Are the rats deserting the sinking ship? Last Monday, we reported that the World Journalism Institute's "May Term" journalism course had dumped scandal-plagued Jack Kelley as a guest lecturer and added Gregg Easterbrook to its faculty.

A week later, Easterbrook is off the lecturers list -- and so are Freddy Barnes, Terry Eastland, Barbara Bradley Hagerty, David Cho and Tim Goeglein. (Here's the old list.)

This seems like a bit of a bait-and-switch, dropping all the big names, without explanation, after advertising their participation in the course for weeks (except for Easterbrook).

And the tuition ain't cheap - $500 for three weeks' classroom training. On the other hand, that charge does include "shared housing" with "a complimentary USA Today." (Not complimentary of Kelley, we'd imagine.)

Also of interest: Elements of Style is considered recommended reading by WJI, while The New Thought Police by Tammy Bruce is required reading.

For more detailed info on the WJI, see Eschaton and John Gorenfeld.