San Jose City College fired professor for truthfully answering student questionhttp://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4790 ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND MEDIA ADVISORY
ADF attorney available to media after hearing San Jose City College fired professor for truthfully, accurately
WHO: ADF Litigation Staff Counsel David J. Hacker WHAT: Available for media interviews after hearing in Sheldon v. Dhillon WHEN: Friday, Jan. 9, immediately following hearing, which begins at 9 a.m. PST WHERE: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, 2112 Robert F. Peckham Federal Building and United States Courthouse, 280 S. 1st St., 4th Floor, Courtroom 6, San Jose SAN JOSE, Calif. — Alliance Defense Fund Litigation Staff Counsel David J. Hacker will be available for media interviews following a hearing in federal court Friday in a lawsuit filed on behalf of biology professor June Sheldon against San Jose/Evergreen Community College District officials. The school fired Sheldon for answering a student’s in-class question about heredity and homosexual behavior after another student supposedly complained that she was “offended,” even though Sheldon answered the question according to the curriculum. “Teachers shouldn’t be punished for doing their job as educators. When a public college professor is fired for truthfully and accurately presenting both sides of an academic debate in response to a student inquiry, higher education is sinking to a new low,” said Hacker. “This professor offered no personal opinions–only facts–but because the discourse didn’t coincide with the college’s political perspective, district officials dismissed Professor Sheldon, essentially for doing her job.” Sheldon, an experienced adjunct professor, answered a student’s inquiry in June 2007 about how heredity affects homosexual behavior while teaching a human heredity course. In her response, she cited the class textbook, as well as the research of a well-known German scientist referred to by a Web site provided in the textbook. Sheldon explained that the issue is currently being debated in the scientific community, noting that the scientist’s research represented only one set of theories from the “nature vs. nurture” debate addressed in the classroom text and that a later chapter addressed how homosexual behavior may be influenced by both genes and the environment (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4612). A fact sheet on the lawsuit is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/SheldonFactSheet.pdf. ADF allied attorneys Kevin Snider and Matt McReynolds of Pacific Justice Institute are also representing Sheldon in the suit. The ADF Center for Academic Freedom defends religious freedom at America’s public universities. ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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