Maroon

              The Maroon Vol. 62, No. 15 Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 February 3, 1984 Group says campus racism exists By Tammy L. Collins The general consensus of students who attended a race and racism awareness workshop Tuesday in Buddig Hall was that a racism problem does exist on this campus. The 20 students participating in the workshop were asked to share their experiences concerning racism. Many of the students actively participated in the discussion. The workshop, sponsored by the Office of Residential Life, was designed to discuss the problems of racism at Loyola and the effects of racism on society, according to Kevin Foley, assistant director for Residential Development. The group of eight blacks and 12 whites participated in an exercise requiring them to divide into two segregated groups to discuss and list three good and three bad points of being black and of being white. During the workshop, the students cited the lack of participation of black students in campus organizations and activities, and the reluctance of whites to approach blacks for fear of appearing phony as two major problems at Loyola. "For a long time, I was on pins and needles around blacks because I was afraid they would think I was not approaching them in friendship, but rather to just cross the racial barrier," Fran Jones, political science junior, said. According to Foley, race-related incidents in the residence halls and a panel discussion on racism at last month's Faculty Convocation prompted the need for such a workshop. One of the incidents in the residence halls involved black and white women on the sixth floor of Biever Hall. According to Foley, the white women said the disturbance began because the blacks were "too loud," while the black women said the disturbance occurred because the whites were "racists." In her introduction to the race relations panel discussion, Edith G. Jones, assistant director of the Counseling, Career Development and Placement Center, said the mother of one of the residents involved called the administration in November to say that she thought there was a racial problem on campus. Other residence hall incidents have involved complaints about the race of a roommate and the harassment of Malaysian students, Foley said. "The Malaysian women were terrified about moving into the residence halls," Robert Reed, director of Residential Life, said. The women came to his office crying because they knew that other Malaysian women had been maliciously treated last semester, he added. The Faculty Convocation panel discussion on race relations at Loyola addressed the interactions between black students and white students, and between black students and faculty. "It is fitting and proper for us to re-examine the quality of black/white relations here at Loyola that may affect the education of our students," said Jones, the moderator, during the panel discussion. She said a re-examination of race relations at Loyola is fitting for four reasons. The first reason is that Loyola is currently undergoing a universitywide self study. "We are examining what we do, how we do it and why. This is a perfect time for us to give some thought to how we relate to one another and how we relate to our students," she said. The second reason is that the Loyola black student population is increasing. Jones said recent studies show that this year's freshmen class had a black What goes up, must come down Construction workers use a weighted-down smaller crane to help dissemble the large crane used during constuction of the Communications/Music Complex. -Photo hy John Mcl usker Music school professor dies George Jansen, assistant professor of music, died on Jan. 25 after a lengthy illness. He was 58. Jansen's career at Loyola University began in 1947. He served as director of bands from 1953-69 and was one of five founders of the New Orleans Summer Pops Orchestra.Jansen was the musician and stage band coordinator for the New Orleans Opera Association for 23 years. He conducted the Mobile Civic Ballet Orchestra for three years and was a member of the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony for 14 years. He instructed the brass section for the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and directed the New Orleans Brass Ensemble. Securing a loan 'not a big problem' By Rene Sanchez Loyola students remain in good shape to receive financial aid through the Guaranteed Student Loan program for the forseeable future, according to E. P. Seybold Jr., director of scholarships and financial aid. Seybold's assessment came after a Jan. 2 Associated Press article about the GSL program appeared in The Times-Picavune/The States-Item. In the article, originating in Baton Rouge, Ray Rabalais, who the AP described as "a New Orleans financial consultant involved with the program," was quoted as saying, "I don't want to alarm anybody, but the impression 1 get is that it is going to be more difficult for students to gel loans." He also said in the article that he had reason to believe some banks were going to get out of student loans. Rabalais could not be reached for comment. The article said "the problem is that many banks have little interest in making student loans because they provide little profit." Seybold disagreed saying the story was "alarming and probably misleading." "We are not aware that there are eligible {Loyola] students who wanted loans but couldn't find lenders except in two cases," Seybold said. "Generally, it [getting loans] has not been a big problem for Loyola students." He said approximately 1,200 Loyola students are currently part of the CISL program, amounting to nearly 53.5 million in loans. "It's the most utilized program we have," he said. Seybold said he was not concerned with negative reports for the future, and pointed to two recent agreements to support his beliefs. He said Loyola negotiated agreements in early Janaury with United States Aid Fund and the Higher Education Assistance Foundation, two public agcncies that have relationships with alternate lenders in the GSL program. In addition, the First National Bank of Commerce recently made an agreement with Sallie Mae, a private, profit-making company which creates a secondary market for student loans. The company was formed by Congressional act. See Racism/page 2 See Loans/page 6