Campus Watch

Sad ‘Equality’

THE WASHINGTON POST, Feb. 14 — Syndicated columnist and Duke University instructor William Raspberry decried the “hook-up culture that [the girls, at least] don’t remember asking for but feel powerless to change.”

It is now considered “rude,” he said, for a female student not to provide at least some physical affection to a boy following a night out, but that expecting a walk back to her dorm would make her appear needy.

Recounted one student of such an experience, “He and I could have a future together, but we will never know. There will never be a next date. If he were to ask me out next weekend, he would appear weak. I could not ask him out again for fear of appearing obsessed.”

Raspberry called this a “profoundly sad ‘equality.’”


Magdalen Accredited

MAGDALEN COLLEGE, Feb. 15 — The American Academy of Liberal Education has granted New Hampshire’s Magdalen College full accreditation for a term of 10 years, the college announced.

The accreditation process included an examination of all facets of the institution, including its academic program, administrative policies and fiscal practices.

With accreditation, “parents and prospective students are assured of the excellence of Magdalen’s program of studies as measured against a wide and competitive range of nationally recognized liberal studies programs,” said college President Jeffrey Karls.


New President

PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, Feb. 14 — Dominican Father Brian Shanley was elected president of Providence College and will succeed Father Philip Smith on July 1.

Father Shanley, 46, is an associate professor in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America in Washington.

Providence College is the only U.S. college or university operated by the Dominican friars. Its bylaws state that the president of the school must be a Dominican friar.


Ramsey Award

THE CENTER FOR BIOETHICS AND CULTURE, Feb. 15 — The center announced that its 2005 Paul Ramsey Award for outstanding contributions to the field of bioethics will go to Germain Grisez of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., on March 11.

Grisez has helped encourage appreciation for the natural law in considering moral issues such as abortion and euthanasia, said the center’s announcement.

The Oakland-based center examines modern bioethics issues and includes the input of medical professionals, educators, ethicists and clergy.


Remedy Sought

PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE, Feb. 6 — Remedies are being considered following an Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned convictions in the murders of two Franciscan University students because the state lacked jurisdiction over murders that actually took place just over the state line in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors say the 2000 murders of Brian Muha and Aaron Land were part of one continuous act that began at about 4:30 a.m. in Steubenville, Ohio, with the abduction and robbing of the two and ended in their deaths an hour later in Pennsylvania.

A proposed state law would allow the state’s jurisdiction to cover crimes even if only one element is committed in Ohio. The defendants, Nathan Herring and Terrell Yarbrough, are likely to soon face murder charges in Pennsylvania.