Our plane to Calcutta has been delayed by three hours due to fog (this is typical), so I’m able to write this post passing on some good news.
You may have forgotten the case of Emerson T. McMullen, the Georgia Southern University (GSU) history professor (actually, an associate professor) who proselytized both Christianity and creationism in his history/science classes. (For relevant posts, go here.) Such pushing of creationism and religion in a public university violates the Constitution’s provisions for separation of Church and State. Or so we all thought.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation and the Richard Dawkins Foundation then sent a complaint to GSU (I drafted the scientific critique of McMullen’s arguments for Biblical creationism), and the University said it would investigate. After doing so, the chief counsel for Georgia Southern sent the fellowing response yesterday to Andrew Seidel, an FFRF attorney pursuing the matter:
Dear Mr. Seidel,
This email is to follow up with you concerning the recent investigation prompted by a letter from your client, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., to Georgia Southern University. I am writing to inform you that the investigation has been completed and the University has taken steps to prevent any activity that is inappropriate for a public, state-funded institution. As a student-centered University and an EEO institution, the University places a high priority on the well-being of its diverse student body. We appreciate your assistance in calling this matter to our attention. Please share this information with your client and do not hesitate to let me know should you have questions or concerns.Sincerely,Maura Copeland
This is a masterpiece of noncomittal prose, and I was prepared for a long wait to see what, if anything, had been done. But then we got a copy of this letter from the GSU Dean giving the case’s outcome. It is a memo from the Dean to McMullen himself, reproving him and demanding changes in the way he teaches: in particular, keeping his personal religious beliefs out of the classroom and not testing students on religious issues. McMullen has agreed, as you can see by the fact that he had to sign the letter. If he hadn’t, huge legal problems would have ensued for GSU.
It is very favorable; a solid victory for secularism, in fact. As I predicted, McMullen can’t proselytize for either religion or creationism any longer. I will cite the “executive summary” prepared by the FFRF’s Andrew Seidel (indented):
GSU “investigate[d]
whether problematic speech and/or conduct was, in fact, occurring in [his] classroom. This inquiry included review of ten (I 0) course syllabi, fifty-two (52) examinations, sixteen (16 )extra-credit opportunities, and thirty-seven (37) course evaluations, all dated between 2008 and 2014.”
The course evaluations revealed a pattern of religious proselytizing, one noted by the students and criticized by some of them. A summary of the students’ evaluations:
To GSU, these comments bespoke a pattern of religious coercion, even if unintended, and McMullen was told “it is inappropriate for you to interject your personal religious beliefs into classroom and class-related discussions with students, and you are accordingly directed to stop doing so immediately.”
You can’t get clearer than that. More from Seidel’s summary:
This [investigation] revealed some interesting facts:
- In each examination given between Fall 2012 and Fall 2014, there ·was an extra credit question asking students to identify one of the Ten Commandments.
And McMullen was told to follow these guidelines from now on (quotes from GSUs memo):
“To that end, you are directed to avoid asking religion-based questions on examinations where such questions are not related to the curriculum of the course.”
Re McMullen’s requiring that his students see and report on the ludicrous atheist-bashing movie “God is dead”:
“To that end, you are directed to cease any such interjection of your personal beliefs into classroom discussions.”
I believe this also refers to creationism, which at any rate would fall under “religious beliefs,” as specified by Federal courts in previous cases. McMullen’s creationism, which is straight Biblical creationism, and which I refuted in my part of the complaint, is certainly a “religious belief,” for it’s sure not science!
“we are directing that you “not discuss your religious beliefs or opinions under the guise of University courses.”
“Please review this memo closely and make certain to comply with the restrictions contained therein. Failure to do so will place the University at risk of violating the Establishment Clause and will result in undue pressure on the students in your courses to conform to your personal religious views.”
The FFRF (and I, too) see this as a hands-down victory for the First Amendment, an amendment specifically cited by Georgia Southern. Kudos to the university for acting promptly and strongly.
The letter to McMullen is given below; as it’s from screenshots of pdfs, please forgive the blurriness. It’s only 2.5 pages long, and I urge you to read it in its entirety. This outcome will no doubt serve as a precedent of sorts about how public universities should deal with First Amendment violations by faculty. It is also heartening that GSU is located in the deep South, a hotbed of both religiosity and creationism.
I believe the yellowing in the letter came from the FFRF lawyers.
Nice, eh? I am proud to have worked with the Dawkins Foundation and the FFRF on this issue, though we’ll no doubt be denounced as “censors.” But passion in the defense of the First Amendment is no vice.
Prediction : McMullen will redress as much of his course as he can to try to introduce some vague justification for dragging the corpse of Jeebus out of it’s cave (casket, wherever the various bits are) and propping it up in front of the class.
