It is true, biology programs discriminate against idiots all the time

Texas, you are a wonder. You don't have any protections against workplace discrimination on the basis of sex or gender — that might hurt bidness, you know — but you're considering a bill to protect creationists from discrimination.

HB 2454

Sec.A51.979.A A PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RESEARCH RELATED TO INTELLIGENT DESIGN. An institution of higher education may not discriminate against or penalize in any manner, especially with regard to employment or academic support, a faculty member or student based on the faculty member's or student's conduct of research relating to the theory of intelligent design or other alternate theories of the origination and development of organisms.

I understand how discrimination rules work in employment: for instance, when we're looking at job applications, we have to justify every rejection as well as our acceptance of the person we want to hire; when we develop a list of candidates we want to interview, it's sent off to the administration for review. If we said we wanted to do phone interviews of six candidates, and all of them were men, they'd look at the applicant pool and tell us if we were somehow biased against women.

I'm wondering, though, how this one will work. Will a Texas biology program have to send their list to an administration that will scrutinize them and tell them they need to include more creationists in their interviews?

I would also like to see what kind of creationist "research" these faculty and students are thought to be doing. Sitting around reading a Bible isn't science.

More like this

"Disingenuous efforts by creationists to portray themselves as persecuted in mainstream academia for their anti-evolution beliefs are getting a boost from a Texas lawmaker," reported the Texas Freedom Network in a March 9, 2011, post on its blog. House Bill 2454, introduced in the Texas House of…
If you were ever wondering what the slogan "Teach the Controversy" really means, Patrick Henry College explains it for us: Creation: Any biology, Bible, or other courses at PHC dealing with creation will teach creation from the understanding of Scripture that God's creative work, as described in…
A group of state legislators in West Virginia introduced a bill to strengthen the State's laws to protect mine workers who raise concerns about unsafe working conditions.  The lead sponsor is Delegate Bill Hamilton (R) who represents the region where the now-abandoned Sago mine is located.* …
This is a repost from my old blog, from a year and a half ago. But it's time for academic positions to be advertised - if they haven't been frozen due to budget cuts. So, some old advice on getting a job, while my own job is keeping me especially busy. So. You want a job, do you? At an…