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Ruling Stymies Anti-Evolution Drive
By Hans Johnson
Advocates of academic freedom cheered a February opinion from Oklahoma's attorney general barring the insertion of an anti-evolution disclaimer into public-school science textbooks. The decision dealt a blow to religious and political activists seeking to suppress discussion of evolution. They had hoped to build on their victory in neighboring Kansas, where state school board members voted last August to remove references to evolution from the state science curriculum for public schools.
The proposed Oklahoma disclaimer, which called evolution a "controversial theory" based on "unproven belief," won unanimous approval in November from the State Textbook Committee. Attorney General Drew Edmondson, however, found the vote "invalid" since the committee, which was established only to give an up-or-down determination on the suitability of textbooks for K12 pupils in the state, had overstepped its mandate by instituting the disclaimer. The opinion held that the committee acted "in willful violation" of the state's open-meeting law by failing to notify the public that such a proposal would "be considered, much less voted on," at its session. Leaders of the state's academic community expressed relief at the apparent demise of the disclaimer, which some educators and civil libertarians had fervently opposed.
"It's pretty clear that the committee acted outside the scope of the law and outside the scope of its authority," says Thomas Guild, president of the state AAUP conference. "Many members are not educators, and many are not scientists. It's unfortunate that Oklahoma has had to suffer national and international embarrassment because of this incident," adds Guild.
Oklahoma governor Frank Keating, who appointed the members of the textbook committee, has defended the disclaimer as "good in its concept." But conflict over it has strained his relationship with teachers' groups. Some education officials have expressed hope that the governor will ultimately relent altogether on the disclaimer, whose uncertain fate had threatened to delay delivery of textbooks to schools. "Our main goal is to get science books in the hands of students in a timely fashion," Sandy Garrett, the state's school superintendent, told the Tulsa World in the wake of the opinion. "This was going to hold it up."
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