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Several students are protesting the decision by Boston College to not renew the contract of an adjunct professor in its School of Theology and Ministry who has openly questioned why the Catholic church won’t ordain women.The Boston College mission statement on its website talks about the Jesuit foundation of the school that makes it unique. It reads: “No other institution so explicitly embodies the fundamental human desire to know.”But after Father John Shea, a professor of pastoral care and counseling, asked church leaders for a theological explanation for why women are not being ordained to the priesthood of the...

In its own Jesuitical way, Boston College is trying to be Catholic in more than name only. For example, courtesy of Andy Rota at the The Observer at Boston College, we have learned that BC Law took down the link to Planned Parenthood which had appeared on its website guide for students. Similarly, Kerry Cronin, a philosophy professor at BC recently satirized and tried to offer an alternative to the hookup culture prevalent on many campuses, including the Jesuit preserved where she works, in a speech there. “She listed ten rules of the hookup culture—among them the requirements to be...

BC Babylon Revisited Malcolm A. Kline, May 11, 2010 Faithful Catholics who send their children to Boston College (BC), and the no less devout students who matriculate there may begin to wonder what the C in the college’s acronym stands for. On the one hand, students can receive baptism, communion and confirmation on campus. That’s not all they can get. “The Boston College Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH), a grassroots movement of Boston College students moving to ease accessibility to condoms on campus, has recently made their new condom distribution campaign public via an online blog,” Max Bindernagel reported on...

Feminist theologian and author Mary Daly, who retired from a professorship at Boston College rather than allow men to take her classes, has died.

On September 15, 2009, StandForMarriageMaine.com released a television ad which featured Scott Fitzgibbon, a professor at Boston College Law School, arguing in defense of marriage between one man and one woman.  He encouraged Maine voters to vote "yes" on an upcoming ballot referendum which aims to overturn state legislation which legalized homosexual "marriage" last May.Complaints from fellow faculty members at Boston College, a Jesuit-affiliated school, soon began piling up. Merely one day after the ad aired, Boston College Law Dean John Garvey issued a letter to the BC law community, writing, "Several of you have contacted my office to express...

Note: The following text is a quote: Federal Grand Jury Returns Indictment on Internet Bomb Threats Hammond, IN—The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana announced that a three-count indictment was returned against Ashton Lundeby for his role in Internet bomb and related threats directed to Purdue University, Indiana University/Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Ind., and numerous other educational institutions throughout the country. Lundeby, 16, of Oxford, N.C., was arrested by the FBI at his home in Oxford on March 6, 2009. A federal search warrant was also executed at that time. Lundeby was arrested pursuant to a...

Last winter, the Boston College security policeman phoned me to warn me that someone had placed a sign on my car in the parking garage that suggested I might be in danger. It called me a bunch of foul names, including "baby killer!" I have just returned to Jersey City after a year at Boston College writing a book on Rev. Robert F. Drinan, S.J., the B.C. law school dean elected to Congress from Massachusetts in 1970 who campaigned against the Vietnam War and called for the impeachment of President Nixon on the basis of his illegal bombing of Cambodia....

Texas tops Boston College in longest game in NCAA history Sunday, May 31, 2009 10:19 AM AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Travis Tucker hit an RBI single with one out in the top of the 25th inning, leading Texas to a 3-2 victory over Boston College on Saturday night in the longest game in NCAA history. The game eclipsed the previous record of 23 innings, set in 1971 when Louisiana-Lafayette defeated McNeese State 6-5. The game began at 7:02 p.m. EDT Saturday and concluded 7 hours, 3 minutes later at 2:05 a.m. Sunday. "I knew we were going to win as...

Weatherman Banks Kill Fee by: Malcolm A. Kline, May 18, 2009 For 60s activist turned tenured radical Bill Ayers, having a college lecture cancelled is almost as lucrative as giving one. “Despite the fact that Boston College rescinded its speaking invitation to education professor William Ayers last month, he was still paid,” Benjamin LaKind reported in The Observer at Boston College on April 28, 2009. “According to Michael Madormo, a Boston College senior and president of BC’s chapter of Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), Ayers received $2,500 for a speech he was due to deliver on March 30, 2009.” “However,...

