New Vice President Finds Old Friends
Loyolan photo by Gigi Santos
The newest member of Fr. Loughran's Administrative Staff Fr. Charles R.
Gagan, S.J., fills Ken Daponte’s shoes as the Vice President of University Rela¬
tions. y. :
By TINA WELSH
Loyolan Editor-in-Chief
His is the newest face at LMU. Yet
some who saw him strolling^across
campus last week offered enthusiastic
greetings to a man who was as familiar to
them as the disparate buildings that line
Alumni Mall.
On January 21, 1985, Charles R.
Gagan, S.J. left the University of San
Francisco to assume a new role as LMU
Vice President of University Relations, a
position vacated by Ken Daponte almost a
year ago. Although he has been here only
seven days, Gagan’ s office in the universi¬
ty relations building has seen a steady
stream of well-wishing visitors. But
perhaps that has something to do with the
eight years he spent as Loyola High
School principal.
“I’ve seen a lot of kids here that I knew
from Loyola High,” Gagan commented
in an interview late last week. “So many
of them have come by to say hi. It’s great
to see them... It’s good to see they haven’t
been arrested!” he joked.
! Those who graduated from St. Ignatius
College Prep, in 1983 or ’84 might also
recognize Gagan as the man who guided
them in their choice of LMU.
“I was Senior Counsellor for college
admissions at St. Ignatius — S.I., as they
call it — for the last two years,” Gagan
said. When he was not counselling college-
bound seniors, Gagan busied himself with
his diurnal duties as the assistant superior
of the Jesuit community at USF — a posi¬
tion he held from 1980 through last Mon¬
day.
“I was in charge of the daily chores —
the kitchen, the staff — it was almost like
being a hotel manager,” he recalled.
He began his work at USF after leaving
Loyola High School, a move which, he
lamented, broke his heart.
“I love L.A.,” he confessed. “There’s
such a -mobility here that is taken for
granted. At Loyola High, we had such a
great cross section of kids from all over
L A. The punks over here, the surfers over
there. The kids from the Valley, the kids
from Beverly Hills. An eclectic bunch.”
This devotion to L. A. is unusual for a
man who calls himself “a born and bred
San Franciscan.”
“In 1972, when my Jesuit superior first
told me he was sending me to Los Angeles,
I was horrified,” said the native Northern
Californian. “But I found a richness here
— different people from different places
— and I fell in love with L.A.”
He sees the same richness at LMU.
4 ‘The people here are very warm, very sup¬
portive. The students have been very
friendly to me, and the faculty members
I’ve spoken with say there is a good sense
of direction under Fr. Loughran.”
Gagan heard about the Vice Presiden¬
tial job through some Jesuit friends. He
applied for the position in November,
went through the interview process with
the Board of Trustees, and won the post
over Interterm. Loughran said Gagan was
chosen for his leadership and manage¬
ment at Loyola High Schoolv for his
“energy, eloquence, and tact,” and
because he is a man who “knows well, and
is well-known in Southern California.”
“There’s so much to do,” Gagan said,
but not without his characteristic en¬
thusiasm. “There are openings to fill in
University Relations, we have to start rais¬
ing funds... the greatest project I have fac¬
ing me now is learning about all the people
— reaching out to them.”
In the meantime, the carpet outside
Gagan’s office will, most assuredly, re¬
main a well-trodden path . ■
Honors Program: Students and Teachers Disagree
By GINA MANCHA
Loyolan Asst. News Editor
Is Loyola Marymount University’s
honors core program as beneficial
and rewarding as it is purported to be?
Some students seem to think not.
There has been a decrease in the
number of honors students, especially in
the sophomore class, and the main ob¬
jection among them seems to be that the
program is exceedingly demanding.
“It’s not as great as it’s hyped up to
be. They (the department’s advocates)
say it’s really great because you get to be
in smaller classes which increases input
and promotes better discussion, but, it’s
really a lot more woW than anything
else. ‘ 4
“Sure, we’re honors students, but
that doesn’t mean we should have to do
homework every waking hour. Teachers
should realize we’re not superhuman,”
stated one disillusioned student.
She further commented, “I feel no
more enriched for having taken honors
classes than I do for having taken
regular courses.”
Another of the program’s former
students remarked, “the honors classes
are supposed to be advantageous
because they allow teachers to relate to
students on a one-to-one basis.
However, all the professors don’t really
try td work as such and sometimes a stu¬
dent will fall behind and stay there
because a teacher won’t slow down.
“Often it seems their attitude is that
they’re going to teach with the expecta¬
tion that we will automatically learn it
because we’re honor students.”
She, too, feels that, “basically, we
were given more work than the students
in regular core classes and I don’t know
that that is the right way to do it.”
One student, however, who remains in
the progr am believes that * despite its
many shortcomings, the program is
beneficial in the long run. “There is a
great deal of pressure because you have
to maintain a minimum G.P.A. of 3.5.
each semester or face probation.
“I went through a period where I
wasn’t sure if I was learning to learn or
just to get the G.P.A. Sometimes, I
would shy away from taking electives I
was really interested in because I knew I
might not do well in them and that
would lower my G.P.A. I came close to
washing out but stuck it out and now the
pressure doesn’t bother me as much,”
he confessed.
“Survival skills only come with at
least two semesters experience and I
think the amount of pressure involved
depends on the individual student. The
program is a good idea. I like the
benefits of the smaller classes and we get
the best professors in every department
to teach the core curriculum,” he con¬
cluded.
According to Dr. Aharon Locy, direc¬
tor of the Honors Program, the program
does have high standards, but its policy
has never been to impose a larger
workload on the students. “The pro¬
gram stresses qualitative rather than
quantitative achievement,” she explain¬
ed
“Some students’ perception might be
that there is more work involved, but
they may have had a professor who nor¬
mally demands a lot from all of his
students,” she added. Locy also men¬
tioned that, “some students put pressure
on themselves. No matter where they
are, they are going to push themselves.
I’ve had students who have left the pro¬
gram tell me they still find themselves
under a lot of pressure.”
Each year the Honors Committee
evaluates the incoming freshman class
and makes a selection from the top rank¬
ing students. Though students admitted
to the program are required to have at
least a 3.5 G.P.A. and an SAT score of
1200 or more, the committee tries to
carefully weigh other factors, such as
motivation and willingness to fully par¬
ticipate in the program.
Unfortunately, according to Locy,
sometimes students, “who ought not be
in the program from the very beginning,
get in.
“We have had problems with the
sophomore honors class. Few of them
are left. Overall, though, the number of
students in the program has been consis¬
tent throughout the years. Drops in
enrollment occur every once in a while.
Sometimes you get a class which, for
some reason, has more attrition,” she
added. ■
