Ben Stein’s day off from UVM

ACTOR AND right-wing ideologue Ben Stein withdrew from an invitation to speak at the University of Vermont's (UVM) commencement in the face of swelling opposition.

UVM President Daniel Fogel had selected him to give a speech and receive an honorary degree. But Stein declined the invitation after discovering that there was widespread opposition to him among students and faculty.

Stein is best known as a comic actor, including a bit part as a dull-witted teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but he has also been a lawyer, a speechwriter for Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and a conservative author and filmmaker.

One of his favorite causes is opposition to evolution. In 2008, Stein wrote and directed the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which, to put it simply, is a hit piece against evolutionary biology. Stein casts "Darwinists" as responsible for most of the world's evils--which include, according to him, the rise of totalitarian governments, racism and eugenics, opposition to religion and abortion.

The film also promotes a number of false claims about the supposed persecution of advocates of "intelligent design"--the term used to describe theories that repackage religious creationist myths in pseudo-scientific terms--within the scientific establishment.

Expelled was roundly rejected by scientists and film critics alike, but that hasn't stopped proponents of intelligent design from using it as a wedge in an attempt to push creationism into law.

Stein's own words show how biased and distorted his views of actual science really are. As he said in an interview with the Trinity Broadcasting Network:

When we just saw that man...talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do, they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed...That was horrifying beyond words, and that's where science--in my opinion, this is just an opinion--leads you...

Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.

Both the Jewish legal organization the Anti-Defamation League and the conservative National Review magazine issued statements condemning this interview.

UVM PRIDES itself on its dual nature as both a liberal arts teaching university and a research university. It also claims to be committed to social justice. Why then would President Fogel invite a man who is actively opposed to the progress of scientific research?

Stein gave a talk about economics once before at UVM, which Fogel used as his reason to invite him again. As it turns out, the two also share a connection through family friends--Fogel is the brother-in-law of Stein's best friend.

Immediately after Stein's invitation was announced, there was a surge of opposition. In particular, many UVM faculty were outraged that an anti-intellectual of Stein's prominence would be speaking at the commencement. The UVM faculty union United Academics pulled together in opposition. News of Stein's honorary degree even reached overseas, where such people like the eminent British biologist Richard Dawkins wrote to Fogel.

The combination of faculty opposition and some student activism drove Fogel to warn Stein about the situation, after which Stein withdrew.

After the incident, Ben Stein was interviewed by the Burlington Free Press, where he cast himself as the victim of political correctness and the "ruling clique" of science--he portrayed the opposition to him as "pathetic," "laughable" and "chicken shit."

More importantly, he strenuously denied being anti-science and pretended not to know where the comments about the Holocaust being caused by science came from. "I am far more pro-science than the Darwinists," he said. "I want all scientific inquiry to happen--not just what the ruling clique calls science."

But Stein has only himself to argue against. The academics and students who stood up against him at UVM used nothing more than what Stein has himself stated for the public record to expose him. One cannot be both "more pro-science than the Darwinists" and claim that "science leads you to killing people."

Hopefully, UVM's successful opposition to Stein will lead activists everywhere to take a stand against anti-intellectualism and religious pseudo-science. We can instead put forward a message of truth, solidarity and equality.