Once Upon a Time by: Malcolm A. Kline, May 18, 2009 Boston College sociologist Eve Spangler has put into words what may be the dominant theme in most academic discourses, not to mention university courses. “Remember not only that narratives trump facts, but that these narratives operate within a [sic] equal power,” she tells students. Apparently, the lady practices what she preaches in her class on “Social Justice in Israel/Palestine.” “Many of the narratives she chooses, come from a purely Palestinian perspective, such as Omar Barghouti’s ‘Boycotting Israeli Apartheid, Evoking South Africa’s Legacy,’ or Richard Falk’s, ‘United Nations Rapporteur for...

Even for relatively diehard fans, it might have been possible to get through the last couple seasons knowing Mark Herzlich only as "the guy with the crazy facepaint," but that would be missing the lead: The 6'4", 240-pound Boston College linebacker was the defensive player of the year in a conference that had six defenders picked in the first two rounds of this year's draft, and might have joined teammate B.J. Raji in the top-10 if he hadn't decided to come back for his senior season at B.C. Pray today, then, that the football chapter of Herzlich's story isn't closed...

How I became a terrorist: Friday morning I found out that Bill Ayers was scheduled to appear at Boston College the following Monday - yesterday. When a listener to my talk show tipped me off, I didn’t believe it. And because BC was being so careful not to promote it, it took me several Google searches to confirm the details. Yes, the unrepentant founder of the Weather Underground terrorist organization that bombed a dozen American targets, advocated murder and whose members killed at least two police officers, among others, was invited to speak on the campus of a Catholic university....

Boston Herald columnists and WTKK-FM talk radio stars Margery Eagan and Michael Graham have a slight disagreement today over Graham’s successful effort to get Boston College to reverse its decision to invite 1960s radical terrorist William Ayers to speak on-campus. Graham is under fire by Boston progressives for his anti-Ayers activism: And that’s when the Angry Left turned their sights on me.I attacked “free speech.” I was a talk radio hypocrite, only supporting controversial opinions from the right. My favorite is the blogger bemoaning “a verbal terrorist assault by right-wing yakker Michael Graham.”That’s right - the guy who founded a...

Organizers plan to host event off campusBill Ayers, known for his involvement in the Weather Underground as well as for his work as an education theorist was to speak at Boston College Monday before the event was canceled by the University on Friday. The event had been organized by Americans for Informed Democracy (AID). Michael Madormo, president of the BC chapter of AID, said that his group had been working with a variety of campus groups, including the College Democrats and the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC), as well the Lynch School of Education and the Clough Center for the Study...

Students hope to host William Ayers off-campusBoston College yesterday abruptly withdrew two student groups’ invitation to former radical William Ayers to speak on campus Monday. A BC spokesman said he was unaware of the plan for the controversial figure to speak on campus until contacted by the Herald yesterday afternoon. But students last night were scrambling to hold the speech off-campus. “After meetings between administrators and students, the decision was made to rescind the invitation,” spokesman Jack Dunn said. Dunn declined to say why, adding only, “We feel the appropriate decision has been reached.” Dunn, director of public affairs, indicated...

Did Boston College go over the line by hanging crucifixes in every classroom? 92% - No, it’s a Catholic college 5% - Yes, every classroom is a bit much 3% - They should have put it to a school vote first Total Votes: 2,187

Students and faculty returned to Boston College (BC), a Jesuit Catholic institution, for the Spring 2009 semester to find that crucifixes and icons had been placed in many classrooms that had been long bereft of sacred art. This move, which helps strengthen the university’s Catholic identity, came by direct request of President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., according to a campus newspaper editor. “Bravo for Boston College!” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “For Catholics, outward signs, symbols and practices of our faith are an important part of relating to God in a material world.” Over...

BC Crosses to Bear by: Malcolm A. Kline, February 10, 2009 Accuracy in Academia has devoted considerable attention to policies and practices at Boston College that make the institution run by the Jesuit order of priests sometimes look “Catholic in name only.” Thanks to the fine young men and women keeping the faith at The Observer, the alternative newspaper on campus, we now know that administrators there are making some effort to return tradition in the midst of academic fads. Nevertheless, the reporters at The Observer at Boston College show, old habits of accommodation are proving hard to break. “Returning...

