Two Roads

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, July 15 — Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill College collaborated a few years ago with another local Catholic college, Rosemont, to conduct a market study on the viability of remaining all-women's schools.

After nearly 80 years, Chestnut Hill will admit its first coed class this fall and will benefit from an enrollment spike due to male eligibility and because it can now draw women who prefer a coed environment.

In contrast, Rosemont read the data differently, decided to remain single-sex and has seen freshman applications rise by 46% since last year, with freshman deposits up 24%, thanks in part to a major push to involve alumnae in recruiting.

New Duties

UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND, July 31 — Holy Cross Father David Tyson has resigned as president of the University of Portland in Oregon to become provincial superior of the Indiana province of the Congregation of the Holy Cross.

Holy Cross Brother Donald Stabrowski, university provost, was named Portland's acting president. As provincial, Father Tyson will direct the work of more than 300 fellow priests and brothers in the world's largest Holy Cross province.

During Father Tyson's 13 years as president, the University of Portland quadrupled its enrollment and conducted the most successful fund-raising campaign in Oregon private college history.

D.C. Vouchers

THE CATHOLIC STANDARD, July 18 — In a column for the Washington, D.C., archdiocesan newspaper, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick praised a voucher bill for the District of Columbia now before Congress.

A House committee has approved an education bill containing the school voucher initiative for Washington, but a companion measure in the Senate is on hold as the Appropriations Committee postponed a vote on the city's budget amid heated discussion on the voucher initiative.

Suing Coeds

FOX NEWS, July 29 — Dozens of University of Notre Dame students received notice this spring that they were being sued by a South Bend bar for $3,000 apiece. The students and others were nabbed at the bar some months earlier in a raid by police in search of underage drinkers with fake identification.

While both the bar owners and the students had already received criminal penalties, the suit is part of a phenomenon that has become “increasingly common,” Fox News said. “Bars caught serving underage patrons are turning the tables on their busted clientele, suing for damages they incur from fines and loss or suspension of liquor licenses.”

Prior Restraint

CHRONICLE.COM, Aug. 1 — Michelle Beadle, a Messianic Jew, is suing the University of New Orleans for prohibiting her from circulating a pamphlet, “You Can Say Almost Anything … Almost!” because it contained the phrase “Jews should believe in Jesus.”

The university contends that the phrase could be offensive to some, according to the Web site of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“This is clearly a case of prior restraint,” said Beadle's attorney, who argued that the university may regulate the time and place of speech but cannot discriminate against it because of its content.

Joe Cullen writes from New York.