From struggling to become a student-led organization to members being arrested, Loyola University Community Action Program has faced many challenges over their 37-year existence.
LUCAP began in 1975 and was originally a staff-run organization. LUCAP has since transformed to a student-run organization with three main goals: provide volunteer service among the community and the university; inform and promote social justice; and aid in volunteers’ social and spiritual growth, according to the university website.
“LUCAP existed in 1975, but as a ‘program’ of Campus Ministry, which meant that it was staff-run. A group of students, including me, wanted to develop a student-run organization where students could find opportunities to do volunteer work in the community and take action for social justice,” said Mary Baudouin, New Orleans province Jesuits’ social ministries assistant and LUCAP student founder.
LUCAP’s identity today as a social justice organization did not come without its challenges, Baudouin said.
Baudouin said approval first came from Mission and Ministry, but then the group took its proposal straight to the university president at the time, the Rev. James Carter, S.J.
Although LUCAP is student led, Alvaro Alcazar, director of Urban Partners and former LUCAP adviser, emphasized “forming men and women for and with others through thinking critically, acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humbly with God, but these actions, at times, involved controversy,” Alcazar said.
David Wehrwein, sociology freshman and current LUCAP Social Affairs Chairman, said the “student-led” component of LUCAP is vital in its identity as an organization, and that this aspect “determines everything” because of the interaction with the non-Loyola community.
According to Alcazar, during his time at LUCAP community concerns were a priority for the organization.
“We placed a lot of weight on listening to community concerns so that we could create solid and mutually beneficial relationships with those we served,” Alcazar said.
Today, LUCAP stands as an organization run by students. “As the adviser of LUCAP, my role is to support LUCAP student leaders as they pursue their vision of social justice. I’m not the leader of LUCAP; I’m just a facilitator and an ombudsman,” said Joe Deegan, current LUCAP adviser.
Lucy Dieckhaus can be reached at [email protected]
At the LUCAP year-opener event “Into the Streets,” Kaila Paulino, left, teaches freshman volunteers the proper technique for cutting weeds with a machete. Paulino is a member of NY2NO, a group of New York City high school students who volunteer to rebuild New Orleans. ( AUG. 29, 2008 )
