Tag Archives: Topic: Colleges

Wisconsin State Journal: “President Barack Obama served as the closing act Tuesday for a rock-n-roll, fire-up-the-troops extravaganza on the UW-Madison campus — a giant rally meant to recapture the excitement of the campaign trail and bridge the so-called “enthusiasm gap” among younger, Democratic voters.”

LifeSiteNews: “College campuses today are the abortion battleground. Forty-six percent of all abortions are performed on college age women and on top of this, Planned Parenthood directly targets the youth in order to further its abortion agenda. At the same time that students are being targeted by Planned Parenthood, more and more young people between the ages of 18-29 identify themselves as pro-life.”

Nathan Harden writing at Phi Beta Cons: “During a recent gubernatorial debate held at the University of Alabama, students were reportedly given maps that illustrated approved ‘First Amendment areas’ around campus . . . I invite David French, our resident expert in constitutional law, to correct me if I’m wrong here, but I simply can’t recall ever seeing the cartographic section of the Constitution, showing where the First Amendment applies and where it doesn’t.”

Sexuality, Integrity, and the University
November 12-13, 2010
Princeton University

Speakers include: Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Dr. Robert George (Q&A moderator), Dr. Donald Hilton, Dr. Micah Watson, and more.

Hosted by: The Love and Fidelity Network, Princeton, NJ

Co-sponsored by: Collegiate Cultural Foundation

The Daily Caller: “A new report by former Democratic strategist and economist Robert Shapiro will make moving forward on said regulations that much more difficult. In a report titled ‘The Public Costs of Higher Education: A Comparison of Public, Private Not-for-Profit, And Private For-Profit Institutions,’ Shapiro makes the case that for-profit colleges such as University of Phoenix Online and Kaplan don’t receive nearly as much in federal subsidies as nonprofit private colleges and public universities.”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: “Last week, the Alliance Defense Fund, at which I’m the director of the Center for Academic Freedom, released part four of ‘Hanna’s Story,’ our based-on-true-events dramatic series (yes, dramatic series — and I think it’s pretty darn good) about a new student’s struggle to start a pro-life club . . . The conservative academic-freedom movement has come a long way in just a few years. I can remember the good ole days of hardcover books, primitive websites, and using actual Wite-Out on complaints. Now there’s YouTube channels, Facebook pages, and documentary films.

Arizona Daily Star: “Arizona’s university presidents said they’ll start privatizing some operations, pursue a state financial-aid program and reduce the average tuition by the end of the decade. The Arizona Board of Regents approved those actions among 10 sweeping recommendations from the three university presidents on Friday that will change the way Arizona’s universities operate.”

William E. Thro and Charles J. Russo, A Serious Setback for Freedom: The Implications of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (September 26, 2010). Education Law Reporter, 2011. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1682918

“This Article explores the Supreme Court’s decision in Christian Legal Society and its implications. Part I reviews the facts in Christian Legal Society as well as the Opinion of the Court, the two concurrences, and the four Justice dissent. Part II of this Commentary addresses the fundamental change in the Court’s limited-public forum jurisprudence, its evaluation of equality over freedom, and the significant impact that Christian Legal Society has on student organization jurisprudence.”

The Boston Globe: “Harvard University, which expelled ROTC four decades ago, will welcome the military training program back to campus only when the ban on openly gay and lesbian service members is repealed, the university’s president said yesterday.”

The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: “The Department of Education (DOE) has proposed new rules for accrediting colleges and universities, including expanding the power of states to authorize higher education institutions, definitions of what constitutes a ‘credit hour,’ and de facto price controls through measures to ensure graduates’ ‘gainful employment.’ According to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the new rules will mark a substantial shift in the accrediting process.

ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on the Mike Gallagher Show to discuss campus freedom, the ACLU’s $400 million fundraising campaign, and ADF’s University matching grant. | MP3 audio 7:43 mins | Related: ACLU announces historic fundraising success | ADFonMike.org

Cal Thomas writing at Townhall: “According to the Centennial Institute, a proposed new rule by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) ‘would place private colleges and universities under the ultimate control of state governments, rather than independent accrediting agencies. The notice of proposed rulemaking was posted in the Federal Register on June 18 for a public comment period ending Aug. 2. It could take effect as soon as November.’”

