The Los Angeles Loyolan, Volume 71, Issue 4 - September 15, 1993

L os» A n g e 1 e s LOYOLAN VOL. 71 • NO. 4 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY September 15,1993 Leavey Dirt Removal By Innovative Structure Mile-Long Conveyor Belt to Move 10,000 Yards Daily By Lynn Segas News Editor Brburidbreaking was not’just a ceremonial event in Gersten Pavilion last year. Leavey Campus is Underway! More than 500,000 cubic yards of soil have been moved from what will become the access road to other portions of Leavey Campus. How¬ ever, Loyola Marymount University will not remove the soil by the usual method, using trucks, and creating excessive noise. Officials at LMU wanted to “mini¬ mize inconvenience to our neigh¬ bors and avoid disrupting traffic on nearby streets during the grading of Leavey Campus,” said David Trump, vice president of facilities management. Tb find a solution, LMU reached an agreement with Maguire Thomas Partners to move the soif by conveyor down the bluffs To the farmer HughesAircraft site fegjow. •Since hhase one of construction has begun? LMU worked <ailsum- mer grading the new access road, which winds from Hughes Terrace all the way through Leavey campus to the main campus. Marvin Bluestein, Project Man¬ ager, said, “The archeologists and paleontologists who were monitor¬ ing our grading operation have found some bowl fragments and groundstone artifacts — everyday tools used by Native Americans to process plants and foodstuffs.” He continued, “These are similar to the fragments that have been periodically uncovered on site since the 1980s.” “So far, there have been just a couple of glitches in our efforts to keep construction activities from dis- turbing our neighbors. Our land¬ scape contractor mistakenly deliv¬ ered a load of pipes to 78th Street and left them there. We got a call from a neighbor and immediately removed them,” Bluestein ex¬ plained, ^ "“Afsor a utility company "used Fordham Road for deliveriesto cam¬ pus. This date M for ^ne^r^el . continued on page two Oh a walking tour of Leavey Campus, Lynn Segas, David Trump, Vice President of Facilities Management, Frances Youngs President, ASLMU, МЯ Lane Bove, Vice President of Student Affairs, and Jon Vigano, 'Vice President of PR, ASLMU, sit on the conveyor belt that will transport lO.OOOyards of dirt daily. Admissions Over Past Three Years Remarkably Consistent Legislation to Alter Cal Grant Awards Bill Would Award Solely on Need; Merit not Considered By Lynn, Segas News Editor If Willie Brown’s proposition AB 2227 passes, independent col¬ leges stand to lose $8-10 million. \ There are two types of Cal Grants: Cal Grant A and Cal Grant B. Cal Grant A gives monetary sup¬ port to students who demonstrate financial need and strong academic ability. For example, in 1992-1993, the average income for the recipient of a Cal Grant A was $27,873 and the average QPA was 3.66. The bill text states, “Under exist¬ ing law, Cal Grant A awards are required to be used for tuition and student fees in an instructional pro¬ gram of no less than two academic years.” Cal Grant В gives financial aid to disadvantaged and low income families. The average income, in 1992- 1 993, for a recipient of Cal Grant В was $1 0,799 and the average G PA was 3.0. The text explains Cal Grant B, as well: “Cal Grant В awards are re¬ quired to be used for tuition, stu¬ dent fees and subsistence costs in an instructional program of no less than one academic year.” However, AB 2227 would elimi¬ nate any academic considerations from the issue of eligibility. The text of the bill states, ‘This bill would require that the number of applicants who did riot receive an award in the previous year be dis¬ tinguished by ethnicity, income leyel, and segment.” As it stands, 60% of the Cat Grants issued are Cal Grant A, while only 40% are Cal G rant B. Brown’s proposal would reverse that statis¬ tics, so that 60% are Cal Grant В and 40% are Cal Grant A, Orie immediate effect this would be to limit eligibility of the В cat¬ egory to only 55% of the fees and tuition in the first year. The bill text reads, “Under exist¬ ing law, a minimum of 17,400 new Cal Grant A awards and a minimum of 12,250 new Cal Grant В awards are required to be made each year. “This bill would reduce the mini¬ mum number of Cal Grant A awards each year to 12,250 and would in¬ crease the minimum number of Cal Grant В