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Soccer player Bastien Oberli
reflects on his journey from
Switzerland to LMU.
Ftage15
LOYOLAN
September 18, 2019
EST. 1921
VOLUME 98 ISSUE 4
Photo: Owen Markham | Lovolan
The University was ranked as the 13th "Most Beautiful Campus" in the 2020 Princeton Review. 'The most beautiful place on campus for me has
got to be the freshman Bluff looking out on the city of L.A.," said Josh Seaman, a sophomore computer science major.
LMU ranks
No. 64 in
the nation
Students and faculty
speak on the University's
prestigious ranking.
Molly Jean Box
Asst. News Editor
@LALoyolan
Out of the 399 schools in the National
Universities category, LMU was recently
ranked No. 64 in the 2020 U.S. News
& World Best Universities Report. The
University received an overall score of
59/100
from the publication.
"LMU ranks among the top universities
in the country for service learning," said
LMU alumna and Senior Vice President
for Student Affairs Lane Bove. "fit is] a
reflection of our students’ commitment
to become global citizens, putting their
knowledge into action and working to meet
the world’s greatest needs."
In a post published by the LMU
Newsroom, President Timothy Law
Snyder, Ph.D. attributed the University’s
designation as one of the best colleges in
the country to its commitment to academia,
student creativity and global impact.
See Ranking | Page 2
Students given three weeks notice of
canceled study abroad program
Students were left without
housing or classes, and faculty in
Argentina were left without jobs.
Sofia Hathorn
Asst. News Editor
@LALoyolan
Casa de la Mateada (CASA), a study
abroad program in Cordoba, Argentina, was
canceled for the fall semester.
The cancellation means the 12 students
from LMU, Saint Louis University and
College of the Holy Cross, as well as the two
alumni leaders signed up for the program,
will no longer spend their fall semester
abroad in Argentina. The program will also
not be open to students in the future.
The students were informed in an email by
Study Abroad Advisor Pamela Underwood
that the University had canceled the
program. The email stated that the “proper
infrastructure” of the program didn’t meet
standards of “providing students with a safe
and high-quality study abroad experience.”
The program was supposed to begin
on Aug. 10. The email came on Thursday
July 18, three weeks before the group
was supposed to depart. This left students
unregistered for classes and without housing
just weeks before the semester began.
“It was hard finding the classes that I
needed,” said Naila Vasquez, a sophomore
psychology major and CASA student.
"Some [classes] I got in the day before
school started.”
The CASA students for the fall semester
sent a letter to LMU administration with a
list of requests following the cancellation,
according to John Lopez, a senior computer
science major and CASA student.
The requests focused on full financial
reimbursement, including scholarship
money, fees and no additional housing
costs beyond what the students had already
budgeted for Argentina.
In a statement to the Loyolan, Roberta
Espinoza, the vice provost for global-local
initiatives, wrote that the Study Abroad
Office has been working with the students
to provide them with help to meet their
individual needs.
However, the only reimbursement the
students received was for their plane ticket,
according to Lopez. Lopez said that he
received a scholarship to study in Argentina,
but now will not get any of that money, as he
cannot study abroad in the future due to his
status as a senior.
The CASA program has been in effect
for six years. Students took classes at La
Universidad Catolica de Cordoba and
practiced CASA's mission of community,
accompaniment, spirituality and academics,
according to Mary Schell, a CASA alumna
from 2018, who was hired as a community
coordinator for the fall 2019 semester.
The program, according to its students,
was a deeply meaningful and transformative
experience. “CASA was one of the hardest
things I’ve ever done in my life, but it
was also one of the most beautiful and
rewarding,” said Schell.
In 2015, the program was suspended
for the fall semester due to the “economic
stability in Argentina,” as previously
reported by the Loyolan.
See Study Abroad | Page 2
via Mary Schell
CASA students of the 2018 spring program smile as a group. One of the program's
alumna, Mary Schell, described it as "beautiful and rewarding."
