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Catholic Higher Education Alert - 5/12/04

- College of New Rochelle (New Rochelle, NY): Earl Graves, honorary degree recipient, May 27. Graves, an abortion rights advocate, is founder and publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine. Just this month, in an open letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell published in the Boston Globe, NARAL Pro-Choice America chairman Kenneth Edelin reflects on Graves' participation in a Planned Parenthood outreach to African-American women. Graves and others helped place public service announcements supporting "a woman's right to choose" abortion in magazines targeted to a black readership.

CONTACT: Dr. Stephen Sweeny, President, College of New Rochelle, 29 Castle
Place, New Rochelle, NY 10805; (914) 654-5430

- DePaul University - School for New Learning (Chicago, IL): Anthony Lewis, commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient, June 12. Until December 2001, Lewis was a columnist for The New York Times. His columns sharply criticized Attorney General John Ashcroft for "ideological zealotry" because he promised to revoke the drug prescription license of any doctor who participates in physician-assisted suicide, President George W. Bush for refusing to fund family-planning organizations abroad that recommend abortion, and Ashcroft again for supporting a ban on all abortions except to save the mother's life.

CONTACT: Rev. John P. Minogue, C.M., President, DePaul University, 1 E.
Jackson, Chicago, IL 60604; (312) 362-8890; jminogue@depaul.edu

- Dominican College (Orangeburg, NY): Thomas Morahan, honorary degree recipient, May 22. Morahan is a New York State Senator who strongly opposes abortion. But in 2002, Morahan ignored the pleas of New York Cardinal Edward Egan and pro-life activists by supporting a bill requiring employers to cover contraceptives in employee health plans. Morahan defended the Senate “compromise" that resulted in a bill that failed to include a broad "conscience clause" exempting all Catholic and other religious employers. Dominican College is among the institutions forced by the law to violate its Catholic mission.

CONTACT: Sr. Mary Eileen O'Brien, O.P., President, Dominican College, 470
Western Hwy., Orangeburg, NY 10962; (845) 359-7800;
mary.eileen.obrien@dc.edu

- University of San Francisco - School of Business (San Francisco, CA): Gavin Newsom, commencement speaker, May 22. San Francisco Mayor Newsom broke California state law by issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples, a high-profile stunt to promote same-sex marriage. Newsom has also conflicted with faithful Catholics by advocating abortion rights. In August 2002 as San Francisco city supervisor, Newsom co-authored a resolution praising the National Organization for Women and supporting efforts to make the abortion pill RU-486 more available to women. As mayor, he has allowed the City of San Francisco to join Planned Parenthood in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the federal ban on partial-birth abortion.

CONTACT: Rev. Stephen A. Privett, S.J., President, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA 94117; (415) 422-6762; privet@usfca.edu

- University of San Francisco - College of Professional Studies (San Francisco, CA): George McGovern, commencement speaker, May 22. McGovern is the United Nations Special Ambassador on Hunger and a former U.S. senator and presidential candidate. In his 1972 race for president, McGovern supported abortion rights but opposed involvement in the issue by the federal government and his campaign. Nevertheless, because of the Democratic Party's platform which endorsed abortion as a constitutional right, McGovern was dubbed the candidate of "acid, amnesty and abortion." He has since maintained a "pro-choice" position on abortion, opposing legislation or a constitutional amendment to ban abortions.

CONTACT: Rev. Stephen A. Privett, S.J., President, 2130 Fulton St., San
Francisco, CA 94117; (415) 422-6762; privet@usfca.edu

CNS DEFENDS U. ST. FRANCIS ON CANCELED COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

In communications with news media, Cardinal Newman Society publicly defended Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop John D'Arcy and the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after former ABC News medical reporter Nancy Snyderman complained that university officials were too hasty to cancel her May 1 commencement address.

Acting upon D'Arcy's concerns about remarks Snyderman made on ABC's "Good Morning America" on October 30, 1997, the University of St. Francis withdrew its invitation to Snyderman just four days before its commencement ceremony. University president Sr. M. Elise Kriss told Snyderman, now a vice president at Johnson & Johnson, that her comments "appear to be contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church. As a
Catholic university, we have no choice but to rescind our invitation."

