This year’s Darwin Days focuses on the theme of evolution through anthropology, dealing with the evolution of the human form, and it involves five events and one film.

The biology department partnered with the geology, geography, sociology and anthropology departments will implement Darwin Days, a celebration of the life of Charles Darwin as well as the study of evolution.

The groups kicked off the citywide celebration of Darwin week Sunday with a lecture by Eric Meikle from the National Center for Science Education titled “Opposition to evolution in America: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

Stephen Mullin, one of the four Darwin Days committee members, said they are trying to raise awareness through public outreach.

“Nothing makes sense in light of evolution, and evolution attempts to enlighten that,” Mullin said.

Eastern started organizing Darwin Days nine years ago when incidents involving conflicts of religion and the study of evolution made it into the public press, Mullin said.

“It is a conflict of ideas, not a conflict of facts,” Mullin said. “Religion is supernatural law, and evolution is natural law.”

The first Darwin Days event was a panel of religions leaders explaining why people can accept both religion and evolution, Mullin said.

“Just because it is fact that doesn’t stop people from challenging it legally,” Mullin said. “It continues to be debated in legislators and brought up to school boards.”

The funding from such events comes from a variety of places including retired professors, honors groups and the departments involved.

Mullin said the group gets a lot of help from honors fraternities such as Tri-Beta, Phi Sigma, Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa as well as the Biological Graduate Student Associations.

Mullin said preparation for the week of events is getting the speakers to Eastern and finding a place for them to stay as well as other logistical concerns like organizing locations for the events.

All events are open to the public.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at [email protected].