Maroon

              THE MAROON WWW.LOYOLAMAROON.COM FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008 VOL. 86, NO. 23 Students' program earns former president's approval Students devised program for Clinton Global Initiative By KATIE URBASZEWSKI ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR It's a dynamic team: Aaron Kirsh has the financial knowledge, Nicole Kone is involved with community outreach and Elliot Sanchez has the university connections. Together, they have developed an idea for poverty alleviation in New Orleans that Bill Clinton personally recognized.Kirsh, finance senior, Kone, English writing senior, and Sanchez, philosophy senior, are in the process of developing a loan system that will give people in the low-income bracket the opportunity to start their own businesses and earn a better salary. They should have the Loyola Microfinance Initiative entirely organized by the beginning of the fall semester, Sanchez said. Loyola will provide the money, and students will run the program. The three seniors developed the idea during the Clinton Global Initiative, a conference at Tulane University that students from across the globe attended last month to discuss and attempt to solve global issues. Out of 700 groups, theirs was one of nine that Clinton acknowledged as noteworthy plans. "He thought the idea had a lot of great potential," Sanchez said. "It really helped a lot of other people understand how much potential the idea has for New Orleans." What Kirsh, Kone and Sanchez are creating is called a microfinance service. People who earn a small income and are interested in starting their own businesses are loaned money from an organization — in this case Loyola — to jumpstart these ventures. Most of the services are simple, such as sewing, catering and childcare. However, these businesses can't launch because their would-be creators live paycheck to paycheck. Microfinance services provide the money to start the business, and the loans are eventually paid back through the earnings of the new businesses.Loyola has promised about $10,000-315.000 to start off with, Kirsh said. By December, they hope to qualify for grants and loans that fund microfinance organizations. During the summer, local churches, the organization's Web site and Jesuit centers will offer SENIORS KEEP IT 'CASUAL' DAN HELFERS / THE MAROON Senior graphic design students display their art in the Monroe Library's Collins C. Diboll Gallery in a show called "Business Casual." The exhibit ran from Saturday, April 12 to Friday, April 18. Campus confidential BY JAUN£ JACKSON THE MAROON It may be a small campus, but Loyola has many little-known places that are steeped in history. Even as administrators work to update Loyola's image, the university plays host to a number of tucked-away places that few students see. THE GREENHOUSE The greenhouse on the fourth-floor of Monroe Hall houses some of the various plants professors and students use for research and teaching. Craig Hood, chairman and professor in the biology department, said the current greenhouse is actually the second greenhouse built at Loyola. The first greenhouse was built on the grassy knoll between the West Road parking garage and the Danna Center. It was filled with exotic plants used for botany classes and professors conducting research. Hood said the old greenhouse was torn down in 1998 because it was deemed "too ugly to be in public view." In order for the greenhouse to function properly, the windows of the greenhouse were sprayed with a white chemical so that the greenhouse effect could take place, adding to the building's unattractive appearance."It did look a little messy on The greenhouse on the roof of Monroe Hall houses plants to be used for research and teaching.The now vacant old library was built in dedication to students and alumni who died in World Warll. Originally a lecture hall, The Marquette Theater is now one of the "best-equipped theaters in the city." PHOTOS BY KEVIN ZANSLER The Lower Depths Theater was originally designed to be a storage area. Policy keeps students in dorms Loyola trying to become ;residential campus By JAUNC JACKSON THE MAROON In an effort to bolster falling retention rates, administrators recently instituted a policy requiring that students live on campus during their sophomore year. This new policy will come into effect next fall. Robert Reed, director of Residential Life, said the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, wants to make the university a "residential campus." Through his research of other schools' residential policies, mostly other Jesuit universities, Reed said universities with the majority of students living on campus have higher retention rates. "Students living on campus their freshman year get very well-connected to the university," Reed said. "They make social contacts, excel in their academics. But we seem to be lax when it comes to their sophomore year." The Cohort Retention Rate Table, a chart the university publishes showing retention percentages from fall to fall semester, provides data from the colleges of Business, Humanities and Natural Sciences, Music and Fine Arts, and Social Sciences. According to Cindy Caire, associate director of Institutional Research at Loyola, the percentages comprise all full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students admitted for the spring and fall terms. "These students are tracked to each subsequent fall semester," Caire said in an e-mail to The Maroon. "If the students have registered hours in the subsequent fall semesters, they are counted as retained." With 520 freshmen arriving for the fall 2006 semester and 405 of them returning for sophomore year, Loyola's retention rate for this year's batch of sophomores stands at 78 percent. This is the second-worst retention rate among sophomores since 1999; the worst numbers are from fall 2004, when sophomore retention stood at 74 percent. For the remaining years since 1999, the rate hovers at around 82 percent. According to Marcia "Cissy" Petty, vice president for Student Affairs and associate provost, administrators introduced the plan requiring sophomores to live on campus almost two years ago and initiated the plan at the President's Cabinet. "There will be exceptions to the policy, and those are currently under discussion," Petty said. Lori Zawistowski, interim see PLACES, page 4 see PROGRAM, page 4 see RETENTION, page 3 A I OYOi A IR A DITION SI NCI' 1923 • TOR A (. Ri:AT h R lOYOIA" Is there life after g*l college? IfcMl see Life and Times, pg. 6 MAROON DIRECTORY: CALENDAR, page 2 | EDITORIAL, page 6 | LIFE & TIMES, page 8 | SPORTS, page 12 | NEWS TIPS: 865-3535