I reprint the first paragraph of the article without comment:
The profanities coming from the mouth of the professor in a recent class on freedom of speech were not, by themselves, all that shocking. But this was Catholic University, a bastion of traditional values. And the professor was its new president, John H. Garvey.
T
A few students glanced at each other awkwardly as Garvey used the words as part of his lecture on controversial speech. Then Garvey showed a YouTube video of actor Mel Gibson using foul language in a taped conversation with an ex-girlfriend. As his voice grew louder, a student popped out of her chair and turned down the volume.
"You can't pussyfoot around it," Garvey said later. "Forget about taboos."
The scene was a small sign of the change happening at the nation's flagship Catholic university as Garvey, 62, who was formally inaugurated Tuesday, becomes the first lay person to hold the office since 1982. Garvey is a former dean at Boston College Law School and has set a more informal tone on campus while shifting attention toward more open debate and a well-rounded experience for undergraduates.
"The challenge for Catholic universities is finding a place for bibles and papal decrees between our telescopes and microscopes," Garvey said during his inaugural address Tuesday. (He started in July; the inauguration was ceremonial.) "I think the fault for this flat, crabbed, cartoonish vision of Catholic higher education lies not with the critics of religion, but with us. We have been so intent on defending ourselves against charges of fundamentalism and censorship that we have failed to create, let alone promote, a serious Catholic intellectual culture."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...AR2011012507036.html?wpisrc=nl_education