Faith of Our Feminists by: Malcolm A. Kline, December 22, 2008 One of the oddities of modern-day Catholic higher education, particularly in institutions run by Jesuit priests, is that Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues seems to be more ubiquitous on such campuses than Nativity scenes or Crucifixes. Recently, Rev. Kenneth Himes, OFM, explained how the Theology department at Boston College came to sponsor such a production. In comments to Michael Reer, editor-in-chief of The Observer, the Catholic newspaper at BC, Rev. Himes laid out his rationale for giving the show the go-ahead at BC. His comments did not make it into...

[T]he departing rector of St. John's Seminary sent blistering letters to church officials, alleging the Archdiocese of Boston is endangering the training of priests by letting theological liberals move in next door. Rev. John A. Farren, a conservative and occasionally controversial Dominican friar, warned the "doctrinal integrity" of St. John's is at risk because of increased proximity to two Jesuit-run institutions, Boston College and Weston Jesuit School of Theology, expected to move into buildings currently held by the seminary. [Both] are considered liberal institutions open to a wider range of theological views than St. John's. Under Farren's leadership, several members...

At Boston College, David Hollenbach, S. J., remains a Big Man on Campus even after his unsuccessful effort to block the awarding of an honorary degree to the Secretary of State, but the family that endowed his chair is now saying what protesters put on placards during Condoleeza Rice’s speech: Not in my name. “Well, the commencement was today, and too bad the Flatley Professor [David Hollenbach, S.J.] did not also quit,” Dan Flatley wrote to us on Monday. “If he had any integrity he would, and you can quote me on that.” “Let the public know that the Flatley...

More than 200 faculty members have signed a letter of opposition to her. Scores of students plan to protest. And dozens of other demonstrators are expected to attend. All of this and more await Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Boston College tomorrow, when she is due to receive an honorary doctor of laws degree and give what is shaping up to be this year’s most controversial commencement address. But anyone expecting Rice to be shouted down may be disappointed. “I think people have a right to demonstrate as long as they do it in a respectful way,” said senior...

On Monday, Boston College will have its commencement and graduates will gather to hear an address from Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the United States secretary of state. She is arguably the highest-ranking African-American woman in the three centuries or so that African women have been present in America. She is the secretary of state of the most powerful nation on earth. She is discussed regularly as a candidate to be president of the United States. Yet 200 or so students at Boston College, along with some professors, will be protesting her presence at Boston College, protesting especially the school conferring upon...

Plans by a prominent Boston Jesuit school to award U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice an honorary degree are stirring protests by some students and faculty who say her support for the Iraq war contradicts Catholic teaching. Boston College theology professor David Hollenbach and Kenneth Himes, the department's chair, issued a petition to the school's president objecting to a planned commencement address by Rice on Monday when she will receive the honorary degree -- a custom for commencement speakers. One faculty member, Steven Almond, resigned in protest. "We'll be turning our backs during the honorary degree ceremony," said Sasha Westerman,...

When Boston College bucked an academic trend and invited a Republican U. S. Secretary of State to address its graduating class, professors on the campus were outraged. One hundred of them sent a protesting letter to the BC’s president. One actually resigned. “Maybe Condi Rice should speak at more college campuses!,” syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin observed. “Many members of the faculty and student body have already voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice’s actions as Secretary of State are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values...

"I mean, this is a person who, not too many years from now, we may be seeing in front of a war crimes tribunal."Juliet Schor is a professor of sociology at Boston College. She has written a number of books analyzing the American labor market. What I have quoted is an obvious acknowledgement by an extensively trained, well executed professional of academe, providing her insight on the future of Saddam Hussein or Usama bin Laden. However, I would be lying. The person Ms. Schor refers to is United States Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice. Madamn Secretary is slated to receive...

An open letter to William P. Leahy, SJ, president of Boston College. I am writing to resign my post as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College. I am doing so -- after five years at BC, and with tremendous regret -- as a direct result of your decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be the commencement speaker at this year's graduation. Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice's actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university...

