Maroon

              THE MAROON A LOYOLA TRADITION SINCE 1923 • "FOR A GREATER LOYOLA" ONLINE EDITION AT LOYOLAMAROON.COM FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2008 VOL. 86, NO. 12 Nightmare on Zimple Street By MASAKO HIRSCH I ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR In the span of two days, two area university students were abducted and raped, leaving some to wonder if there is a connection. The first incident, which took place on the morning of Feb. 24, involved the abduction of a Tulane student from St. Charles Avenue to Audubon Park, where she was robbed and raped. A day later, a Loyola student encounted the same incident at around 2 p.m. "I was walking down Broadway and Zimple," said the Loyola student, who, due to the personal nature of the issue, wished to remain anonymous. "I was walking to Walgreens to pick up some stuff. I dropped my cell phone, and I went to pick it up. As I came back up, somebody told me not to turn around, and I did, and I just got hit in the face. I don't remember a lot." Someone took her into a car, then blindfolded her and bound her hands in front of her. "I was raped, and he continually hit me in the face," she said. "Then I was released in a park." Initially, the student didn't report the incident. After seeing the e-mailed BOLO regarding the rape of the Tulane student, however, she decided to report her own. "I thought it was really important that there be a BOLO sent out just because it's been like a chain, and it needs to be taken seriously," she said. "I actually didn't think people would pay attention to the BOLO but I've heard a lot of people talking about it and that made me feel really good about it." Yet some people, she noted, have not believed her story. "As far as people questioning me, like 'Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you run? It happened in broad daylight, how could this happen?' I just think it's important for people to know that you can say you've walked down a certain street a million times, but it's a really naive thing to say because these things do happen," she said. "Until you're put into that kind of situation, you just don't know what you would do." The response overall, however, has been supportive. The incident hasn't changed the student's opinion of Loyola. "I think Loyola is a great community. I've been getting so much sup- | port from groups of people that I know and professors here. I wouldn't leave," she said. "If anything, it reinforces that i I'm in a community that cares about me and cares about its students." Although she has reported the incident to university police, they haven't started an investigation.A Loyola student was abducted and raped in broad daylight last month, one of five reported rapes in the university area this school year. "I don't know if starting an investigation is something that I want yet," she said. According to Officer Janssen Valencia of the New Orleans Police Department, there have been no developments in the rape investigation of the Tulane stu- On Zimple Street, two blocks off of Broadway Street, a Loyola student was taken into a car and raped on Ash Wednesday around 2 p.m. PHOTOS BY DAN HELFERS / THE MAROON Board of Trustees approves first draft of university Strategic Plan No single timeline, program, or budget set in stone Editor's Note: This is the second story in a five-part series on the university's Strategic Plan. By ANDREA CASTILLO SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Board of Trustees approved Loyola's strategic plan after initially voicing some concernsconcerns about revamping the university in light of the nation's economic instability. In a closed retreat on March 12 and 13, each of Loyola's vice presidents presented the first draft of its Strategic Plan, which will define the institution's future, financially and academically. Edward Kvet, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said the Board of Trustees welcomed the plan and agreed with its direction."It was important for us to make sure that we were heading in the right direction because it wouldn't make a lot of sense for us to pull a fully developed plan in May and find this isn't the way (we) ought to go," Kvet said. According to the Rev. Ted Dziak, S.J., vice president of mission and ministry, the Board of Trustees is the entity in charge of making sure that Loyola continues its mission. It is in charge of evaluating the president as well as the rest of the administration. The board also manages Loyola's finances. see RAPE, page 4 see PLAN, page 16 hfthfh CORRECTION: In a March 13 article. The Maroon misstated the leadership for the potential Center for the Study of New Orleans. The School of Mass Communication is involved in the planning process and will help run it if Loyola creates it. but departments across the university will be involved in the center's leadership. The Maroon regrets this mistakes. MAROON DIRECTORY: CAMPUS WATCH, page 2 7 SPORTS, page 6 ] LIFE & TIMES, page 10 | EDITORIAL, page 14 | NEWS TIPS: 865-3535