Boston College is ranked 31st on U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings.

This summer I had the opportunity to work at The National Review in New York City as the NRO Development Intern.  The internship was a great experience because it gave me the opportunity to not only improve my web development skills but also to meet and get to know the amazing writers and staff at The National Review.

The internship consisted of coding new components for the NR website with PHP, jQuery, and Ajax on a Drupal framework.  The internship challenged me to learn new web development techniques and apply them in a real-world environment.

I’ve never spent an extended period of time in NYC, so being there for the summer was exciting.  I lived near Union Square and spent most of my weekends kayaking on the rivers and harbor around Manhattan.

I am very grateful to have been able to work at NR and meet the great editors, writers, and staff of the nation’s top conservative magazine.  It is an experience that has played an important role in my college education and is one that I will never forget.

Jesse Naiman’s final article on National Review Online has been published. You can read it here.

Read Jesse’s latest article here.

A counseling student at Augusta State University (ASU) unjustly faces expulsion for expressing her religious beliefs. According to a lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), student Jennifer Keeton will face expulsion for expressing her religious beliefs regarding homosexuals and transgendered people. She will be expelled unless she completes a “remediation plan,” which would require her to expose herself to homosexual culture and write reflection papers in response.

To justify its actions, ASU cites the “American Counseling Association Code of Ethics,” which prohibits counselors from discriminating against clients based on their sexual orientation. At issue here is not the code itself, but rather that ASU is applying it in a grossly unconstitutional manner. Keeton did not discriminate against a client. All Keaton did was express her religious beliefs regarding homosexuality, an act entirely protected by the first amendment.

We applaud the ADF for taking on this case. ASU, as a government agency, cannot possibly justify using the Code of Ethics to deny someone’s right to free speech. Considering no act of discrimination has taken place, the only reason ASU punished Keaton is because she expressed beliefs that officials found politically incorrect.

If ASU challenges the ADF’s lawsuit in court, we expect them to lose handily. ASU would be well-advised to follow the University of Illinois and immediately reverse its unconstitutional punishment. Any other action or inaction is detrimental to constitutional democracy and religious liberty.

The University of Illinois has reinstated Dr. Kenneth Howell, an adjunct professor who was initially fired in violation of his constitutional rights for sending an email to his class explaining the Church’s positions on homosexual acts.

You can read the story here.

It is possible, reports Jesse Naiman at National Review Online. The article profiles Jon Runyan, a right tackle in the NFL who retired this year to run for congress in New Jersey’s 3rd congressional district.

The article goes on:

Former University of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr remembers first meeting Jon Runyan when he was in high school. Carr, then an assistant coach, went to Carman-Ainsworth High School in Flint, Mich. “He was so tall,” Carr remembers, “that when he left class to meet me, he had to duck under the doorway.”

Runyan, a six-foot-seven offensive tackle who went on to the NFL and spent nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles, is running for Congress in New Jersey’s third district, which covers portions of the Philadelphia suburbs and the Jersey Shore. While Barack Obama carried NJ-3 by 5 percentage points in 2008, last November Republican governor Chris Christie defeated Democrat Jon Corzine by a 66–29 margin in Ocean County and a 48–46 margin in Burlington County, the two counties that make up most of the district. The seat is currently held by freshman Democrat John Adler — who won election by 4 points — though it was in GOP hands from 1993 to 2009.

Runyan decided to launch his bid for Congress after being approached by GOP state assemblywoman Dawn Addiego (their daughters are schoolmates), who thought that Runyan’s charity work would make him a compelling candidate. “I liked that, as a star athlete, he was active in giving back to the community,” Addiego says. According to his campaign website, Runyan has been involved with the New Jersey Special Olympics, the USO, the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society, the American Red Cross, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. He also sits on the Board of the Alzheimer’s Association of the Delaware Valley.

“I believe Jon Runyan will be a great congressman,” Carr adds. “He is very dependable, honest, and he has the courage of his convictions.”

Some political pundits admire how Runyan has transitioned from the gridiron to the campaign trail, which is no easy feat. “It is hard to go from sports to politics because you have to portray yourself in a serious light, but it appears that Runyan has done a good job,” says Isaac Wood, House-race editor for political analyst Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball website. Other past NFL players who have served in Congress include Rep. Heath Shuler (D., N.C.), elected in 2006, and former Republican congressman Steve Largent, who represented Oklahoma’s first district from 1994 to 2002.

