What do “Critically Thinking, Acting Justly” and the “Pathways” plan have in common? “Pathways” was supposedly our administration’s answer to Katrina, but little or no critical thought or just action went into its creation. Instead, “Pathways” is a crisis manufactured from whole cloth (Remember WMD’s?).
Father Wildes says we have to look forward, not back. He said, “Mistakes were made.” His use of the passive voice conveniently shifts the responsibility away from the person who performed the act.
In order for you to think critically and act justly, you need to look back and have BOTH sides of the issue in front of you. I invite you to examine the “other side.” Visit www.loyno.info.
If we actually do think critically, we will see that one of the biggest “mistakes” was cutting programs based on the criterion of national reputation because the facts contradict the decisions.
Consider this. Who knows that the first broadcast in the Deep South took place in Marquette Hall when the experiments of Jesuit physics professor Anton Kunkel became WWL radio? Or that Loyola-owned WWL-TV was the most-watched CBS affiliate in the country? The enormous profits from those stations supported the university for more than 60 years. When the stations were sold in 1990, the proceeds of the sale became the endowment that keeps Loyola going today. Thank you, nationally renowned, but suspended, physics program.
Did you know that broadcast production alumnus Manny Coto just won the Emmy for best drama series for his Fox show “24?” Did you know that Paul Amos, who founded CNN, is an alumnus? Or that Jim Paratore is president of Telepictures Productions and executive vice president of Warner Brothers Domestic Television Distribution? Or that Russ Myerson is executive vice president and general manager of the WB Network? How about Kyan Douglas, one of the stars of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” on Bravo? The Casting Director and several other members of the creative staff on the movie shooting in front of Loyola right now are broadcast production graduates.
There are hundreds of other alumni employed nationally in virtually every aspect of television and movie production, from sports to news, from drama to science fiction, from writing to design.
When the public relations Bateman Team and the Ad Team have needed video and audio, broadcast production students produced it for them. Broadcast journalism students covered those teams’ events and reported stories on WLDC news. A broadcast production student was once even the editor of The Maroon.
It’s clear that there was “synergy” in communications before anyone meddled in it and that it was one program, not eight separate and distinct ones. The administration seemed to think cutting some programs would be like cutting off an arm or a leg and the body could survive, but it looks like they might have hit viscera.
Let us now turn to education. Admittedly, the alumni may not have jobs as glamorous as broadcasting, but that does not make them or the program less important. Have you noticed the education crisis in New Orleans? When the city desperately needs well-trained teachers more than any other time in its history, not only to teach but to build a first rate system, our administrators decided education should be terminated. Why? Teachers do not make enough money to pay off their student loans. Yes, you read correctly, the provost of a university promoting its social justice, its commitment to education, said that to me at a college assembly. You can find it on loyno.info. Apparently social justice and education do not extend beyond the campus boundaries.
Loyola graduates had access to alumni through the now terminated faculty with whom they kept in contact. Universities usually foster relationships like these to help students network and get jobs after graduation. But when our administration forcibly ended these relationships, the university lost these alumni in more ways than they can probably even imagine.
How do I know all this? In order to have such “institutional memory,” you have to be here a while longer than Father Wildes (less than three years) or Provost Harris (less than four years), and you have to know where to go for the data to make informed decisions.
If this small sample is any indication, then Loyola is sorely diminished, and “Pathways” is the reason.
I think I know why Father Wildes and Provost Harris want us only looking forward and not back. It is so we cannot see what we have lost or the mistakes they made.
Connie Rodriguez is an associate professor of classical studies.
