Los Angeles LOYOLAN
Vol. 48 — No. 17
A LOYOLA-MARYMOUNT STUDENT PUBLICATION
May 24, 1971
Financial data published,
breakdown of vital figures
By Schwartz and McKean
(The decision to publish this ar¬
ticle, which contains financial
data basic tp the operation of Loy¬
ola University, was not made
lightly.
Despite requests by Rev. Don¬
ald P. Merrifield, S J., president
of Loyola, not to print it we be¬
lieve that our action is justified
when viewed within the context of
the events of the past year.
During the spring term of last
year, the Administration agreed
to begin negotiations with stu¬
dents On the possibility of releas¬
ing a complete financial state¬
ment.
Over the summer, Merrifield in¬
dicated to students that he would
release financial data, and during
the Fall term of this year he
agreed to include a breakdown by
academic departments, which
was vital for the determination of
academic priorities. Also at that
time, Merrifield indicated that the
information would be released
within a very short time.
During the course of the year,
the Loyolan obtained a document
specifying university expenditures
for the academic year 1 1969-70.
However, in light of the fact that
Merrifield had indicated that he
would soon release even more
complete information, we decided
not to publish this data imme¬
diately.
To date, however, Merrifield has
not honored his commitment to
release a departmental budget,
and for this reason, among others,
we believe our decision to publish
this information is the right one.
These data are, as Merrifield
has repeatedly stressed, in¬
complete. They do not include
revenue, and in many cases are
Hot allocated in the manner in
which they might be in a final fi¬
nancial statement.
Nevertheless, they do indicate
the priorities of the university,
and for that reason will, we hope,
inspire informed, reasonable de¬
bate on the goals and methods of
the university.
We have repeatedly offered
Merrifield the opportunity to re¬
ply to or supplement our informa¬
tion in any way he deems appro¬
priate. He has, however, not only
rejected this opportunity, but, ac¬
cording to his Special Assistant
Joaquin A
с о
s t a, threatened
serious consequences if theLoyo-
lan prints this information.
We welcome the differences of
opinion which will be created by
the publication of this -informa¬
tion. It is only through dis¬
agreement and discussion that a
more mature understanding of the
workings of the university will
emerge).
(The Editors)
The Loyolan has obtained fi¬
nancial documents comprising a
record of expenses for Loyola Uni¬
versity during the academic year
1969-70. .
The documents, titled “Finan¬
cial Report Before Direct Alloca¬
tions/’ “Direct Allocations,” and
“Financial Report After Direct
Allocations,” provide reliable
though not complete information
on how and where university
funds were spent, thus providing
(Continued on Page 3)
Top speakers will appear
in Berrigan Forum at LA
By Mike Malak
The Berrigan brothers, objects
of a recent Federal Bureau of In¬
vestigation manhunt will be the
subjects of a forum to be held on
Tuesday, May 25. The topic of the
event is /Conscience versus Con¬
spiracy.”
The program is being scheduled
in order to educate the students
and faculty of Loyola-Marymount
about the trial and, according to
one of the organizers of the fo¬
rum, “the repressive actions of
the federal government.”
The forum will coincide with the
arraignment of Philip Berrigan,
S.J., Neil McLaughlin, Sr. Eliza¬
beth McAlister, and other mem¬
bers of the East Coast Conspiracy
to End the War. They are charged
with conspiracy to kidnap a feder¬
al official, conspiracy to destroy
government property, and con¬
spiracy to disrupt the orderly op¬
erations of the federal govern¬
ment
The program had originally
been scheduled for June 4th, but
permission for that date was re-
The Afro-American Studies Department of Loyola-Marymount sponsored “Black Culture Week” May
14-19. Events of the week included an art exhibit in the President’s Lounge.
Acosta threats
Faculty, students state reactions
fused by the office of the Assist¬
ant Dean of Students, Rev. Rich¬
ard Robin, S.J., because “it
would interfere with the last
weekend before final, exams.”
Robin stated that rib activities
would be allowed that weekend on
campus.
The forum was originally desig¬
nated as a “rally,” but was forced
to undergo a name change at the
direction of Rev. Donald P. Mer¬
rifield, S.J., University President,
in order “to keep the chancery off
my back,” according to Don Nel¬
son, organizer of the forum.
Despite these alterations of
time and name, the only other
problem forseen by the organizers
of the event was the threat of
the presence of FBI agents.
The forum will take place in
two sessions, day and evening.
