The Los Angeles Loyolan, Volume 92, Issue 11 - October 10, 2013

www.LALOYOLAN.com ■л0ОАШаёШ> LOYOLAN EST. 1921 VOLUME 92 i ISSUE 1 1 Trustees’ vote unanimous President Burcham urges University to continue dialogue while moving forward. Kevin O’Keeffe Editor in Chief @kevinpokeeffe President David W. Burcham is ready to move this university forward. LMU’s chief administrator has spent the last eight weeks dealing with what he’s described as a “ debate ,” a “dialogue” and a process filled with “creative tension.” He, of course, is referring to the tension over removing elective abortion coverage from faculty and staff health care plans, decided this past Mondayby voteofthe Board of Trustees. Now that the Board has unanimously voted to cut the coverage - while instituting a still to -be -specified Third Party Administrator (TPA) -managed plan that would allow faculty and staff to pay an additional premium for said coverage - Burcham is preparing to face some disgruntled community members on both sides of the issue. He’ll have the opportunity to do just that in one week’s time , when he addresses the LMU community in his convocation address. It was a tense few weeks - stressful, he acknowledges with a laugh that feels like he’s releasing his anxiety and turning the page. But it won’t be as easy as laughing things off, which is why he ’s not quite feeling relief. “I know that we need to continue to discuss what it means to be a Catholic university,” he told the Loyolan in a sit-down interview the morning after the vote . “ But I think more than anything, it’s anticipation of good things to come.” ‘Somewhat opaque in how this unfolded’ Weeks before the academic year began, the issue that would come to dominate the first half of the semester came to light: LMU had dropped elective abortion coverage from one of its faculty and staff health care plans. Or, they were planning to. Or, they were considering it. It wasn’t immediately clear. According to a letter from Burcham and Board of Trustees Chair Kathleen Aikenhead, See Burcham | Page 4 Josh Kuroda | Loyolan Chair of the Board of Trustees Kathleen H. Aikenhead and President David W. Burcham walk out of the meeting on Monday, where the Board voted to discard elective abortions from all health care plans. For a comparison of Jesuit university Board of Trustees, see Page 4. Madness dance petition succeeds All student dance groups negotiated to perform at Madness at Midnight on Oct 18. Khayla Golucke Copy Editor @khaylajordan Student dance crews were informed over email on Oct. 2 that only one out of the four crews on campus would be able to perform at LMU athletics’ biggest event of the semester, Madness at Midnight. By Oct. 3, a petition with 350 student signatures, stating that signees would not attend Madness unless every dance crew participated, emerged on Facebook, prompting a meeting with Athletics that same day. Senior dance major Tyler Scott and senior sociology and urban studies major Ashley Lora, presidents of dance crews Kuumba Beatz and Radix, respectively, started the petition after meeting with Joel Lawson, the new marketing manager of internal relations for the Athletics Department and one of the key organizers of Madness this year. Traditionally, each dance crew does a six- minute set at the event, but with new time restrictions, Lawson was forced to ask the crews to audition for a single available spot this year. “When Tyler and I met with Joel, he told us that only one dance crew would get to perform,” Lora said. “Tyler was the one who said that she thought it was only fair that if it’s not all of us, then it’s none of us. We decided to make sure everyone knew about it, so we made the Facebook group.” See Madness | Page 14 Parking department hard to contact When trying to contact parking officials, Barnhill struggled to get information. Carly Barnhill Copy Editor @carlybarnhiil There has been ongoing frustration among students, faculty and staff regarding parking fees, lack of parking availability and tension with Westchester neighbors. With parking fees added on top of tuition, many people have resorted to parking off campus in the neighborhood outside LMU’s back gates. Though appealing parking tickets is now an available option, LMU has still not solved the parking problem completely. What can the University do, though? What are alternatives to the current parking situation? There is the possibility of parking opening in the freshman lot, and car counters in Drollinger and other parking garages, similar to thelots inSanta Monica in which digital signs and lights display the number of available parking spots in the lot. The Loyolan decided to contact LMU Parking and Transportation this week to get more information and to see if there is a possibility of easing some of the parking tension. Yet no one in the office felt comfortable answering the Loyo Ian’s questions. “I live right outside the back gates, so all of the people that don’t have parking permits park on my street, leaving me nowhere to park,” said Annanina Ricci, junior communication studies major. “It’s ridiculous, but I actually got a parking pass because parking in Hannon lot is more convenient than where I would park in my own neighborhood.” The Westchester neighborhood is still filled with vehicles of LMU students and staff trying to avoid the parking fees on campus. If all LMU lots were open to all students, faculty and staff with or without a parking pass, the neighbors would be happy and so would the students. There was discussion last year about restricting freshmen from having cars on campus to open up parking for other students, faculty and staff. “I think that if freshmen didn’t have their cars on campus, it could start to solve the problem,” said junior communication studies major Alexandra Fordham. See Parking | Page 3 Leslie Irwin | Loyolan Students donate at semiannual blood drive The Center for Service and Action hosts the UCLA Blood Drive every October and February. Service organizations and other on-campus clubs have been recruiting people to donate blood since school started with the slogan "Give blood and save three lives." To give blood, stop by St. Rob’s Auditorium today.