Subject: Help with a Dawin Day event

From: "Jacob Larson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 00:40:42 -0500

I represent a student group at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities)  
that is planning a Darwin Day event for 2006. At the very minimum, we'll  
have a lecture by one of our faculty members, but we're thinking about  
doing something on a possibly much larger scale. In particular, we're  
toying with the idea of asking our College of Biological Sciences to  
co-sponsor the event. However, some faculty members are concerned that any  
appearance of affiliation between scientists and atheists will fuel  
attacks by opponents of science education who see evolution as an atheist  
agenda.

In light of that political conflict, do you have any suggestions as to how  
we can try to sell the idea to the college, or is it going to be a  
fruitless endeavor? If you could also suggest some names of well-known  
potential speakers, it would be very helpful, as we may be able to come up  
with the budget to bring them in even without the college's help. Our  
dream speakers would include Edward O. Wilson and James Watson, who I've  
just read are both editing Darwin and would probably like to stir up some  
hype for their new editions; Kenneth Miller, who could explain that  
evolution isn't just for atheists; Massimo Pigliucci; Daniel Dennett;  
Steven Pinker; and Richard Dawkins. Do you happen to know if any of them  
don't already have plans and might be interested in speaking here?

Thanks for your time,

Jacob Larson
Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists
Activities Coordinator