The day session will begin at ap¬
proximately 10:30 a.m. and will
continue until 3:30 p.m. The eve¬
ning session will begin at 7:30
p.m. and end around 10:00 p.m.
These times are subject to the ar-
(Continued on Page 7)
By Mitch Rosplock
The intensity of reaction to the
recent threats made by Joaquin
Acosta/as reported in last week’s
issue of the Loyolan has been
varied. The reactions seem to
convey a variety of attitudes by
faculty and students as to the
problem of printing the financial
data discovered by the Loyolan.
Some faculty members declined
to comment on the threats and
others totally disagree with the
idea of printing the “stolen” fi¬
nancial data at all.
Many students and faculty alike
were appalled to hear such
threats made by a special assist¬
ant to the president and some
merely passed off the accusations
as a matter to be joked about.
Dr. Gary Lease stormed into
the Loyolan office last week and
made references to the threats,
w o n d e r i n g just what power
Acosta had in allowing himself to
make such statements. Lease was
also concerned with other actions
that Acosta had taken, primarily
pointing to the letter which Acosta
had sent to all faculty members,
asking them to report their legis¬
lative contacts.
Dr. Frank Sullivan, English
professor and chairman of the
Rank and Tenure Committee,
seemed to think that the threats
were more emotional than any¬
thing else. Sullivan noted that
Acosta has come to Loyola from
another school where there is not
the daily student - administrator
interaction that Loyola has. Since
this is only Acosta’s first year
here, Sullivan noted that perhaps
he found the environment some¬
what different here, in that there
is constant pressure and contact
between faculty, administration
and students.
/‘He probably just struck out,”
Sullivan s t ated. He felt that
Acosta’s remarks to the Loyolan’s
editor were comparable to trying
to tell a child to get to bed when
he doesn’t want to.
Dr. Frank Carothers, chairman
of the English department was
asked to comment on Acosta’s
statement. Carothers released
this statement to the press:
“If Mr. Acosta has been quoted
accurately in the Loyolan, and I
trust that tie has, I am sorry that
a man like that has been placed in
a position where he feels he can
use his power arbitrarily. If he is
really in a position to carry out
the threats of muzzling the Loyo¬
lan by completely unilateral ac¬
tion, its budget and its moderator,
it certainly ought to be a man
With more perception and under¬
standing than Mr. Acosta seems
to have.
“Actually, I think that Mr.
Acosta is suffering from delusions
of grandeur. I would suggest that
he consult the statutes and policy
governing the university commu¬
nications media and he would find
that there are rational and just
means for resolving issues that he
is attempting to resolve with a
bludgeon.”
Ron Fields, ASLU President,
felt that Acosta’s threats were
somewhat “childish.” Fields
noted that despite continuous
promises made by Merrifield of a
complete budget to be released, a
complete budget would probably
never be in existence. Fields said
that compiling financial data is a
year-long process and that there
is probably never any one time
when the budget is really com¬
plete.
Fields felt that if Acosta’s
threats are as serious as they ap¬
pear tp be, then Acosta is “tread¬
ing on very serious waters.”
Grover McKean, student repre¬
sentative in many areas, said
that in a discussion with Fr.
Merrifield, it was mentioned
by the president that there was a
certain amount of laughter over
the matter at the faculty advisors
meeting to the president and that
there was not a great deal of con¬
cern expressed.
In another Loyolan interview,
Joaquin Acosta was asked why he
had stated the threats he did as
reporte in last week’s issue. *
Acosta wanted to begin by cor¬
recting what he called a mis¬
understanding.
“It was suggested by me and
very clearly defined on behalf of
the president that there was a
possibility of campus concern
with the publication of material
that was ‘stolen’ and incomplete,”
Acosta stated.
Acosta further said that at no
time would there be a recommen¬
dation by the administration that
the Loyolan moderator be
changed.
McKean, also present at the in¬
terview, noted that Merrifield had
informed him that if the Loyolan
printed the financial data he
(Merrifield) would reconsider the
position of the moderator.
In the Loyolan article of May
17, it was reported that Acosta
had said that he would likewise
reconsider the position of the
moderator if the budget informa¬
tion was published. Acosta firmly
stated at the May 20 interview
that he had never made such a
statement about the moderator.
As for threatening to change the
budget of the Loyolan, Acosta
stated what he felt to be many ,
“hypothetical possibilities.”
(Continued on Page 7)
