On Tuesday, May 14, Bètabreak, the science discussion platform of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science (FNWI) at the University of Amsterdam, canceled a discussion centered on a paper co-authored by University of Chicago professor emeritus Jerry Coyne titled “The ideological subversion of biology” due to the opinions of two speakers on the Israel-Hamas war.
Coyne, a professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolution and author of the bestselling book Why Evolution is True, was due to speak at the event on Friday, May 17, alongside Maarten Boudry, a Flemish philosopher and skeptic, and Michael Richardson, professor of evolutionary developmental zoology at Leiden University.
In an official communication, Bètabreak remarked that “many of the members in the committee did not feel comfortable giving Dr. Coyne and Dr. Boudry a platform given their stances on the Palestine/Israel conflict. Another fear is how it would reflect on us as a committee and that we might be blackballed at UvA/AUC.”
Coyne, who also maintains a blog called Why Evolution is True with approximately thirty thousand subscribers, has been outspoken on the ongoing conflict and describes his and Boudry’s views as “sympathetic to Israel.”
The private initiative that organized Coyne’s visit to Amsterdam for two different events later published a press release about the cancellation. It clarified that Coyne and Boudry would still be holding a discussion, albeit recorded for the internet and with no audience present.
The paper at the forefront of the discussion, “The ideological subversion of biology,” which Coyne wrote with Dr. Luana Maroja for The Skeptical Inquirer, “dealt with the distortion of six areas of evolutionary biology by well-meaning people whose ideology did not comport with biological reality,” according to the author.
In a blog post about the situation, Coyne noted he had “been Dorian Abbot-ized,” likening his experience to that of UChicago Professor Dorian Abbot. In October 2021, Abbot was disinvited from giving the John Carlson Lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in light of his opposition to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion hiring policies.
Coyne has invited those on his blog to engage honestly with the post through the comment section.