Blogs on the La Sierra University Resignations
Two major chroniclers of news in higher education have posted stories on the four resignations at La Sierra University. The Chronicle of Higher Education blogged a brief news summary drawing from Spectrum's reporting. It already has several dozen comments. In an extensive article, Inside Higher Ed puts the story in the larger context of the pedagogy of origins controversy consuming Adventism. In an article titled, "Blasphemy of a Different Kind," Steve Kolowich writes:
Things have gone from bad to weird at La Sierra University.
The university, which is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has been dealing in recent months with a controversy over the teaching of evolution that has its Adventist benefactors threatening to withdraw its religious accreditation — and the $4 million per annum that comes with it. Now the university faces a scandal in which a trustee, a vice president, a dean, and an adjunct professor were asked to resign over a recording made, purportedly by accident, of the four men talking informally about the church and university leadership.
On Wednesday night, Educate Truth, a site at the center of the opposition to La Sierra University, had posted the audio recording and entered transcribed selections from the private conversation in the comment section. An editor at the site, Shane Hidle and his wife were actively posting transcriptions of the private conversation and commenting on what they called the LSU "after-party." But now that entire post is gone and only the dead link remains.
http://www.educatetruth.com/la-sierra-evidence/recorded-after-party-leads-to-lsu-resignations
A major science blogger, Dr. PZ Myers, writing at Pharyngula, opines in a post titled "How convenient:"
Gary Bradley, a professor at the Seventh Day Adventist college La Sierra University, has been under fire because he teaches evolutionary biology competently — he doesn't accept the young earth creationism that SDA dogma demands. The battle is over, though, and he and several others have been asked to resign for great crimes. . . .
I think they're all better off getting out of that crazy place. The absurdity of being pressured to teach lies in the classroom ought to have been reason enough to leave, but that they have employers who want to control what they do after hours in their own homes ought to convince anyone that it's time to leave.
Our Sword, a self-described "fundamental Bible blog," writes:
Sadly, those Adventists who willfully neglect the word of God by drinking alcohol or insisting to dismiss God's account of creation…are not truly Adventists at all. The Adventist church is defined by the doctrines it holds, as is any church. If one falls outside the doctrines, he also falls outside the church. The remnant church is not here to form a nice 'community' or 'culture'…it is here to deliver a message to the last generation. The message is the truth.