If Runyan wins, a former college teammate of his could end up joining him on Capitol Hill. Jay Riemersma, who played tight end at Michigan and now serves as a regional director for the Family Research Council, is also running for Congress as a Republican, in Michigan’s second district. (Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Republican, is vacating the MI-2 seat in order to run for governor.) “John Runyan was a great teammate and really tough competitor,” says Riemersma. “He’ll bring that same work ethic and toughness to Congress, and I hope to call him my GOP teammate there in the near future.”

For those who are more interested in football — Heath Shuler, a former NFLer mentioned in the article, was one of the biggest busts in NFL history. Steve Largent is a hall-of-fame wide reciever.

Boston College School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor of the Practice of Theology and Director of Spirituality Studies Colleen Griffith’s most recent publication received the 2010 First Place Book Award from the Catholic Press Association in the category of Gender Issues. Griffith is the editor of Prophetic Witness: Catholic Women’s Strategies for Reform, part of Boston College’s Church in the 21^st Century book series and a collection of essays from 23 leading female theologians in the United States. Griffith also contributed a chapter to the book.

The Catholic Press Association bestowed the award upon Prophetic Witness at a recent dinner. The CPA wrote, “This collection of deeply thoughtful essays from leading Catholic women theologians deserves to be read by small groups in every Catholic parish. The topics are broad, the suggestions for change are practical, the spirit of the writing is inspirational. This book says what many American Catholics, men and women, want from and for the Catholic Church of the twenty-first century.”

According to its website, The Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada, founded in 1911, assists “its members to serve effectively, through the medium of the printed word and electronic media, the social, intellectual and spiritual needs of the entire human family, and to spread and support the Kingdom of God.”

Some other contributors to Prophetic Witness are BC STM Associate Professor Francine Cardman, Assistant Professor Nancy Pineda-Madrid, and Associate Professor Jane Regan, as well as the Department of Theology Associate Professor M. Shawn Copeland.

Professor Griffith received her doctorate in Theology from Harvard Divinity School.  Her interests lie in historical and contemporary spirituality and theological anthropology and feminist theology. At STM she oversees and directs the Post-Masters Certificate Program in the Practice of Spirituality in addition to full time teaching.

Congratulations to Griffith and all the women who contributed to this work and continue to make strides in the area of gender issues in the modern Church.

CampusReform.org, a subsidiary of the Leadership Institute, is featuring a recent editorial written by The Observer’s Jesse Naiman regarding the wrongful termination of a Catholic faculty member at the University of Illinois.

The Observer will continue to update readers as the case continues.

The University of Illinois has wrongly fired Dr. Kenneth Howell for sending an email to his class explaining why homosexual acts are not permitted under Catholic doctrine,  in a class about – wait for it – Catholicism! Apparently, explaining and agreeing with the Church’s position on homosexuality, “violate[s] university standards of inclusivity,” according to an associate dean at Illinois.

This case, which has been rightfully taken up by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the Alliance Defense Fund, and others, is clear-cut. A public university cannot fire a professor for exercising his rights to academic freedom and free speech. Dr. Howell, as a professor, should be free to choose examples to explain tenets of Catholicism to his class. While Illinois could use the quality of Dr. Howell’s teaching as grounds to fire him, an adjunct professor, the school did not address this issue in his firing. Such an argument would be especially dubious because Dr. Howell has won four teaching awards during his tenure at Illinois. Illinois obviously chose to fire him for expressing politically incorrect beliefs.

Even if Dr. Howell’s email was not related to his class, Illinois still could not fire him. As a public university, Illinois is bound by the first amendment and thus cannot fire a professor for expressing his religious beliefs. The first amendment confers Dr. Howell with the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. These rights entitle Dr. Howell to email his class and express his views. Even though critics have come up with fancy “arguments” claiming that Dr. Howell’s “preaching” is not protected, even “preaching” is a legitimate exercise of one’s first amendment rights.

As if the case against Illinois could not be any worse, Dr. Howell was fired without formal accusations being brought against him nor any hearing in which he could defend himself. Such an action violates Dr. Howell’s due process rights under the fifth and fourteenth amendments.

The University of Illinois would be wise to spare itself further humiliation in the court of public opinion and the court of law. It should therefore reinstate Dr. Howell immediately with back pay, a full apology, and a stated commitment to academic freedom, the first amendment, and due process.