes
But that won’t stop the Discoveroids from claiming credit and touting this as a ‘victory for academic freedom’ in 5…4…3…2…
T&P cases are complicated and often agonizing for those who serve on the committees.
Garnetstar: “The tenure case, which will include the creationist teaching, will be much more difficult.”
Let’s hope so.
Megalonyx, have you been visiting Texas? I saw this news story and for some reason I thought of you.
It has to be bad news for the Discoveroids. There went their “expelled”, “help fight the persecution” fund-raising story. The conservative congressmen will probably move on to other things. And…it’s will be much harder to make any sort of credible threat against Ball State for an imaginary wrong perpetrated against a professor that the university has just promoted.
The DI thrives on persecution. This must have been one of the – if not the only – significant persecution case on their list this year. Just imagine the second floor walk-up full of lawyers roaming the halls searching for something to do… it’s kind of a scary thought.
Don’t know why I’m anonymous…
Our Curmudgeon attempts to implicate me in a hideous crime, but to no avail, as the culprit has been caught on CCTV:
Well, I’ll put my hand up to “older”, but I am a clean-shaven trouser-wearing chap with a full head of hair, and yo no hablo espanol…
Megalonyx unconvincingly defends himself by saying: “I am a clean-shaven trouser-wearing chap with a full head of hair”
Anyone can buy a full face rubber mask. But you avoided the question of your presence in Texas. I think we all understand the situation.
The moustache wears shorts?
And lo! It came to pass! The Klingy hath spoken: Has the Problem of Science Censorship at Ball State University Been Ironed Out at Last?
This is the DI’s first comment on Ball State since Klingy’s pathetic bleating on 26 March: Free Speech at Ball State: Let’s Have It in Writing, Please
Sometimes, if I contemplate what a miserably small brain occupies Klingy’s skull, I almost feel sorry for the bloke.
But mostly, I just think what an utter little [edited out] he is.
Megalonyx says: “And lo! It came to pass! The Klingy hath spoken”
Yeah, but he didn’t say much. I won’t post separately about it, because there’s nothing to be said. All the issues are still smouldering.
Of Klingy’s latest post, our Curmudgeon notes:
Indeed he didn’t. Comme d’habitude…
SC: “Will this satisfy the Discoveroids? We doubt it. Nothing will satisfy them except full-blown theocracy, vigorously enforced in every institution.”
Even that won’t satisfy them, and will likely make it even worse in the sense of “be careful what you ask for.” If we ever get anything close to a theocracy, the very questions they are trying to cover up (successfully, I might add) will come under the microscope. Starting with “which religion?” If it’s Baptist (the main religion of evolution-deniers) don’t expect Jews like Medved and Klinghoffer, or Catholics like Behe and Santorum (honorary Discoveroid) to take it lying down. And if “mere ID” is taught, don’t expect committed Biblical literalists to roll over either. Students will be critically analyzing – both the right way and the wrong way – the very “what happened when” that Discoveroids don’t want taught, let alone critically analyzed.
What the Discoveroids really want, whether they know it or not, is just what they have now – politicians constantly undermining science education, and a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that has fans and critics alike mostly trained to not ask the hard “what happened when” questions about ID/creationism. All that, plus they get to play the martyr, which they’d surely miss in a theocracy.
DI: “So much propaganda and nowhere to go!”