Maroon

              LOYOLA MAROON \ * VOL. XLV Loyola University, New Orleans, La., Friday, March 28,1969 No. 21 Priests, students protest to archbishop Over Perez funeral Two Loyola priests and some Loyola students have sent letters to Archbishop Philip M. Hannan expressing dissatisfaction with the funeral services held for Leander Perez at Holy Name of Jesus Church last Friday. Other students have also written the archbishop asking him to consider the possibility of changing the laws governing Christian burials. Perez, long-time political boss of Plaquemines Parish, died Wednesday, March 19, of a heart attack. Perez had been excommunicated from the Church in the early 1960's by the late Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel for his opposition to Catholic school integration. Archbishop Hannan announced last Friday that Perez had been reconciled with the Church for over a year. The Rev. Gilbert Roxburgh, 0.P., assistant professor of Theology, and five other Dominican priests from the New Orleans area sent a letter protesting the burial of Judge Perez "with full and solemn honors in the Catholic Church." Father Roxburgh said in an interview that "in a changing world the Catholic Church ought to stand for something," and that the views of Perez were "opposed to the Christian religion." He said Perez showed by his "utterance and actions" that he considered Negroes "inferior beings. The funeral "insulted a significant number of persons" in the community and also had some unfavorable overtones for Loyola, he said. The priests wanted the archbishop to "express without reservation" the committment of the Church to the causes of justice, respect, and love towards all men, said Father Roxburgh. The other priests who signed the letter were the Rev. Richard Trutter, 0.P., associate pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish; the Rev. J.A. Nadeau, 0.P., instructor of theology at St. Mary's Dominican College; and the Rev. Kilian Downey, 0.P., the Rev. Michael Duffy, 0.P., and the Rev. Mel Buechele, 0.P., all instructors in the Xavier University theology department. Father Roxburgh said he and the other five priests live in the Dominican rectory at St. Anthony of Padua. He said they all agreed that a public funeral for Perez was not in order and, therefore, decided to let the archbishop know how they felt. The letter referred to Perez as the "leading racist of the South" and said that the lifting of the excommunication was a '-mere legalism." Late Monday afternoon, the archbishop released a statement in reply to this letter stating that Perez's excommunication as well as his reinstatement into the Church "followed the procedure established by Canon Law." "The censure was imposed because of opposition to the authority of the Church. The absolution from the censure involved a public statement accepting and supporting the authority of the Church," said the statement. The archbishop's reply said that Perez's statement was made "publicly" on March 8 of last year. "The fact that it was not reported by the press does not affect the case and is a matter of judgement of the press," said the statement. According to the New Orleans States-Item, a high church source said Tuesday that Perez's excommunication was lifted after he made a speech at Ft. Jackson, praising the Catholic school system on March 8 of last year. The event was the groundbreaking and blessing of a new incinerator in Buras, La. The source said the officials of the archdiocese of New Orleans knew in advance that the speech was to be made for the purpose of reconciling Perez with the Church. . The Maroon learned that the Rev. Harold F. Cohen, S.J., university chaplain wrote a personal letter to Archbishop Hannan on March 22 in which he stated that he thought a clarification from the archbishop was necessary. The letter said that at present a Catholic burial is not only a plea for God's mercy, but also in some way a stamp of approval upon the person being buried. In an interview Father Cohen said his letter was a response to a letter priests and religious had received dated March 21 from the office of the chancellor. The letter included a statement made by Archbishop Hannan after the announcement of the death of Judge Perez. A group of students also wrote a letter to Archbishop Hannan asking him to consider the possibility of changing the church law on Christian burials. Barbara Scanlon, A&S freshman, drafted the letter for the group. Miss Scanlon said the controversy concerning the funeral services of Perez in the Church raised a number of questions in the minds of some students concerning Christian burials. Miss Scanlon said this group of FATHER GILBERT ROXBURGH Believes Catholic stand betrayed Mary Decoteau takes talent show honors Tri Sig, Five Tone Roll also win Petite but talented Mary Decoteau sang her way into the hearts of the judges and the audience last Sunday night to capture top honors at the 31st Blue Key Talent Night at the * Municipal Auditorium. Miss Decoteau, a BA junior, placed first in the individual act competition with her vocal rendition of "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?" and "Different