But in interviews with the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, Snyderman claimed she only reports on medical issues objectively, and D'Arcy and the university had no inkling of her personal views.

"To assume you know what someone thinks or stands for is very dangerous," Snyderman said. A Fort Wayne Journal Gazette editorial said the university acted "shamefully and based on questioned reasoning" in response to "neutral words on a long-ago newscast." Other news articles seemed to accept Snyderman's claim that she had only reported objectively from a scientific point of view.

In fact, the ABC News transcript of Snyderman's 1997 report reveals Snyderman's opinionated exchange with "Good Morning America" host Charles Gibson about the news that Bobbi McCaughey of Des Moines, Iowa, was expecting seven children.

Asked by Gibson about the septuplets' chances of survival, Snyderman replied that technology is improving: "But I think it's really high time that we look at survivability with quality of life. .[T]he risk for neurological complications, heart complications, severe learning [sic] and mental retardation, those stakes climb higher and higher. And at least for a mother and a doctor, I think the tradeoff is many times not worth it. Now, I know it's an unsavory thought for a lot of people, but selective abortion, where you literally think about not which fetuses to get rid of but how many to get rid of, is something that we really need to talk about openly in situations like this."

Gibson noted that the McCaughey family had rejected abortion, stating, "No, we're going to leave this in the hands of God." Snyderman responded by insulting the McCaugheys:

"But it's already out of the hands of God, Charlie, because in vitro fertilization is not something that God just sort of said, you know, 'Oh, well, here it is.' This is modern technology created by man, pushing the envelope. So I think it's foolhardy to suddenly throw, 'Well, it's God's will.' That to me is a funny mix of medicine and religion and ethics and technology all in one."

It's not the only time Snyderman has offended pro-life viewers. On September 15, 2003, Snyderman and bioethicist Jeffrey Kahn appeared on CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" show to discuss the impact of three-dimensional ultrasound technology on the abortion debate. Kahn argued that vivid pictures of preborn children shouldn't change "what we think of as a fetus versus as a baby," because the morality of abortion depends on a child's
viability.

Host Paula Zahn asked Snyderman, "But certainly, Nancy, these advances in technology have got to change the way people look at a fetus versus a baby."

"Well, I think you have to continue the word, if you want to play the scientific role, to continue talking about a fetus as a developing embryo in utero," Snyderman replied. "And once that fetus is delivered, it's then a baby. And I know that's going to really irritate some people. But I say that distinction for a real reason. And that is, because medicine and technology continue to push the envelope. When I was a young pediatrician, babies didn't survive if they were born at 30 weeks. Then it was 28. Then it's 27. Now it's 26. So the viability aspect that Jeffrey talked about is absolutely right. So I would caution both sides of this debate not to use the science for propaganda, but to understand the significance and the beauty of it all, and to talk about the interpretation of these movements with great caution."

D'Arcy's pro-life adviser also claims that Snyderman has referred to abortion as the "deliberate removal of fetal tissue."

KUDOS & THANKS: Sr. M. Elise Kriss, President, University of St. Francis, 2701 Spring St., Fort Wayne, IN 46808; (260) 434-3297; ekriss@sf.edu
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[Catholic Campus News]
U. NOTRE DAME PRESIDENT REPLACED AMID SCANDALS

Rev. Edward Malloy, president of the University of Notre Dame since 1987, has been replaced by the university's board of trustees amid scandals including a Queer Film Festival and "The Vagina Monologues" that upset Notre Dame alumni.

Malloy told a campus newspaper that he asked the trustees to review his tenure and offered to remain in the position. But in an unusually swift manner, the trustees announced that Malloy would step down in June 2005 and named his replacement, Rev. John Jenkins, a Notre Dame vice president and philosophy professor who raises no objections from Cardinal Newman Society's contacts at the university.

University chairman Patrick McCartan said Jenkins' "suberb academic credentials... will be of critical importance to the realization of our aspiration to become one of the great research universities of the world with a distinctly Catholic character."
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[Catholic Campus News]
SETON HALL REBUKED FOR HONOREE, HOSTS PRO-ABORTION GOVERNOR

Soon after Newark Archbishop John Myers publicly rebuked Seton Hall University School of Law in South Orange, New Jersey, for honoring a pro-abortion judge in April, the school featured New Jersey's pro-abortion governor at its 50th anniversary celebration.

