September 7, 1976 Vol. 54 No. 1
Police arrest suspect, 23,
in numerous LMU assaults
By Cary Darling
Los Angeles Police have arrested
a local man in connection with the
series of rapes and assaults which
have occurred at Loyola Mary-
mount since last October.
Gary Eckman, 23, was booked on
suspicion of rape, attempted "rape,
assault with intent to commit
murder, assault with a deadly
weapon and oral copulation. He is
being held at Los Angeles County
jail on $25,000 bail.
Eckman was taken into custody
August 11 following the latest
assault, which took place August 9
at 10:30 p.m. in the parking lot
behind Seaver Hall.
Two women working for the
Hibbard Cheerleader Camp, a reg¬
ular summer program at LMU,
were approached by a man wedd¬
ing a knife. Their screams alerted
LMU Security officers, who pur¬
sued the suspect off campus and
took his vehicle’s license plate.
Eckman was later arrested at his
home on Belford Avenue. The car
was registered to Eckman *s mo¬
ther.
These last two women bring the
total number of assault and/or rape
victims to six. The previous four
were:
A woman was assaulted on
October 26, near the campus post
office at 2:30 a.m. The woman was
alone and the assailant was armed
with a knife . She was not seriously
injured.
Another woman was assaulted
on November 6, 1975, at 2:30 p.m.,
betwen the library and the Com¬
munication Arts building. Again,
the woman was not injured.
A woman was again assaulted on
December 20, 1975, at 1 a.m., near
the bluff. The attempted murder
charge against Eckman stems from
this incident. The suspect alleged¬
ly took a woman down toward the
Summa Corporation property, and
allegedly fired several shots at
Hughes Security and L . A . P. D .
There were no injuries and the
woman escaped unharmed.
On July 15, 1976, at midnight, on
Sullivan Field, a woman was alleg¬
edly raped. The rapist was armed
with a knife.
LMU Security Chief James Kirk-
ley was pleased with the arrest of
Eckman, and the role his men took
in his apprehension.
“I’m very pleased by the work of
the people in our department,”
Kirkley said, adding that he was
proud that people at LMU could
look to Security with greater con¬
fidence.
Kirkley noted that Eckman has
one prior arrest for rape, but that
evidently no conviction was ob¬
tained. The Los Angeles District’s
Attorney’s office indicated Eckman
had an arrest dating from August
1975, but did not specify the
charge.
Kirkley also claimed that Eck¬
man had been identified by all
victiips at various police lineups.
Eckman will appear for a preli¬
minary hearing tomorrow morning
in Superior Court in Santa Monica.
Eckman, who is being represented
by a public defender, will not enter
a plea, according to his attorney.
Should he eventually plead not
guilty, a trial date will be set.
Various measures have been
taken since the initial assaults, in
response to student demands that
Security better cope with increas¬
ing campus violence. Special
emergency phones have been in¬
stalled, more manpower has been
added, and lighting has been
increased.
Self-defense classes and rape
seminars offered suggestions, in¬
cluding the carrying of whistles on
campus. Male students also of¬
fered escort services to those
walking on campus late at night.
After the first assault, Kirkley
told the Loyolan, “There is no
place that is totally safe; A campus
like LMU which has so many
resident students and is located in
a secluded area, can and will create
and draw problems.”
Law school gets HEW grant
Students at Loyola Law School
have begun training for a unique
clinical program designed to deal
with the legal problems of drug
addicts. The program is funded by
a $165,831 Federal grant awarded
over the summer.
It is the first grant made to a law
school by the National Institute of
Drug Abuse of the Department of
Health, Education arid Welfare
Previously, grants had been award¬
ed only to schools of medicine and
social work.
James Calahan, mental health
advisor to the institute, called the
grant “an important new step in
involving the legal profession in the
problems of rehab ilitating drug
addicts.”
Nine students have enrolled in
the program, and placement in
various rehabilitation clinics in the
area is the next step. Professor
Gerald F. Uelmen, director of the
program, is enthusiatic about its
beginning.
“We applied for a grant over a
year ago,” he said, explaining that
the fact no law school had ever
received such an award may have
aided in Loyola’s getting it.
“They were intrigued by the
prospect,” Uelmen said, adding
that HEW is looking on the Loyola
program as a prototype.
Students, under the supervision
of an attorney, will counsel addict
patients regarding legal problems.
These problems will cover a wide
area, according to Uelmen.
He hopes that the program will
have its greatest impact in cases
where society discriminates illegal¬
ly against the addict. Employment
discrimination, denial of licenses,
and divorce and child custody cases
where an addict parent is an issue
are such cases.
