Evolution backer is coming to ECC

A leader in the fight to keep evolution education in the classroom -- and creationism out -- will speak Monday at Elgin Community College.

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, will present two lectures, "What Creationists Think About Evolution and Why it's Wrong" and "The Evolution (and Stasis) of Creationism."

Scott's nonprofit, California-based organization bills itself as the only national organization that specializes in defending evolution education in elementary and secondary schools.

The group monitors the creationism movement and offers advice to teachers and school boards who have been pressured to downplay evolution or give equal time to creationism.

Group members also have played a role in most of the major controversies over evolution education in the past two decades, Deputy Director Glenn Branch said.

Most recently, the group consulted pro bono in the Dover, Pa., lawsuit, in which a judge ruled that teaching intelligent design in a public school science class was unconstitutional.

Branch said after every major defeat, creationism supporters regroup and develop a new strategy to undermine evolution education.

The Dover decision, Branch predicted, will prompt creationists to focus on undermining evolution education, rather than trying to insert creationism into public education.

"That's going to be the new push," Branch said. "Disclaimers, trying to poke holes in evolution. They basically say, 'it's OK if you teach it, as long as you don't make it convincing.' "

Scott lectures nationwide, in part, to try to plug those holes.

Scott said, for example, she answers questions from people who wonder why monkeys still exist if humans came from monkeys.

"This misconception illustrates a major confusion held by many people about evolution," Scott said, "that fish evolved into amphibians, which evolved into reptiles, which evolved into mammals, which evolved into humans in some ladder of life."

ECC Dean of Liberal, Visual and Performing Arts Mary Hatch said Scott's lecture would reinforce the lessons ECC students learn in the classroom and lab.

"We teach science here," Hatch said. "The scientific method is about trying to avoid the inherent bias of human beings, and the theory of evolution is supported by empirical, measurable observation."

Hatch acknowledged that Scott's views could be considered controversial, though she said no one has expressed any concerns about her presence on campus.

Scott's lecture is part of ECC's ongoing speaker's series.

Hatch said of the series, "We've had great turnouts. We've had intellectually hungry people coming. It's been awesome. It gives me hope."

Presentations are free and open to the public and take place at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday in the auditorium of the Advanced Technology Center on the main campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.