Loyola University New Orleans 6/23/04

We are just back from Orientation, and it was terrific. I don't have every single question answered, because I thought of more on the way home, but it was informative and the administrators, faculty and staff were very accessible. Most importantly, my son came back excited and happy with his choice in every way. He likes his classes, and he and his roommate (a friend from home) got a great room assignment (one of the bigger rooms, not too high, overlooking “the quad”). Biever Hall, the dorm that houses all the freshmen men (class of 800, 60% female student body), is quite nice, as dorms go. One interesting feature is that the side walls of the rooms in this dorm are brick, which I suspect is fire safety feature, but it also adds a nice "feel" to the space. The exterior wall is windows from one end to the other, so it’s very light. The beds are “bunkable” and all the furniture (two beds, two desks, two chairs) can be moved. The drawers are fixed in the closets, and the bottom bunk has two drawers underneath. The floors are linoleum, so it will need a rug, but I think it adds a nice touch to the "flavor" of a hall when each room has it's own different rug. It's a co-ed dorm with men and women on alternating floors and community bathrooms (toilets on one side of the wall and showers on the other). There are kitchens on each hall and sprinkler systems in all rooms and halls. He's decided to major in English, although he's also considering their combined BA/JD program. They have two tracks of English majors: Literature and Creative Writing, and he's chosen the writing track. I couldn't be happier. If I could go to graduate school, that's what I would study. He loves his schedule, which includes numerous "intro" courses. He laughed on the way home that they were great classes to make him better at trivia. He was on the Academic Team (Quiz Bowl) at his HS, and would love to continue this interest in college. I can't find evidence of an "Academic Team" at Loyola on their website, and need to research to determine if such a thing exists anywhere. There is an image that displays, alternating with other images, on the home page of their website (www.loyno.edu), which shows a boy wearing a sweatshirt that says "Social Justice University" followed by the words: "Our rich Jesuit tradition is not a passive one. Challenge status quo. Live meaningfully. Engage. After all, the people who are bold enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." This theme of "learning in context" and "challenge status quo" seemed to run through many aspects of Orientation. I hope it's real, rather than just Catholic lip service (something of which I've had too much for one lifetime). I'm going to go in, believing they mean it because it seems real. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Frank Scully, talked about education "in context" and emphasized the Jesuit mission of "educating to prepare women and men with and for others." He also stressed their commitment to "imbue students with values that transcend the goals of money, fame and success," and quoted the Superior General of the Jesuits, Peter-Hans Kolvenback, who said, "We've learned that appropriation of knowledge does not humanize." As we were riding back, my dear son reached up and gently fingered the newly-acquired Mardi Gras beads that hung around his HS graduation tassel, dangling together from the rear view mirror of the car, and laughed, "I've gone from a conservative Republican HS where I was in the minority as a liberal, to a college where I'm not liberal *enough*!" There also seems to be an emphasis on interactive learning within the classical environment. We were told that the student teacher ration is 14:1, the average class size is 20, and that he would never be in a class of more than 40. He thoroughly enjoyed the "discussion groups" in which he participated, with one about university life and the other about their assigned reading, Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities". The latter was led by an English professor whom he particularly liked. I'm sure that, like everyone else, they're looking for the well-rounded class, and they allocate substantial dollars to providing merit aid. Many parents, with whom I spoke, mentioned their students have received some kind of scholarship, and much of it was straight merit aid. My son's aid package was generous, as were those of his friends. I commend the school on their aggressive use of merit aid to attract the students they want, and suspect that this is made possible by their healthy endowment ($266,000,000). On the morning of day three, prior to everyone’s departure, they held a ninety-minute (come-and-go) breakfast at which many of the staff, administrators and some faculty were available for questions. It was helpful, because questions come to mind after the sessions, and this provided an informal setting in which to ask them. It's an interesting juxtaposition, but you can't separate the University from its home, New Orleans, LA. WOW! I can see how some might not be comfortable in the Big Easy. There are drunks walking the streets even in the mornings (giving new meaning to the term "breakfast bar") and there is lots of trash, but it is a richly textured and beautiful city, and although some very poor areas are just a few blocks away, the Uptown (Garden District) neighborhood in which the school is set, is, quite simply, gorgeous. It's Victorian mansion after Victorian mansion, interspersed with Bed & Breakfast Inns and law offices, small hotels and small apartment buildings, all different and interesting. There are little restaurants, coffee shops and bars dotted along each street and there are gnarled ancient oaks, sometimes roofing the street below, punctuated with palms. I can't wait to explore further. Although the legal age at which one can "purchase" alcohol is 21 (due to Federal requirements for highway funding), it appears to be widely disregarded, and it is legal to enter bars and possess alcohol in one's private residence (including dorm rooms), at 18. There were kids who went to the French Quarter the first night of Orientation and the University does not ban drinking in the dorm rooms. There were also kids who went to the Uptown bars (closer to school) both nights. From what we heard, no one had difficulty getting served (without any kind of fake ID). I can see how this environment might cause problems for some students and hope and pray (with confidence) that my son will use good judgment and find balance between the allure of such flavorful night life and the discipline of academic effort. A final thought about Loyola’s main campus (with the law school and one dorm are on a second campus up the street, which I have yet to see). I was struck upon our first visit by how "not beautiful" the campus was. I admit I am spoiled. Our oldest son's campus at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) is quite lovely. They have 700 plus acres, which include a centerpiece wildflower preserve, and are nicely insulated from the surrounding community by well-defined borders and lots of land. Loyola's campus is very small (26 acres), surrounded overwhelmingly on two sides by Tulane, with the other two sides "in" the Garden District. There is a Catholic Elementary school essentially "on" campus. The architecture is "mixed" and includes the older and original buildings (a Gothic/Tudor blend), one "modern" (60's I'm guessing) building, that is, without question, the single ugliest building I've ever seen (although it has an oddly pleasant interior feng shui), and a few in between (including one quite noble effort to tie the ugly building with the original centerpiece, Marquette Hall). All of that said, I have to admit, it's "growing on me" and I'm very sure they think they have something "special" going on there. They may very well be right.