NCPA: “Despite rising tuition and student loan debt levels, the long-term payoff from earning a college degree is growing, according to a report by the College Board.”

FOX News: “Grambling State University in Louisiana has banned its students and faculty members from forwarding ‘campaign solicitations’ using the school’s e-mail system, contending it is a violation of Louisiana law because it would amount to an institutional ‘endorsement’ of a campaign . . . The spokeswoman, Vanessa Littleton, included in the e-mail a copy of the school’s e-mail use policy. It states that the school’s e-mail system cannot be used ‘for the creation or distribution of any disruptive or offensive messages, including offensive comments about race, gender, hair color, disabilities, age, sexual orientation, pornography, religious beliefs and practice, political beliefs, or national origin.’”

LifeSiteNews: “The 88 pro-lifers (known as the ND88) who were arrested on the campus of the University of Notre Dame last year during President Obama’s controversial visit have won the right to have their own individual jury trials, thanks to the efforts of the Thomas More Society. The prosecution had sought instead to consolidate the cases, and thus expedite the legal process – a request that was denied by Chief Judge Michael Scopelitis.”

The Baptist Standard: “American higher education needs Christian institutions like Baylor University, and Christian higher education must find a better way to fund its programs, rather than continuing to increase students’ financial burdens, Baylor President Ken Starr said. In his inaugural address, Starr discussed the unique contributions of Christian higher education to a constitutional republic, and he formally launched an ambitious $100 million fund-raising initiative to address the problem of rapidly accelerating tuition costs at Baylor.”

The Daily Tar Heel: “Concerns from students about the abortion benefit in the UNC-system health insurance plan might go unaddressed by the state government. As part of advocacy efforts to remove the abortion benefit in the student insurance plan, members of Students for Life of America wrote a letter to Gov. Bev Perdue in August after being dissatisfied with system President Erskine Bowles’ response . . . Students for Life of America received a response on Sept. 10 from Perdue but waited a week to make the announcement public, said Kristan Hawkins, executive director for Students for Life of America. In a two-paragraph letter, Perdue only thanked the organization for its civic engagement without further addressing the issue.”

ChristianNewsWire: “Sparks flew in St. Joseph County Circuit Court yesterday as the Thomas More Society won several key victories against the prosecution in the case of the ‘ND88,’ the individuals arrested in connection with President Barack Obama’s appearance at the University of Notre Dame Commencement in 2009 . . . Thomas More Society special counsel Tom Dixon beat back efforts by the county prosecutor to force all defendants to return to South Bend one week prior to their trials, which the court denied ‘in the interest of justice.’”

ADF Attorney Greg Baylor writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Earlier this year, Marquette University rescinded an offer it had made to Jodi O’Brien to become the dean of its Helen Way Klinger College of Arts and Sciences . . . I believe it is safe to assume that Dr. O’Brien’s writings on human sexuality contradict the position of the Roman Catholic Church . . . Just as the O’Brien-Marquette controversy heated up, the Wisconsin Arts Board was reviewing a grant application submitted by Marquette’s Haggerty Museum of Art . . . The Arts Board voted unanimously to defer a decision on the Haggerty Museum’s application, explicitly citing its concerns over the school’s hiring practices, i.e., its decision to rescind the offer to Dr. O’Brien . . . On September 11, 2010, the Arts Board finally decided to give the Haggerty Museum a grant ($11,231). But only because Marquette expressed an acceptable level of contrition for the audacity of its attempt to retain its Catholic identity.”

The Town Talk: “The Sept. 1 conference, attended by more than 100, also introduced the law dean, 38-year-old J. Michael Johnson. Johnson’s resume is stacked with conservative credentials, among them: he lectures at constitutional law seminars; he’s written pro-life legislation for state governments; he was national media spokesman and senior lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which Congressman John Fleming called the ‘anti-ACLU’ at the conference.”