“The one thing we don’t want to
do is duplicate services that are
already available,” Uelmen said,
emphasizing that only in except¬
ional cases will the program actual¬
ly attempt to counsel or defend an
addict against criminal charges.
Students will also participate in
intensive classroom programs to
familiarize themselves with the
legal aspects of drug abuse, in
addition to their clinic work.
Uelmen said that the program
will use a strong interdisciplinary
approach. The grant, which will
fund the program for three years,
will also cover the involvement of
drug abuse experts from the fields
of medicine, psychiatry, social
work and police science.
Frederick Lower, Jr. , Dean of the
Law School, said, “Only by first-
hand observation and participation
can students gain a real appreciat¬
ion of the dimensions of a client’s
problem.
“This is especially true of a
client with a drug problem,” Lower
continued, “and we are pleased
that this grant will give us the
opportunity to expose law students
to the actual problems of drug
addicts in the setting of rehabili¬
tation programs, ”
, , . _ Inside
Analysis .... . . . I . . . .... I . . . page 8
The depletion of the ozone layer is the ultimate environmental
scare. Jeff Taxier investigates the floufocarbon controversy in this
timely article.
Art . . ........ . . . . . . . . page 9
Artist Mike Street, a recent LMU graduate, opens his first gallery
exhibition on Wishire Blvd. Paul Stiver and Jim Hillson discuss
Mike’s approach to the ugly, pretty, bizarre and intriguing aspects
of his art and interests.
Starting with this issue the Loyolan begins covering news and
events of the Loyola Law School campus in downtown Los Angeles.
Each week news and information about the Law School will
become a regular facet of Loyolan coverage.
Loyola Marymount University
Over 700 Freshmen trooped to campus for orientation procedures - tours,
dances, counseling and above, registering for parking stickers.
Clark's selection of Hoffner
upheld by Grievance board
The University Grievance Com¬
mittee has decided that Dr. James
Hoffner, associate professor of
Education, will be the new Chair¬
man of the Department, after the
previous Chairman, Professor Alex
Aloia, disputed Hoffner’s selec¬
tion.
Last Spring, the Department
voted 6-4 to retain Aloia, who had
been chairman since 1973. Rev.
John Clark, S.J., Vice President of
Academic Affairs, overruled the
department’s vote and named Hof¬
fner, who was runner-up in the
election, the new chairman.
Aloia, along with members of the
department who supported him,
then complained about Clark to the
Grievance Committee.
The Committee decided Clark
was entirely within his right to
overrule the department vote. The
faculty Handbook specifies that
department votes are never final
but serve as recommendations to
the deans and the President.
Department votes, however,
have seldom been overruled, and
Clark himself last spring said that
such action is usually taken only for
very serious reasons, although he
would not disclose his reasons then
or now.
“Any administrator worth his
salt sometimes has to take what
might be an unpopular position, if
he thinks it’s for the betterment of
the institution,” Clark stated.
Clark went on to say that the
Grievance Committee did “an ex¬
tremely competent job. One of the
things we’ve learned this year is
the strength of our grievance
procedure.”
Last spring several members of
the Education Department indica¬
ted that the controversy had split
them between those supporting
Aloia and those favoring Hoffner.
Aloia felt that the problems
stemmed from a breakdown in
comhiunications between Clark and
the department. That, however, is
being changed, according to Clark.
“We have both made efforts to
meet together, to discuss our own
common situation,” said Clark.
“We have a common interest at
heart, and that’s the betterment of
the institution, and the strength
and continued growth of the Educa¬
tion Department. I’m extremely
optimistic.”
Hoffner, the new chairman, ec¬
hoed this. “In our first meeting,
the entire department felt we were
off to an excellent start.
Hoffner said, “I’m not aware of
any split, as far as I’m concened.”
Declining to comment on Clark’s
role in voiding the election, Hoffner
continued, “The election is past
history. I see nothing to gain from
rehashing.it.”
He stated he felt the department
was strong, unified and that “there
is no room for any pettiness here.”
Alfred Lightfoot, Associate Pro¬
fessor of Education, supported
Aloia last spring. He still felt that
he had been personally disenfran¬
chised by Clark’s action, but could
not speak for other members of the
department. “I think things have
subsided considerably,” he said.
“I feel very comfortable with the
decision as it has been made now,
because I feel that there’s been a
tremendous amount of communica¬
tion that has come as a result of the
action taken before Grievance,” he
said, adding that the communica¬
tion is much better now than it was
before.
He also cited efforts Hoffner
made to be open with each individ¬
ual department member who had
supported Aloia, and also what he
called “overtures” from Clark, “in
(Continued on Page 12)
