San Jose professor fired for answering student’s genetics question

from The Alliance Defense Fund

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom and Pacific Justice Institute filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of a former San Jose City College biology professor fired for answering a student’s in-class question about heredity and homosexual behavior.

On June 21, 2007, June Sheldon, an experienced adjunct professor teaching a human heredity course, answered a student’s question about how heredity affects homosexual behavior by citing the class textbook and a well-known German scientist. She noted that the scientist found a correlation between maternal stress and homosexual behavior in males but that the scientist’s views are only one set of theories in the nature-versus-nurture debate mentioned by the textbook. Sheldon explained that the class would learn in a later chapter of the textbook that homosexual behavior may be influenced by both genes and the environment.

The school launched an investigation after a different student in the class lodged an informal complaint that deemed Sheldon’s comments “offensive and unscientific.” Sheldon was later recommended for removal from the adjunct seniority rehire preference list and terminated by the district’s board of trustees on Feb. 13, 2008.

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