How is academic freedom like Catholicism? Well, if you are a left-wing academic, the answer is obvious: Both can be used like a club on people you don't like. Consider the current contretemps over Boston College's invitation to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be this year's commencement speaker and receive an honorary degree. Rice, the first black woman to be secretary of state, was a distinguished professor of political science at Stanford University, where she received the top awards for teaching. Later, she was Stanford's provost. Her CV is precisely the sort of thing that makes her a no-brainer...

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Boston College faculty object to honorary degree for Rice (Boston - AP) - Some faculty members at Boston College are objecting to the school's decision to award an honorary degree to the Secretary of State. A letter entitled "Condoleezza Rice Does Not Deserve a Boston College Honorary Degree" has been signed by nearly 100 faculty members. The letter was written by two prominent theology professors.

Professor Lies to Get Pro-Abortion Group into Catholic College By Gudrun Schultz BOSTON, Massachusetts, March 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A professor and a group of abortion activists at Boston College resorted to deception this week in order to bypass school officials and hold an abortion-rights panel discussion on university grounds. The Women’s Health Initiative, an abortion rights group that is not recognized by the university, initially gained permission to hold the panel, called “The Future of Women’s Rights” by telling university officials that they were members of the College Democrats. When the college discovered the deception, they withdrew permission for...

The Issue: BC denies GLBT dance due to conflict with the churchWhat we think: BC should follow Jesuit values, not Catholic doctrineThe battle for equality on campus has been a long and arduous one. Last semester, the Rally for Equality showcased not only how far the campaign for equal rights has come, but also how important this cause is to a large portion of the Boston College community. The cancellation of a GLBT "safe zone" dance by the administration last week has only done damage to this crucial campaign. While some may see the University's decision as insignificant, for many...

A Night in Gay Paris will never see the light of day at Boston College, which put the brakes on the AIDS benefit dance sponsored by gay students because it was at odds with Catholic church teachings. “They are being attacked by a university they call home,” said Sasha Westerman, a senior and vice president of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgendered Leadership Council at Boston College, which planned the dance. “We live at this university. This is our home.” BC is meeting with gay and lesbian student groups to plan another event with a “less gay” theme, Westerman said....

A gay, old time at BC The student government at Boston’s big Catholic college, the Jesuit-owned Boston College, has voted to give special office space to the newly formed Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual (Any sexuals?) Council which they are calling the Gay, blah, blah, Center. Of course, they had to get their own space, says the student paper, because the Women’s Resource Center gets their own space. O yeah, the WRC refers women to off-campus “women’s health clinics” to get problems taken care of and so they can get contraceptives and such. They’re not supposed to, but the administration turns...

Researching the Schiavo case from a bioethics standpoint i came across a Jesuit professor at Boston College, Rev. John J. Paris and was surprised to find that he had contributed to a amicus curiae in favor of Michael Schiavo having custody rights for Terry Schiavo. He did this as a priest. Did he know that Michael Schiavo was living with another woman and had children with her? Had he seen the affidavit from the nurse who took care of her for a year? See AffidavitThis is his explanation of Catholic teaching in the amicus curiae:"Finally, the Governor [Jeb Bush]suggests that...

Next year, $40,000 will almost cover a single year of tuition, room and board at Boston College. The price of attending the private Newton institution just jumped from $39,642 to $42,268 next year, said college officials, who blamed most of the hike on the cost of living in New England. Each year, BC gets 24,000 applications for 2,200 seats in its freshman class.

Still No Full Disclosure By Tony Scott Less than 24 hours before the opening of polls in every state in the Union, John Kerry still has not disclosed the complete contents of his personnel file by signing a DD-180. President George W. Bush has done so, and we have had a constant trickle of new records from the Defense Department and the Texas Air National Guard. No comparable disclosures have come from the Navy regarding Kerry's service, for he has chosen to hide behind the Privacy Act to prevent the American public from knowing the whole truth about his alleged...

