[September 1, 1999 _ Loyola Marymqunt university Volume 78, No. 2
ANA MARIA DA VIEGA/ L0Y01AN
Long lines at the Lair are only one of several problems that students have
faced with enrollment increasing more each year.
LMU: Growing by
Leaps and Bounds
■ ENROLLMENT: The number of students at the uni¬
versity has risen drastically over the past ten years.
University officials acknowledge that more have
been admitted to offset costs.
Junior Matthew Purvis Dies
in Skateboarding Accident
PHOTO COURTESY OF JUNE ABRAMS
History major Matthew Purvis died on Thursday Aug. 26, following a skate¬
boarding accident on Lincoln Boulevard near LMU .
by Sharon King
Staff Writer
& Kasey Seymour
Editor in Chief
Following a hard-fought,
seven day battle for his life,
junior Matthew Purvis died in
the early morning hours of
Thursday, Aug. 16 after a skate¬
boarding accident took place
just beyond the grounds of
LMU.
Purvis, a history major was
skateboarding on Wednesday,
Aug. 18 at approximately 9 p.m.
He took his skateboard to the
top of the long, steep hill on
Lincoln Boulevard, just west of
campus» and sped down the
road while his friend lit the way
with his car headlights.
Not wearing a helmet,
Purvis lost control and flew
from his board, severely fractur¬
ing his skull. He was immedi¬
ately taken to Daniel Freeman
Hospital in Marina del Rey, but
was later moved to Harbor-
UCLA Medical Center in
Torrance.
Purvis underwent his first
brain surgery that night to
remove a blood clot that had
formed as a result of the mas¬
sive impact on his skull. The
next day, doctors performed a
second surgery to remove anoth¬
er blood clot on the other side of
his brain.
“The whole time, he had
massive pressure on his brain,”
said Purvis' roommate and close
friend, June Abrams a junior
theatre arts major.
Purvis remained on life sup¬
port. By Wednesday night, Aug.
25, he was in need of a third
brain surgery. However, Abrams
explained that “he was just too
weak, and his body was just
ready to go. At 1:15 a.m. he
passed away.”
The accident brings to the
surface concerns over skate¬
boarding without protective
head gear. Unfortunately, a sim¬
ilar skateboarding accident
occured involving Philip
Accident : page 2
by Jen MacNeil
Managing Editor
Long lines in the Lair,
crowded stairways in St.
Robert’s Hall and massive traf¬
fic jams are all symptoms of
LMU’s significant rise in stu¬
dent population over the last
few years. Now, students are
feeling the brunt of it more
now than ever before.
Currently, undergraduate
enrollment stands at 4,630,
including 1536 freshmen and
transfer students, according to
Robert Nitsos, assistant regis¬
trar. In contrast, a total of
3,825 students attended LMU
in 1994. The total number of
first-year students in that year
was 1070, a figure which
climbed steadily to 1100 in
1996 and 1309 in 1998, accord- .
ing to Nitsos.
The boom has resulted in
noticeable construction
endeavors, including a new
apartment complex on the
Leavey campus and the reno¬
vation of Leavey Center into a
fully functional residence hall
for current first-year women.
Additionally, Xavier Hall has
been converted into office
space to handle the magnitude
of the student body. Among
others, the offices of financial
aid, graduate and undergradu¬
ate admissions and the faculty
offices for the college of liberal
arts have been moved to the
former Jesuit residence hall.
Though students’ patience
has been tested in more ways
than one, particularly among
upperclassmen, acknowledge
the fact that expansion is a
healthy aspect of college life.
“Change is good and growth is
good, but not if we lose sight of
[LMU] being a school for the
individual. It’s becoming a
school for the dollar,” said
senior political science major
Christiane Hoffman.
This increase and its result¬
ing problems have impacted
Enrollment, page 2
Students Frustrated by
Lack of Parking Spots
by Jasmine Marshall
Managing Editor
LMU students can agree on
this much: parking on campus
has become a difficult and
expensive endeavor. Alook at the
Hannon lot or Leavey parking
structure during the peak hours
of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. reveals near¬
ly every space filled and cars cir¬
cling the lot in hopes of nabbing
a recently vacated space.
Junior Liz Najour said she
thinks the $200 cost of a yearly
parking permit is too steep. “I
don’t think we should have to
pay anything, particularly if you
live on campus,” she said. “I
think we should be guaranteed a
spot if we are going to pay that
much money. I mean, it’s kind of
ridiculous that we pay that
much and right there on the per¬
mit it says we are not guaran¬
teed parking.”
Chief Raymond Hilyar, head
of public safety, maintains that
he is confident there is enough
parking for everyone on campus,
despite the fact that only 3,000
spots exist for the 6,000 stu¬
dents, faculty, staff and visitors
who need to use parking on a
daily basis. “Not everyone is
here every day or at the same
time,” Hilyar said.
Currently, there are 720 per¬
mit-only spaces available in the
Hannon lot, with an additional
275 visitor spaces and five hand¬
icapped spaces. The Loyola lot
has 331 spaces, but Hilyar
emphasized that these spaces
are no longer available for com¬
muter students to use. They are
exclusively for the use of resi¬
dents of Loyola Apartments, and
the Rosecrans, Whelan and
Desmond residence halls. To
Parking : page 3
NATHAN JIM/ LOYOLAH
This car parked illegally in the Leavey parking structure is one of many
across campus, as students have grappled with a parking shortage.