The School of Law presented its 11th annual Sandra Day O'Connor Medal of Honor to Third U.S. Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. In 2000, Barry authored the court's opinion striking down a New Jersey ban on partial-birth abortion because "a woman's constitutional right to obtain an abortion would be impermissibly chilled." The award was presented by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who wrote the majority opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992, claiming a constitutional right to abortion.

The award is sponsored by three student clubs: the Seton Hall Women's Law Forum, the Seton Hall Law Review, and the Seton Hall Legislative Bureau. It honors women who have "distinguished themselves in the fields of law and public service." Past recipients of the award include pro-abortion Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Marian Wright Edelman, and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Although Seton Hall demanded that students present Whitman's 1998 award off-campus because of her support for abortion rights, the event has since returned to the law school.

"I find this action profoundly offensive and contrary to the Catholic mission and identity of Seton Hall Law School, Seton Hall University and the Archdiocese of Newark," Myers wrote in the Newark archdiocesan newspaper, opposing the award to Barry. He said that he is proceeding to "clarify the situation and see that it does not occur again." University spokeswoman Natalie Thigpen concurred, stating that "the conferral of awards to people who publicly espouse views that are contrary to the university's fundamental Catholic identity is a serious lapse."

But the O'Connor Award has been presented repeatedly to pro-abortion honorees, and the university presented an honorary degree to abortion-rights advocate Dolores Cross in 2001. Pro-abortion campus speakers in recent years have included Secretary of State Colin Powell, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, political consultant James Carville and U.S. Sen. John Corzine.

Pro-abortion Gov. James McGreevey of New Jersey was a featured speaker and received a standing ovation at the law school's 50th anniversary celebration on April 24, just days after Myers chastised the school. In 2002, a "town meeting" featuring McGreevey at Seton Hall on January 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, was moved to another location following complaints.

CONTACT: Rev. Msgr. Robert Sheeran, President, Seton Hall University, 400 S. Orange Ave., S. Orange, NJ 07079; (973) 761-9620; sheeraro@shu.edu
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[Catholic Campus News]
ASSOCIATION OF HOMOSEXUAL ALUMS OF CATHOLIC COLLEGES LAUNCHED

An 850-member organization of homosexual graduates from the University of Notre Dame announced plans to sponsor a national association last week in Philadelphia. The Gay Lesbian Alumni/ae Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities seeks to link graduates of Catholic colleges nationwide, beginning with a recruiting effort in the Philadelphia area. Leaders also hope to network with students on Catholic campuses.
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[Catholic Campus News]
LA ROCHE, U. SCRANTON TRY TO CLEAN UP CAMPUS NEWSPAPERS

Officials at La Roche College in Pittsburgh and the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania, acted to prevent student-run newspapers from distributing offensive content on campus, asserting their responsibility as publishers.

The April 14 edition of The La Roche Courier was confiscated the day before a campus open house for prospective students. College administrators were concerned "that parents of prospective students might not recognize" a distinction between the college's official position in support of Catholic teaching and a student columnist's advocacy of condoms.

University of Scranton officials temporarily suspended production of The Aquinas newspaper in response to an April Fools edition that included "offensive and potentially libelous language, degrading images and behavior misrepresentative of the University of Scranton community." The college has removed the editor-in-chief and required the newspaper to develop a statement of ethics prior to resuming publication.

KUDOS & THANKS: Rev. Msgr. William Kerr, President, La Roche College, 9000 Babcock Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15237; (412) 536-1204; (via secretary) shearej1@laroche.edu

KUDOS & THANKS: Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., President, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA 18510; (570) 941-7500; pilarzs2@scranton.edu.
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[Catholic Campus News]
CATHOLIC U. LAW STUDENTS SEEK GAY-STRAIGHT CLUB

First-year law students at the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law are reviving past failed attempts to organize a Gay-Straight Alliance and threaten legal action if they are denied, according to the Washington Blade, a newspaper for the Washington, D.C., homosexual community.

"The new group [of students] is completely dedicated and motivated to pursue this until we either get approval or are told by the courts that we have no recourse," student Jack Brown told the Blade. The District of Columbia's anti-discrimination law was used several years ago to force Georgetown University to allow a homosexual student club on campus.

