Zachary Kopplin, one of the most visible opponents to the teaching of creationism in Louisiana tax-funded schools’ science classes, will testify before the Louisiana Senate Education Committee today in a fourth attempt to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act.
Signed into law in 2008, the Science Education Act allows the use of supplemental education material that opposes evolution and other scientific subjects to “promote students’ critical thinking skills and open discussion of scientific theories,” according to the bill.
Kopplin testified before the Education Committee three other times, resulting in three unsuccessful attempts to pass a repeal bill. Sponsored by Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, the proposed repeal legislation failed 5-1 in 2011, 2-1 in 2012 and 3-2 in 2013.
“I don’t care that they beat us last year,” Kopplin said. “We will be back tomorrow, and we will be back until we win.”
Kopplin told LSU students Wednesday he is not hopeful for a repeal of the bill this year and said he has his eyes set on the November 2015 elections when new committee members could swing support in his favor.
“Whether we pass or fail tomorrow, it does not really matter because this is sort of ground zero for a much larger fight for science in this country,” Kopplin said.
Kopplin was at LSU to receive the Manship School of Mass Communication’s Courage and Justice Award, which carries a $1,000 prize that is underwritten by the Donna and Hans Sternberg Foundation.
Kopplin, 20, has received national attention for his crusade to repeal the law since his senior year at Baton Rouge Magnet High School when he collected signatures of support from 78 Nobel laureate scientists and many national science organizations. Now a student at Rice University, he has expanded his fight, opposing the passage of similar legislation in Texas.
The Courage and Justice Award is given to an individual who pursues a “perceived just cause” while displaying courage and ethics in the face of opposition, lack of resources and substantial time commitment.
“No matter where you stand on this issue, most would agree it takes an extraordinary amount of courage for someone of his age to mount a campaign that has such a sweeping consequence,” said Jerry Ceppos, dean of the Manship School.
Kopplin said he’s not opposed to creationism being discussed in religion classes or acceptable history courses, but he opposes the idea of creationism as a science because it is based on faith and not physical evidence.
“Science is just an explanation of how the natural world works,” Kopplin said. “It says nothing about religion or the supernatural. That’s a different area entirely.”
Kopplin, a Baton Rouge native, is the son of Andy Kopplin, the current deputy mayor of New Orleans. Andy Kopplin is also the former chief of staff for former governors Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco.
Prior winners of the Courage and Justice Award were Stanley Nelson, editor of the Concordia Parish Sentinel, who has led a seven-year campaign to shed light on Klu Klux Klan murders in his region during the civil rights era, and the late Bob “Buddy” Johnson, a journalist for WBRZ who was confined to a nursing home for 31 years after being severely injured by a rock during Baton Rouge’s race riots of 1972.