The Los Angeles Loyolan, Volume 70, Issue 12 - November 18, 1992

VOL. 70 I NO. 12 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY November 18, 1992 Anger Over McKay Picture Continues to Grow Minority Students Express Frustration With Perceived Lack of University Response They're Baaack.. The I992M993 Mens < Far, a full preview of the seasod/the players and the new coach* see our full-color center spread §j ' Loving Hands Reach Out to Serve Less Fortunate By Ray Watts Editor-in-chief e tudent reaction to a racially of¬ fensive photograph found in McKay Residence Hall more than three weeks ago has expanded into adiscussion of University policy and racial tolerance. The picture of an Asian Ameri¬ can woman was emblazoned with the words “I’m a fucking V.G. Hey G.l. me so horny.. .boom boom long time.” While the photograph was taken down from the hallway between the third and fourth, floors of McKay within hours of its hanging, its impli¬ cation for minority students has grown because of what many de¬ scribe as the University’s lack of policy for hate crimes. Junior Brenda Miyamoto com¬ mented, “There is no policy to deal with this kind of hate crime. We are really pushing for a policy to be developed from this incident.” The University’s response to the incident has come in the form of two memoranda, one from Carol McNerney, Assistant Director for Residence Life, and one from Fr. Thomas P. O’Malley, S.J., Presi¬ dent of the University. The Housing memo emphasized the fact that slander of this type will not be tolerated in the Residence Halls The memo reads, “As a Univer- By Lynn Segas News Editor aome thought it would never happen, but it’s here. , The ceremonial groundbreaking of Leavey Campus will take place on December 7, at noon. The program will feature Roland Seidler, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, as the Master of Cer¬ emonies. The major address will be deliv¬ ered by University President, Fr. Thomas P. O'Malley, S.J. It will focus on the challenge that this university faces in its plans for the future. O’Malley's address will parallef one given at the original groundbreaking in 1928. In that year, Harry Culver gave the prop¬ erty, with the conditions that two buildings must be constructed in the first year for the university to keep the property. The challenge was met . Joan Gaulene, Director of Public Relations, said, "This challenge was particularly difficult given the be¬ ginning of the depression. I have confidence that any challenge sity and residence hall community, statements or expression of this nature are not tolerated. We would like to take the opportunity to apolo¬ gize to those who were offended by the flyer and to all the members of the McKay Hall community.” O’Malley’s memo, dated Novem¬ ber 9, commented on the inappro¬ priateness of the act: “As Presi¬ dent, I deplore and condemn this incident. Racism and sexism have no place at Loyola Mary mount Uni¬ versity. We must work together to eliminate both. With your participa¬ tion, I am confident that we will.” Students have reacted in many ways since the discovery of the picture. Senior AnnaGonzalez com¬ mented, “When I told a friend about the picture at first, she told me ‘What’s the big deal? It’s only -one picture and practically nobody saw it.’ But that is when I reacted. There is no such thing as a small racist or sexist act.” She added, “This picture epito¬ mized the ignorant, stereotypical image that Asian American women face throughout their lives.” Sophomore Ngoc Tram Vu com¬ mented, “As A Vietnamese woman, I am frightened with the thought President O’Malley sets for us, we will be able to meet effectively.” Gaulene said, “1 928 was the be¬ ginning of a very important era in the history of the university. As a result, we are trying to emulate, in a more modern fashion, what was done in that year.” The prayer of dedication will be delivered by Fr. Karl Von der Ahe, Treasurer of the Jesuit Community. Gaulene said, “He attended the 1 928 dedication and ceremony. He was a student a Loyola High School and had just received a new movie camera from his family.” She continued, "He came up and filmed the entire event. These are some of the records that we have been looking to in order to recreate the events of 1928.” There will be music by the Loyola Marymount University Choruses, as well. They will perform two of the original pieces from that year. They will open with “America” and will close with "Holy God.” Gaulene commented, "We hope to. have the students very much in evidence.” She continued, ”We have asked all of the Service Organizations to participate by directing people to that there is someone outthere who is filled with this much hate.” The policy on hate crimes which these students would like to see addressed was defined by David Monkawa, staff person at Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress. “If the University is seriously com¬ mitted to combating racism, sexism and intolerance, then it must adopt a policy regarding hate crimes that reflects this commitment,” he said. The policy would focus on bring¬ ing events out into the open. "The University should immediately re¬ port hate crimes to the police. The incident should be documented by photographing evidence and writ¬ ing down the facts including who said what and names of any wit¬ nesses. "A reward should be offered by the University for information about the hate crime,” he said. He also added that LMU Public safety should be a part of the inves¬ tigation. “They should be alerted and should conduct its search. It should be made known that the person who committed the crime will be tried in court for civil rights viola¬ tions,” Monkawa said. their seats, handing out programs and generally helping to make the event run smoothly. "I have ordered hard-hats for each of the members to celebrate the ceremony,” she added. There will also be the “Ceremo¬ nial Turning of the Soil,” which will indicate the beginning of the physi¬ cal building process for Leavey campus. There will be another ceremony, entitled the ’’Legacy of Soils.” Edi- tor-in-Chief of the Los Angeles Loyolan, Ray Watts, and ASLMU President, Frances Young, will mix soil from France and Spain with the soil from the present campus. Gaulene said, "The Sacred Heart tradition will be represented from the soil from France, the tradition of Ignatius will be from Spain, and the soil from California will symbolize the progress of this institution.” The program will be followed by a picnic box lunch. All faculty, students, and staff are invited. Gaulene commented that they expect about four thou¬ sand people who are very impor¬ tant to the University, such as alumni, benefactors, neighbors and friends, to be in attendance. By Ray Watts Editor-in-Chief Boving Hands, a non-prof it group that helps those in Third-World countries by sellingtheir hand-made crafts in the U.S., will be on the LMU campus on November 30 and December!. In addition to helping financially, the group also serves to raise awareness in this nation of the cul¬ tures and traditions of other, lesser known countries. The group will be selling their hand-made crafts on the Lair Patio from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. both days. According to a release by the group, the' “self-help handcraft min¬ istry” is involved with 150 artisan groups in 30 countries and 2800 church congregations in the United States. The volunteers in these churches seek to learn about the lives and needs of sisters and broth¬ ers in other parts of the world; to better understand cultural and other diversity that exists among the in¬ habitants of the earth; and to expe¬ rience ways that we depend upon and relate to each other through God’s community. Loving Hands deliberately seeks to purchase crafts only from craft producers who are economically d isadvantaged ; pays them what the artisans ask as a fair price in con- continued on page two Photo Courtesy of Serrv Money raised by Loving Hands goes to the poor around the world. Ceremonial Groundbreaking for Leavey to Recall 1928 Event "There is no such thing as a small racist or sexist act"