FSU College of Law Research Center Blog

The Threat of Open Access

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is the creation of a group of physicians and scientists who believe that scientific and medical research (much of which is publicly funded) should be freely available to the public.  They publish several free online journals.  According to an article in Nature, the for-profit publishers have begun to see the open-access movement as a serious threat, and they have hired a public relations firm to develop a campaign against PloS and the PubMed service provided by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

Posted by Robin Gault

"Intelligent Design" in Public Schools

In December 2004 eleven parents filed suit against the Dover (Pennsylvania) Area School Board in federal district court after the school board established a policy that biology teachers must read a statement about Intelligent Design at the beginning of the unit on evolution.  The trial, Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School Board, is going on now.  For more information, see the website of the National Center for Science Education (which opposes the teaching of Intelligent Design) and the Discovery Institute (a proponent of Intelligent Design).

Posted by Robin Gault

Intelligent Design

A federal judge in Pennsylvania will hear arguments Monday September 26 in a lawsuit that could establish how students are taught science for years to come.  The case is Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.  Here is a copy of the initial Complaint.  More court documents are available via Pacer Service.  You can see a librarian about access to documents via Pacer. 

Posted by Jon Lutz