Campus Revival

THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, Oct. 22 — For decades, American scholars assumed society was becoming more secular and “badly missed” the profound significance of “the religious revival that seemed to take on new life in the 1990s.”

That is the conclusion of an essay by Alan Wolfe, director of Boston College's Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.

He says that, while higher education “has a lot of catching up to do,” he is encouraged that the revival in spiritual belief is sparking new scholarship.

Politics for Rent

MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE, Oct. 19 — Minnesota Artists for Kerr y have rented space for a rally at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn.

St. Catherine's, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph, said the event on behalf of Sen. John Kerr y's presidential candidacy was a rental and did not imply college endorsement.

Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, said the event compromised the Catholic mission of the college, especially as it had “nothing to do with academics and ever ything to do with politics.”

A Praying Pitcher

THE TIDINGS, Oct. 18 — World Series pitcher Jeff Suppan of the St. Louis Cardinals was a “very focused, very mature” student-athlete at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, Calif.

Suppan regularly visits the school, Crespi baseball coach Craig Sher wood told the newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

According to another school official, Suppan carries on the prayer ful spirit of the Carmelites who staff Crespi by praying before each game.

Solidarity

CATHOLIC NEW YORK, October — Catholic college students in the Middle East tend to be poor and, as members of a religious minority, they can often feel isolated, said Kevin Ahern, president of the International Movement of Catholic Students.

But Ahern repor ted that his Vatican-sponsored organization, comprised of 75 autonomous national student federations, is designed to assist Catholic students in remote areas.

During a recent gathering of students in Sarajevo, Ahern found that young Catholics in such straits “found hope in being able to connect with others like them, so they didn't feel so alone.”

New Rankings

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Oct. 19 — A group of scholars has come up with a new system that ranks colleges on how they fare in the battle for students who are admitted to several colleges and have to choose among them.

Colleges compete for students against similar schools; they may never compete against dissimilar institutions.

But, with enough data, a college's place in relation to all schools can emerge, and that's where the new rankings — which, at the top level, do not dif fer greatly with the popular U.S. News & World Report standings — take shape.

“The new system rewards other schools,” the AP repor ted. “Georgetown and Notre Dame score higher than they do in U.S. News,” for example, because they win “tournaments” within the constituency that wishes to attend a Catholic college.

Joe Cullen writes from New York.