PC Lives

THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, Sept. 12—Many colleges and universities have abandoned formal “speech codes,” often ruled unconstitutional by the courts, only to inbed the same kind of restrictions throughout other publications and on Web pages.

That's the argument offered in an opinion piece by Foundation for Individual Rights in Education lawyers Harvey Silverglate and Greg Lukianoff, who have initiated a litigation project aimed at abolishing such informal codes that consist of “cobbled-together words and expressions of different policies and procedures.”

Designed primarily to protect minorities and women from “harassment,” the authors say the codes are often used to discourage legitimate disagreement with the prevailing attitude of political correctness.

Forensic Degree

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, Sept. 6—Carlow College, administered by the Sisters of Mercy, will introduce an undergraduate forensic science major.

Carlow, located in Pittsburgh, is entering the broad field of “evidence study,” where the demand for workers is up and interest among teen-agers is rising, partly because of popular network shows depicting crime-scene investigations.

In a related development, the college has filed to become a university, a process that will be helped by the addition of the new science major.

First Black President

DOMINICAN PROVINCE OF ST. JOSEPH, Sept. 4—Dominican Father Reginald Whitt is the first black to hold the presidency of a pontifical faculty in the United States, according to a statement from the Dominicans' New York City-based province.

He was appointed president of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, effective Aug. 29.

It is one of 10 such U.S. faculties, which are regulated by the Holy See and empowered to grant pontifical bachelor, licentiate and doctorate degrees.

Running for Cover

CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER, Sept. 4—Regina High School, a private Catholic school operated by the Sisters of Notre Dame in the Cleveland suburb of South Euclid, said it would review its dress code after barring Amal Jamal, an Islamic student, from the campus because she wore the hijab, a Muslim head scarf.

Sister Maureen Burke, the school's principal, expelled the student based on the school's dress code only to announce a policy review several days later.

Father Joseph Hillinski of the Diocese of Cleveland told the area's Islamic community that other Catholic schools, including Cleveland diocesan schools, “would welcome a young woman who wore the hijab because of her religious conviction.”

Catholic Trivia

TWINCITIES.COM, Sept. 7—Two small Catholic colleges in Wisconsin figured in a trivia quiz about college nicknames sponsored by Pioneer Press, the St. Paul daily.

“Founded in 1936 as a school for teacher education” and “is nicknamed after an extinct cat known for the two long blade-like teeth in its upper jaw” was the clue for one. The cat is a saber; the college is Marian.

U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2004 ranked this liberal arts school among the top three Midwestern colleges, and its students are “men at arms known for chivalrous conduct.” The answer: the Green Knights of St. Norbert College.