Faculty at the University of Iowa will join the debate over teaching Intelligent Design on Wednesday night with a panel discussion.

Justin Glasgow, moderator of the event, said he hoped the discussion would encourage the community to think about national issues. This discussion is the first of three to be held throughout the year, he said.

“We thought it would be an interesting topic,” said Glasgow, president of the University of Iowa Freethinkers, the organization hosting the discussion.

He said the speakers – four U of I professors – were chosen through connections.

The organization discussed which teachers they knew had an opinion on Intelligent Design and would be willing to participate in a panel discussion. He said both sides of the issue will be presented.

“We wanted people that would be interesting and insightful,” Glasgow said.

He said local speakers were chosen to give the topic more significance to the U of I students in attendance.

Turnout for the event is difficult to predict, Glasgow said.

“We guessed anywhere from 30 to several hundred people coming,” said Evan Fales.

Fales, faculty adviser for the Freethinkers and professor in philosophy, said he plans to address four issues in the forum: students should be allowed to choose which theory to believe; whether Intelligent Design is a freedom of speech issue; if banning Intelligent Design is discrimination; and whether Darwinian science is a form of religion.

Mark Blumberg, one of the panelists and a U of I professor in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, said he hoped to get across the point that Intelligent Design is a reorganized version of Creationism.

“Intelligent Design is just a wolf in a sheep’s skin,” Blumberg said. “It has no place in the classroom.”

The other two speakers, Scott Robinson, professor in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, and Fred Skiff, professor of physics and astronomy, were unavailable for comment.

Guillermo Gonzalez, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Iowa State, said he did not plan to attend the event. Gonzalez has been an advocate for Intelligent Design on the ISU campus.

Hector Avalos, ISU associate professor of religious studies, issued a statement against the teaching of Intelligent Design as science at Iowa State last summer. The statement was signed by more than 120 faculty members. Gonzalez has not issued a counter-statement and said he doesn’t plan to. A similar statement was signed by more than 100 faculty members at the University of Northern Iowa last month. Avalos could not be reached for comment.

The discussion is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the U of I campus. Each panelist will be allotted 15 minutes at the beginning of the discussion to state his or her opinion on whether Intelligent Design belongs in the classroom. The floor will then be opened for a question-and-answer session.