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LOYOLAN
EST. 1921
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Page 10 Page 20
VOLUME 94 I ISSUE 27
LGBTQ+
students
allegedly
confronted
Clinton to give final address
President Bill Clinton will
be giving the undergraduate
commencement address.
Michael Busse, Grade McManus
Senior Editor and Executive Editor
@LALoyolan
President Bill Clinton will speak at LMU’s
undergraduate commencement ceremony
on Saturday, May 7.
“His commitment to improving the lives
of other people, during and beyond his ca¬
reer in U.S. politics, embodies the ethos
of becoming women and men with and
for others,” said LMU President Timothy
Law Snyder in a press release. “President
Clinton will inspire our graduates as they
seek to lead lives of meaning, purpose, and
global impact.”
Clinton served as the 42nd president of
the United States from 1993 to 2001 as a
member of the Democratic Party. During
his two terms, he presided over the United
States’ longest peacetime economic ex¬
pansion. Before that, he served twice as
governor in his home state of Arkansas.
After his tenure as president, he founded
the Clinton Foundation, a non-profit with
the mission to “strengthen the capacity of
people throughout the world to meet the
challenges of global interdependence,” ac¬
cording to the Foundation’s website. In
particular, the Foundation’s work has fo¬
cused on global health, education and eco¬
nomic development initiatives.
Despite Clinton’s philanthropic efforts,
some members ofthe LMU community have
expressed dissent for the choice of speaker.
RenewLMU, “an alliance to strengthen
LMU’s catholic identity,” has made a peti¬
tion to disinvite Clinton, according to the
group’s website . They listed several reasons
that detail why they believe Clinton should
not speak at this years commencement
ceremony, including his involvement in a
sex scandal with 22-year-old in¬
tern Monica Lewinsky
in 1998, his pro-
choice views ex¬
pressed in the
past and his mar¬
riage to Hillary
Clinton, one ofthe
Democratic candi¬
dates for the presi¬
dency, which they
argue will politicize
Commencement.
The Rev. Allan
Figueroa Deck,
S.J., rector of the LMU Jesuit commu¬
nity, responded to the dissatisfaction ex¬
pressed by RenewLMU and others.
“In conferring this honor LMU does not
endorse all of Mr. Clinton’s past or current
policies nor condone all his actions,” Deck
told the Loyolan via email. “Rather, the
University recognizes the extraordinary
service he has given to civil society and
his lifetime connection to Catholic and
Jesuit higher education as a Georgetown
University alumnus.”
According to an email sent to gradu¬
ating students by University Registrar
Kathy Reed on Friday, each student
participating in the ceremony will
10 tickets to distribute to
friends and family. Tickets will be
required for entry to Sunken Garden,
and the festivities will take place on
Saturday, May 7, at 9:30 a.m.
Clinton's nephew, Tyler Clinton, will
be one of 1,400 undergraduate
students participat¬
ing in the com-
mencement
ceremony.
via Fliokr | Gage Skidmore
Swenson named valedictorian
Former Editor-in-Chief of
the LA Loyolan, Ali Swenson
named valedictorian
Michael Busse
Senior Editor
@LALoyolan
Ali Swenson has spent the last four
years at LMU harnessing the power of
other people’s stories. Now Swenson,
the valedictorian of the class of 2016, is ready
to start writing the next chapter of her own.
Though her passion for storytelling
developed in her work as a journalist , Swenson
has been shaped by a variety of interests.
“I’ve never been someone who has just one
interest,” said Swenson, a senior psychology
major and business administration and
journalism double minor. “That scared
me when I was coming into college, I kept
thinking, ‘How am I going to choose one? I
guess the answer at LMU is that you don’t have
to.”
Indeed, Swenson has found success in a
wide variety of pursuits at LMU academically,
professionally and socially. She was recently
named the top scholar in the psychology
department while maintaining a near -perfect
GPA. She has thrived as a member of several
honors societies, in Greeklife as a member of Pi
Beta Phi and as a volunteer at Richstone Family
Center. She was part of a team that represented
LMU - and won - at the 2015 International
Business Ethics Case Competition, and her
work as editor-in-chief of the Loyolan has
bestowed many awards to the publication .
