LOS ANGELES LOYOLAN
VOL. 51 NO. 10 A LOYOLA MARYMOUNT PUBLICATION January 28, 1974
300 students attend
birth control rally
Rick Humm, assistant to the President of the University, speaking at last Thursday’s student rally, told the
crowd of over 300 students that there would be a tuition increase to $2200 for the next school year. John A.
Pfaffinger, vice president for business affairs, told the Loyolan that he was recommending a $200 increase in
tuition to the Board of Trustees. If the Board OK’s the recommendation next year’s tuition would be $2250.
Planned Parenthood prefers pill
Last Thursday, January 24, at 11
a*m., a student rally was held on
Regent's Terrace concerning the
University ’ s decision to
discontinue dispensing birth
control from the Health Center.
Under bright: sunny, warm
Winter skies, a turnout of over 300
people heard four main speakers
discuss what they felt were the
primary issues involved. Other
viewpoints were expressed by a
variety of students after the main
presentation.
The first speaker was Debbie
"Barthel, a member of the Board
of Governors. She discussed the
evolution of the birth control
issue, paying particular attention
to the XX and Loyolan articles
which first made the Health
Center’s policy of dispensing
birth control pills public. She
talked about the ramifications of
the Loyolan article and how the
issues it brought up eventually
resulted in the Rev. Donald P.
: Merrifielcfs d^cisiontocancel the
birth control program.
Concerning the decision.
Barthel said, “I feel personally
insulted as a student.” She said
the decision “violates the basic
principles involved in coming to a
university.”
The next speaker was Pat
Michell, editor of the Loyolan. He
said that by making the students
aware of the Health Center’s birth
control service he had done so in
good conscience. “We felt it was a
service students should know
about,” he said. Michell discussed
the Loyolan sex survey, and felt
that its findings indicated that
students had not been aware that
the Health Center offered birth
control pills. v
He also talked about the doctor,
patient relationship and said,
“The University has no right to
At it's weekly meeting, in ex¬
ecutive session, the Board of
Governors determined to send
the results of the recent stu¬
dent elections concerning addi¬
tional funding of SGI A to the
Judicial Council for a decision
on their validity .
The total votes cast in the
election were 988, 12 votes
short of the 1000 required by
the J udicial Council . Richard
Arredondo, ASLM Attorney
General, cited a precedent for
accepting such results in last
year’s football election where
the votes cast also fell short of
the required total.
If the Judicial Council votes
to accept the results, then the
Board of Governors will be per-
limit the confidentiality between a
doctor and his patient.”
Next up on the podium was Rick
Humm, assistant to the President.
He first defended Merrifield's
action, and said, “He's a Catholic
Priest who’s President of a
Catholic school.' ' Humm then said
that he felt Merrifield's decision
was in conflict with ‘ ‘Catholic
h uma n i s m . ' Humm t h e n
lambasted the University, and
Merrifield for the many times it
has not consulted with students on
issues that were, vitally important
to them. Two issues he hit on
hardest were the Women's Center
and the Complete Semester .
Humm also said that tuition for
the next school year would go up
to $2200. (The Loyolan checked
this with John A. Pfaffinger, vice
president for business affairs,
who said that he was
recommending an increase to
$2250 for next year's tuition. )
Humm said that the University
was “not looking into the needs of
the students/’ r
The last scheduled speaker was
John Sessions, director of
Uni ver s it
у
re 1 at i
о
ns. H e
concerned his “brief reflections”
with a discussion on the
“development of conscience” in
the Catholic Church, and how
Merrifield’s decision was
hypocritical , and ‘ ‘not logical ' ’
while concerning the issue of
“individual conscience. ”
Dave Hymen got up to speak for
Merrifield's decision. He said that
we all knew when we applied here
that the school was Catholic and
said that those students who want
birth control can “go down the
block to Sav-On.”
Other students followed -Hymen
to the microphone, expressing
varied opinions either for or
against the University policy.
mitted to vote whether or not
to1 appropriate an additional
$10,000 to SGIA.
In other action, the board
voted a grant of $308 to the
volleyball team to* make up a
s p arse athletic department
budget. Several members of
the board were adamant that
this be a one-time-only, deal.