Drums." Placing second in the individual act category was Joe Duggan, popular folk guitarist, who performed a medley of ballads, including "Classical Gas", "Scarborough Fair" and "Love Is Blue." Third place in individual competition went to Angelle Trosclair, a music school sophomore. In group competition, the Five Tone Roll, a music school group, took top honors for their modern jazz number selection, including an original compostiion, "On the Boulevard." Placing second in the group act competition was the Beggar Blew Grass Band, a country and Western musical comedy number featuring Rick Frey, Ron Kohl, Bill Dooley and Mike Norris — and an assorted number of barnyard animals, to make the act more realistic. The winner of the variety competition was Sigma Sigma Sigma social sorority which presented "Ulysses and Penelope", a comical look at a possible reason why the Greek hero avoided his wife for 12 years. Rounding out this year's talent night was the Frank Sinatra-like song styling of Ted Kruse, Evening Division 9ophomore, who sang "The Nearness of You" and "Stella by Starlight." Theta Phi Alpha added spice to the show with their skit, "The Sappy Salvation of Shirley Simple", a take-off of childhood star Shirley Temple's arrival at Loyola. Deja Vu, a folk group composed of Joe Duggan, Mary Decoteau, Mike Luther and Tom Santelli, performed a medley of folk songs that added that quiet lilt to the first half of the show. Frank Cuismano, BA freshman, evoked laughs from an otherwise quiet house of about 1,700 with his version of the Don Adams comedy routine, "The Football Coach." Phi Phi Phi social sorority gave the show gave the show color and at the same time brought the elder members of the audience back to the days of the corner ice cream parlor and straw hats with its rendition of a gay '90s medley featuring "Anything Goes" and "A Pocketful of Miracles." Darlene Lachart, A&S sophomore, added a classical flair to the show with her gracefull performance of a classical Degas ballet. Law school presented its comedy skit, "Sammy Schliegal: General Merchandising Store", featuring Dave Segal, Bert Artiques and Karen Cucullu. Guest star pianist Ronnie Kole brought down the curtain on the 1969 show by performing several popular songs with his trio. TALENTED MUSICIANS — The Five Tone Rolls, the stage during talent night. They were the made up of five music school students, perform on winners of talent night in the group competition. LU scholarship policy changed By RAFAEL BERMUDEZ (Maroon Staff Reporter) The granting of full tuition scholarships for most new students will be discontinued as of Sept. 1969, according to the Rev. Thomas H. Clancy, S.J., vice-president of academic affairs. In a move "designed to get more value from the scholarship dollar," the university Scholarship Committee has revamped its entire scholarship policy, he said. According to Father Clancy, Loyola has been one of the nation's few private universities providing full tuition scholarships to students, regardless of the individual's financial needs. Under the new system, a superior student will be awarded the amount of aid he needs according to the Parents Confidential Statement. If his needs are great, even greater than the dollar amount of tuition, he will be given a loan, a student assistantship and a money stipend. Athletes, band members, editors of university publications, and other students who aid the university to Announces Father Clancy such a degree that their earning power is diminished, will still be eligible for full tuition scholarships. Explaining why he believes the new system to be better, Father Clancy said that in the past, each department had a set number of full tuition scholarships to award. Awards for an amount less than full tuition were not available. Thus, if there was a large number of students applying to one department for scholarships, most would be rejected because of the limited number of available scholarships. Under the new system, he said, scholarships for less than the full amount of tuition may be awarded. Thus the available funds can be distributed as to help a larger number of students. Other changes in the scholarship awards policy include a freeze on the amount of money the university will contribute to the general scholarship fund. Loyola is currently spending $521,447 on scholarships and other forms of student aid. Of this amount, 95 per cent ($497,272) comes from operating expenses and five per cent ($24,175) from outside contributions. Any increase in tuition or enrollment will not cause the university's contribution to increase proportionally, as it has in the past, Father Clancy said,. He said a drive to increase scholarshp funding from outside contributors is expected to make up for any lack of money. The "Dean's Scholarship," and "President's Scholarship," are being discontinued and all future awards will only be made through the Scholarships Committee. The Scholarship Committee is comprised of members of the faculty, staff and administration, and is headed by the Rev. J. Emile Pfister, S.J. A special sum (10 per cent) of all scholarship monies will be set aside exclusively to aid financially disadvantaged students. ABout 50 financially disadvantaged students are expected to receive aid under this program next September. Students who are now receiving scholarships or aid from the university will in no way be affected by the new policies. 