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Can someone be forced to write letters of recommendation?
Posted by Ernest Miller on Monday, February 17 @ 10:02:23 EST
Contributed by Anonymous
Free Expression
Anonymous writes "Can a professor (or anyone) be compelled to write a letter of recommendation for someone that he doesn't believe deserves one?

According to this article from the Washington Post, the Liberty Legal Institute is considering filing a lawsuit to force a university professor to write recommendation letters for students who do not believe in evolution.

The biology professor, Michael Dini, has a clear personal policy on recommendation letters: students should get an A in his class, know him fairly well, and asks students to give a scientific answer to the question, "How do you account for the scientific origin of the human species?"

The article also quotes reasons for that policy:

"It is easy to imagine how physicians who ignore or neglect the Darwinian aspects of medicine or the evolutionary origin of humans can make poor clinical choices," Dini wrote in his policy on letters of recommendation. "So much physical evidence supports the evolution of humans from nonhuman ancestors that one can validly refer to the 'fact' of human evolution, even if the details are not yet known."


The university supports the professor's position, saying, "A letter of recommendation is personal to a professor."

The Liberty Legal Institute is attempting to frame the debate as one about religious discrimination vs. academic standards and scientific accuracy. In reality, the professor's policy could be based on anything - or he could opt not to have a written policy at all. And this could apply just as well to guidance counselors, employers, or anyone who participates in a recommendation process.

So the question is - can a professor (or anyone) be compelled to write a letter of recommendation for someone that he doesn't believe deserves one?
"
 
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Re: Can someone be forced to write letters of recommendation? (Score: 1)
by Lithorn on Monday, February 17 @ 11:47:14 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) http://dan.fingerman.name/
I think you frame the question too starkly -- which is not surprising, given that the press has, too. Professor Dini's web page that started the controversy says, "I will ask you: 'How do you account for the scientific origin of the human species?' If you will not give a scientific answer to this question, then you should not seek my recommendation." Before the controversy arose (he last revised the page on 10 February), the page said, "If you cannot truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer to this question, then you should not seek my recommendation for admittance to further education in the biomedical sciences." Even the more dogmatic language never said that Dini will refuse to write a letter of recommendation for any student who affirms a believe in a nonscientific answer to the question of how humans arose. When I read "...then you should not seek my recommendation," I take it to mean that students who cannot articulate a scientific answer could get unfavorable letters or that Dini might try to talk them out of pursuing careers in science. The Liberty Legal Institute may not like the result if it files suit and succeeds in getting a court to order Dini to write letters for all students. The court would never order him to write dishonest letters, so he would simply give an honest appraisal of each student's ability to evaluate scientific evidence and reason therefrom. His opinion of students who adhere to a religious or other nonscientific theory that contravenes the weight of scientific evidence is obviously low. He may even acknowledge that most of those students are probably good people who can make good contributions to society, but he should still write, in his honest opinion, that they will make poor scientists. The only injunction I can think of that might satisfy LLI would be to order Dini not to ask that question. However, another criterion on his web page for getting a letter of recommendation is "I should know you fairly well." It would be hard to justify an injunction against that requirement. If Dini does not know that a particular student rejects evolution by the time he knows that student "fairly well" in the context of that student's nascent scientific career, what does that say about the student's honesty in his dealings with the professor?


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Re: Can someone be forced to write letters of recommendation? (Score: 1)
by brian on Monday, February 17 @ 18:15:43 EST
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I guess I fail to see why anyone would even want a rec from someone who does not want to give one. It would be very easy for the person to write a very good rec that uses certain buzz words that would actually be bad for your chances.


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Re: Can someone be forced to write letters of recommendation? (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Monday, February 17 @ 20:23:51 EST
It's hard to imagine a legal theory that would justify the complaint of religious discrimination or warrant anything other than a cursory investigation by the Justice Dept. People have the right to believe as they choose, but if they seek to master a scientific discipline, they need to understand its principles. If they want a professor to attest to their mastery of the discipline, they need to show him evidence of their accomplishment. Rejecting the best scientific explanation of the origin of the human species does not demonstrate a good grasp of biology. As I've suggested elsewhere, the logic of this complaint would equally demand that an engineering professor must recommend a student convinced that prayer will cure any defect in the construction of a bridge. Or that an astronomy professor give a recommendation to a student who insists that the Earth is flat and rests upon the back of a giant turtle.


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