Wired to the Hilt

THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, March 29 — Philadelphia's St. Joseph's University was featured in a Chronicle story that highlights the very latest networked technologies that permit unprecedented interactivity among students and professors, especially for science and business courses.

Father Nicholas Rashford, St. Joe's president, has championed the effort at the Jesuit university, which has staked much of its future and some $30 million, on “smart classrooms” that are housed in Mandeville Hall, a neo-Gothic building stocked with technologically enhanced classrooms.

A ‘Cooked’ Poll

THE WASHINGTON POST, March 12 — Stanford University political scientist Terry Moe has accused the influential Phi Delta Kappa organization, an opponent of vouchers, of abruptly changing a neutrally worded survey question in 1991 after it found increasing support for school choice, reports the capital daily.

The question, first asked in the mid-1970s, and which garnered a positive response from more than 50% of respondents, explained that vouchers allot a certain amount of money for each child's education and allow parents to “send [their] child to any … school they choose. Would you like to see such an idea adopted in this country?”

By adding such phrases as “private school” and “at public expense,” support dipped to as low as 24% as Phi Delta Kappa portrayed vouchers “as a special-interest program for an exclusive group of private school parents,” says Moe.

Prof Migration

THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 20 — Much of the Manhattanville College's School of Education has migrated east to the recently opened Long Island University graduate campus at the neighboring State University of New York at Purchase, noted the Times' “Bulletin Board” education column.

Long Island's associate provost, Dr. Sylvia Blake is a former dean of Manhattanville's School of Education. Carol Messar, the director of admissions and marketing, was a director of recruitment at Manhattanville. Two faculty members have also made the move from Manhattanville, which was founded by Sacred Heart Nuns.

Father Tony

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY, March 20 — Jesuit Father Anthony Lehmann, 73, Gonzaga University's alumni chaplain and a fixture for 20 years on the bench of the men's basketball team, died March 8 from complications of leukemia just as the surprising Gonzaga Bulldogs were about to begin play in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

The players' jerseys bore “Father Tony” patches sewn on especially for the tournament, and a chair was left empty at the end of the bench as a memorial.

A funeral for Father Lehmann was delayed until March 18 to give the team and university staff a chance to return from the tournament appearance, which resulted in a first-round defeat.

New Programs

THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, March 20 — Chicago's DePaul University, administered by the Vincentian Fathers, will offer a master's degree in advertising and public relations beginning in the fall. Mount Aloysius College, in Cresson, Pa., will offer a new dual certificate in occupational-therapy assistance and physical-therapist assistance beginning in the fall.

Mount Aloysius is run by the Sisters of Mercy.