Renata Simril oral history - March 7, 2023

I am Ruth Santos and I am interviewing Renata Simril for the Inclusive History and Images Project, a project which seeks to recover the histories of the diverse members of the LMU family.

We are on the LMU campus in the Creative Spaces Studios, and today is March 7, 2023. Do you give me permission to interview you for the Inclusive History and Images Project?

And do you allow the recording to be used in accordance with the stated goals of the project? I do. I feel like we're married now. [They laugh.]

What is your name now and what was your name when you were at LMU? Uh my name now is Renata Wannamaker Simril, and when I was a student here, it was Renata Smith.

Um when and where were you born? I was born in Hollywood, California. Uh where is your hometown or the area in which you grew up?

I grew up in the city of Carson, just down the 110 Freeway. And where do you currently live? I live in Studio City.

And what is your current or former occupation? I currently serve as the president and CEO of the LA84 Foundation, and that's a legacy of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.

Um how do you identify yourself? As Renata. [They laugh.] You mean ethnically?

Um well, just, um, in any—like, whatever that question means to you. Hm. I'd say I identify myself as Renata, but if I was to dig deeper, um, you know, Renata, as a, um, woman

of color, as a leader, as a, um, humanitarian. Um, how did you learn about IHIP, the Inclusive History and Images Project? Uh my dear friend Lisa Piumetti Farland.

And what made you want to take part in this project? Because she asked. Uh very—she asked, number one,

but number two, um, LMU is just special to my heart. Um the amount of time I spent here as a student, um, the amount of time I've spent as, um,

Board of Regents, uh, Board of the Alumni Association, co-founder of the African—Amer— African American Alumni Association. It just, um, holds a special place in my heart.

Because it was a transformative experience for me, um, being the first of my family to graduate college. Uh and figuring out how to navigate a pathway to get here.

Uh and so any time— most times the university calls and asks me to do something, I try to find a way to—to contribute.

That's great. Um what year did you attend LMU? I attended from ‘90—1990 to 1993, uh, but my graduation year is 1994.

I came in as a transfer student, so I had a year of—year plus of general education courses, uh, and credits that I took from another—another school when I was in the military.

Um what was your major and minors? So my major and my degree, if I recall correctly, is political science.

Um I had no minor, but my degree was more like an urban studies degree. So one of the reasons I chose—uh, LMU is because of the flexibility, and majoring in political science, but putting

together, um, you know, a set of classes that really were of interest to me as opposed to the, you know, rote, These are the classes you take in political science—but my degree is political science.

Okay. And how did you decide on those majors—on that major? It's a great question.

Um it seemed— interestingly enough—interesting enough to me, uh, from the courses that I would take, uh, in the area of study—and urban studies is really what I say I get an education

in, because I was interested in the rise and the decline of cities, spent a significant amount of time in Europe after high school. Um Germany, traveled to Italy, traveled to other

places of the world. And I was just always fascinated with how, um, cities like, um, Rome, as an example, would have ruins, and then the new city was built on top of

it. You know, what was the social issues, the economic issues, the geopolitical issues that caused societies to decline, and then how did they rebuild out of the ashes?

And so I thought that was a fascinating area of study. Uh and so, again, political science was the—the major, but it was really urban studies was the classes that I

put together. So a little bit of sociology, a little bit of anthropology, a little statistics, a little history of civilizations, comparative studies.

So it was—I'm a, um, you know, restless soul. Uh and so I always like to be challenged. I always like to learn new things. And so I just thought that was a fascinating area

of study and it would give me a broad—broad base of experience to figure out what I wanted to do after college. And why did you decide to come to LMU?

I wanted to come home. I spent, um—after high school I spent three years in West Germany— it was West Germany at the time.

And I missed Los Angeles, so I thought about USC. It was very expensive, comparatively speaking. Um and I recall taking a tour or reading about the freshman classes, and the freshman classes—or sophomore classes, as

it might have been back then—were like auditorium full of students. And I wanted more of a personal experience with my professors.

And so when I looked at a freshman class, a sophomore class at LMU, they were—I think the one I looked at was 15 people. And I just thought that was more suited to my

learning style and my learning ability of really wanting to engage with the professor and engage with the students in a more deeper, meaningful way as opposed to being a number when roll call was taken.

