Campus Politics Behind Baylor Colleague's Tenure Snub, Dembski Suspects
by Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
April 6, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A former Baylor University professor says a decision by the world's largest Baptist institution to deny tenure to a well-known evangelical scholar is nothing more than a "petty political shenanigan."Pro-life philosopher Francis J. Beckwith, an associate professor and associate director of the Baylor's J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, has been denied tenure at the Texas university. Notably, his tenure request was denied despite the fact that he has received excellent teaching reviews, has authored and edited numerous books, and has had several academic articles and scholarly papers published in highly respected journals.
Mathematician, philosopher and theologian Dr. William Dembski is a friend and former Baylor colleague of Beckwith's -- and a well-known proponent of intelligent design theory -- who now teaches at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He believes Baylor University wants to get rid of Beckwith because he chose to weigh in on the controversial topic of intelligent design by writing a book on the legality of teaching the theory in schools.
When Beckwith, who specializes in politics, jurisprudence, religion, and applied ethics, penned the book Law, Darwinism, & Public Education: The Establishment Clause & the Challenge of Intelligent Design(Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), he may have made himself a few enemies in the academic community, or so Dembski suspects.
"As soon as [Frank] showed up at Baylor," the mathematician says, "there was a group there with this Dawson Institute ... and they tried to get him removed from that position. So I think what we're seeing is the fruits of that."
Beckwith's opponents could not manage to oust him at that time "because Robert Sloan and David Jeffrey were the administrators," Dembski asserts. "But when it came tenure decision time, it seems that they got their way," he says.
The Baptist seminary professor believes certain university insiders were determined to drive Beckwith from the faculty because of his opinion on the legality of teaching intelligent design and says Baylor opted not to renew his own contract for similar reasons last spring. Beckwith, who is currently appealing his tenure denial, does not personally claim to be a supporter of ID, only a proponent of a view that would permit the theory to be included in public school science classrooms.
"All I have done is defend the notion that teaching it in public schools is not a violation of the U. S. Constitution," the Baylor associate professor asserts. Nevertheless, he says his personal view is that, although legally permissible, ID should not be taught, for policy reasons. Beckwith clarified his opinions on ID in a letter to the editor published in the journal Academe last year. In the letter, he notes that he does not feel ID should be required in public schools but does think "that some intelligent design arguments raise important questions about philosophical materialism and the nature of science that should be taken seriously and may indeed have a place for discussion in public school classrooms." Despite the specifics of Beckwith's position on the volatile subject of ID, Dembski believes the school's snub of the well qualified academic suggests there is "little hope" for Baylor assistant professors and junior scholars on a tenure track.In any event, the Southern Baptist seminary instructor is convinced that Beckwith's future at Baylor looks grim, particularly since Baylor University's president, Dr. John M. Lilley, does not appear willing to intervene.
"All of this has been done with the president's full knowledge," Dembski contends. "He has scrutinized this, so I can't see what in the world would change the decision at this point. I hope I'm wrong. I don't have all the facts, by any means; but just from my vantage, this doesn't look good."
No one on the university's tenure committee can hold a candle to Frank Beckwith in terms of his "world-class" scholarship, the associate professor's former Baylor colleague contends. He feels President Lilley's tacit approval of Beckwith's treatment sends a definite message.
By doing nothing about it, Dembski says, the president of the world's largest Baptist university has rejected the school's stated vision of reestablishing its Christian identity. Meanwhile, Beckwith's friend and supporter suggests, the tenure committee has not only done an injustice to a worthy and distinguished scholar but has done its own academic community and students a great disservice as well.
