University shuts down science-class discussions

Gag order issued on 1 topic only

Officials at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., have decided to censor what their science teachers and instructors say, ordering them not to discuss the evidence of intelligent design during science classes, according to a report from the Discovery Institute, which monitors such battles.

“In a blatant attack on academic freedom and the unfettered consideration of scientific viewpoints, the president of Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., has imposed a gag order on science faculty forbidding their discussion of the theory of intelligent design in science classrooms,” the organization announced this week.

The school had been in the headlines since the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which wants to eradicate references to faith in the public sphere and on university campuses, demanded an investigation “into whether Ball State physicist Dr. Eric Hedin had informed his students about the theory of ID,” the Institute said.

Hedin’s interdisciplinary honors course “Boundaries of Science” included a “Partial Bibliography” listing books favorable to, and others critical of, intelligent design.

The Institute said the order came from BSU President Jo Ann Gora, who declared ID is a “religious” idea at variance with “the consensus of science scholars” and may not be discussed in science classes, since that would be a violation of “academic integrity.”