Science

Science Group Boycotts the Big Easy

By Sean Cavanagh — February 17, 2009 1 min read
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At a time when cities are starved for revenue, New Orleans will lose a little bit of convention-related cash as a result of the state’s new policy on teaching evolution.

According to this story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology has told Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal that the organization is choosing Salt Lake City over New Orleans for its 2011 convention. The reason? The group’s objections to the Science Education Act, signed into law by the Republican governor last year. That law gives teachers permission to use supplementary materials on topics such as evolution and global warming.

Scientists strongly objected to the bill, which passed the state legislature by a huge margin. You can read the scientific society’s objections on its Web site, www.sicb.org, under the entry titled “Thanks, but No Thanks, New Orleans.”

A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.