They stated that the board did
not want to get involved in fi-
n a n c i n g another sport on
campus. The board currently
finances the ASLM student
football program. ,
The Board also voted $150 to
the Arnold Air Society for com¬
munity service projects and
$120 to the Inter Fraternity
Council for a forthcoming vol-
by Jeff Taxier
“I have a good analogy about
the Catholic policy on birth
control,” said the Rev. Robert
H. lies, M. Div. “It’s like giv¬
ing a beer party and locking all
the bathrooms.”
lies, an Episcopalian priest
with a degree from the Vir¬
ginia Theological Seminary, is
a birth control and abortion
counselor at the Planned Par¬
enthood office in downtown
LA.
He was introduced to the
Loyolan by Mike Moshizuki of
Planned Parenthood’s public
relations office, after explain¬
ing to Moshizuki what LMU’s
new birth control policy was
and how it came about. Mosh¬
izuki discussed the issue.
leyball tournament to be open
to all students, f
Mary Salinas, a board mem¬
ber, was given $200 for a com¬
muter party, held last Wednes¬
day. The party was an attempt
to get commuter students to¬
gether as a body. Salinas said*
that about 75 to 100 people
sh owed up .. She sai d tha t it
vyould be held in the future on a
monthly basis.
Due to Alfredo Magallanes’
resignation, it became neces¬
sary to replace him* on two
standing committees. Raul Mi-
jares took his place on the
Foot ball Board of Trustees,
and Cathie Farley took his
place, on the Elections Com¬
mittee.
He said that Planned Parent¬
hood would support any effort
to reinstate birth control at
L
о у о
1 a Marymount “very
heavily,” but “there seems no
avenue open, traditionally,” he
said. Recommending legal
counsel to those interested in
overturning Fr. Merrifield’s
decision, Moshizuki felt that
“legal action may be only used
politically.”
He commented that he was
no legal expert, but said that
Planned Parenthood had run
across similar cases before and
that legal action had always
been helpful.
lies was somewhat familiar
with the Loyola Marymount
campus. He, said that two
years ago he was a guest lec¬
turer in one of Rhonda Cher-
vin’s, associate professor of
philosophy, Philosophy of Love
classes. “That was the worst
reception any class ever gave
me in all the time I’ve been a
guest lecturer, ’ ’ said lies.
“It seems,” he continued,
“that a couple of days previous
to my talk, a spokesman for
the Right to Life league gave a
lecture to the class. The class
had the unfortunate misunder¬
standing that I was lecturing in
favor of abortion.
“Abortion is very tragic,”
said lies.” “That is one of the
reasons Merrifield's decision is
so tragic.”
lies said that the choice to
remove birth control was real¬
ly the choice for abortion. “The
Church’s stand on birth control
is directly contradictory to
their stand on abortion," said
lies.
Certain studies regarding
abortion, pointed out lies,
showed that the percentage of
Catholics was higher than their
percentage in the general pub¬
lic. “The Papal encyclical on
human life is unlogical,” stated
lies. “It is not natural for hu¬
mans to time sex with their
ovulatory cycles,” as is done in
the Church-approved rythm
method.
In the practical sense, he
said that Merrifield's decision
would ultimately result in
“more unwanted pregnancy."
lies said, that students would
not refrain from sex with the
new policy, and if Merrifield
was trying to curtail pre¬
marital sex with his decision it
was “unwise.”
lies said that nonetheless,
Merrifield. did have the right to
make the decision, both as the
University president and as a
Catholic priest. He mentioned
that LMU students should not
have been surprised at the de¬
cision, and knew when they ap¬
plied that they were applying
to a Catholic institution.
While acknowledging Mer¬
rifield's right to make the deci¬
sion, lies said that virtually ev¬
ery Catholic priest and/or
counselor that he knew was
against the Church's policy
concerning birth control.
Although the decision was a
Catholic one, lies felt that the
decision definitely was not a
, Christian one. “God gave man
the ability to make choices and
accept the responsibility of his
choices. This decision takes
that away. The Christian thing
to do would be to make many
choices and alternatives avail¬
able,” said lies.
Neither Merrifield's decision,
nor the attitude of the Catholic
(Continued on Page 6)
Board of Governors
SGIA falls 12 votes short