Inside Higher Ed: “A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Community College District arising out of the way a public speaking professor harshly criticized a student presentation that opposed gay marriage . . . The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that Jonathan Lopez, the student who sued, presented arguments that ‘come to the very edge of showing injury in fact,’ but that he failed to show actual damage from the sexual harassment code — and that as a result he lacked the legal right to sue . . . Officials of the Alliance Defense Fund, which backed Lopez and urged the appeals court to find the harassment code unconstitutional, could not be reached for comment.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education: “A federal appeals court on Friday threw out a case brought by a Los Angeles City College student whose Speech 101 professor shouted him down and called him a ‘fascist bastard’ while he was giving a presentation about his Christian faith . . . [David J. Hacker], a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which helped bring the lawsuit, said the decision could have chilling effects on student speech nationwide. Policies like the one Mr. Lopez challenged, which apply to students any time they are on the institution’s campus, “lead to students’ believing they can speak less,” he said.”

ADF Attorney Casey Mattox writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Over the summer your university’s administration was busy revising the Student Code of Conduct, and you can bet that they didn’t (at least absent a court order) spend their summer finding new ways to free up campus expression. Since university prohibitions on your speech and conduct can carry penalties up to expulsion, you owe it to yourself to read your school’s policies and take a little action if their demands of you are inconsistent with the First Amendment’s demands on them.”

Daily Chronicle: “A proposal by a campus ministry wishing to create a rooming house for Northern Illinois University students was rejected by the DeKalb Plan Commission.”

“A federal appeals court has tossed out the lawsuit of a California community college student who claimed that a teacher illegally berated him in class for making a speech opposing same-sex marriage.”

The Daily Beacon: “Renowned Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will join UT faculty and staff for a lecture and discussion Friday.”

Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: “A conservative student in Florida says he has the evidence that implicates a public college administrator who last week ordered members of Young Americans for Freedom to leave a campus event after they displayed Heritage Foundation research papers . . . YAF is also now seeking help from the Alliance Defense Fund. Legal counsel [Casey Mattox] said the college has questionable policies that, for a public institution, border on unconstitutional. ‘This school appears to have a policy that requires any student or any student group to give 24 hours notice to the school before they intend to speak or distribute literature of any kind and then it gives the school complete discretion to decide whether they will permit students to speak or distribute literature or not,’ Mattox said. ‘So if that is, in fact, the policy, and it appears that it is, that’s clearly unconstitutional.’”

ADF attorney David French appeared on the Mike Gallagher Show to discuss the ongoing efforts to defend religious freedom on campuses. | MP3 audio 12:16 mins | Speak Up Movement: Universities

ADF attorney David French appeared on the Janet Meffered Show to discuss how ADF is standing up for religious liberty on campuses. | MP3 audio 18:48 mins | Speak Up Movement: Universities

ADF Attorney David French writing at Speak Up Movement / University: In the aftermath of CLS v. Martinez, we’ve been seeing quite a bit of discussion about ‘deference’ — the idea that courts should give public universities wide room to make its own decisions. As Charlotte Allen so ably noted, a distorted concept of deference has been applied to ratify extreme forms of viewpoint discrimination and is now being used to try to insulate even speech codes from constitutional scrutiny.

Meghan Duke writing at First Things: “The three-page email was dated May 4, nearly a month earlier. The subject line was ‘Utilitarianism and Sexuality.’ Howell had sent it late that evening to help his students prepare for the essay question on the final exam in his Introduction to Catholicism class, and to clarify some points he made in his lecture the previous day on the question of homosexuality in Catholic thought . . . In an email to Howell the following Wednesday, McKim repeated his decision to relieve Howell of his teaching duties . . . The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a nonprofit legal fund dedicated to defending religious freedom, took up Howell’s case . . . The ADF . . . reminded the university that just because someone found Howell’s email offensive does not put it outside the realm of First Amendment protection; it is precisely the speech that offends that the First Amendment exists to protect.”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: “Conservative students with moral fortitude and a willingness to scrap can thrive on campus . . . The attrition comes primarily from the passive conservative, the campus conservative who isn’t all that political — the one who grew up conservative and identifies as generally conservative, but the ideological side of whose life isn’t terribly important. These are the people we’re losing in droves . . . This is where I think you see the bulk of the leftward movement on issues like same-sex marriage or abortion.”

