tw curricublog

Today (8/25/06) a follow-up story in the Chronicle of Higher Education reports that, according to the Department, the omission was inadvertent and will be corrected.

In this story Barmak Nassirian, the registrars’ association official who called attention to the missing major, is quoted saying, “I’m happy they’ve restored evolutionary biology”"

‘But he also said the incident points to the “potential dangers of having the Department of Education involved in curricular matters.” He said he would prefer that the department defer to the National Academy of Sciences or some other autonomous body to rule on such issues — a comment that was also made by others who wrote letters to the department about the omission, including Lawrence M. Krauss, a physics professor at Case Western Reserve University and an outspoken defender of the evolutionary sciences. The lack of independent oversight on such matters, Mr. Nassirian said, “can set us up for awkward situations.”‘

I concur that this remains a serious concern.