Maroon

              The Maroon ESTABLISHED 1923 VOL. 76 NO. 9 Loyola University New Orleans FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1997 Low retention leads to $1.1 million budget escrow By MICHAEL GIUSTI News Editor Loyola cut $1.1 million from its operating budget because the retention rates and the number of law and business graduate students were not as high as Loyola's administrators expected. "We were slightly over-optimistic in estimating the revenues from tuition this year," said the Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J., university president. "While the size of the new freshman class was a wonderful thing, we didn't reach our goal in the law school or the graduate business school," he said. Knoth said that about 688 students are enrolled ii. the law school, but the goal was to enroll more than 700. Money had to be removed from university budgets and put in escrow because of low retention rates in the law school and graduate business program. Patrick O'Brien, business dean, and John Makdisi, law dean, both refused to comment. Daniel Sheridan, associate provost for Academic Affairs, refused to release the amount of money removed from each college's budget. David Danahar, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, was unavailable for comment. John Eckholdt, vice president for Business and Finance, said the Division of Academic Affairs had $800,000 placed into escrow, more than any other division. Business and finance had the next largest amount removed from its coffers, $190,000. Student affairs and institutional advancement had the least taken, $50,000 and $60,000, respectively. The amount of money put into escrow in academic affairs was divided among the colleges of arts and sciences, business administration, law and music, as well as City College and the library. Robert Rowland, Arts and Sciences dean, said $143,000 was placed into escrow from that college. He said the decision as to how much money each department would have held back was not necessarily decided by a set percentage of its budget. "[The amount taken out] depended on the needs of that department," Rowland said. "We try to take into account the possible effect on the educational quality before we make a decision on how much money to hold," he said. City college had $77,000 put in escrow. Numbers were not made available for the law school, business school or the music school. Students take values out of class By CHRISTINE LABOURDETTE Staff writer Once the books are closed, the lectures done and classes finished for the day, a Jesuit education at Loyola doesn't have to end. Many student organizations promote Jesuit values through their programs, emphasis on service and commitment to justice, leadership, the poor and the development of the whole person. Kevinl__ 1 Casey, Student Governrn en t Association ,  president, said organizations such as SGA and the Loyola University Community Action Program accentuate the Jesuit values taught at Loyola. "You only leam so much from books that you're reading, but until you're actually living the experience and learning from people themselves, you're not getting the whole learning process," said Casey, biology senior. Student organizations focus on learning outside the classroom. Each group has its own goals and ends to meet, but all are working to one main goal — the betterment of the students, Casey said. The Jesuit values of service and development of personal potential have been advanced through SGA's Wolves on the Prowl program. The activity is aimed at getting the Loyola community together to perform servicc for needy organizations. Values and Education Part 3 of 5 Voice mail leads to headaches By JACKIE WILNEFF Staff writer "I am firmly convinced that poltergeists live in my phone line and prevent me from getting voice mail," said Claudette Leßlanc, international business freshman. Leßlanc is one of many students who have had problems with the phone and voice mail systems at Loyola. Students say they have trouble setting up their systems, retrieving their messages and connecting to the system. Instituted earlier this year, the voice mail system has continued to frustrate many students. "My roommate and I were never able to set up our voice mail, so we just bought an answering machine," said Brooks Hamilton, general studies freshman. Jay Bertucci, telecommunications director, said the voice mail system is separate from the phone system. The two Surviving the Night By PIERCE PRESLEY Suzanne Bundy, sociology junior, and Tiffany Crane, biology senior, attend the seventh annual Women Take Back the Night march Wednesday night. The event began at the Horseshoe with a blessing and candle-lighting and ended at Tulane University's Pocket Park. SGA promotes the welfare of students through commitments By ELIZABETH STUART Assistant News Editor Almost every member of the Student Government Association has decided what commitments to accomplish. An insert in The Gavel, SGA's newsletter, gave a list of top SGA commitments. Many included the wording, "to attempt to" complete certain projects. Huy Vu, international business senior and SGA vice president, clarified the meaning of congress members's commitments in an article in The Gavel. "A commitment is not part of their official responsibilities, but rather it is a challenge they choose to undertake on top of their normal duties," he said. Vu said the responsibility of the congress is "to represent the student body by sitting on congress, voting and sitting on subcommittees. "It's really important to note that these commitments are something that they choose to do, it's on top of their responsibilities. That's nothing to do with their responsibilities," Vu said. "I was talking to somebody who thought the only thing SGA does is to concentrate on the commitments," Vu said. He said people need to keep in perspective that this is only one of the things SGA does. "If you think about it, SGA has been around Loyola for almost forever, and the commitments have only been around for about two years, so that tells you about the role of the commitments," he said. According to a May 2, 1974, Maroon article, the Beggars formed a Student Council in 1924. The Student Council would later become the SGA. During the presidency of Katie Montgomery in the 1995-96 school year, $GA decided to begin the commitments. Last year, SGA fulfilled 73 percent of its commitments. "I would love for everyone to have 100 percent of [the commitments] done, but even if it's 55 or 80 percent, the university is still that much better off," Vu said. See PHONES, Pg. 3 Sec SGA, Pg. 5 See JESUIT, Pg. 5 EmHaBH Members get support from top Loyola administrators. hghg hgh