JP was liberal - JPII was by *no* means liberal, and followed the same line as Ratzinger - he just was much better PR wise and wrapped his extremely conservative agenda in nice smiles. Just check out his policies regarding women in the Catholic church, or how harshly he dealt with theoligists who didn't follow his line, just to mention a few examples.

Ratzinger was basically selected by JPII to be his successor, precisely because they were on the same line.

I always amazes me how unable people are to look behind the pretty facade.

Jane Margolis and Allan Fischer had a close look at the situation of women in computing at CMU. Based on their study, CMU developed a program to attract and retain a larger percentage of women, which actually worked.

Some of their methods are not easily transfered to other schools. For example, they increased the percentage of women admitted to computing by changing the selection criteria - not by watering them down, but by unbiasing them (e.g., women tend to have less previous experience with computers). CMU could do so and still maintain their standards due to the large number of excellent applicants, which might not work as well for schools that are less popular.

Nevertheless, the CMU study produced interesting results, some of which suggest ways to remove bias against women where it exists.

Chilli