An Academic Ax

		[top_right_buttons.htm]
	An Academic Ax	[Rainmakers_Title.htm]

[navi.htm]

Professor Dumped Over Evolution Beliefs*

By: Jim Brown and Ed Vitagliano
March 11, 2003

(AgapePress) ‑ A university professor said she was asked to resign for introducing elite students to flaws in Darwinian thought, and she now says academic freedom at her school is just a charade.

During a recent honors forum at Mississippi University for Women (MUW, Dr. Nancy Bryson gave a presentation titled "Critical Thinking on Evolution" ‑ which covered alternate views to evolution such as intelligent design. Bryson said that following the presentation, a senior professor of biology told her she was unqualified and not a professional biologist, and said her presentation was "religion masquerading as science."

The next day, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Vagn Hansen asked Bryson to resign from her position as head of the school's Division of Science and Mathematics.

"The academy is all about free thought and academic freedom. He hadn't even heard my talk," Bryson told American Family Radio News. "[Without knowing anything about my talk, he makes that decision. I think it's just really an outrage."

Bryson believes she was punished for challenging evolutionary thought and said she hopes her dismissal will smooth the way for more campus debate on the theory of evolution. University counsel Perry Sansing said MUW will not comment on why Bryson was asked to resign because it is a personnel matter.

"The best reaction," Bryson says, "and the most encouraging reaction I have received has been from the students." She added that the students who have heard the talk, "They have been so enthusiastically supportive of me."

Bryson has contacted the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy and is considering taking legal action against the school.

Reinstated College Prof Grateful for Support of Christians
School Says Instructor's Criticism of Darwinism Not Linked to Request for Resignation*

By Jim Brown, March 17, 2003

(AgapePress) ‑ A chemistry professor at the Mississippi University for Women (MUW) says she has mixed feelings about the school's decision to renew her contract just weeks after she was asked to resign.

Last week, in an effort to fend off an impending lawsuit, MUW announced it would allow Dr. Nancy Bryson to remain as head of the Division of Science and Math. In a statement on Thursday, president Dr. Claudia Limbert said the school's change of heart "reassert[s] MUWs absolute commitment to academic freedom and freedom of speech."

Bryson maintains her prior dismissal was precipitated by an honors forum presentation she gave last month outlining flaws in Darwinian thought. She had been asked to resign just one day after her presentation.

Bryson is disappointed with the reasons the school has given for reversing its decision, and says it is disingenuous for MUW to still claim that academic freedom is alive and well on campus.

"I felt that that was what they certainly should have done," she says, "but I was unhappy that the university continues to maintain that the talk and the original non‑renewal decision were not linked."

Still, Bryson is grateful she will be allowed to retain her position as division head. "It was just thrilling that so many Christians provided support," she says.

"I guess that I've had dozens and dozens and dozens of e‑mails, and some phone calls and visits to my office, from people who were very alarmed about this whole situation ‑ and most of those people were Christians," she says. "I have not received any negative feedback from any students here at MUW It's all been positive."

Bryson believes the vice president of academic affairs initially asked her to resign because he received pressure from some biology professors to do so. She hopes her victory will heighten awareness about the importance of academic freedom in the evolution/intelligent design debate and beyond.

*This feature is republished by CreationDigest.com courtesy of the AgapePress. These and other relevant news can be found online at www.agapepress.org.

[rightcolumn.htm]