And so I only applied to Loyola Marymount University, and fortunately the university agreed that I was a good student and they accepted me. Um LMU’s mission is committed to the encouragement of learning,

the education of the whole person, and to the service of faith and the promotion of justice. How important were these principles to you before coming to LMU, and did you sense the importance of these principles

during your time at LMU? I wasn't aware, or—I didn't embody the principles in the way in which LMU, uh, describes them or as you described them, reading them to me.

But my—I come from a family that service is very important. Um I was raised Catholic. My mother attended church every Sunday, um, most often on Wednesdays.

And, you know, our shared humanity, being of—of service to others, um, was always important to the family and a core value, giving back. And so it didn't seem unfamiliar to me coming to

Loyola Marymount and being in an environment where that was—those were the values that the university put out on the forefront. And so it just seemed natural for me to blend

in, to, um, accept, fulfill, you know, lead with those as core values. It just felt like home. Um what was LMU like when you were here in

terms of academics, social life, relationship to faculty, your sense of representation, racial diversity, gender diversity and things like that? That's a big question. The university experience—I was a transfer student and I

didn't live on campus, so I commuted, uh, into campus. And then I also had to work, um, to make up the difference between what the GI Bill and the Army paid for and, um, the cost of tuition.

And then living on campus just sort of put me far out of the ability to pay for college. So my experience here in terms of social life was very different.

Um, you know, I do—I'm going to start with the parties, right? Uh there was always—there was always activity that I remember. Um and maybe I'll start with the, um—

the—they would do like the little fairs. So when you—you'd have on the—on the—the walk that came in—we didn't have University Hall when I was here,

so you came in off of 78th Street, and you'd have a Student Life or clubs or sororities or fraternities. You know, there's always some activity that I can remember it’s just—it was alive and there was just this

lively, um, environment. Um I don't remember any sadness whenever I came here, it was always just sort of, you know, upbeat—

maybe finals was—was a sad part when you, you know, had to show up for finals and weren't sure how that was going to work out. They were live concerts on Fridays that I can remember.

Um I remember Tuesday was, uh, Burrito Day. So they did these like really, really good bean burritos in The Lair. And we'd sit on the little—the little knoll where, um,

The Lion is and—you know, so it was just— as an overall experience as I was reading the questions and just thinking back to my days here. And it was always fun.

Um it was joyful, it felt good to be here. Um the classes were small and really engaging. I can remember Doctor Bill Fitzgerald—rest his soul—and his Political Science 101 class, uh, I think there was maybe

12, 15 and we did our—we'd always change the chairs and we'd sit in a circle. And so there was more of a debate style, engaging learning, experiential learning that just, um, you know— just helped me

understand that this was the right choice for me because it just really brought out my, um, did—I’ll say depth of intellect, with the way in which I thought the way in which I wanted to contribute.

There wasn't a particular sort of rigor or structure. I'd say the only rigor and structure—probably religion, my religion classes. But, you know, Bob Genovese’s, um, Presidents classes, uh, took an art

history class once. Um I was a Kente Scholar with Dr. Cheryl Grills. It was always like— like college and education should be, you know, this free forming change

of ideas, debate, um, you know, and arguments, but not in a—not in a, you know, aggressive or adversarial ways. Um it was very much like many Catholic school environments.

So the preppy, you know, rowers, lacrosse players, um, more white than people of color. But as a person of color, I didn't feel not included, uh, within the campus.

Um, you know, it was just it— maybe that's why I always feel good when I come back.

It just it was a really memorable, fun, enjoyable, intellectually curious, um, sort of unstructured way in—way—way in which to experience college. Um, what was it like being a woman of color

in the 90s at LMU. Um it was fine. [Laughs.] It was fine being a woman of color. Um, you know, as I said, it's, uh, more white students than

students of color. But, um—I was older. I was three years older coming to my first college experience because I had spent three years in the—in the military

and I had spent two years in Europe. So I said Western Germany, I traveled extensively. And so with those experiences, I think I brought a

much broader perspective of being a person of color in the military, serving alongside diversity of—of—of people from the United States. I think basic training is an example, or even when

I was permanent duty station in Germany, you had people from all walks of life, and it was the first time I had to experience what it meant to be not first a woman of color, but first an American.

So my—my ethnic identity in a European context was really what I had to understand and address. And in some cases, you know, debates in Europe defend, um, you know, America's position on a geopolitical or global stage.

Then secondarily, I was a woman of color. Uh and then third, I was a woman, you know, stationed in an all-male MP unit. And so it was those set of experiences coming to

Loyola Marymount University that I wasn't bound by limitations based on my race. I had learned how to engage with and form common bonds with people from all walks of life.

