Brian McLaren's Theology Visual Arts and the Bible - Biola University

28 HIGHER ED WATCH BIOLA CONNECTIONS ❄ WINTER ’06
What’s Happening in Higher Ed
Backlash: Noah Riner's inbox was flooded with e-mails following his Sept. 20 convocation
speech to Dartmouth freshmen, which focused on the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.
Noah Riner [the president of Dartmouth’s
Student Assembly] wanted to stir up
Dartmouth College students with his
speech at a convocation ceremony last
week [Sept. 20] suggesting that students’
character matters just as much as their
intelligence and their talents, and that the
college pays too little attention to that aspect
of their development. And stir them up he
did, although not exactly in the way he’d
hoped: His focus on the redemptive power of
Jesus Christ provoked criticism that he had
misused a speaking opportunity he earned by
being student body president to proselytize to
a captive audience. The incident has spurred
renewed discussion at Dartmouth (and in the
blogosphere) about free speech and the
receptivity of Dartmouth students and others
to diverse — especially ‘conservative’ —
viewpoints.” Inside Higher Ed
“
Harvard to Explore Origins of Life
“Harvard University is joining the longrunning
debate over the theory of evolution
by launching a research project to study how
life began. The team of researchers will
receive $1 million in funding annually from
Harvard over the next few years. The project
begins with an admission that some
mysteries about life’s origins cannot be
explained. ‘My expectation is that we will be
able to reduce this to a very simple series of
logical events that could have taken place
with no divine intervention,’ said David R.
Liu, a professor of chemistry and chemical
biology at Harvard.” Associated Press
College Approves Gay Fraternity,
Prohibits Christian Group
“Five years since it appeared on campus, the
gay fraternity at Arizona State University has
become the first national, collegiate-based
organization of its kind in the country. Sigma
Phi Beta’s creation and adoption of a national
charter last week [July 2005] raises hopes for
gay college students that new chapters will be
established at other campuses. … However,
the fact that the fraternity gets all the benefits
of being a university recognized organization
is rubbing the right wing the wrong way. Last
November, the Alliance Defense Fund sued
ASU, demanding that the institution
recognize a campus chapter of the Christian
Legal Society, a conservative, religious-based
“The Dartmouth”
organization for attorneys, law students and
others in the legal field. ... ‘It’s hypocrisy,’
[Alliance Defense Fund attorney Jeremy]
Tedesco said. ‘The problem that’s occurring
on campuses across the U.S., including
Arizona State University, is that they’re
prohibiting formation of religious groups.’”
East Valley (Mesa, Ariz.) Tribune
Filmmaker to Fund
Transcendental Meditation Classes
“What price world peace? [American filmmaker]
David Lynch believes he has the answer,
and has set the figure at a comparatively svelte
$7 billion … The cash will be used to fund a
programme of transcendental meditation in
schools across the world, with the aim of
transforming the depressed, anxious and
drug-addled adults of tomorrow into an army
of blissed-out pacifists. Problem solved. The
maverick film-maker will channel the money
through his new organisation, the David
Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based
Education and World Peace.” [Lynch’s films
include Eraserhead and Mulholland Drive.]
(U.K.) Guardian
More College-Educated
Women Choosing Motherhood
“Cynthia Liu is precisely the kind of high
achiever Yale wants: smart (1510 SAT),
disciplined (4.0 grade point average),
competitive (finalist in Texas oratory
competition), musical (pianist), athletic
(runner) and altruistic (hospital volunteer).
And at the start of her sophomore year at
Yale, Ms. Liu is full of ambition, planning to
go to law school. So will she join the long
tradition of famous Ivy League graduates?
Not likely. By the time she is 30, this
accomplished 19-year-old expects to be a
stay-at-home mom. ... What seems to be
changing is that while many women in
college two or three decades ago expected to
have full-time careers, their daughters,
while still in college, say they have already
decided to suspend or end their careers when
they have children.” New York Times