Duke it out, literally, on the Institute of Genome Sciences and Policy website.
The IGSP website's "Duke It Out" section allows visitors to participate in polls and post their opinions to spark discussion on genomic science and policy, said Denise Haviland, assistant director of communications for IGSP.
"We wanted to create a conversation across campus," she said.
Early responses indicate that the website is thus far a success.
The "Duke It Out" site posted Oct. 28 the question, "Should evolution and intelligent design be taught in science classes as alternative theories?"
Within a day, the poll received hundreds of votes and several written responses from students, professors and people unaffiliated with Duke.
"The number of responses shows the power of the intelligent design issue," Haviland said. "The site is doing exactly what we intended."
Intelligent design, a topic that has been in the national spotlight recently, is the idea that nature and complex biological structures were created by a supernatural or otherwise intelligent being. It does not support the concept of natural selection, as is believed under the theory of evolution.
Haviland said she believes the intelligent design issue is a hot topic because it encompasses a number of issues, including the separation of church and state and growing religious conservatism.
The intelligent design question was chosen for the "Duke It Out" site by IGSP Director Hunt Willard and University provost Peter Lange.
"We intended to find a series of questions that could engage the Duke community," Willard said.
Willard added that the site's questions are meant to coincide with an expansion of IGSP initiatives, including inviting a variety of speakers to discuss genomic policy on campus, the Genomic Revolution FOCUS program and a series of seminars on genomic policy and religion organized by Lange.
Willard said the questions posed will continue to be provocative.
"They were meant to be personal and to elicit an immediate 'yes' or 'no' answer from within the person reading it," he said.
The intelligent design question will remain on the site until mid-November.
Because of the nature of the intelligent design debate, many of the responses were very personal.
"One can put his/her faith into one of two things. The theory of evolution, or God as its creator. I choose faith in God rather than man's theories," wrote Ronald Patoka, a financial analyst at IGSP who believes in intelligent design.
Many other respondents exhibited an opposing view, including graduate biology student David Garfield.
"We should not be teaching in our class rooms an ideology that is not only empirically groundless but based on the idea that the only valid knowledge is faith and direct observation," Garfield wrote.
Patoka said the issue is polarizing.
"People believe what they believe and they aren't interested in changing that," Patoka said. "For some folks, it becomes their identity, and they oppose anything that challenges that identity. It is unfortunate that now it is perceived as ignorance to believe that God created everything."
Senior Stephen Paul, who was one of the first to post on the site, said he believes evolution should be taught differently.
"I feel that the improbabilities of evolution should not be glossed over or simply ignored, as I feel they often are," Paul said.
He noted that he was disappointed with the number of arguments that simply insist evolution is right and intelligent design is wrong.
"I think such arguments are missing the point [of the question] entirely," Paul said.
He said, however, he still feels that "the site exhibits quality discussion."
Haviland and Willard both said the "Duke It Out" site is only meant to spark discussion, not to reach a conclusion or a consensus on the intelligent design issue.
Patoka said he believes there will not be any resolution to the issue in his lifetime.
"Neither side can conclusively prove their opinions," Patoka said. "Both evolution and intelligent design need a measure of faith to be believed in. Still, there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone believes in something."
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