Features
doming hate crimes
spark local rally.
Page 8
A & E
‘Cake* has the wrong
recipe.
PagelO
Sports
LMIPs men’s soccer falls
to top ranked Indiana.
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November 4,1998 L
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i. a M a r y m
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u nt University Volume 77, No. 9
Lawton Selected as University President
Rev. Robert B. Lawton, S.J., LMlTs next university president.
by Jasmine C. Marshall
News Editor
Loyola Marymount University’s first presi¬
dent of the next millennium has been chosen.
Rev. Robert B. Lawton, S.J., the dean of
Georgetown College at Georgetown University,
was selected last week to succeed current uni¬
versity president Rev. Thomas P. O’Malley, S.J.
as of June 1, 1999.
Of his selection, Lawton said, “Loyola
Marymount University is an impressive institu¬
tion, and I am excited about the endless possi¬
bilities the future holds. Thomas O’Malley has
led the university with great skill and imagina¬
tion, and I am honored to be chosen to leaid LMU
into the next millennium.”
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Fordham
University, where he received his Bachelor’s
degree in Classics, Lawton went on to
еагц
a
Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1977 in Near
Eastern languages. At Harvard, Lawton was a
Danforth and Woodrow Wilson Fellow.
Lawton has worked at Georgetown
University in various positions since 1977,
including serving as an assistant professor in
the university’s department of theology, assis¬
tant dean of Georgetown College, and as the
dean of the college since 1989. From 1982 to
1984, Lawton served as an assistant professor of
Hebrew and Aramaic at the Pontifical Biblical
Institute in Rome.
R. Chad Drier, chairman of the LMU Board*
of Trustees, said, “l am very enthusiastic about
Fr. Lawton joining Loyola Marymount. The
selection committee did a thorough search and
came up with a candidate who provided the
Board of Trustees with a sense of excitement
about his vision for leading LMU into the next
century. Building on the legacy of O’Malley,
LMU is now poised to assume a leadership role
in the community.”
O’Malley said that he is “very happy about
Lawton’s selection. He has an excellent acade¬
mic background, and he has occupied a very cen¬
tral post at Georgetown University, that of dean
of the college.” On Mar. 2 of this year, O’Malley
announced his resignation through a campus-
wide voice mail to the LMU community.
O’Malley will leave his post at LMU to return to
teaching at his alma mater, Boston College. “I
am going back to teach in the honors program,”
O’Malley said. “I don’t think I will be in the
classroom for the fall semester, but probably by
January of 2000 I will be teaching classes.”
O’Malley noted that, although he is happy to
return to Boston College, leaving LMU will be
‘Very painful. I’ve been very happy here,” he
said. “I was selected as president of the univer¬
sity to do a very simple task: to finish the plan¬
ning process, to develop the Leavey Campus,
[to] launch the capital campaign, and [to]
improve the university’s academic reputation. I
feel I have accomplished those tasks, but I am
still leaving with a list in my head of things I
would like to see improved here at LMU.”
Of following O’Malley’s term as president of
the university, Lawton said, “That’s the greatest
challenge. O’Malley is really fantastic. I’m
impressed with what he has done . When I took
Lawton: page 2
Suspects Arrested in
Chessmar Murder Case
by Daniel Wolowicz
Editor in Chief
The LAPD has arrested two
suspects accused of murdering
a s o phomore Loyola
Marymount student.
Davod Lewis and James
Heard, both age 22, were
arrested last week and are cur¬
rently held without bail for the
murder of 34-year-old LMU
student Christopher Emory
C hes s m a r , a ccord i n‘g to
Detective Rick Peterson, LAPD
Hollenbeck Division.
“We expect the evidence to
show that the murder occurred
with special circumstances,”
said Deputy District Attorney
www.imu.edu/stuaff/loyolan>
Patrick Dixon. “The special
circumstances in this case are
that the suspects were lying in
wait.” In a case where the
assailants are found guilty of
lying in wait, they can be
charged with first degree mur¬
der, a capital crime which is
punishable by death,
Heard was apprehended at
a residence in the city of Bell
on Tuesday, Oct. 27, while
Lewis entered the Hollenbeck
precinct, accompanied by his
lawyer, and surrendered in to
authorities two days later.
Heard stood for arraignment
Thursday, as did Lewis the fol¬
lowing day.
The suspects were associate
ed with Chessmar ^through
mutual friends, according to
Peterson. On the night of
Monday, Oct. 5, Chessmar left
his apartment unit at 10940
Ophir Drive, a UCLA co-op, to
visit* with friends in another
unit in the building, where
Neighbors heard a struggle,”
Peterson said. It was there
that Chessmar was killed.
The following Thursday,
Chessmar ’s mother reported
him missing to the UCLA
Police Department. LAPD
Crime: page 2
Panel Discussion Explores
Stereotypes of Race and Religion
by tez Otis
Staff Writer
Last Tuesday, the Muslim Student Union
(MSU) held their annual panel discussion:
Racial and Religious Stereotypes (RARS). The
goal of MSU is to bridge cultural gaps which
they believe begins with creating dialogue
through events such as RARS. They wanted to
bring people together to discuss the problem of
stereotypes.
The night began when Ahmad Mansury, pres¬
ident of MSU, welcomed everyone to the event as
Catholic, Hebrew and Muslim prayers were
recited. The event was moder¬
ated by Marshall Sauceda,
assistant dean of Student
Development Services, who
took the podium next. He told
the audience that the panel
was there to “discuss racial
and religious stereotypes, and
ask the question: Do w
believe [they] are tearing our
community apart?”
There were five experts on
the panel who contributed
their knowledge and
to the discussion: Dr. Shane
Martin, Dr. Cheryl Grills, Dr.
Daniel Smith-Christopher, Dr.
Evan Gertsman, and Dr. Abdul
Y. Rahman. Martin is a pro¬
fessor in the school of educa¬
tion, as well as an expert in
multiculturalism. Grills is an associate profes¬
sor of psychelogy, an expert in the field of African
American Spiritual Systems, and has done much
community work. Smith-Christopher is a pro¬
fessor in the department of theology and a
renowned biblical scholar. Gertsman is a profes¬
sor of political science. Rahman is a leader in
the Los Angeles Muslim community and a recog¬
nized Islamic scholar.
The panelists were given five minutes to
introduce themselves and present personal expe¬
riences and thoughts on racism and stereotypes.
“Prejudice exists more strongly in the dark, in
Stereotypes: page 5
DENISE ESPINOZA
/
LOYOLAM
Aric Avelino and Becki Cepeda express their opinions on racial stereotypes
at a panel discussion.
