Professor clarifies policy - letters of recommendation - Letter to the Editor

Regarding the U.S. Justice Department's decision to drop its investigation into my policy for writing letters of recommendation (News & Comment, July/August 2003), I offer what I hope will be a clarification.

Ralph Boyd, Jr., assistant attorney general for civil rights, is quoted as saying, "a state-run university has no business telling students what they should or should not believe in." I agree.

It should be stated, moreover, that nowhere in my Web site's original letter-of-recommendation policy was the word believe ever used to describe how students should mentally deal with the theory of evolution. I myself do not believe in evolution, and I would not require anyone else to do so. I do not believe in evolution because evolution is not a matter for belief. Similarly, I do not believe in gravity. One properly believes in things for which there is insufficient evidence, such as the existence of the supernatural. There are, however, mountains of evidence that evolution is a powerful agent that shapes life on Earth.

I do not concern myself with students' religious beliefs. They are no business of mine, and I do not inquire about them. I am, however, very much concerned with the science of those who wish me to recommend them to graduate school or professional school in the biomedical sciences.

As Taylor reports, my courses have a reputation for rigor. Thus, the first criterion of my recommendation policy--that a student should have earned an "A" from me--satisfies my concern that the student sufficiently understands modern biology to request a recommendation. Before I consent to do the favor of recommending him/her to advanced studies in biology or medicine, I must be satisfied that the student can do more than merely explain the theories of modern biology.

I do so out of concern for my reputation, and the reputations of my department, my university, and my profession. I do so out of concern for the integrity of science. I must be satisfied that the student respects and employs the criteria commonly accepted by scientists to gauge the validity and reliability of evidence. Lacking this satisfaction, a student will not receive a recommendation from me. That has been, and remains, my policy.

Michael Dini

Texas Tech University

Lubbock, Texas

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