The evolutionary studies department at Binghamton University, as well as departments at other colleges across the country, may be impacted by a new federal grant program that has neglected to include evolution in its allocation of funds.

According to an article published by The Chronicle of Higher Education in September of this year, the U.S. Department of Education has released a list of qualifying majors for college students in an attempt to encourage certain concentrations. Evolutionary biology was not found on the list.

David Dunn, the department’s head, claimed that evolutionary studies were meant to be included on the list and that the exclusion would be corrected. He also stated that the major is, and always was, considered eligible for the awards.

Congress created the awards, known as “Smart Grants,” just this year. Smart Grants are a component of the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent program and were established with the president’s support. The awards are worth up to $4,000 and are usually awarded simultaneously with Pell Grants.

The Smart Grants were first revealed in May of 2006 when Senate majority leader Bill Frist announced the awards would be in effect this fall and that there was over $3 billion for the grants and other academic awards for the following five years.

“Today, thousands of motivated students from underserved communities are one step closer to receiving the resources they need to pursue studies in math, science, engineering, technology and foreign languages,” Frist said.

But it seems that evolutionary biology was eliminated as a study of science with respect to the grants, and Congress’ negligence to include it has caused controversy for faculty and students.

With the recent controversy concerning evolutionary studies between conservative, religious organizations and scientists, critics suspect the “mistake” was more intentional than government officials have let on.

“It was probably left off because the Bush administration is opposed to evolution, denies it occurs and is opposed to teaching it,” said Professor Eric Dietrich, one of five executive committee members for BU’s evolutionary studies program. “It is well-known that the Bush administration is opposed to the separation of church and state.”

Dietrich claims that because federal grants are legal documents, it is close to impossible that such a mistake could have been made. Rather, science funding has been significantly decreased under the Bush administration, he said.

Faculty members wonder if the program will have an effect on BU students concentrating on evolutionary studies. Additionally, they worry that, if the mistake is not corrected, scientific progress in the United States might be even further degraded in the future.

“The situation is so bad that the U.S. is in danger of becoming a second-class scientific country,” Dietrich said. “We are already having trouble generating enough U.S.-trained scientists and engineers to meet our growing needs for such people.”

Other members of the evolutionary studies program expressed similar concerns.

“I think that it is possible that evolutionary biology was intentionally excluded from fields that are eligible for funding under this federal program,” said Professor Michael Little of the anthropology department in an e-mail.