Guillermo Gonzalez, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, is appealing his tenure decision again, this time to the Iowa Board of Regents.

Gonzalez earlier appealed the university’s decision to deny him tenure, but ISU President Gregory Geoffroy denied the appeal on May 31.

According to the policies set forth on the Board of Regents Web site, the university must deliver the notice of appeal, along with a written response to the appeal, to the board within 20 days of receiving notice.

Thomas Evans, general counsel for the Iowa Board of Regents, said Gonzalez’s case will not likely be decided at August’s board meeting, due to the volume of other items on the agenda.

“It would likely be at September’s board meeting,” Evans said.

Gonzalez’s tenure case has created controversy amid speculation that the tenure decision was ideologically based.

Some scholars, such as Gonzalez’s fellows at the Seattle-based think tank Discovery Institute, still say the university’s decision was influenced by Gonzalez’s promotion of the intelligent design theory.

John West, senior fellow of the Discovery Institute, points to Gonzalez’s publication record as evidence that the decision has been made unfairly.

“Even if one only considers his publications since coming to ISU, Dr. Gonzalez had more peer-reviewed publications than 86% of the faculty granted tenure at ISU in 2007,” West wrote in an e-mail.

University officials have maintained that ideology did not play a role in the decision to deny Gonzalez tenure.

Discovery Institute, however, is convinced of Gonzalez’s credentials, and has gone so far as to cover the costs of close to $1,500 incurred by open records requests filed with the university and used to bolster Gonzalez’s appeal.

“Since Dr. Gonzalez is one of our fellows, and we believe he was denied tenure unjustly, we are being supportive of his appeal, just as we would for any of our fellows,” West wrote.

Evans said that even if the Board of Regents denies Gonzalez’s current appeal, there is still avenue for further review. The Board of Regents is the final level of agency appeal. However, if Gonzalez’s appeal is denied again, and he wants to dispute the decision, he might then appeal his case to the judiciary, starting in district court.

“That would be an option Gonzalez would have,” Evans said.

Gonzalez can not introduce any issues or arguments that have not been previously been presented to the university, according to the board’s policy, which states Gonzalez would have the burden of proof on the appeal.

However, Evans said there have been other cases of tenure denials that have been overturned at the board’s level of review.

“If he is successful, it is my understanding that Dr. Gonzalez would like to stay at Iowa State,” West wrote.

Gonzalez did not return phone calls for comment.