Winning the Housing Lottery: Changing University Housing Policies for Transgender Students
Lara E. Pomerantz, 12 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1215 (2010)

“University life for transgender students should not be marred by frustration and alienation within their living space and larger social college environment. This Comment recognizes the difficulties universities face in balancing the needs of transgender and non-transgender students and placing transgender students, particularly pre-operative students, in housing according to self-defined gender identity. Sex segregated housing should remain an option, but not the only option. This Comment suggests that universities make assignments on the basis of students’ self-defined gender identity. As an initial step, universities would change housing forms to include a non-binary gender question, which gives students the option to self-identify outside of the male and female categories. In addition, universities would not force transgender students to provide official documentation of sex reassignment surgery. This Comment will also explore the importance of gender-neutral housing as a means to ensure that transgender students benefit from academic and social life. In order to accommodate gender non-conforming individuals and recognize students’ true gender identity, students who choose this option would be assigned housing regardless of gender.”

Associated Press: “Public colleges must be neutral in allowing controversial speakers and their ideas on campus and must work harder to educate citizens about the roles of colleges in presenting varying ideas, speakers at a free speech forum said Monday. The University of Wyoming organized the forum, which featured four academics from across the country, in the wake of recent campus visits by former Vice President Dick Cheney and former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.”

Associated Press: “Harvard University says its endowment has seen a dramatic reversal of fortunes, earning a profit of 11 percent and growing to $27.4 billion in the last fiscal year.”

The Duke Chronicle: “In a meeting that lasted more than four hours, the Duke Student Government Senate defunded the Duke College Republicans and took the first step toward de-chartering the group on the basis that the club has demonstrated a ‘culture of discrimination’ . . . For senior Justin Robinette, a student affairs senator and former DCR chair who was impeached last Spring allegedly because he is gay, the decision is a move in the right direction . . . The resolution included claims that the DCR violated SOFC rules—such as the responsibility to not be selective in membership—and the Duke Community Standard, non-discrimination and harassment policies and DSG rules.”

CatholicCulture.org: “Mahatma Gandhi University ordered Newman College to reverse the firing of Professor T. J. Joseph, saying that the administration of Newman Collage ‘failed to follow procedures.’ Newman College, a Catholic school, is an affiliate of Mahatma Gandhi University.”

NPR: “Catholics have Notre Dame, Jews have Yeshiva University and Evangelicals have Wheaton College — but until now, Muslim Americans didn’t have their own liberal arts college. And then there’s the appeal of the two founders, Imam Shakir and Sheik Hamza Yusuf, who are celebrities by preaching an Islam that resonates with young Americans . . . [Co-founder Sheik Hamza Yusuf] says Zaytuna has a deeper motive than just making the students feel at home. He wants to tease apart the religion of Islam from the customs and ideas of the Middle East. He’s learned this from personal experience. He says that during his 10 years studying abroad, he imbibed ideas that had nothing to do with Islam, such as anger at U.S. foreign policy.”

LifeSiteNews: “The student newspaper Hilltop Views reported last week that Equality Texas, a local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) advocacy group, had applied to recruit students at the Internship Fair for the coming school year, but was denied . . . [Holy Cross] spokeswoman Mischelle Diaz confirmed that, although there was some confusion over whether Equality Texas was truly a non-profit organization, its views on homosexuality precluded it from participating in the fair.”

