Mary Daly, theology professor at Jesuit Boston College, and a self- described radical lesbian feminist, has been terminated.

In a situation overflowing with irony, this professor, who was originally denied tenure 30 years ago (probably with good reason) was finally granted tenure because of the protests of the then all-male student body. Fast forward to the present. She got the axe for refusing to allow men in her classes.

For 25 years, the college inexplicably tolerated Daly's no male policy. Last fall, senior Duane Naquin was denied admission to her class. Unlike the weak-willed administration of Boston College, though, Naquin threatened to sue, stating that the school was violating Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funds.

When Daly said that she would rather resign than permit men to be in her class, the administration took her at her word, and she was removed from the faculty.

Yes, indeed. It was feminists like Daly that opened up such schools as BC to women, and effectively closed the all-female ones, arguing that it was unconstitutional to discriminate against women. Her defenders, including such luminaries as Gloria Steinem and Eleanor Smeal, would argue, however, that it is perfectly all right to discriminate against men.

Ponder on this tortured logic from Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center in Washington: Title IX has a "strong presumption that people shouldn't be excluded because of their sex, [but] it isn't rigid." "It certainly doesn't invalidate [single-sex] programs" that have compensatory value to a group that has been discriminated against.

Let's see then. Couldn't we maintain that VMI and the Citadel should remain single sex since they have a compensatory value to a group-- poor white Southern males--that has been discriminated against? Am I being insensitive? Perhaps many of the women at BC have been discriminated against all their lives. Yeah, right.

Imagine if another theology professor had barred, say, lesbians from his class for biblical reasons. How far do you think HE would have gotten?

Surely, St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits in 1534, and his number one sidekick St. Francis Xavier would have had little patience for either Daly or her bosses. The modern day Jezzies, though, tend to align more with their flower child Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), than with their brilliant theologian Leonard Feeney (1897-1978).

Was Daly an asset that deserved protection? Check out these scholarly quotes:

"Men can't cut it." "They dumb down" the classes she teaches.

"Women need our own creative space, to make up for the thousands of years that women were prevented from reading, studying, and attending the university."

I'm a bit confused. If women are superior, why do they need any "make up" time at all?

Personally, I'm thrilled that this crackpot is identified by many as a feminist icon. The movement may drive a stake through its own heart.

20 years ago, one of Daly's books was reviewed in the Washington Post, hardly a right wing stronghold. Among other things, the review said that her prose encouraged "irrationality masquerading as inspired knowledge."

Maybe the dignitaries of Boston College could have used more inspired knowledge. Either that, or more guts.

As for Daly, she should count her blessings. Where else but in American academia would she have obtained such a deal for so many years?