From the 8/4/04 edition of Soxblog: "Something’s been bothering me about John Kerry. I just don’t think he’s that smart. One of the axiomatic dynamics of this presidential race has been that Bush is a dolt while Kerry is highly intelligent. But if Kerry is so bright, where has he been hiding his allegedly fearsome intellect? Does “I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it” sound like the workings of a brilliant mind? And yet the Adam Nagourneys of the world continue to insist that Kerry is remarkably “complex” with an uncanny sense for nuance. But I’ve...

July 12, 2004 / BOSTON -- Thomas Wangler was wary about sending his kids to Boston College. And he teaches there. When it came time for the Church history professor to send his two children to college, they both attended the school where their father taught. Yet Wangler wasn't about to let them take just any theology course. "I had a good sense of what was going on, and I carefully steered them toward particular professors," said Wangler, a former dean of the college of arts and sciences. "Getting a lead on who has the mandatum and who doesn't currently...

BOSTON COLLEGE LAW SCHOOL Letter from the Dean Dear Alumni and Friends of Boston College Law School: There are several lessons for the legal community, and for Boston College Law School, in the brouhaha provoked by Roy Moore over the Ten Commandments. Moore was elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in November of 2000. The following year he installed a granite monument about the size of a washing machine in the rotunda of the Alabama State Judicial Building. Inscribed on it are the Ten Commandments. Moore said he did it to fulfill a campaign pledge "to restore the...

1 hour, 7 minutes ago By , AP Sports Writer GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Atlantic Coast Conference decided even was much better than odd. AP Photo Less than four months after the ACC added Miami and Virginia Tech to form an 11-team league, Boston College agreed Sunday to become the 12th member. The Eagles most likely will begin conference play in 2006, ACC commissioner John Swofford said. "An 11-team league can work, but does it work in the best way you would like to it to work from a number of different angles?" Swofford said. "We found the answer to...

Boston College will leave the Big East Conference to become the 12th member of the Atlantic Coast Conference when an official invitation is offered Sunday, an ACC university official told the New York Times for Saturday's editions. According to that official, Boston College is expected to be overwhelmingly approved when the ACC universities hold a conference call Sunday. Boston College will then immediately accept the invitation, according to the report. In June, Miami and Virginia Tech announced that they would leave the Big East for the ACC starting in the 2004-05 academic year. Adding a 12th team became much more...

A lawsuit filed by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on behalf of five Big East schools, including UConn, against the aforementioned has been assigned to Judge Samuel Sferrazza in Rockville Superior Court in the near future... Blumenthal said in a Sunday teleconference with the media. "We are seeking our day in court. We want a meeting with the judge as soon as possible." The lawsuit wants to stop the ACC from possibly expanding or seek punitive damages if the ACC does expand. The suit contends Miami and Boston College acted deceptively because they talked with the ACC about leaving the...

Are You Ready for Some Football! A move to expand the ACC makes the dream of an NCAA playoff in football a real possibility. Here's how it should work. by Fred Barnes 05/08/2003 12:00:00 AM THE GOOD NEWS in college athletics is the Atlantic Coast Conference is considering expanding from 9 teams to 12. The better news is that this would give the mid-Atlantic and East a premier conference to match the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Big 12, and PAC 10. The best news is that a bigger, stronger ACC that reaches into New York, New England and south Florida...

A move to expand the ACC makes the dream of an NCAA playoff in football a real possibility. Here's how it should work. THE GOOD NEWS in college athletics is the Atlantic Coast Conference is considering expanding from 9 teams to 12. The better news is that this would give the mid-Atlantic and East a premier conference to match the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Big 12, and PAC 10. The best news is that a bigger, stronger ACC that reaches into New York, New England and south Florida would make possible what all America wants: a playoff series to determine...

Constitution outlines group's Jesuit, Catholic ideals, clarifies role By Sean McLaughlin The first officially recognized gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender student support group at Boston College, called Allies, received final approval to form a gay/straight alliance (GSA) on campus. University President Rev. William P. Leahy, SJ, informed the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) of his decision last Tuesday afternoon. BC's informational Web site posted the news at 3 p.m., and all undergraduate students received an e-mail at 5:30 p.m. The Allies group is designed to support the homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered community of BC as well as provide an...