C-SPAN: “Panelists talked about the Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 ruling in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. In that case the court ruled that a public university has the right to withdraw formal recognition of groups that do not adhere to anti-discrimination policies. Participants: [Gregory S. Baylor], Alliance Defense Fund; Kimberlee Wood Colby, Christian Legal Society; Frank Guliuzza, Patrick Henry College; Holly Hollman, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty; Richard B. Katskee, Assistant Legal Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State.” (The full video has not yet aired on C-Span as of this posting)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB8e1c74mA

ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: “Yesterday, the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom launched a new video series, ‘Hanna’s Story,’ that tracks a (fictional) student’s efforts to start a pro-life club on her campus. The series is based on our actual cases. You can watch the first one, which introduces Hanna, here.”

Notre Dame News: “The keynote speaker is former federal judge Michael W. McConnell, the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law at Stanford University and leading expert on constitutional law. McConnell also directs Stanford’s Constitutional Law Center.”

LifeSiteNews: “A top pro-life professor at the University of Notre Dame is calling into question the motives of the university after Bill Kirk, a long-time member of the Notre Dame community and the only administration member to join a protest against President Obama’s appearance on campus, was abruptly terminated . . . Notre Dame philosophy professor David Solomon, the founder and director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, said in a column published in The Rover that he sees a connection between Kirk’s ‘removal from office’ and what he called ‘the background of other events at Notre Dame that inevitably raised questions about its real motivation.’”

Yale Daily News: “Rizzolo’s laboratory is one of about a dozen facilities on campus that use stem cells. Haifan Lin, director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, said he did not yet know how the moratorium will affect Yale researchers . . . ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life,’ said [Steven Aden], the legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advised the party that brought the lawsuit to court.”

“A new ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has prompted the Alliance Defense Fund to send follow-up letters to five colleges and universities that it contacted in April about their problematic ‘speech codes.’”

ADF Attorney Joe Martins writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a resounding decision in favor of free speech by invalidating several unconstitutional speech codes. In McCauley v. University of the Virgin Islands, the Court struck down campus policies banning expression that is ‘offensive,’ ‘unauthorized,’ or which causes ‘emotional distress.’”

Star-Ledger: “It appears Seton Hall University will offer a controversial course on gay marriage over the objections of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, according to the professor scheduled to teach the class. The undergraduate seminar course — called ‘The Politics of Gay Marriage’ — is to begin Tuesday with about two dozen students, said W. King Mott, an associate professor of political science.”

Dr. Joseph J. Horton writing at The Center for Vision & Values: “While I am neither a clinical psychologist, nor a counselor, I do have some graduate training in clinical psychology. I am confident that Judge Steeh’s ruling not only harms religious freedom, it will harm counseling and ultimately harm those who seek counseling. Proponents of the decision are attacking a belief system they find particularly odious, but they are also attacking the freedom of counselors to best meet people’s needs. The issue is whether a given counselor should counsel any and every client. Historically, the answer to this question has been that counselors should not counsel every possible client . . . Ms. Ward was striving to treat homosexual clients with integrity and respect for their right of self-determination.”

The Harvard Crimson: “A federal judge’s decision to block the Obama administration’s stem cell research expansion efforts was met with surprise and disappointment by Harvard scientists, who say that the ruling brings back the harsh restrictions enacted by the Bush administration on human embryonic stem cell research . . . [Steven H. Aden]–senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit group of Christian attorneys and co-counsel in the suit–said in a statement Monday that the federal government should not use taxpayer money to fund embryonic stem cell research, especially in difficult economic times.”

The Detroit News: “Stem cell researchers in Michigan are anxiously awaiting a clarification on the federal judge’s ruling on Monday that blocked government rules expanding embryonic stem cell research . . . ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ [Steven H. Aden], ADF’s senior legal counsel, said.”

OneNewsNow: “A Messianic Jewish leader and Israel supporter says she’s angered — but not surprised — by a report that Harvard University recently sold off all of its investments in Israel.”

