Homosexual High

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Aug. 21 — In an editorial titled, “Choice, if You're Gay,” the Journal decried the $3.2 million that the New York school system will spend to make its program for homosexual students into America's “first accredited public high school” for homosexuals and “questioning” adolescents.

The proposed school was criticized by an organization of Latino clergy, and a Hispanic state senator is suing to stop the school because, as the newspaper paraphrased, the “city school system [is] willing to deliver choice to a politically influential group while subjecting hundreds of thousands of others to education triage.”

To prove the point that the school is being fashioned for an elite, the newspaper pointed out that 95% of the program's students graduate and 60% enter college — far in excess of the system's general population.

Free Speech

CHRONICLE.COM, Aug. 13 — Colleges may not violate the U.S. Constitution's free-speech guarantees in an effort to bar harassment on their campuses, according to a letter sent last week by the Education Department to colleges and universities across the country.

A number of critics had claimed that many colleges have overly restrictive speech codes that follow politically correct lines, often restricting religious speech. Those colleges had also argued that their anti-harassment policies are required to satisfy federal law protecting students from harassment.

According to the letter, which was sent by the department's Office for Civil Rights, harassment “must include something beyond the mere expression of views, words, symbols or thoughts that some person finds offensive.”

Magdalen at 30

MAGDALEN COLLEGE — One of the first lay-founded Catholic colleges in the United States, the Warner, N.H., college has initiated a yearlong celebration of its 30th anniversary with a Founding Day Celebration.

The primary celebration of the anniversary will take place Oct. 10-12 when alumni, benefactors, parents, students and friends will gather for a Mass of thanksgiving and an academic convocation.

Other events during the year will include an academic colloquium, a St. Mary Magdalen Feast Day celebration and an alumni reunion.

Catholic History

SETON HALL UNIVERSITY, Aug. 15 — The university will showcase 150 years of Newark, N.J.'s Catholic history in an expansive exhibition titled “People of Newark.”

The exhibition explores the histor y of the Newark Archdiocese, which administers Seton Hall, and includes rare archival documents, historical photographs, newspaper clippings and maps, alongside paintings, liturgical objects and intricate vestments.

“People of Newark” will be on view Sept. 8 through Oct. 22. A symposium on Newark's black Catholics will take place Oct. 18.

For more information, call (973) 275-2033.

Decision Making

RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, Aug. 22 — The Diocese of Reno has received an $82,940 grant for “Ethics and Moral Decision Making Across the Curriculum,” a two-year statewide Catholic education initiative, the Nevada daily reported.

The E.L. Wiegand Foundation, a local organization that provides financial assistance to educational, arts and philanthropic groups, approved the grant earlier this summer.