Rhode Island apparently values indoctrination above scientific accuracy.

RI Students Must Watch ‘Inconvenient Truth’ to Graduate

To receive a degree from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, students are being forced to watch “An Inconvenient Truth,” the documentary on global warming produced by former Vice President Al Gore.

Just a note for the sake of accuracy, something An Inconvenient Truth cares little for, the movie was not “produced” by Al gore, and he is only credited as an actor.

The science class requirement has prompted one conservative student to declare that “we should stop calling these schools ‘bastions of knowledge’ since they’re really bastions of leftist thought.”

Pretty much.

The controversy at Roger Williams University (RWU) in Brristol, R.I., began the week before Earth Day, when the professors teaching the laboratory portion of “Core 101: Science, Technology and Society” required their students to watch Gore’s Oscar-winning film in class.

The course is one of 12 that students at the university must take in order to graduate.

Making the film therefore mandatory for graduation

However, Dana Pelosa, an RWU junior and president of the school’s chapter of the College Republicans, sent a letter questioning the course requirement to Jeffrey Hughes, assistant dean of marine and natural sciences.

“With the issue of global warming being such a highly politicized topic, with the scientific community unsure if global warming is man-induced or part of the natural cycle of the earth, do you think that it is intellectually honest to only show the alarmist viewpoint?” Peloso asked.

“If the movie is still shown, what plans are there to incorporate the ideas of leading global warming skeptics into class discussion?” he added.

And for the most part, that echoes my concerns.  Films like AIC only tell one side of the theories, they phrase it as fact instead of theory and then they abandon any scientific credibility by exaggerating the Truth and misrepresenting the theories they claim are fact.

In his email response, Hughes stated that “I only recently saw ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and have to think that it’s an ideal subject for a Core lab,” because “the point of Core is to inform students of scientific principles and help them make decisions on issues with a scientific basis in their everyday lives.”

“After an initial and heated debate, scientists no longer question whether the atmosphere is being warmed due to human activities and instead are increasingly impressed with the speed and impact of the process,” Hughes wrote. “I repeat: there is no doubt that we’re warming the earth and that a continuation of our activities will lead to profound changes.

Except that is completely false.  It misrepresents the actual truth of the discussion and the conclusions.

Peloso told Cybercast News Service on Tuesday that his fellow students have reacted to the situation in one of two ways.

“Those who understand that there are multifaceted points of view” are “really troubled by this,” he said. But others “are so naive” that they take Gore’s position “as gospel, the final word on global warming. They see Al Gore is a former vice president, so it’s got to be true.”

So much for the scientific method.

Once again, feel good propaganda is more important the fact.