DEVOLVING

Feds drop case after professor changes evolution policy (SEBASTIAN KITCHEN, 4/23/03, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

The Justice Department has closed its case against Texas Tech and a biology professor after he changed his policy for giving recommendations - a policy that, the government alleged, "constituted religious discrimination."

"The new policy rightly recognizes that students don't have to give up their religious beliefs to be good doctors or good scientists," Ralph F. Boyd Jr., assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a prepared statement.

"A biology student may need to understand the theory of evolution and be able to explain it. But a state-run university has no business telling students what they should or should not believe in."

Professor Michael Dini changed the criteria and wording on his Web site to alleviate any question that he required students to affirm a personal belief in evolution. The Web site now states that students must be able to explain the scientific theory of evolution.

That's unfortunate. Mr. Dini may be a bigot, but he should not have changed his policy as regards recommendations, which are a personal rather than an official matter, if he doesn't believe what he's now saying. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 24, 2003 7:27 PM