Slap Happy

THE NEW YORK POST, Jan. 19 — A New York appeals court has ruled that the Jesuits’ LeMoyne College unfairly expelled a student who advocated corporal punishment as a legitimate form of classroom discipline.

Scott McConnell said he planned to pick up where he left off a year ago by re-enrolling in the Syracuse college’s graduate education program.

“Justice has prevailed,” he said. “I feel vindicated.”

McConnell was booted last year after the program’s director said his views did not match the program’s goals.

Root to Branch

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, Jan. 10 — The president of Wheaton College defended the evangelical Protestant college’s decision to dismiss a faculty member for converting to the Catholic faith.

Duane Litfin, whose 2004 book Conceiving the Christian College details his philosophy, said Wheaton follows a “systemic model where the entire institution, root to branch to leaf, is about that sponsoring religious tradition.”

In contrast, he wrote that many Catholic colleges follow an “umbrella model” in which the faculty includes “a variety of voices,” beginning with “a critical mass of people representing the sponsored religious tradition” as well as “other voices.”

Being There

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 16 — Classes resumed in January at Loyola University of New Orleans.

“Many classes will be held in trailers and hotel conference rooms while campus repairs continue, and overall enrollment is considerably lower than it was before Hurricane Katrina,” reported the wire service.

“I think they’re looking for us to help rebuild,” said Alicia Figueroa, a junior from Miami, stepping off a Loyola bus tour Saturday of the city neighborhoods hardest hit by the flood. “I feel like just by being here, we’re giving a hand to the city.”

Actors’ Reunion

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, Jan. 16 — Four distinguished actors and alumni of the university’s drama program will reunite on the Washington campus for dramatic readings of George Bernard Shaw’s “Don Juan in Hell.”

The fund-raising performances to benefit scholarships will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 3-4 and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 5, at Hartke Theatre.

The four actors, who together performed in a 1956 campus production of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” include Philip Bosco, David Sabin, Bob Milli, and Barbara Andres. Each has enjoyed acting careers that include extensive Broadway and television experience.

For tickets, call (202) 319-4000.

International Cooperation

THEINDIACATHOLIC.COM, Jan. 17 — Saint Joseph’s University has signed a memorandum of understanding on academic collaboration with five Catholic colleges in India.

The Jesuits’ university in Philadelphia has entered into joint degree programs in health administration, education, biological sciences and computer science with Chennai-based Loyola College and Stella Maris College, Arul Anandar College of Madurai, Mumbai’s Xavier Institute of Education, and Xavier Institute of Management and Xavier’s College, both in Ahmedabad.

St. Joseph’s will also conduct its study-tour program at institutions across India in April for its American undergraduate students, and Indian students will have the opportunity to attend two summer courses in Philadelphia.