The Los Angeles Loyolan, Volume 74, Issue 1 - August 30, 1995

L О A n e 1 LOYOLAN VOL. 74 • NO. 1 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY August 30, 1995 Orientation ‘95 Welcomes New Students to LMU By Jennifer D’Andrea News Editor Incoming students at Loyola Marymount gained more than just a new school this week; they also were greeted with an entirely re¬ vamped orientation program. New students were welcomed to LMU through Orientation ‘95’s new two-component program. Students could sign up for one of six two-day Summer Orientation and Registra¬ tion Programs held the last three weeks of June. During these ses¬ sions, the students took placement tests, spent a night in the dorms, met with their academic advisors, and registered for classes via the ROAR system. They and their par¬ ents returned to campus for Orien¬ tation Welcome Days, August 26 and 27 and were welcomed by Dr. Joseph Jabbra, Academic Vice President, the Deans of the col¬ leges, the Student Affairs Division, and participated in activities to help them learn more about life at LMU and get more involved in the LMU Campus Life ASLMU Highlight •page Perspective More Columns Than | The Acropolis •page 12-13 Arts & Entertainment Freedy Johnston •page 14 Sports Women’s Volleyball 25th in Nation! •page 18 community. Dr. Suzanne Frentz, Director of Orientation and Associate Dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts, was pleased with the way the new program has been received by the students, their par¬ ents and the campus community. ‘The new program could not have become a reality without the faculty and student staffs,” said Frentz. “The faculty advisors have been wonderful! Their enthusiasm and dedication to the new students and the success of the program was key in getting over 85 percent of the class of 1999 advised and regis¬ tered before July 1st!” MJ Robinson, Assistant Director of Orientation, echoed Frentz’s sentiments: “I am very proud of our student staff. They were tireless during our June sessions and al¬ ways found a way to give that extra attention to the students that is so much a part of what the Loyola Marymount community is all about. The Fall Orientation Leaders were excellent-they kept their groups together for Welcome Days activi¬ ties, and are working hard on Thursday’s lip-sync.” Orientation Coordinator Monica LaBelle commented on the new program’s success. “I was skeptical at first but all in all I was pleased with the changes,” said Labelle. “ I think there are a lot of glitches that need to be worked out.” Seventeen summer 0-Leaders led the June sessions during which they worked extensively to ensure that students’ questions were an¬ swered and that ROAR registration was successfully completed. New students were able to obtain infor¬ mation about EPIC, Work Study, AFROTC and Career Development and to attend a Communication Photo by Melissa Calixte Enthusiastic new LMU students tug their way to victory in the Olympics. Arts film festival as well as learn CFA О Roderick Mangali about the Division of Student Af- was positive about the new pro¬ fairs by completing a “Passport to gram, although he felt that there Pride.” continued on page four Hilton Center Opens for Business By James Keane Editor-In-Chief More than ten years after the property was purchased, two years after the project was ap¬ proved, and just eighteen months after construction began, the Conrad Hilton Business Center opened for classes this past Mon¬ day. The $21 million structure, which houses the entire faculty and staff for the College of Business Administration as well as Informa¬ tion Services, is the first completed building for the Leavey Campus expansion program. Photo by James Keane The new Conrad Hilton Business Center opened this week after 18 months of construction. “We’re excited about the oppor¬ tunities this expansion gives us for growth in the field of business ad¬ ministration,” commented David Trump, Vice President of Facilities Management. Trump’s office has overseen the project throughout. Incorporating four levels and vi¬ sually connected to the existing campus architecture by a glass arch over to the campus power plant behind St. Robert’s, the Hilton Cen¬ ter includes eleven student class¬ rooms, a 360-seat lecture hall, and on the third floor, a Board of Direc¬ tors meeting room, an executive training classroom, and a multipur¬ pose meeting room that can be easily split up into four individual rooms. This room is also equipped with a pantry for food preparation and storage. In addition, the University main¬ frame computer will be transferred over to the Hilton Center in the coming weeks. The Business Dean’s office, the Associate Deans’ offices, and the faculty/staff lounge all have large patios incorporating views of West Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. Also, the bottom floor includes a student lounge equipped with vend¬ ing machines and a number of study areas for students, helping allevi¬ ate the problem of the lack of study space in the Von Der Ahe library. “We had a number of faculty, staff, and students providing input into the Center’s design,” com¬ mented Trump. A number of individual class¬ rooms also boast computer and power outlets at each seat, allow¬ ing students to plug in laptop com¬ puters and have access to the Uni¬ versity network. In addition, many of the rooms are designed to allow video links for conferences, lec¬ tures, and multimedia presenta¬ tions. As a result, teachers in differ¬ ent classrooms will be able to coor¬ dinate lectures and give presenta¬ tions to several groups at once via video screens. The building also is completely up to fire, earthquake, and disabili- continued on page two Airport Marina Houses LMU Students Over 100 Students Move into ‘Hotel California’ By Josephine De Felice Assistant News Editor Welcome to the Hotel Califor¬ nia,” is no longer just a song, but the theme of this year’s newest residence hall. The Airport Marina Hotel, located off Manchester and Lincoln Blvd., will house approxi¬ mately 1 05 students due to what is expected to be the largest first year class since 1 986. The hotel will be used for this academic year only, until the con¬ struction of the new residence hall located on Leavey campus is com¬ pleted in the fall of 1996. The Airport Marina Hotel will house both first year and transfer students who committed to LMU after the May 1 deadline, noted Assistant Dean of Student Hous¬ ing Beth Stoddard. Students who chose to live on campus and com¬ mitted before the deadline are housed on campus. The use of the hotel was con¬ tracted by the University to avoid continued on page four Photo by James Keane Over 100 LMU students will call the Airport Marina Hotel their home for the next 9 months.