I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this that doesn’t involve the insidious influence of the Republican party’s fundamentalist base:

Smart Grants, for the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent program — were created by Congress this year, with strong support from the president. The grants are worth up to $4,000 and are awarded in addition to Pell grants.

Recipients must be college juniors or seniors enrolled in one of the technical fields of study that the Department of Education has deemed eligible for funds. Many different topics, as varied as astronomy and Arabic, qualify.

But evolutionary biology is absent.

The department has an index of classification numbers — referred to as “CIP codes,” for the Classification of Instructional Programs — for all academic areas of instruction,

Under that classification scheme, there is a heading for “Ecology, Evolution, Systematics and Population Biology,” under which 10 biological fields are defined. For instance, ecology is 26.1301, and evolutionary biology is 26.1303.

But on a list that defines majors eligible for the grants, issued by the department in May, one of those 10 is missing. On that list, the classification numbers rise in order from 26.1301 to 26.1309 — with the exception of a blank line where 26.1303, or evolutionary biology, would fall.

According to an unofficial comment from the Department of Education, evolution may be left out simply because it could fall under other topics. Or, half-man/half-monkey creatures have infiltrated all levels of government and are slowly consolidating power and discouraging research that could one day lead to humankind’s only defense against these vile affronts against nature. Either one is good.

(Via Kevin Drum)

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