2 n The Wichitan
campusvoice
thewichitan
nour view
Listen and Learn
In the last year, MSU students have been treated to myriad highly-respected speakers, including politicians, artists, musicians and industry pros. We’ve been given the opportunity to observe some remarkable people without ever having to leave the comfort of our quaint North Texas community – and that’s nothing to sneeze at. You could say we’re getting a little bit spoiled. Political commentator Glenn Greenwald, diplomat Condoleeza Rice, presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich and ex-terrorist Mosab Hassan Yousef have all graced the hallowed halls of Midwestern State in the last year, to name a few. They came all the way from their disparate corners of the country just to speak to little old us. Don’t you feel special? You should.
MSU admins, faculty and staff have obviously been going out of their way to bring some astonishingly talented folks all the way to this (relatively) small university. And in many cases, that takes lots and lots of moolah. But that’s okay –– we at The Wichitan think they have a reason for bringing such a variety of speakers to our campus: they’re trying to teach us something! Imagine that. Now don’t you think, given the time and effort it takes to reel these super talented individuals in, we should attend their lectures, concerts, and exhibitions? We sure do. That’s why we were – for lack of a better word – peeved when we noticed that half of Akin Auditorium was empty for Michael Uslan’s talk Mon-
March 30, 2011
3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 n Wichita Falls, Texas 76308 News Desk: (940) 397-4704 n Ads: (940) 397-4705 Fax (940) 397-4025 n E-mail WICHITAN@mwsu.edu
day night. Yeah, yeah. The auditorium was also half full. But we’re newspaper people. Which means we’re pessimists. And this is the executive producer of The Dark Knight, for gosh sake. Like, who didn’t watch that movie? We know there’s been some critcism surrounding a few speakers as of late, especially Yousef and Rice. But at least they showed up! And maybe that means you should, too. When you finally graduate and enter that magical place called “the real world,” you’ll be grateful you were given a chance to attend talks by real life pros doing real life stuff – even if what they talked about wasn’t your cup of tea. You thank us someday. We promise. And then you’ll be able to tell your kids, “Yeah, I heard them speak once.” Embellish as you wish.
editorial board
nEditor in Chief: Brittany Norman nManaging Editor: Chris Collins n FEATURES/ A&E Editor: Brittney Cottingham nOp-Ed Editor: Cameron Shaffer nSports Editor: Andre Gonzales nPhoto Editor: Hannah Hofmann nAdvertising manager: Rachel Bingham nadviser: Randy Pruitt nReporters: Orlando Flores nPhotographers: Kassie Bruton, Damian Atamenwan
Copyright © 2011. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, faculty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before intended publication. Letters should be brief (350 words or less) and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number and address for verification purposes. The editor retains the right to edit letters.
nSocietal Floss
Doctrine and dogma murder science, silence dissent
Last year famed Harvard biologist and evolutionary theorist E.O. Wilson came to Midwestern State University to speak. Most people will remember him for a long time simply because of the amount of prestige and intellectual rigor he brought to our campus, if only for a night. Dr. Wilson should also be talked about on campus for another reason; he is currently embroiled in a debate with one of the world’s premier defenders of atheism, Richard Dawkins. The debate revolves around Dr. Wilson’s particular area of expertise – ants. Darwinistic evolution was based around the idea that evolution is based on the survival of the fittest, and not individuals evolving to protect and care for some other individual. In 1963 W.D. Hamilton proposed his rule, which stated that genetic relationship and the benefits of that relationship could outweigh of evolving on behalf of another individual. What does this have to do with ants? Well, the queen ant is the only ant that can reproduce and is tended for by worker ants that do all her work, live short and dangerous lives, and are sterile. An evolutionary explanation was needed to explain why some individuals (the worker ants) would sacrifice themselves for another individual (the queen ant). Richard Dawkins pounced upon Hamilton’s rule in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene where he argued that evolution is about making certain genes successful and not individuals. So workers ants are being successfully evolutionary by taking care of the queen rather than themselves. This understanding of kin selection has been the dominant view in evolutionary science ever since. Well, Dr. Wilson, the world’s foremost evolutionary biologist, and several other Ph.ds in the field of biology wrote a detailed paper last year that demonstrated that Hamilton’s rule almost never holds. Richard Dawkins and several other scientists with vested interests in preserving the rule did not take kindly to this
