Challenges to evolution as a core concept in college biology: Silence on religion and conflicting goals for acceptance

National recommendations, including the Vision and Change report, have proposed that evolution be taught as a core concept in biology, but do college biology instructors teach it as such? We surveyed 217 instructors across the United States and most recognized evolution as a core concept but reported teaching at least one biology course in which they did not mention evolution or only included it in a few lessons, suggesting they are not following recommendations to integrate core concepts throughout courses. Instructors were split on whether a goal of evolution instruction was for acceptance or solely for understanding, and most instructors reported not discussing potential compatibility between religion and evolution. Further, half of instructors reported they did not think a student fully accepted evolution if they thought a higher power created evolution. We discuss the implications of these results for realizing evolution as a core concept in college biology instruction.