"Expelled" is a 2008 creationist film that attempts to make the case that the scientific community actively suppresses scientists, academics, and teachers who advocate intelligent design creationism. In the film, they cite a handful of cases they claim illustrate this active conspiracy (the folks who made the movie have referred to it as a conspiracy). In this thread, I'll take a closer look at these cases, compare them to the documented facts, and see if the creationists have presented an honest, accurate picture of what happened.
Let's start with the case of Caroline Crocker, who the film claims was fired merely because she mentioned ID creationism in a college classroom. Specifically, the narrator (Ben Stein) claims "After she simply mentioned Intelligent Design in her cell biology class at George Mason University, Caroline Crocker’s sterling academic career came to an abrupt end", she claims that her supervisor said she "[had] to be disciplined", and Stein claims that she was "blacklisted and unable to find a job anywhere". Also, she claims in the movie that she "did not teach creationism".
That gives the pretty clear impression that Crocker mentioned ID creationism in a class and was immediately, or very soon thereafter, fired and her career was over. So how does that compare with the facts?
First, Crocker's position at GMU was a contract position where she taught on a course-by-course basis with no guarantee of renewal. These types of positions are very common in academia. This is evidenced by the fact that while teaching at GMU, she simultaneously taught at N. Virginia Community College. So once she had finished teaching the course, the university had the option to renew her contract or let it expire. And as is described in the WaPo article linked above, she wasn't fired, but rather her contract simply was not renewed.
So the first claim that her career "came to an abrupt end" is false. She finished out the term of her contract, which was simply not renewed.
Next is the claim that she was "blacklisted" and "unable to find a job anywhere". Yet after her contract with GMU ended, she continued to teach at North Virginia Community College (see link above) and continued to teach ID creationist talking points as well!
So the second claim that she was blacklisted to the point of not being able to work or teach is false.
Next is her claim that she didn't teach creationism. As is evidenced by the WaPo article linked above, she most definitely taught creationist talking points, such as that macroevolution = "a dog turning into a cat", the scientific community is deliberately conspiring to turn people away from God, complexity in cells means there was an intelligent designer, evolution leads to Nazism, and a host of others. Also, even though she claimed she was teaching the "strengths and weaknesses of evolution", when the reporter asked if she was ever going to teach the strengths (she's spent all her time only teaching creationist talking points), she said "no". You can see some of the slides she used HERE.
So the third claim that she didn't teach creationism is false.
In sum, despite what "Expelled" claimed, Caroline Crocker was not fired, was not blacklisted, finished her contract at GMU, continued to teach at NVCC, and taught creationism even though she was hired to teach biology.
Let's start with the case of Caroline Crocker, who the film claims was fired merely because she mentioned ID creationism in a college classroom. Specifically, the narrator (Ben Stein) claims "After she simply mentioned Intelligent Design in her cell biology class at George Mason University, Caroline Crocker’s sterling academic career came to an abrupt end", she claims that her supervisor said she "[had] to be disciplined", and Stein claims that she was "blacklisted and unable to find a job anywhere". Also, she claims in the movie that she "did not teach creationism".
That gives the pretty clear impression that Crocker mentioned ID creationism in a class and was immediately, or very soon thereafter, fired and her career was over. So how does that compare with the facts?
First, Crocker's position at GMU was a contract position where she taught on a course-by-course basis with no guarantee of renewal. These types of positions are very common in academia. This is evidenced by the fact that while teaching at GMU, she simultaneously taught at N. Virginia Community College. So once she had finished teaching the course, the university had the option to renew her contract or let it expire. And as is described in the WaPo article linked above, she wasn't fired, but rather her contract simply was not renewed.
So the first claim that her career "came to an abrupt end" is false. She finished out the term of her contract, which was simply not renewed.
Next is the claim that she was "blacklisted" and "unable to find a job anywhere". Yet after her contract with GMU ended, she continued to teach at North Virginia Community College (see link above) and continued to teach ID creationist talking points as well!
So the second claim that she was blacklisted to the point of not being able to work or teach is false.
Next is her claim that she didn't teach creationism. As is evidenced by the WaPo article linked above, she most definitely taught creationist talking points, such as that macroevolution = "a dog turning into a cat", the scientific community is deliberately conspiring to turn people away from God, complexity in cells means there was an intelligent designer, evolution leads to Nazism, and a host of others. Also, even though she claimed she was teaching the "strengths and weaknesses of evolution", when the reporter asked if she was ever going to teach the strengths (she's spent all her time only teaching creationist talking points), she said "no". You can see some of the slides she used HERE.
So the third claim that she didn't teach creationism is false.
In sum, despite what "Expelled" claimed, Caroline Crocker was not fired, was not blacklisted, finished her contract at GMU, continued to teach at NVCC, and taught creationism even though she was hired to teach biology.