ADF Attorney Gregory S. Baylor writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “In a motion filed July 30, 2010, CLS urged the Ninth Circuit to address that issue. On August 9, Hastings and Hastings Outlaw filed their oppositions to CLS’s motion, essentially urging the court to end the case without consideration of the school’s unconstitutionally selective application of its all-comers policy. Yesterday, August 19, CLS filed its reply. We now await the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Step 1: Launch a debate within key private professional organizations (such as the National Association of Social Workers or the American Counseling Association) about the need for ;social justice; within the profession . . . Step 2: Incorporate this view within extraordinarily broad rules of ethics . . . Step 3: Convince public entities (like colleges or state licensing boards) that they must teach and apply these privately-generated ethical rules to students and members of the profession . . . Step 4: When challenged, argue that conventional First Amendment analysis doesn’t apply because you’re merely ‘teaching professional standards’ or applying the ‘rules of ethics.’”

Associated Press: “The ACLU of Virginia is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court ruling that bans alcohol advertising in Virginia’s college newspapers.” | Petition for a write of certiorari | ACLU press release

LifeNews: “A national pro-life student group is seeking a federal or state investigation into a situation it exposed about how students who attend public universities in North Carolina may have been forced to pay for abortions under the required health insurance plan.” | For more information see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-north-carolina+topic-education+topic-abortion/

The News & Observer: “Students for Life of America has asked Gov. Perdue to investigate a number of issues surrounding the UNC system’s new health insurance program for students. The university wants all students to have health insurance and mandates that they buy into a new insurance plan it is offering unless they can prove they have coverage from another source.”

Mike Adams writing at Townhall: “In the last few months, I have been in no less than one dozen arguments with ‘Christian men’ who have attempted to persuade me to stop my advocacy of, and direct involvement in, litigation against public universities. This is despite the fact that the universities are seeking to curtail the rights of Christian students and professors.”

Daily Illini: “‘We’re extremely pleased that Dr. Howell is back in the classroom and will be teaching this fall,’ said David Hacker, litigation staff counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which has been providing support for Howell since his dismissal.”

Zenit: “A conference at Princeton University will draw together people from opposite sides of the abortion issue to engage in ‘vigorous debate’ and explore ways of bridging the divide. Jennifer Miller, executive director of Bioethics International, who is co-chairing the conference, noted that most of the people who have already registered stand on the pro-choice side.”

LifeSiteNews: “President Obama is slated to speak at Louisiana’s Xavier University, a Catholic institution of higher education, to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina August 29 . . . However, a watchdog organization for Catholic higher education, the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), has criticized the university’s decision to provide a platform for the strongly pro-abortion president.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Get Schooled: “A group called CampusReform.org charges that UGA displays a distinct liberal bias . . . ‘Liberal student groups at the University of Georgia outnumber conservative groups by four to three. In November 2006, the university blocked the re-registration of Beta Upsilon Chi, a Christian fraternity, on the grounds that its requirements for members to affirm a relationship with God violated the nondiscrimination policies of the Georgia Board of Regents and the university. After the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit, the university reversed its decision.’”

The Herald: “Professor Roger Scruton has been named quarter-time professorial fellow in moral philosophy and is due to take up his new role at St Andrews in the spring. But the decision has been criticised by the students’ association who claim his views on homosexuality could create an ‘uncomfortable’ atmosphere for gay students.”

ADF Attorney David Hacker writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “[A] Lopez ruling may give us some insight into the Ninth Circuit’s view of the Prop 8 decision, which has been appealed to that court. After all, the cases bear several similarities . . . In defending the professor’s actions, the College argued that some speech and beliefs do not merit constitutional protection. Similarly, in Perry, the plaintiffs argued that the votes or speech of 7 million Californians should not count because their beliefs are rooted in prejudice . . . Second, in Lopez, the professor silenced the student’s ability to speak. In Perry, the plaintiffs argued and the court ruled that the People of California cannot exercise their rights to speak and vote by supporting a definition of marriage that is millennia old . . . If the Ninth Circuit properly rejects the College’s argument and holds that Lopez has the right to speak freely on campus about his religious beliefs, no matter how much some may disagree with them, then the court might – and should – extend that logic to Perry and hold that citizens of a state have a right to define marriage as they wish, no matter who disagrees with it.”

