2. Paranormal News | FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Skeptics and believers both can learn more about the lore of unidentified flying objects in a new class at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
The three-session class, called "UFOs - Perception, Reality and Sightings in Indiana," is offered by IPFW's Division of Continuing Studies. The course, which begins Tuesday, will cover the history of UFOs, crop circles and recent Indiana sightings.
The class is taught by Roger Sugden, assistant state director and chief investigator of the Mutual UFO Network and a member of the Independent Crop Circle Research Association.
Sugden said he has run into plenty of skeptics, but that doesn't bother him.
"There's plenty of interest in it," Sugden said. "I'm not trying to make you a believer. I'm just here to give you an education."
Sugden said he has offered information sessions at the Allen County Public Library and had as many as 75 people attend, so he thought there would be plenty of interest in a three-week class.
Mike Kelly, IPFW's director of personal and professional development, said UFOs were a legitimate topic of study. "We support critical thinking, obviously, no matter what the topic is, especially something that has far-fetched components and is challenging," he said.
Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and the executive director of the Skeptics Society, said a university setting is ideal for critical discussions of claims of UFO sightings.
But a danger exists when institutions such as IPFW affiliate with a class that offers such claims as fact, because "it lends credibility where there actually isn't," Shermer said.
"What we try to strive for is keeping an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out," he said.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/15655920.htm
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