New Zealand Professor who refuses to teach global warming criticized -- but his boss defends him on free speech grounds

Good that there is some respect for free speech there. Many American universities don't do as well

Climate scientists have predicted such scenarios for decades - that as global temperatures rose more extreme weather would be a side effect. Yet none of this is discussed in the climate section of the introductory Geography 101 course at University of Auckland. Odd because, while what's behind such climate model forecasts is immensely complex, the underlying science is pretty simple.

Associate professor Chris de Freitas, who teaches the stage one course, wouldn't dispute the basic science. "I do not dispute that the carbon dioxide rise in the atmosphere is largely from the use of fossil fuels," he tells the Herald. "No doubt rising carbon dioxide could 'change the climate'. The basic physics is there to support this view. But where is the evidence that the putative change would be large or damaging?"

But according to some students of de Freitas's 101 course on the basics of climate you won't hear about how climate scientists are now seeing such patterns Or about the building evidence that human-induced climate change is changing precipitation and the hydrological cycle, especially the extremes.

The Geography 101 lecture workbook confirms the lack of such information. There seems little, if any, reference to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its landmark 2007 reports were not listed in the course reading material. Climate scientists shown the workbook were surprised at how out of date much of the material was.

The Herald asked Professor Glenn McGregor, director of the School of Environment at Auckland University where Geography 101 is taught, whether he agreed with De Freitas's view.

"If Chris has not mentioned the IPCC, that is regrettable because the IPCC process is very important," says McGregor. He says de Freitas plays "a kind of critic and conscience role" which he sees as important to the essential nature of universities.

"I think Chris has every right to criticise climate science. Within universities we adhere to the right to academic freedom which the university encourages. So you can freely express opinions when delivering material to students."

Victoria University's Manning disagrees: "I think Auckland University does have a bit of a problem with a course looking like it is taking one side of the story and a minority view of that." Yes, he believes in freedom expression and that it should be deeply ingrained in the structure of the university. "The right to have individual views is something that's preserved because it is important - but there does become a point when you have to ask should you be teaching that?"

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