Maroon

              THE MAROON VOL. 86, NO. 12 A LOYOLA TRADITION SINCE 1 923 • ONLINE EDITION AT LOYOLAMAROON.COM FRIDAY, DE€€MBE« 5, 2008 "FOR A GREATER LOYOLA" Loyola's Lenten sacrifice Classes on Ash Wednesday will continue at least next two years By MASAKO HIRSCH ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR It's time to dispel the rumors: classes weren't held on Ash Wednesday as punishment for the university's retention rate. The real reason, as it turns out, had nothing to do with Hurricane Gustav, imitating other colleges or even Mardi Gras itself. Mardi Gras break was cut down so that Loyola could book the Superdome for graduation.After Hurricane Katrina, the choices for a graduation site became limited. On-campus options |__/VARfLCt+ Co, POO 9 TOM MACOM/THE MAROON Alexis Yankowski (foreground) and Kurt Bindewald of University Ministry distribute ashes at the filled-to-capacity evening mass in Ignatius Chapel Feb. 25. Dean of music open to input By GARRETT CLELAND STAFF WRITER The verdict is in, and the College of Music has a new dean. Donald Boomgaarden — pianist, organist, fiddler, university administrator and church music director — will be taking over in fall 2009. Loyola has been searching for a new dean of music since September through a national search firm and a committee of Loyola professors. Brian Bromberger, the committee chairman and dean of the College of Law, said the most important factors in a candidate Moot court places fourth in nationals By JEAN PAUL ARGUELLO STAFF WRITER As unbelievable as it sounds, it was a coin toss that determined the fate of Loyola College of Law's moot team at the national competition in New York City this year. A coin toss is used to determine which side of an argument each competitor is on. Loyola Law made it to the final-four round and lost to the team from Chicago-Kent College of Law by three points. "I think once you get to that level of competition, it's not unusual for the winner to be decided by a coin toss," said Richard Brown, one of two oralists on the moot team. Chris Otten was the second oralist. Katie May was the brief writer and Leigh Anne Gilchrist was the student coach. All are third year Loyola Law students. In November of last year the moot team came in first at the Texas/Louisiana Moot Court Regional Competition against nine other schools. This guaranteed them a shot at the nationals in New York last month — something that hasn't been done at Loyola since Professor Marcel Garsaud Jr. was on the moot team during his law school days in 1956 to 1959. The New York City Bar Association National Moot Court Competition pits two of the best moot teams from each of 14 regions against each other in two areas: a legal brief prepared prior to the competition and an oral argument. The legal brief, written by May, with research and advice from the two oralists, could count for up to 40 percent of the team's score. In the first of two rounds, Loyola oralists Brown and Otten had to bring out their most sound arguments in order to beat oralists from both University of Minnesota Law School and University of Kansas School of Law. They beat both teams. "The first round was actually tougher competition," said Otten. "After we got warmed up in the second round, we did a lot better." In the second round, Otten and Brown beat Kansas Law in a rematch by seven points. Then, in an upset, Loyola beat the team from Chicago Law School by ten points. Monica Wallace, law professor and moot team advisor, called the win over Chicago "unprecedented." This propelled the Loyola moot team to the final four. Their first and last bout of the final four was with Chicago-Kent College of Law. Chicago Law had beaten Chicago-Kent in their regional competition."They thought we were going all the way," Brown said of the Chicago- Kent moot team. The coin-toss determined whether Loyola Law would be on either the petitioner (plaintiff) or respondent (defendant). The moot competition presented this issue to oralist Chris Otten: Does the state zoning commission have the right to prevent a church to expand in a zone which forbids it? The issue touches on a religious freedom debate that would be difficult for judges to remove from their deliberation. Chicago-Kent, winning the coin toss, argued on behalf of the church. Otten said both sides argued well, but the opposition, having the moral high ground (that the church ought to be allowed to expand) and more time than Loyola to speak because of judges' easy-to-answer "softball questions," won by three points. "I think that by that time, the judges had already decided that she was going to get the benefit of their COURTESY OF LEIGH ANNE GILCHRIST Left to right: Monica Wallace, Katie May, Chris Otten, Richard Brown and Leigh Anne Gilchrist placed fourth against 27 national mock trial teams. Fliers, petition articulate response to Jindal pick By MASAKO HIRSCH ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR The choice of Governor Bobby Jindal as this year's graduation speaker has one senior wondering if she will attend. To demonstrate her disapproval, psychology senior Ashley Johnson began circulating a petition March 2 among seniors that demands a new speaker for their commencement ceremony. "I've gotten some people that are excited about Bobby Jindal speaking, but for the most part, most people are very confused about him as a choice," Johnson said. "The response has been pretty big. I've gotten nothing but faculty support even though I'm only looking for seniors' signatures just to keep it relevant to the cause." So far, Johnson has collected 80 signatures out of her expected goal of 100. "(The goal is) just enough to let people know that I'm not the only one not OK with this, and if the change doesn't occur at all, if Bobby Jindal is still the speaker at the graduation ceremony, then I just won't attend," she said. In addition to the petition, Johnson has posted fliers stating COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Gov. Bobby Jindal delivers the Republican Party's official response to President Barack Obama's address. He will give Loyola's commencement address to graduating seniors. see ASH, page 4 see MUSIC, page 5 see COURT, page 4 see JINDAL, page 4 mmmimifw RAGEI2 MAROON DIRECTORY: CALENDAR, page 2 | EDITORIAL, page 6 | LIFE & TIMES, page 8 | SPORTS, page 12 | NEWS TIPS: 865 3535