Associated Press: “A New York college professor says he was passed over for promotions for being heterosexual and then was fired for complaining. Dr. Csaba Marosan is awaiting a hearing after investigators for the state Division of Human Rights found probable cause to support his claims against Trocaire College in Buffalo.”

WLOS (AP): “The University of North Carolina will let students remove coverage for elective abortions from their university-sponsored health insurance after a national group complained about the coverage.”

Catholic World Report: “Marquette University’s decision to withdraw an administrative appointment to an openly lesbian faculty member whose publications have denigrated Catholic teachings on marriage, sexuality, and the family gave faithful Catholics a glimmer of hope that those running Catholic colleges are beginning to notice the problems there . . . Though Seton Hall officials deny it, strong resistance from some on the faculty to hiring an orthodox Catholic to lead the school had an impact on the outcome. Still, that an orthodox candidate even made it that far is noteworthy in today’s climate.”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Just once, I’d like to see a mainstream academic directly confront the evidence. Please, tell us where we’re wrong, where the research is deficient, or where the problems Christians face on campus pale in comparison to the problems faced by others. Let’s start that kind of dialog . . . because hearing, for the one millionth time, how nameless, stereotypical evangelical students allegedly can’t think clearly about evolution just doesn’t quite constitute a response.” | David French: Evangelicals and their “made-up ideas”

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss the case of Dr. Kenneth Howell. | MP3 23:39

The Christian Institute: “Prof Roger Scruton was appointed quarter-time professorial fellow in moral philosophy and is due to take up his new role in the spring. But the university’s students’ association has hit out at comments Prof Scruton made in 2007, where he defended the rights of children in an article about same-sex adoption, and stated that homosexuality was ‘not normal’ . . . Last month a popular professor was barred from teaching at a US university . . . But with the backing of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a US-based religious liberty organisation, Professor Kenneth Howell was swiftly reinstated . . . Also last month a Christian student in the US was told she will not be permitted to graduate unless she changed her beliefs.”

Family Security Matters: “Zaytuna College, which has attracted applications from Muslims throughout the world and substantial financial support from Saudi Arabia, is located in Berkley, California. With the motto ‘Where Islam Meets America,’ Zaytuna upholds the goal of cultivating Islamic scholars. What kind of Islamic scholars? The examples have been set by the three Islamic radicals, who serve as founders of the college.”

LifeNews: “Students for Life of America has discovered that the North Carolina Board of Governors will require all students enrolled in a University of North Carolina public institution, starting with the 2010-2011 school year, to have health insurance.”

Washington Post: ine openly gay college presidents gathered in Chicago last weekend and resolved to form an organization to provide professional support to ‘out’ presidents and faculty. An account in the online journal Inside Higher Ed says 25 openly gay presidents were invited . . . ”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: “Evidence shows that academics have disdain for evangelicals. Evidence also shows that students at secular colleges tend to abandon both their faith and their faith practices. There is also absolutely no doubt that the campus has become quite decadent . . . I don’t know a single serious evangelical leader who believes (as the author asserts) that ‘no degree of accommodation [with academia] aside from outright mass conversion is ever going to be enough.’ In fact, I know quite a few serious Christians — including my colleagues at the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom — who have a much simpler, more modest goals, like free speech, freedom of association, and giving Christian scholars a fair chance at tenure and promotion in the academy.”

ADF’s Weekly Update is on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q32QWZhrivg

Melanie Kirkpatrick reviews The Five-Year Party by Craig Brandon at the Wall Street Journal: “If you have a child in college, or are planning to send one there soon, Craig Brandon has a message for you: Be afraid. Be very afraid. ‘The Five-Year Party’ provides the most vivid portrait of college life since Tom Wolfe’s 2004 novel, ‘I Am Charlotte Simmons.’ The difference is that it isn’t fiction. The alcohol-soaked, sex-saturated, drug-infested campuses that Mr. Brandon writes about are real. His book is a roadmap for parents on how to steer clear of the worst of them.”