'Word' machine installed; seized by LU security By GARY ATKINS (Maroon Desk Editor) The Word finally dwelt among us this week—at least for a little while. After a four-month controversy which eventually gave the university Committee on Student Rights and Freedoms its first case, a vending machine for the Word, an underground newspaper, was set up on campus. And 24 hours later, it was hauled away by the Loyola security police on the instructions of the university business manager, Thomas Preston. Steve Vakas, the A&S sophomore who has been attempting to have the Word sold on campus, termed the seizure of the machine "an act of administrative harassment.!.' Last December, Vakas asked for and was denied permission by the Office of Student Affairs to set up the vending machine. He asked the student rights committee to review the decision and was told that "because there exists no valid reason for denying you permission to sell the Word on the campus, the (committee) finds your freedom was invalidly restricted." The rights committee also added that "conditions, terms or manner of sale of any item on this campus" are handled by the proper administrators and not the committee. After the rights committee issued its decision, Vakas said he talked to Preston and was explicitly told that if (the matter) went through the student rights committee, I could have the same terms as the Times-Picayune." The New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Stales-Item both have vending machines on campus. Vakas said that Preston had told him there were no terms, no money, no leases that had to be met. "He told me there were no formal arrangements with the Times-Picayune," Vakas said. So, this week Vakas placed the vending maching in front of the Danna Center beside the machines for the Times-Picayune and States-Item. The next day, Preston said he told the security police to pick up the machine. "No arrangement had been made," he said. "Anything sold on campus has to go through (the business office). I didn't get any orders from up the line that the Word would be put" on campus. John Eckholdt, the vice-president for business and finance, is out of town and unavailable for comment. Preston said the Times-Picayune and States-Item had been sold on campus for years as a "convenience item" for students and faculty who wanted the morning and evening newspapers. He said that though there was no formal lease, special permission from the business office was required before the two machines were set up. "I told Vakas," Preston said, "that the Word wouldn't be sold on campus unless I was overruled." The underground newspaper, he said, "isn't conducive to a business operation." So, after four months, the controversy over whether the Word shall or shan't dwell among Loyolans goes on. And as for the vending machine itself, Capt. Edward Stevens, director of the Loyola security force, said it would be held for "ownership claim." Like the lost and found items, he said. To which Vakas could only say, "What'd they think, the machine was lost or something?" STEVE VAKAS Council offers rights changes The Student Council proposed two amendments to the student rights document this week, one that would restructure the Board of Communications and one that would alter the appeals procedure for students appealing disciplinary action taken against them. The first amendment would have the three students and three faculty members on the communications board appointed by the Student Council and University Senate, respectively. Presently, the communications board consists of three faculty members, one each appointed by the Departments of Communication and Journalism and one elected by the University Senate; three students, one each appointed by the communications and journalism departments and one who is supposed to be elected by he student body, and three administrators appointed by the university president. The second amendment would affect the appeal from the Student Judicial Court to the university Board of Appeals by limiting the right appeal only to the accused student. Presently, either the accused student or the Office of Student Affairs may appeal the decision of the court to the board. The proposals must be submitted to the university Committee on Student Rights and Freedoms, which will then hold a public hearing on each amendment. The proposals must receive a favorable two-thirds vote from the committee in order to be recommended to the university president. In other business, the council appropriated $200 to Blue Key to help defray the costs of talent night, with the recommendation that the talent show be moved back into the Field House. The talent show was held in the Municipal Auditorium this year. The council also appropriated up to $100 for printing costs for a teacher questionnaire prepared by Delta Epsilon Sigma honor society. The' council also granted a permanent charter to the sailing club. (continued on page 4)