Press Release 05 02 2008 | The Institute for Creation Research

Press release from the Institute for Creation Research
Press Release 05 02 2008

Science Institute Releases Documents in Texas Academic Freedom Case

Contact: Lawrence Ford, Institute for Creation Research (ICRGS), 800-337-0375

DALLAS, May 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- Administration officials at the Graduate School of the Institute for Creation Research (ICRGS), a California-based institution, have released documents pertaining to its application to grant degrees in the state of Texas where it has sought to move its academic offices.

On March 26, 2008, the ICRGS submitted documents to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) in Austin, Texas in response to a request to provide institutional documentation that describes the Master of Science in Science Education program offered by the school.

On April 24, 2008, THECB Commissioner Raymund Paredes and his board voted to deny the ICRGS authority to grant the M.S. degree in Science Education. Dr. Paredes read into the record his recommendation at a committee meeting the day before, expressing his belief that the ICRGS promoted a viewpoint different from perceived science standards in the state, based on his non-public consultations with yet-to-be-identified science educators.

Because of the choice of the THECB to withhold from the public the ICRGS documents—documents that demonstrate that the ICRGS does indeed meet and, in some cases, exceeds state educational standards—the ICRGS is making the entire document available to the public.

It will become clear to careful readers 1) that the ICRGS M.S. program is both a demanding and rigorous academic offering to Texas students desiring to be equipped in major disciplines of science and in the practical aspects of teaching science to others, and 2) that the THECB, and its advisers, failed to properly evaluate the ICRGS program based on educational and academic standards, as expressed in the documents, preferring rather to penalize the ICRGS program because of differences in viewpoint regarding how and why ICRGS teaches science and science education.

The importance of ICRGS' institutional viewpoint of creationism, as an example of academic freedom, was explained at the April 23 committee meeting by Dr. Eddy Miller, Dean and Chief Academic Officer of the ICRGS, who flew from California with other faculty members to attend and participate in the THECB proceedings.

Because of the decision by THECB Commissioner Raymund Paredes and the THECB Board, the state of Texas is denying a full-range of educational offerings to Texas residents in the area of science education, and in doing so, is failing to "close the gaps" in higher education.

The institutional documents released by the ICRGS are available on the institute's website.

The Latest
NEWS
Secular Paper Admits ''Unreasonable Likelihood'' of Abiogenesis
A recent popular science article begins with the words, “A new study published in July 2025 tackles one of science’s most profound mysteries...

NEWS
September 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What...

ACTS & FACTS
Pervasive Genome Functionality Destroys the Myth of Junk DNA
In 2001, the first rough draft of the human genome was published in a collaborative effort between private industry and the public sector.1,2...

NEWS
Happy Labor Day 2025
“For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:9) Labor Day was...

ACTS & FACTS
The Age of Reptiles Myth
We hear about the Age of Reptiles, also called the Age of Dinosaurs, almost as early as we can understand the idea. Even kindergarteners might be taught...

ACTS & FACTS
The Tiktaalik Missing Link Myth
In 2004, the paleontological community—and the world—was presented with what many evolutionists considered to be a dyed-in-the-wool missing...

ACTS & FACTS
Archaeopteryx, Myth of a Transitional Fossil
In 1860, one year after the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, a wonderfully preserved fossil feather was discovered in...

ACTS & FACTS
Busting the Myth about Lucy
by Brian Thomas, Ph.D., and Chris Rupe, Ph.D.* Most folks consider our ape ancestry as established science, with Lucy as the main link. However,...

ACTS & FACTS
Evolutionary Vestigial Features: Worse Than Myth, a Scam
Due to teachers’ influence during the formative years of young people’s lives, they can be a powerful force in spreading evolution to new...

ACTS & FACTS
Blind Cavefish Unmask the Convergent Evolution Myth
Within the ever-expanding theory of evolution, there is a system of specialized language designed to identify each major interpretative concept. Some...