Censored?

CHRONICLE.COM, Nov. 26 — Officials at Boston College are seeking to revise an office-lease agreement with one of the school's three student-run newspapers, effectively giving the administration more power over the paper's business and editorial operations.

The college proposed banning cigarette and alcohol ads as well as creating an advisory board for the paper that would have at least one administrator on it, the Web site of The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

Editors of The Heights rejected most of the proposals, citing free-speech violations they say would compromise the paper's independence.

One lease-agreement restriction in place since 1978 will remain in place: the ban on ads advocating abortion.

Record Numbers

FRESH MEADOWS (N.Y.) TIMES-LEDGER, Nov. 27 — St. John's University in New York received its highest-ever number of applications for the fall 2003 semester, the Queens, N.Y.-based newspaper reported.

More than 15,000 applicants sought to be part of this year's freshman class at the university's Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island campuses, according to school spokesman Jody Fisher. The number represents a 25% increase from last year.

While the number of applications has increased, the size of freshman classes has not, Fisher said, meaning increased competitiveness in the application process.

Sidelined

THE NEW YORK TIMES, Nov. 26 — Despite high accolades from players to their coach, College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., fired head football coach Dan Allen on Nov. 25 after eight years at the helm.

The college cited the team's 1-11 record this season as reason for Allen's firing, but some speculated it was the 47-year-old coach's rare multiple chemical sensitivity disorder that caused the decision. The disorder has confined Allen to a wheelchair, from which he coached most of this season.

Dick Regan, Holy Cross' athletic director, said he received 10 to 15 calls and e-mails complimenting him on the decision and none opposed to it.

Parliamentarian

GRAND RAPIDS PRESS, Nov. 27 — A 2002 Aquinas College graduate is running for Parliament in his home country of Malawi, Africa, one of the poorest countries in the world.

Clement Chiwaya came to America in 1998 with $500 in his pocket and a desire for a college education. The Grand Rapids Diocese helped him enroll at Aquinas College and set up a diocesan fund to help him pay for improvements in his home country.

The 32-year-old, whose wife recently gave birth to a daughter, does all his work from a wheelchair, the result of suffering from polio as a child.

New Leader

THE OREGONIAN, Nov. 21 — A senior vice president of the University of Portland on Nov. 20 was named the new president of the Congregation of the Holy Cross-run school.

Father E. William Beauchamp, who had been at the university since August 2002, will be the school's 19th president. Before coming to Portland, he held administrative posts for the past 20 years at the University of Notre Dame, the newspaper reported.

Father Beauchamp succeeds Father David Tyson, who left in August to become provincial superior of the Indiana province of the Holy Cross congregation.