The Los Angeles Loyolan, Volume 90, Issue 4 - September 15, 2011

THUR FRI SAT SUN 68'- 60' 67'- 59" 66"- 59” 68”- 61” ESTABLISHED 1921 September 15, 2011 Volume 90, Issue 4 Your Home. Your Voice. Your Newspaper. Loyola Marymount University www.laloyolan.com Students establish Orthodox group FIRST-YEAR RETENTIQN RATES | TLC STUDENTS I ALL FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS Г 100 E 90 . R 80- C 70 - N 5oJ T A G E 40 . 30 . 20 . 10 . 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 The data above shows the retention rate of first-year TLC students versus the retention rate of all first-year studentsat LMU.The numbers above representthe percentage of students who return to LMU and enroll as full-time students their sophomore year. Information provided by First Year Experience YEAR 2010* AVERAGE* ‘Preliminary data and will be confirmed on the census date (9/27/11) Greg Smith| Loyolan Retention program aims to motivate NEWS FEATURE The Learning Community expands efforts after receiving a corporate grant. By Tierney Finster News Editor “Plant your seed and watch it grow,” encourages The Learning Community (TLC), a small-scale retention program for black students at LMU. With the help of the University and a corporate grant, TLC has grown into a larger and more comprehensive organization. TLC was founded over 10 years ago, when a group of administrators and staff realized that black students needed more support on campus. “African-American students were coming to the University in sizable numbers, but these key individuals wanted to make sure that they were staying," said interim TLC Coordinator and LMU alumna Kellee Kemp. TLC was created to provide this support. Upon committing to the Univeisity, all black students are mailed a program brochure and are invited to apply to be a TLC participant. TLC is also advertised at events like the Black Student Overnight retreat and Black Scholars Day. interested students must answer essay questions, submit academic records and interview successfully before they are chosen. ‘TLC students are chosen veiy carefully. We tiy to create a good mix of students by balancing out the number of men and women and in- and out-of-state students that we take. We also consider what college the students belong to, and their talents and interests so that we have the right composition of students,” said Jade Smith the assistant dean of Student Engagement, Retention and Transition, who has worked with the TLC program since its beginning over a decade ago. TLC’s current class of freshmen is larger than ever. Forty freshmen students are currently involved with the program. This was made possible through an AT&T grant that LMU alumna and Board of Trustees member Renata Simril 93 helped them get. ‘Renata Simril has been a long-term supporter of the work we do [and! a steward of TLC. She is a good friend of one of the executives at AT&T, Denita Willoughby, who is in charge of corporate donation, and showed her that TLC fits in perfectly with the efforts that AT&T fries to support. Denita fell in love with the program and agreed to award it a $50,000 grant,” explained Smith. This extra funding allowed more incoming black freshmen to engage in the special three weeks of programming that TLC coordinates prior to the first day of the semester. During these three weeks, the new TLC students live in dorms together, take a no-credit African- American Studies class and an English preparatory class and take part in many cultural and leadership based activities. ‘The three-week program is filled with activities. The classes they take prepare the students for the academic rigor's of the University and also acclimate them with the college classroom environment. They also visit different departments on campus that will serve as resources for them throughout their' time at LMU," Kemp said. Sophomore political science and theatre arts double major Rechard Francois spoke of the strong effects the TLC summer program has on its participants. “It was an amazing three weeks with extraordinary people doing exceptional things. During the program, we met a wide range of people from the LMU community as well as the community at large. We had the opportunity to meet Karen Bass, the speaker of the California state assembly, and have dinner with LMUs very own president, David Burcham. The number of people we met and experiences we shared are uncountable. It See TLC | page 2 The Orthodox Christian Fellowship hopes to be officially recognized. By Margo Jasukaitis Asst. News Editor Last spring, LMU welcomed the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) to campus. The OCF, a religious student group, hosted two evenings of worship and continued to raise awareness of their presence on campus this fall with an informational meeting. “We endeavor to provide an environment for Orthodox students to gather together on campus for prayer, fellowship, study and service,” said Nicholas Denysenko, a professor of theological studies, director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute and the faculty contact for OCF. OCF is a national organization that consists of multiple chapters at schools nationwide. According to OCF’s official website, OCF is “the official collegiate campus ministry program under the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA). [Their] mission is to support fellowships on college campuses ... through community life, prayer, service to others and study of the Faith.” Locally, chapters of OCF are already established at UCLA and USC. Many Jesuit schools nationally host chapters as well, including Santa Clara University, Loyola University Chicago and Gonzaga University. “L think it’s important to have diverse representation in the student groups on a campus, particularly a Catholic one like LMU,” said Allyson Schwartz, a senior communication studies major and president of Hillel, a Jewish student organization at LMU. Schwartz went on to outline the importance of religious diversity on campus. “It allows for interfaith See Orthodox | page 4 Constitution Day brings guest lecturer to campus Law professor speaks about Constitutional history and Obama’s healthcare plan. By Kayla Begg Copy Editor On Sept. 17, 1787, the members of the Constitutional Convention signed the document that is the foundation of the U.S. government to this day. LMU decided to celebrate Constitution Day a little early this year with guest speaker Karl Manheim, a professor of Loyola Law School, on 'Riesday. Approximately 100 people gathered in Ahmanson Auditorium during Convo on Sept. 13 to listen to a presentation and participate in a discussion on the constitutionality of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in March of 2010. Introduced by his former colleague President David W. Burcham, Manheim opened with a rundown of basic Constitutional histoiy, stating the Constitution “is perhaps the most hallowed political document in all of human histoiy.” After reviewing the failure of the See Constitution | page 4 Did you know? ' THREE FACTS ABOUT LMU’S CENTENNIAL 1] LMU once had a literary magazine called El Playano. Founded in 1949, El Playano contained samples of literary merit by LMU students. El Playano listed its purpose as “to foster good Catholic literature based on sound technical and philosophical premises." 2 Current Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Lane Bove also served as student body president of Marymount University. In fact, Bove was part of the first group of women to arrive on the Westchester campus and was turned away from the Von Der Ahe Library her first time going because she was not wearing stockings. 3When the lion was chosen as the LMU mascot in October 1923, the Loyolan’s headline read "LIONS DEVOUR CHRISTIANS." This referred to Loyola's 2S-0 victory over California Christian College that month. Kaitlin Dela Cruz | Loyolan A beauty pageant at school? Asst. News Editor Margo Jasukaitis questions the relevance of ranking physical attractiveness on a college campus. Index Opinion . 5 Cartoon . 8 A&E . 1 1 Classifieds . 13 Sports . 1 6 Opinion, page 5 The next issue of (he Liyolan will lx- printed on September 19.201 1. Soccer, soccer, soccer! Asst. Sports Editor John Wilkinson looks at the men's soccer team's rocky start. Sports, page 16