And I find with that set of experiences and that sort of philosophy or belief or value system that it wasn't difficult for me to make friends and get along with everybody.

And I had a multiracial group of friends here. I had White friends. I had, um, African friends. I had, you know, Black American friends.

I had males, females. So—Latino friends— I mean, it was really more about, um, finding the common bond with people who like the same things that I

like, thought the way that I thought in the context of, um, sort of the value system. And so for—I didn't have, as a woman of color, I didn't feel as if I was a woman

of color here at LMU. Does that make sense? Yeah. Um what classes or educational program inspired you at LMU?

Hmm. Um what classes? A number of classes, I don't know if that they necessarily inspired me, but

they're classes that were memorable for me. I mentioned a couple of them. Um Bill Fitzgerald, Poli Sci 101. That's where I met my—one of my best friends

in life, John Rutledge. We used to debate, often, he'd take—you know, he'd take position A I take position B, if I took position B, he'd take position A

just to, you know, engage in deep debate. Bob Genovese’s President's class was just fascinating to me in the way in which he, um, taught about the history of presidents and their contributions to the world at that moment

I thought was fascinating. Dr. Cheryl Grills. Um she's—a teacher, she taught philosophy—psychology—psychiatry and philosophy, I think.

And, um, she was also the Kente Scholars program director and I was a Kente Scholar when I was here. And so being able to, you know, engage from her and learn about the African diaspora, um, you know, our history and origins,

you know, being African and American, the community and the engagement events that we had around that were, you know, inspiring to me. There was sort of those moments of anchoring, um, to this

university and to a group of people that I just found interesting and inspiring. You know—actually, now that I think about it—one that was very memorable to me because I did think

with the political science degree, maybe I'd go into politics— which I did for a minute—and Dr. Fernando Guerra. Uh memorable classes. I took his Sacramento seminar and as one of the, um,

the parts of the curriculum is we actually took a trip to Sacramento. So we were in the capital, and really got to, you know, experience what we were learning in class, in terms of

how our state government worked. So that was a memorable class now—now that I think about it. And he's still here.

And now a colleague of mine, which is—shows you how long I've been out of school. Um what organizations were you a part of during your time at LMU, and how did these organizations help to shape

your experience at LMU? Um I wasn't part of any organizations, I hung out, um, at the Office of Black Student Services.

Uh I was trying to think of the guy who, um, ran that program. I think his name was John, he was African, if I recall

correctly. And as a transfer student it was—and working, I didn't have time to really be engaged fully in a club.

And so when I was here on campus and if I'd spend the whole day here, depending on what my class schedule was or had to go back and forth to work, I didn't have an apartment here.

So I always have to find a place to sort of hang out. And as I recall, it had a sofa and a couch and it was always full of people just kind

of hanging out and, you know, catching up on—on homework or, you know, chit chatting or, you know, just—it was like a hangout—hangout room. So probably OBSS [Office of Black Student Services] is the one thing that I would

say if I was part of a club, it was—it was that. Um were you involved in any community activism during your time at LMU and can you describe that activism?

No community activism. No? I think there was a, um—I was trying to remember this, but the way in which the university responded was so positive student wide that it just didn't seem, um, to

need, you know, activism in the way that I think some people might think about activism. But, um, two incidents happened. I don't know—

they were around the same time. One was somebody—the statue of Junipero—somebody had thrown red paint on the statue. It was sort of the precursor between, uh—the precursor to, um,

Indigenous Peoples Day. So it was a whole conquistador and indigenous people, so that was like an incident. But the university and at least the friend groups that

we came, we kind of denounced it and move past that and were able to talk about it in dialog, probably in The Lair and other places. And then there was an incident where somebody had written

the N-word, uh, on someone's dorm. And as I recall, you know, Barbara Avery, Laney—Lane Bove and, um, this gentleman who ran OBSS, you know, it was sort of this coming together as a community to

denounce it and, you know, kind of move past it. But, you know, it was a—we didn't call it that back then, you know, where now todays, you say, you

want a safe space to talk. And it was just natural that we would come together as a—as a university campus, as I recall, to really talk about that not being the core value of

the—of the—of the university and that we all stand in solidarity and united. Um those are—so I wouldn't necessarily say there was activism on my part for a certain thing that I can

recall, but those are two incidents where there was some reaction from the university, the student body, um, but the student body, as I recall, really came together, um, in solidarity around to denounce that—those two, you know, areas of—one more of

support and the other one more of an area of hate.