He’s a Liar For Jeebus. Would you expect anything better form him?
gaaah. Muphry’s Lore !
“from him”
If he does, I expect he’ll lose his job. Eyes are on him now.
And if he loses his job, then out will come the sack-cloth and ashes, and the “persecuted is me!” wailing.
win-win for people of a certain mentality. (I use loose meanings of both “people” and “mentality” ; I hope I haven’t insulted any faecal coliforms by the comparison.)
I’m not particularly worried about that outcome. GSU leadership seems to get it, meaning that I think they will watch for attempts (by McMullen) to skirt the rules of the agreement, or interpret the agreement in such as to allow some continued proselytization.
I agree with your prediction.
Me too. He seems to be on the road to martyrdom. I’m sure there are those praying for him to keep preying.
My prediction is the the Road to Martyrdom is going to lead to the Christian Speaker’s Network.
Yes, he’s going to talk to some media outlet who’ll start crying “persecution!”.
See corollary to GBJames. (And by extension, to Eric.)
Good news!
Wow that’s great news! Thank you FFRF, RDF, and PCC for your hard work on this!
And thanks to GSU too for doing the right thing in a timely manner.
Wow, an extraordinarily clear response from the university! That was brave of them, even though it was the obviously correct thing to do. Congratulations to the Dean for standing up for the Constitution, and to the FFRF and RDF and PCC for bringing the case to this point.
Jeff Rankin, that is really spooky. Your comment wasn’t there when I started writing mine. Yet my first word and my last phrase are almost identical to yours, even to the PCC reference. I guess we are both channeling a higher power 🙂
We were filled with the divine inspiration of Ceiling Cat!
Amen!
“Meow” not “Amen” you infidel :).
Ramen!
And yet you STILL don’t believe in God?! What is it going to have to take with you people?!
(/sarcasm)
Wow, what an extraordinary response!! You both have obviously received the exact same revelation from the one true god, Jibbers!!
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/jibbers_crabst
No doubt he’ll see this as Christian persecution.
Safest prediction I’ve seen in a long time…
I would so love to see the syllabus for his course on macroevolution and extinction.
And I sincerely hope that someone in the biology and/or geology department starts keeping a little bit of an eye on him.
What everybody else said. Congrats to GSU, FFRF and RDF. Excellent result.
If the university read students’ evaluations and noted patterns, they could have investigated this situation and corrected it prior to it becoming a public embarrassment. That being said, I’m pleased with their handling of the case once they were made aware of the problem.
Also, are there students who did not agree with this professor’s teaching/proselytizing and who got bad exam results, affecting their academic record overall? This should be redressed.
Absolutely! Same with the Hedin case. Both should not have been able to get away with this for years. My prediction is better oversight over all professors, or at least more sampling of student evaluations. There are more professors/instructors like this out there. I hope they hear about this.
I am quite pleased to see my donations to FFRF are actually resulting in tangible results. Kudos to all involved.
Curious to see the reaction from Christian organizations.
Oh, I expect it’ll be the usual xian whining about how preventing some xian from jamming his ludicrous beliefs into every nook and cranny of public life is persecution tantamount to behaeding him. They never change.
Thus we reap the dark harvest of our Censor of the Year. Bwa ha ha haaaa.
I hear Jerry is a 3-to-1 favorite to repeat this year!
Huzzah!
Great news! A pity the university didn’t take the student reviews seriously until the FFRF & RDF complained.
And if you were in the Roman Republic, you would be honoured to be a Censor. It was fairly high ranking in the Cursus honorum (each office had an order for holding it & an age restriction) and followed the term of consul. Censors were elected and it was a big deal to be one as you looked after the finances, took the census and lastly dealt with morality. You also got to wear the toga praetexta
Perhaps we should club together to buy Jerry a cool toga for Christmas/Yule/Saturnalia/Hanukkah/Solstice (delete as appropriate).
Jerry celebrates Coynezaa.
Of course! How could I forget that?
Oops. So he does. It’s like Festivus, only cool for cats.
/@
Not only is it cool for cats, it’s for cool cats.
b&
Ha! A nice praetexta one!
Festivus!
/@
That’s as close to reading the riot act to a tenured faculty as I’ve ever seen. The mean it and I think will keep close tabs on the Prof. They do not seem to want to deal with this again, which is a more powerful motivation (second only to CYA).
I was struck by that as well – they really laid down the law.
Unambiguous indeed
I don’t know about that. Lehigh Un. all but disowning Michael Behe on their web site comes close.
Reblogged this on ben2know.