Cameron Shaffer Opinion Editor analysis. Dr. Dawkins has ranted against Dr. Wilson’s understanding of kin selection, and other scientists have also insulted the research and Dr. Wilson – without actually engaging the study or analysis. This has become all too common in the scientific community. The dominant theory, the dogma of the community is threatened by dissent and scientific theory, and the bearers of the dogma scream and howl, labeling the dissenters as heretics. In 2004 a small scientific journal on biology, which is founded by the Smithsonian Institute, published a paper that had withstood the rigorous peer-review system, but soon took flak for the paper. A firestorm really. Why? The paper discussed Intelligent Design in a positive light. It had been peer-reviewed by scientists who did not agree with Intelligent Design and been called “meritorious” and “worthy of publication” by the same reviewers. Intelligent Design is dissent from the dogma of the scientific community and scientists that depend on the theory of evolution cannot stand dissent. The outrage expressed from Smithsonian Institute against the editor of the scientific journal was so fierce that the U.S. Congress held several inquiries into the abuse of the editor’s rights by the scientific community. Dr. Judith Curry is a premier scientist and department chair at the Georgia Institute of Tech-
nology with brilliance in Climate Research. She has been awarded multiple times by NASA, and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union to name a few of her recognitions. Through 2009 she had doubts about the validity of the mainstream scientific claims regarding global warming, but did not speak out against it using the reasoning that “don’t trust what one scientists says, trust what thousands of scientists say.” In late 2009 climategate broke out with the disclosure of emails from the University East Anglia that demonstrated a lack of credibility in global warming claims. Dr. Curry began investigating the claims more closely and has since become an avid global warming/climate change critic. This had led the Scientific American journal the label her a heretic. Despite her qualifications, her research, and the demonstrable lack of strength climate change actually has, her dissent from scientific dogma has gotten Dr. Curry labeled a heretic. Whether or not Dr. Wilson, peer-reviewed article that support Intelligent Design, or Dr. Curry are right or wrong is no longer relevant. What has become clear is that to differ from scientific doctrines is not something that will get you a pat on the head. Scientific inquiry is based around questioning, and doubting, checking, and testing. If the data falsifies particular theories, then those theories need to be more closely examined or tossed. The scientists should not be treated as intellectual lepers. The manner in which the scientific community treats dissent is a reminder of the way the Scopes monkey trial was handled. History has revealed the lack of tolerance for differing views there to be shortsighted. Hopefully the scientific community will recall the lesson. To talk over dissent and discourage inquiries into mainstream and hard and fast believed scientific positions is to kill the very nature of what science is. And that is a real shame.
The right to be ridiculous Cameron Shaffer Opinion Editor
“The right to be ridiculous is something I hold dear” – U2, Crazy Tonight April Fools Day is in two days, and pranks and general tomfoolery are sure to run wild on campus. There’s something particularly awesome about having a day when normal social restraints on dignity are removed (Halloween also does this quite nicely) and people can act like idiots on purpose without being looked at too oddly. College students are under a lot of pressure. Most of us have to balance being a fulltime student with work in order to deal with thousands of dollars in student loans. We’re also in classes all week trying to keep up with topics like economics, calculus, and clinicals. 18-, 19-, and 20-year-old adults going out and purchas-
ing the newest Pokemon game, or dressing up like Frodo Baggins for International Hobbit Day (and still going to class), or celebrating the Princess of the Month in Killingsworth are demonstrations of ridiculousness in the adult world that is not normally seen, but add value to the college experience. College life is about academics and intellectual precision and that should never be lost on students. Sometimes grades suffer unjustly when the focus gets placed on the wrong and most ludicrous things (World of Warcraft addicts are nice examples of this). But students still need that outlet. We tend to be a bit creative in the ridiculousness we can come up with. And sometimes that is a distinct advantage when it comes to good causes. Last week there were students on campus trying to raise money for their good cause. They both had on shirts that
read “Help Me Shower.” Until one of them raised $500 neither of them could shower. And sometimes being goofy is just plain, good old-fashioned fun. Humans versus Zombies was a game that ran on campus last month that had students that played humans (a fairly easy acting job) wearing bandanas to identify themselves to other students that played zombies. The zombies tried to eat the humans by catching them out in the open, and the humans threw socks at the zombies to keep them away (this probably worked best if these were the same students who didn’t shower). How fun is that? It’s easy to get lost in the seriousness of college and grades, resumes, scholarship applications, and part-time jobs. Sometimes it’s best to relax, prank a friend, and act absolutely silly. Take advantage of April Fools Day.
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