In the wake of the Dover trial, we here in Michigan have been waiting to see whether the next major ID trial will take place here in reaction to the battle in Gull Lake (for all my previous posts on that situation, click here). In Gull Lake, two science teachers had been teaching ID in their classes for a couple years, including using the same book as in Dover, Of Pandas and People. My group was involved and we won the battle when the school board voted to prohibit the teachers from using creationist materials in their classes. Even after losing so badly in Dover, the Thomas More Law Center has said repeatedly since December that they still planned to file suit in Gull Lake on behalf of the teachers. Here's the latest:
Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel for the More center, said earlier this year that he hopes to take evolution to court again, this time defending two Michigan teachers who claim academic freedom to continue including intelligent design in their science classes.
But Mr. Harvey said such a case is unlikely.
"I don't believe it's actually coming," he said.
Academic freedom applies only at the college level, not for public school teachers, he said, who must follow a school board's dictates.
"The idea that some school teacher feels they have a right to teach what they think is right to your child is something that should give parents some very serious pause," he said.
Harvey is right, of course, and I agree with him that no suit is actually coming. The TMLC has to know that they have far less chance of winning that case than they had of winning in Dover. Assertions of "academic freedom" to teach what they want rather than what the school board or state legislature requires have never been successful before and that isn't going to change. They've been rattling their sabre for more than a year, but I don't think there's any lawsuit coming on the matter.
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Doesn't the very fact that there are standards suggest to Mr. Thompson that teachers are not free to present whatever they want?
What I just don't get is why the TMLC is located in Ann Arbor of all places. They stand for everything that Ann Arborites loathe so intensely. Same goes for the Ave Maria Law School. You'd think they would feel more at home on the west side. Maybe they just like being in the center of the storm as they perceive it.
Capt Rational wrote:
Oh, that's easy to explain. The TMLC was founded by Tom Monaghan, who also founded Domino's Pizza. He is from Ann Arbor, his first Domino's was in Ann Arbor, and the TMLC is also connected to his Ave Maria Law School, which is in Ann Arbor. For now, at least - the law school is going to move to the new city he started in Florida.
That makes more sense. I knew Monaghan was involved with Ave Maria, but not the TMLC. That only adds to the list of reasons why I hate him, which also includes: 1) Domino's tastes like shit. 2) Monaghan and Bo Schembechler fired Ernie Harwell. 3) He wanted to build a giant cross near the highway outside Ann Arbor.
I really hope he takes his empire with him to his new paradise in Florida, because I'd like him as far away from me as possible.
So Tom Monaghan founded both the TMLC and Domino's? I didn't know that. Does that mean that money that goes to Domino's also goes to help fund Creationist endevors? If so, I am going to stop going to Domino's.
Doesn't the very fact that there are standards suggest to Mr. Thompson that teachers are not free to present whatever they want?
Probably, but Mr. Thompson is the guy who thought that the University of Pennsylvania scientists who spoke out against the "Intelligent Design" religious indoctrination movement (or, at least it looks to me like a religious indoctrination movement) should be fired for doing so. So much for freedom of speech, let alone academic freedom. Thompson appears (at least to my untrained eye) to be pretty much like a big ol' bag of hot stupid wind, so it's difficult (for me, at least) to say what the facts might suggest to Mr. Thompson. (Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.)
Chris Berez wrote:
I think he sold the company years ago, although he might well still own a chunk of stock in it. He doesn't make money directly from it anymore, at least.
386sx is right and I noted the contradiction between his claim of academic freedom for teachers and his response to the letter from the Penn faculty when it happened. Yes, Thompson is indeed mostly a windbag. Not only does he take absurd positions, but he seems to have a vastly inflated sense of his own legal talent, thinking that he can get such arguments by a competent opposition. In the Dover case, he and his colleagues were just massively overmatched. From a legal standpoint, it was about as lopsided as the OJ trial in terms of legal talent.