And now we wait for the eruption of protest from the general populace, with cries of christian persecution and taking god out of the classroom. Likely someone in the state legislature will propose an act allowing “freedom of conscience” for teachers, or some such subterfuge for allowing preaching in the classroom.
If this same professor were to teach a course in the Theology (or some other department) called “Defending Christianity in a Secular World,” would it pass Constitutional muster?
My guess is yes, just as it’s perfectly legit for atheists to teach university courses which are pro-atheism. It simply has to be placed and labeled honestly.
Of course, McMullen’s childish and ham-handed strategy for “Defending Christianity in a Secular World” would probably make the theologians wince — but then it would be fun to watch them follow up FFRF with their own complaints.
I’m not sure any sentence by a believer could make a theologian wince.
Oh, I’m pretty sure. It depends on the circumstances I think.
A simple elderly street sweeper babbling on about Noah’s Arc and how wonderful God is Dead was will be treated with a benevolent smile and forbearance. The Little People must have their faith, they need it, it’s all good. They’re charmed by the strength of the belief. This is childlike wisdom, to seek and find God.
But some uncredentialed jackass coming in to their Theology Department introducing students to Christian scholarship using such rot? Like hell they’d approve.
They have an illusion to maintain.
As well as a delusion.
Well, now that the issue has been brought to their attention, the school administration seems to be trying to do the right thing. I suspect that if this particular teacher tried what you suggest, the first response would be “why should we let an associate professor of history spend his time teaching a course like that? We’ve (a) got history courses we need taught, and (b) more qualified professors in the religion department for something like that.”
Mostly, he wasn’t teaching courses on theology. He teaches military history and history of science. His religious material was not only unconstitutional but off-topic.
…and there are dozens if not hundreds of recently minted Ph.D.s in history who would give their right arm for his job.
Tenure. What ya gonna do?
Become a(n aspiring) novelist?
Good news! I’m glad to see this open reason and clear language, and analysis applied by the GSU Dean. As a resident of Georgia, I’m relieved!
FFRF is a good outfit to belong to. Even I, who refuses to belong to any organization that would have me for a member, belongs.
💡
It is encouraging to see prompt thwarting of theists’ unconstitutional efforts to erode Jefferson’s wall of separation.
This is great. A swift and thorough response by the University proving they took the matter seriously – at least once FFRF made it clear they were bringing scrutiny to bear.
Just one quibble. I wish that the University’s report made it explicitly clear that McMullen’s creationism/anti-evolutionism IS a personal religious belief, and included in the list of inappropriate material from which he must abstain. As it stands he has some wiggle room to claim that he is arguing science, not religion when questioning evolution. He should be instructed that case law clearly defines creationism and all its ID progeny as religion.
Well done sir! A win for our team!
sub
Is it normal in universities for this kind of discipline to be in view for the world to see?
Most of the time companies keep it quiet in order to protect the employee’s privacy.
Is it external this time because of external complaints?
Nope, not at all.
The movie worth extra credit was
“God’s not dead”(2014)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2528814/
Some local godless and such folks (including myself) met to watch this. It is *so* awful, it is hard to believe it isn’t a parody. It wouldn’t even be worth it to assign it for analysis in a critical thinking class – too easy!
Yessssss!! . . ..
Kudos to everybody. Dean Ricker’s letter is everything I would have hoped it would be, and a copy should be included with all correspondence to future miscreants and their superiors.
I predict, though, that McMullen will latch onto that sentence that reads, “if a student asks a question about your religious views, you may fairly answer the question.” Each semester, he’ll find some excuse to strike up a conversation with some student wearing a cross necklace or similarly self-identifying as a devout Christian, and conspire to have that student ask leading questions and, from there, launch into an impromptu sermon.
McMullen just got handed his head on a platter, but he’s almost certainly stupid enough to “keep up the good fight.”
b&
Yes, I think that’s exactly what he’ll do. This man, and others like him, must be watched closely.
Well done Jerry and FFRF!!!
Kudos Jerry, to you, the FFRF, and all those others involved.
I liked the explicit threat at the end: ‘keep it up and we’ll fire you.’
Ironical that sending them off to see “God’s Not Dead” is the Christian equivalent of the way the atheist philosophy lecturer (the Kevin Sorbo character) behaved in “God’s Not Dead”, portrayed as a BAD example.
It would turn the screw if any of McMullen’s students used their two-paragraph summary of the arguments in the movie to point that out – but I guess they knew what side their grades were buttered on.
When I lived in Grand Rapids, MI, there was a weekly right-wing religious newspaper that was freely available almost everywhere. The pastor/publisher used to write every election cycle things like “the secularists tell me that as a non-profit religious publication that we cannot endorse any candidates. But I am a bible-believing Christian, and it am going to vote for xxx”. I wonder if McMullen will try something similar…