Von Sternberg Saga at the Smithsonian

Don't miss this article on the treatment of Richard von Sternberg at the Smithsonian after he allowed an article sympathetic to Intelligent Design in a journal he edited. Note that he is not even a proponent of Intelligent Design. Here is an excerpt regarding an investigation by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel:

A lengthy and detailed letter from OSC attorney James McVay, dated August 5, 2005, and addressed to Sternberg, summarizes the government's findings, based largely on e-mail traffic among top Smithsonian scientists. A particularly damning passage in the OSC letter reads:

Our preliminary investigation indicates that retaliation [against Sternberg by his colleagues] came in many forms. It came in the form of attempts to change your working conditions...During the process you were personally investigated and your professional competence was attacked. Misinformation was disseminated throughout the SI [Smithsonian Institution] and to outside sources. The allegations against you were later determined to be false. It is also clear that a hostile work environment was created with the ultimate goal of forcing you out of the SI.

One of Sternberg's allegations was "that his supervisor, Zoology Department chairman Jonathan Coddington, called around the museum to check out Sternberg's religious and political affiliations."

For The New York Times version of the story . . . oh, wait, the Times hasn't picked up on this story yet. "All The News That Fits Our Worldview," I guess. If the roles were reversed, it might have made the front page.

You can find von Sternberg's statement of the facts here, as well as his position in the origins debate. To read the journal article in question, go here.