Fishy

And by fishy, of course I mean this fishy:

Like a gap in the fossil record, evolutionary biology is missing from a list of majors that the U.S. Department of Education has deemed eligible for a new federal grant program designed to reward students majoring in engineering, mathematics, science, or certain foreign languages.

That absence apparently indicates that students in the evolutionary sciences do not qualify for the grants, and some observers are wondering whether the omission was deliberate.

…The awards in question -- known as Smart Grants, for the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent program -- were created by Congress this year, with strong support from the president. The grants are worth up to $4,000 and are awarded in addition to Pell grants.

…Barmak Nassirian, an associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, also wrote to the department about the omission.

In an interview on Monday, Mr. Nassirian said the absence of evolutionary biology was disconcerting. "I'm hoping it's inadvertent and unintentional."

I’m sure that’s it. And I’m also sure that the Department of Education will promptly rectify this inadvertent and unintentional omission, lest one be left with the impression that our government is hostile to science.

Ahem.