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Dalai Lama will give lectures at Emory

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 6, 2007

The Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, has been named a presidential distinguished professor at Emory University, school officials said Monday. It's the first university appointment the winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize has accepted, the university said. The Tibetan leader said in a university statement that he looks forward to offering his services to students and the community. He is expected to deliver his inaugural lecture during an Oct. 20-22 visit to the university and to participate in a conference on science and spirituality and an interfaith session on religion. The appointment provides no compensation, said Emory spokeswoman Nancy Seideman.

SAN FRANCISCO

Mayor to seek alcohol counseling

Mayor Gavin Newsom said that he plans to seek counseling for alcohol use, after the disclosure that he had an affair with the wife of a trusted aide. Newsom, 39, said that although "my problems with alcohol are not an excuse for my personal lapses in judgment," he had stopped drinking and wanted professional help staying sober.

COLORADO SPRINGS

Ted Haggard heads back to college

Ted Haggard, founder and former senior pastor of New Life Church, plans to leave Colorado Springs and move to Iowa or Missouri to return to college, according to a message he e-mailed Sunday to some church members. Haggard was dismissed from the pulpit in the wake of a sex and drug scandal. His family has been "offered two places" in Midwestern states, Haggard wrote. He and his wife, Gayle, will go back to school together, but Haggard didn't specify what college they would attend. "We are both planning on getting our masters in psychology so we can work together serving others the rest of our lives," Haggard wrote.

BOSTON

Professor's protest alleges race bias

A black MIT professor began a hunger strike Monday to protest the university's decision to deny him tenure, which he says was based on race. James Sherley, a stem cell scientist, said he tried for two years to persuade administrators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to reverse the department head's rejection of his tenure bid. "I'm not actually doing this to get tenured," Sherley said. "I'm doing this for the reason that I wasn't tenured - which is racism." University administrators denied Sherley's allegations and said less than half of junior faculty members are promoted to tenured positions. Sherley, 49, works with adult stem cells and opposes research using human embryonic stem cells because he believes it amounts to taking human life. In September, he won a $2.5-million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Elsewhere

Washington: Flight restrictions imposed around Manhattan after New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle crashed his single-engine plane into an apartment tower will be made permanent, government documents indicated Monday.

[Last modified February 6, 2007, 06:52:50]