Members of the Iowa Board of Regents said university policy on the advocacy and teaching of Intelligent Design should be decided by university faculty and administrators, and the board should not take an active role.

Regents also stressed the importance of open debate on a range of issues on Iowa university campuses.

Iowa City Regent Robert Downer said he supports open forums on Intelligent Design.

“There should be an appropriate forum in which the views of all people associated with this argument – pro and con – can be voiced,” he said.

Guillermo Gonzalez, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, spoke in favor of Intelligent Design during an open forum Wednesday evening at the University of Northern Iowa.

John Staver, professor of science education and director of the Center for Science Education at Kansas State University, will speak against Intelligent Design at Northern Iowa on Oct. 27.

More than 200 faculty at Iowa State and Northern Iowa have signed petitions stating they reject ongoing efforts to portray Intelligent Design as a science.

Davenport Regent Amir Arbisser said should Intelligent Design gain more acceptance in the academic community, each university must decide for itself whether Intelligent Design will be included in its curriculum.

“It has more to do with the academic missions at the institutions than the Regents imposing their view,” he said.

“They have to be the leaders in it, not us.”

Downer maintained the Board should leave Intelligent Design policy to faculty and administrators at each Regent institution.

“I wouldn’t say this is an area where the Regents governance really applies,” he said. “It is something that should be decided in each institution itself.”

Regents President Michael Gartner said he agreed, saying Intelligent Design policy is not a Board decision.

“It is an issue that individual universities have processes to determine,” he said. “That’s something handled by the campuses and not by the Board as a whole.”

Downer said despite the scientific controversy surrounding Intelligent Design, it is a subject that deserves scrutiny.

“I do feel universities are places where all points of view should be expressed in a respectful manner as a part of the furtherance of academic inquiry and exposure of students and others to all points of view,” he said. “There should be an opportunity for individuals to give their opinion.”

Gartner said open debate on controversial issues is a critical part of to the university climate.

“We encourage debate. That is how students learn – through robust debate on all kinds of issues,” he said. “Whether they are frivolous issues or serious issues, that is what college is all about: to explore and learn. From that standpoint, the debate is wholesome and healthy.”

The Regents should remain neutral toward Intelligent Design, Arbisser said. He contended the academic missions of Regents institutions should remain broad to include diversity of viewpoints.

“It may not personally appeal to me, but that does not mean I would try to impose my thinking on the academic missions,” Arbisser said. “It requires a philosophy discussion by colleges on how to present different ideas.”