"The university administration and its board of trustees consider organizations that advocate a homosexual lifestyle and/or homosexual activity incompatible with the teachings of the Catholic Church, and therefore, incompatible with the mission of the university," warned Victor Nakas, the university's executive director for public affairs.

Executive Summary) Culture of Death on Catholic Campuses: A Five-Year Review

(Full Report) Culture of Death on Catholic Campuses: A Five-Year Review

ACCU PRESIDENT TO RETIRE, SEEKING CANDIDATES

Monika Hellwig, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU), has announced her retirement at the end of the summer of 2005.

In the 1990s, Hellwig led the ACCU's efforts to prevent full
implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the apostolic constitution on Catholic higher education, in the United States. She has been a vocal critic of Cardinal Newman Society and has downplayed concerns about scandals at Catholic colleges and universities. In recent years, Hellwig has led ACCU efforts to strengthen Catholic identity in member colleges, including outreach to trustees, presidents, faculty and student life personnel.

Applications for the position of ACCU president are now being accepted by Rev. William Leahy, S.J., ACCU Search Committee Chair & President, Boston College, 18 Old Colony Rd., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. For more information, see www.accunet.org
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[Catholic Campus News]
COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER PROTEST LIST EXPANDS TO 24

The number of inappropriate commencement speakers and honorees at Catholic colleges has increased to 24. Faithful Catholics are urged to contact college presidents, express concern about inappropriate commencement speakers and honorees, and ask the presidents to withdraw invitations to these speakers when possible. Please be respectful and polite in all communications.

The full list is posted at www.cardinalnewmansociety.org. The five speakers and honorees added to the list since Friday include:

- College of St. Mary (Omaha, NE): Eileen Cody, commencement speaker, May 16. Rep. Cody is a member of the Washington State legislature and chairwoman of the House Health Care Committee. In February 2002, Cody helped prevent a hearing on a bill requiring parental notification and consent for a minor seeking an abortion. In 1998 and 1999, Cody led efforts to require insurance companies to include contraceptives in existing prescription drug benefits and to increase state and federal funds for family planning services. In December 1997, Cody participated in a holiday party at a Seattle abortion clinic that featured a display of aborted fetal remains.

CONTACT: Dr. Maryanne Stevens, RSM, President, College of St. Mary, 1901 S. 72nd St., Omaha, NE 68124-2377; (402) 399-2435; mstevens@csm.edu

- Georgetown University - School of Nursing and Health Studies (Washington, DC): David Satcher, commencement speaker, May 22. The former U.S. Surgeon General opposed a ban on partial-birth abortion and advocated contraceptive education in schools. In 1994, under his direction, the Centers for Disease Control placed media advertisements promoting condom use.

CONTACT: Dr. John DeGioia, President, Georgetown University, 37th & O Sts. NW, Washington, DC 20057; (202) 687-4134; president@georgetown.edu

- Marymount Manhattan College (New York, NY): Eliot Spitzer, commencement speaker, May 21. Spitzer, a fervent advocate for abortion rights since becoming New York State Attorney General in 1988, has received campaign contributions and get-out-the-vote support from NARAL Pro-Choice America and other pro-abortion organizations. One of Spitzer's first actions as Attorney General was to seek an injunction against a coalition of pro-life groups. He later filed papers in federal court labeling abortion clinic
protesters "nuisances" and demanding 60-foot buffer zones around clinics, a restriction on free speech for which he was rebuked by an appellate court. In 2002, Spitzer investigated 10 crisis pregnancy centers claiming their pro-life services were deceptive to women seeking abortions. He created his office's first Reproductive Rights Unit to intimidate pro-life activists.

CONTACT: Dr. Judson Shaver, President, Marymount Manhattan College, 221 E. 71st St., New York, NY 10021; (212) 517-0560; jshaver@mmm.edu

- St. John's University (Jamaica. NY): Ron Silver, commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient, May 16. The actor Silver founded the Creative Coalition, a celebrity political activist group, to advocate abortion rights and other liberal causes. Silver was a prominent participant in two abortion-rights events: a 1998 rally in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the 1992 "March for Women's Lives" in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Organization for Women. Silver addressed the 1992 marchers for abortion rights, urging, men to "allow [women] the choice of what to do."