awards each year to 17,400.” If the bill passes, it would shift $10 million away from independent, four-year colleges and redirect it to community colleges. This bill was prompted by several By Damon Garcia Assistant News Editor Every year, students graduate from college with a degree iri one hand and a resume in the other. The face of America’s collegd student is constantly maturing. The educational community in this coun¬ try is continuously becoming more competitive as post-collegiate job positions become increasingly scarce due to companies scaling back on the number of employees that they are able to sustain versus what they actually need. The Admissions Department of every college and university is charged with the task of filtering through the hundreds and often thousands of applications that pum¬ mel the office throughout the year to determine who is college material. The decisions made by the Ad- missions Office four years ago will factors. One is the lack otCal Grant Fund¬ ing. The bill states, “Funding for the Cal Grant Program has not kept pace with student need, particularly since the imposition of new student fee increases. Consequently, four out of five students who are eligible for Cal Grant awards are denied the awards.” The bill also cites Inequities in Cal Grant Awards: “ There is grow¬ ing evidence that the students de¬ nied Cal Grant awards are substan¬ tially more needy than those receiv¬ ing awards. Further, the unsuccess* ful applicants are more ethnically diverse than the successful appli¬ cants.” reach their culmination with the Commencement Exercises qccurjng this spring. Matthew X. Fissinger, Director of Admissions forLMtl, has developed a grasp for the tterids of college applicants. “Beginning with breakdown of LMU students, there is 55% fe¬ male, 45% male in terms of popula¬ tion which is about what it’s been over the last few years,” Fissinger said. “For the third year in a row, there is remarkable consistency in the [freshman] class. Fifty percent is white and fifty percent isn’t,” he began. “Now within the ethnicity it might be up a point here, down a point there.” “We always do a little bit of sur¬ prise business over the summer. Someone calls and says that’ they’ve changed their mind, ‘do you still have some room’, or ‘my family has just moved to California.’ At the same time, we have people who. Fee increases have also been held accountable for the rising in¬ ability of students to pay for post secondary education. The bill text states, “Each of the state’s segments of higher educa¬ tion have increased student fees to offset severe budget cuts. ‘'Student fees have increased by more than 80 percent during the past three years. "California is required bylaw to provide financial aid to eligible stu¬ dents tocover the amount of the tee increases.” If AB 2227 passes through the Senate, and is signed by the gover¬ nor, the bill will take effect in Janu¬ ary of 1995. The bill will be reproposed for were enrolled at LMU, who write and say they don’t want to go so far from home or something along those lines. Vou never really know what the freshmen class is going to be until they’re Here.” “Each year, we begin with the aspiration to enroll about 750 fresh¬ men and to have them represent a similar mix of ethnicities as has been the case in recent years. “You always want to enroll the best students possible so that we can make gains in qualitative mea¬ sures. Those are goals rather than projections. "We don’t go back and count how many editors, how many football players, how many debaters, and soon. “I think the competition has got¬ ten marginally stiffer, but that has more to do with the quality of the students applying and their avail¬ ability over the university’s sole desire to apply rigorous standards.” renewal each yeardepending upon the budget package proposed by the govenor. As of Friday, September 10, 1993, the bill had passed through the Fiscal and Appropriations Com¬ mittees and must be submitted to the Govenor before March 1st, for approval. .^fn the Appropriations Commit¬ tee, the following areas were dis¬ cussed before passage: the impact of inflation, the availability of finan¬ cial aid fromother sources, any changes in the levels of educa¬ tional support provided to the stu¬ dents, the number of applicants who are eligibile for the award per year as distinguished by ethniticy, and income level.