PC Run Amok

CHRONICLE.COM, Jan. 2 —InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, an evangelical student group, has been stripped of its recognition by Rutgers University for its policy that leaders of the group must be Christians, said the Web news service of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The student group has filed suit in federal court to restore its status.

The chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reversed a similar sanction against the group because, he said, the university was balancing concerns about discrimination with a “wish to uphold the principles of freedom of expression.”

A lawyer for InterVarsity said its identity depends on leaders who embrace particular beliefs. Not to discriminate, he said, “is just silly.”

New President

ST. JOSEPH's UNIVERSITY, Jan. 3 — Jesuit Father Timothy Lannon has been named president of St. Joseph's in Philadelphia, the Jesuit university announced.

Father Lannon is a former vice president for university advancement and associate executive vice president of Milwaukee's Marquette University.

No to Monologues

THE IONIAN, Dec. 12—Iona College has prohibited a production of the controversial play “The Vagina Monologues” on the New Rochelle, N.Y., campus because it is not compatible with the mission of the Irish Christian Brothers' college, reported the undergraduate newspaper.

The story did not describe the contents of the play — which endorses homosexuality, even offering a sympathetic depiction of a lesbian rape—but points out several times that proceeds from the “beneficial” production would have gone to support shelters for battered women.

The newspaper also mentioned other Catholic colleges in the New York City area that had staged performances of “Vagina Monologues,” including Marist and Marymount colleges and Fordham University.

Continuing Education

AVE MARIA COLLEGE, Dec. 30—Continuing education courses beginning Jan. 14 at the college's campus in Yipsilanti, Mich., include: Sacred Scripture; Catholic Political Thought; 20th Century Europe; Evangelism and Catholic Spirituality; Dostoevsky; and a theater performance practicum.

The Ave Maria Theater Group will also produce a play about the Hebrew-Catholic martyr St. Edith Stein.

The courses may be audited or taken for credit. Call (866) 866-3030 or log onto www.avemaria.edu for more information.

In Gratitude

MANCHESTER UNION LEADER, Dec. 31—The gratitude of a man who was given the opportunity to attend college and then go on to medical school has prompted the establishment of a $2 million scholarship fund at St. Anselm College, reported the New Hampshire daily.

The gift, one of the largest ever made to the Benedictine Fathers' college, was made by Betty Boutselis of Ohio, the widow of Dr. John Boutselis, a 1945 graduate who grew up poor but wanting to become a doctor. Boutselis was encouraged to apply to St. Anselm by a college coach who happened to see him play in a pickup game. The coach later provided a scholarship.

Dr. Boutselis often spoke about how he might never have become a doctor “without the courage and compassion shown to him at St. Anselm,” said Father Jonathan DeFelice, president of the college, in announcing the gift.