CONTACT: Rev. Donald Harrington, C.M., President, St. John's University, Newman Hall Rm. 318, 8000 Utopia Pkwy., Jamaica, NY 11439; (718) 990-6301; pres@stjohns.edu

- St. Thomas Aquinas College (Sparkill, NY): Charles Schumer, congratulatory remarks, May 14. Schumer is a U.S. Senator from New York. Schumer regularly earns 100 percent ratings from NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood for his votes in support of abortion. Recently Schumer voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion and against a bill making it a criminal offense to kill a fetus during the commission of a violent crime.

CONTACT: Dr. Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick, S.C., President, St. Thomas Aquinas College, 125 Rte. 340, Sparkill, NY 10976-1050; (845) 398-4012; mfitzpat@stac.edu
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[Catholic Campus News]
MOUNT ST. MARY'S WITHDRAWS HONORARY DEGREE INVITATION

Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, has withdrawn its invitation to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to receive an honorary degree because of his support for the death penalty. But Gonzales will still deliver the commencement address on Sunday, and college president Thomas Powell announced that he is "proud and happy" that Gonzales will speak.

A petition signed by 61 faculty members and students said that Gonzales' activities in Texas, where he advised then-Gov. George W. Bush on 57 executions, are "glaringly incompatible" with the college's Catholic mission.

"I believe that a Catholic college must support Catholic values, which certainly includes respecting the life of all people from conception until natural death," philosophy professor Michael Miller wrote in a campus newspaper.

Gonzales is not one of the commencement speakers and honorees protested by Cardinal Newman Society. The society's protest is generally limited to individuals who clearly and publicly dissent from Catholic teaching on fundamental moral issues, and given the Church's teaching that the death penalty is permissible when deemed necessary, we do not assume an individual's moral culpability based on support for the death penalty alone. This is not to suggest that support for the death penalty is not a serious concern, especially given clear statements from Pope John Paul II and the American bishops opposing its use in modern society.

Cardinal Newman Society praises Mount St. Mary's action as a courageous defense of its Catholic identity. Catholic colleges that forbid honors to public advocates of the death penalty do so to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and to ensure students receive consistent teaching on the death penalty. Caution must be taken to apply such strict standards consistently and to the selection of commencement speakers and campus lecturers. Gonzales' invitation to deliver the commencement address, an
honor in itself, is inconsistent with the withdrawal of an honorary degree.

KUDOS & THANKS: Dr. Thomas Powell, President, Mount St. Mary's College, 16300 Old Emmitsburg Rd., Emmitsburg, MD 21727; (301) 447-5600; houston@msmary.edu
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[Catholic Campus News]
IONA REPLACES CRUCIFIXES IN CLASSROOMS

Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, has placed crucifixes on the front walls of more than 100 classrooms as a renewed sign of its Catholic mission. The college is not certain when the crucifixes were removed, but many Catholic colleges took steps to reduce Catholic art and imagery in the 1960s and 1970s in response to court decisions that seemed to endanger government funding for overtly religious institutions.

"This is very consistent with Iona's effort to increase what we call symbolic manifestation of our tradition," said campus ministry director Carl Procario-Foley to the Journal-News. "We are a school in the Christian Brother and American Catholic tradition."

Although Iona president Rev. James Liguori has called for more religious artwork and symbolism on campus, the idea and funding for the crucifixes came from an anonymous alumnus.

"This wonderful benefactor went to a [homecoming] session about the mission of the college," Liguori's assistant told the Journal-News. "He said it went very well, but he was concerned that there were no crosses."

KUDOS & THANKS: Br. James A. Liguori, C.F.C., President, Iona College, 715 North Ave., New Rochelle, NY 10801; (914) 633-2203; jliguori@iona.edu
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[Catholic Campus News]
U. SCRANTON PRIEST CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ABUSE

Rev. Albert Liberatore, a theology professor at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania, has been charged with sexually abusing a current 17-year-old student in Liberatore's university office, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Liberatore has denied the allegations, but a private investigator hired by the university determined that the accusations had merit. Liberatore has been suspended from all priestly activities and from his teaching position pending a criminal investigation.