Those who know Swenson best are
unsurprised by her success. Izzie Gibson
Penrose, a senior at Gettysburg College in
Pennsylvania, grew up with Swenson in the
Seattle neighborhood of Ballard and attended
school with her from kindergarten through
high school. According to Gibson Penrose,
Swenson’s achievements are nothing new.
“She would read to all the other
kindergartners, because we couldn’t read yet,”
said Gibson Penrose. The two were among
just a few students to test into an accelerated
academic track called Spectrum, which lasted
from first grade to middle school. “She 's always
been one of the smartest girls I’ve known .”
Swenson’s mother, JoAnn Marsden,
also noted that Swenson has had a focused
curiosity from a young age. She learned to
speak with a wide vocabulary early in life and
was at ease conversing with adults. While
her older sister, Jenna, was more physically
active as a child, “Ali would sit and observe
and focus and read ” Marsden said.
“One day, [Ali and Jenna] were playing
school, and Ali comes crying to me because
she has a big F on her paper, and I take it
and look at it, and of course, everything was
right,” said Marsden. “Jenna laughingly says
that she should take credit for Ali’s success
because she made her play school so much.”
See Valedictorian| Page 2
Students were allegedly
discriminated against by an
Alumni Relations employee.
Kellie Chudzinski
Asst. News Editor
@LA Loyolan
Three student workers from the LGBT
Student Services office were engaged in a
verbal altercation with an LMU employee
from the Alumni Relations office between
9 a.m and 12 p.m. on Palm Walk near the
Von der Ahe building on Thursday, April 14,
according to a Gender-Sexuality Alliance
pressrelease.
Senior biology major Catalina Ibarra and
senior business majors Kaii Blanton and
Cosette Carleo noticed that signs put up
for Rainbow Week, or LGBTQ+ Awareness
Week, by LGBT Student Services (LGBTSS)
had been removed and placed behind a
garbage can, according to Carleo.
As Blaton, Carleo and Ibarra attempted
to replace the signs, an employee from the
Alumni Relations office, whose name has
not yet been made available to the public,
allegedly approached the students about
LGBTQ+ issues and voiced opinions on
differing sexualities, expressing that anti-
LGBTQ+ signs should be put up in place
of the students’ signs. The employee also
referred to one of the students as a man,
even though that student had informed
the employee that they identify as gender
neutral, according to Carleo.
As of Tuesday April 19, multiple attempts
were made to contact the employee in ques¬
tion, through the Alumni Relations office,
email, phone and a social media account
appearing to belong to the employee. At the
time of print production on Tuesday, no
responses were received.
The Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT)
met and released a statement on April 15,
notifying the LMU community that BIRT,
along with Public Safety and the Los Angeles
Police Department , is looking into the events
of April 14 as reported by the three students.
BIRT also clarified that the investigation will
continue as two separate incidents, the first
being the removal of the LGBT signs and the
second being the employee and students’
confrontation.
“The University stands behind its state¬
ment of non-discrimination, which
prohibits unwelcome, harassing conduct on
the basis of several classifications, including
gender identity and sexual orientation.”
said John Kiralla, the executive director of
marketing and communications and BIRT
member, on April 14, before BIRT had met.
AS LMU responded to the incident through
social media, encouraging the LMU commu¬
nity to treat each other with respect. AS LMU
is still looking into the events that took place
last Thursday.
“I’ve really only experienced love and
acceptance upon coming out to new people,
but this lady told me that I was wrong and
unnatural. That shook me to my core,”
Carleo said.
Anthony Garrison-Engbrecht, director
of leadership programs and LGBTSS,
responded to the alleged events on April 14
via phone call.
See LGBTj Page 3
Caroline Burt | Loyolan
Ali Swenson was named valedictorian on April 14 at the Academic Awards Convocation.
