The Los Angeles Loyolan, Volume 91, Issue 2 - September 6, 2012

uo ш ш о Z < со о Lo YO LAN iTABLISHED 1921 September б, 2012 Volume 91, Issue 2 www.laloyolan.com YOUR HOME. YOUR VOICE. YOUR NEWS. LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY Assistant to president takes leave Ruiz, ASLMU stay true to goals Despite mixed reception of First Convo, ASLMU keeps focus on community concerns. By Kevin O'Keeffe Managing Editor The Friday before the new academic year began in earnest, ASLMU President Biyan Ruiz professed his excitement about the upcoming First Convo, co-sponsored by Mane Entertainment. “At First Convo this year, expect something you’ve never seen before to kick off this 101st year,” the senior management major said in an interview with the Loyolan. “Expect something new and fresh. We’re kicking it up one notch with all of our events.” Ruiz’s enthusiasm wasn’t reserved for First Convo; whether he was talking about ASLMLTs open-door policy, its new focus on transparency or ah the student government’s goals for LMU at 101, the president was eager for the new year to begin. Fast forward to First Convo on 'Riesday, Aug. 28 and the “new and fresh” element, it turned out, was a live lion on campus. While many students celebrated the decision (“LMU at 101! There was a real lion on campus today. Hurra[h] for senior year!” senior entrepreneurship major Michelle Figueroa tweeted from what appeared to be her account), there were murmurs across campus of concern for the lion’s safety, as well as frustration over the expense of this event. The Aug. 30 Loyolan’s Letter to the Editor from Associate Professor of Communication Studies Dr. Nina M. Lozano-Reich went so far as to call for a public apology for the lion’s appearance. In an open letter to the LMU community, Ruiz spoke for ASLMU about First Convo and said, “As student leaders, we had intentional conversations about both positive and negative outcomes of bringing a lion to campus. . . . Although we believe we did our due diligence to research the best possible See ASLMU | Page 4 from Jesuits Dr. Joseph LaBrie no longer functions as a priest but plans to remain at the University. By Adrien Jarvis Editor In Chief Dr. Joseph LaBrie, special assistant to the president, is taking a leave of absence from the Jesuits, citing it as a “personal decision.” Effective last Saturday, LaBrie no longer functions as a priest. According to a letter he sent out in August to select member's of the LMU community, he will remain at LMU both as special assistant to the president and as an associate professor of psychology. “This is a veiy personal decision that I have made after both a 30-day retreat in summer 2011 and an eight-day retreat this past summer," LaBrie said in an email to the Loyolan. “It is about how best I can both live my life and serve others.” A leave of absence often precedes leaving the Jesuit order, according to Acting Superior of the LMU Jesuit Community FI'. Allan Deck, S.J.— who is also the Charles S. Casassa Chair of Catholic Social Values and a professor in the theology department. He added that separating from the Jesuits without a leave of absence prior is “possible but it’s ... not advisable.” “Most Jesuits who have taken a leave do so in order to reflect on . . . what they are thinking of doing,” he said, mentioning that the leave is usually a year. Deck added that a Jesuit leaving the order is not common. When a Jesuit is considering terminating his involvement, he usually consults his See LaBrie | Page 4 C.S.L.A. gears up for 2012 election exit poll Student volunteers to conduct “most comprehensive” study of the Los Angeles vote. By Zaneta Pereira News Editor F rom a difficult Election Day experience that sparked curiosity about the nature of polling places in LA to research that has involved almost 700 undergraduate volunteers and informed legislative change, the Center for the Study of Los Angeles (C.S.LA.) project “Los Angeles Votes” has come a long way since it began in 2005. C.S.LA director and LMU political science and Chicana/o studies professor Dr. Fernando J. Guerra describes the project as stemming from a “variefy of places,” one of which was a trip to the polls with his elderly mother in the early 2000s where, due to the closing of their usual poll, they had a great deal of difficulty finding a new polling place. Guerra described the experience as “an ordeal,” which ultimately prompted a desire to “find out why polling places were the way they were.” This question drove the first study under the “Los Angeles Votes” banner. Guerra’s students visited all the polling stations in the city and recorded their observations about the polls - including how they were set up, how easy they were to find and how many volunteers were present. The information gleaned (him this first study went on to influence the Los Angeles Voters’ Bill of Rights, which was passed into law in 2010. The current focus of the “Los Angeles Votes” project, however, is not on polling places but on the nature of the Angeleno vote itself. Building upon the study of the polling places and in response to the controversy surrounding the discrepancies in exit poll results in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, C.S.LA developed a new exit poll methodology and conducted its first exit polls in 2005. The updated methodology, according to the C.S.LA website, focused around a sampling technique called “racially stratified homogenous precinct approach.” This approach emeiged as far more accurate in comparison with the exit polls that were ran SeeC.S.L.A. | Page 2 Leslie Irwin | Loyolan Fraternity GLOW party raises money for formal Sophomore political science major Hayley Paul dances and cheers at Sigma Phi Epsilon's GLOW party last Friday night in Burns Back Court. THE DEBATE ABOUT "в11 Managing Editor Kevin O'Keeffe and Contributor Lauren Rockwell make opposing cases for the presentation of a pro-marriage equality play on campus. Opinion, Page 8 Index THUR FRI Classifieds... . 4 Om n ion 5 A&E . Sports . . 9 . 16 65’ -76- SAT 67- -75- SUN The next issue of tin; loyolan will be primed on Sept. 10.2012. 69' - 76- 70- -78' THE ART OF MEMORY A&E Editor Tierney Finster reviews Jean-Francois Podevin's "State of the Art and Mind" exhibit, on display now in the William H. Hannon Library. A&E, Page 1 0