Darwin Debated

THE PLAIN DEALER, Feb. 13 — The Ohio State Board of Education will hear testimony from experts on whether to include the theory of intelligent design in high-school discussions on creation, reports the Cleveland daily.

Backers of intelligent design — the theory that the world must have been designed by a purposeful being — claim that evolution enjoys a monopoly in the state curriculum. The board started drafting new science standards after previous guidelines were criticized by the Ohio Legislature as vague because they recommend covering “change through time” but are not specific about what that involves.

Catholic Collaborator

DEPAUL UNIVERSITY, Feb. 14 — The Vincentians' university in Chicago has announced that Msgr. Kenneth Velo, former president of the Catholic Church Extension Society, has been named to the newly created position of “senior executive for Catholic collaboration.”

Msgr. Velo, a former vice chancellor under Chicago's late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, will be responsible for forging closer ties between DePaul and the Archdiocese of Chicago and other Catholic institutions.

He also will work to expand the connections between the university and Catholic leaders.

Confessional ‘Stall’

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Feb. 6 — Penn State University is asking its architecture department to pay $800 for repairs to a bathroom stall that was redecorated to look like a confessional as part of a class project on the “metaphoric uses of garages.”

Christopher Rzomp earned an “A” for cutting a confessional window into the stall's wall and hanging curtains and a red light overhead.

While the AP points out that “a small number of complaints” were received, a Penn State spokesman said the university was prompted to action because it “was damaging university property, and someone has to pay for it.”

Barry Accredited

BARRY UNIVERSITY, Feb. 9 — The Catholic university announced that its law school was successful Feb. 4 on its fourth attempt to gain accreditation by the American Bar Association.

Barry, located in Miami, purchased the struggling Orlando University law school in 1998. It beefed up academic standards, increased enrollment qualifications and backed the school with $16 million in pledges. Barry finally won accreditation by submitting a plan for how it would compete with a new law school scheduled to be opened later this year by Florida A&M University.

Decline of Integrity

CNN.COM, Feb. 7 — A high-school science teacher has resigned in protest after being ordered by her school district to go easier on 28 sophomores who she had failed for plagiarizing a homework assignment, reports the Web site of the all-news network. The teacher, Christine Pelton, was originally backed by her superiors. But after parents complained, the Piper, Kan., school board ordered her to lift the failing grades. The event, “some say, reflects a national decline in integrity,” says CNN.

Bishop Honored

NATIONAL CATHOLIC EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Feb. 15 — Bishop Frank Rodimer of Paterson, N.J., will receive the Msgr. Meyers Award during the association's convention in April. Bishop Rodimer will be honored for his efforts to raise millions of dollars that have been used for scholarships to attend Catholic schools.