A new resolution was passed by the Student Government Association last Thursday and focuses on “the administration’s continued failure to uphold their duty of ensuring the safety, harmony and order of Loyola’s campus by not communicating or acting, in a timely manner to the concerns of the student body.” The vote came in a special session to discuss the recent stabbing of Michael Lloyd, finance senior.

According to SGA President Martina Mills, communications senior, the resolution was a way of telling the university to be more forthcoming with information and to ensure communication between faculty, staff and students as long as victims and alleged perpetrators are not verbally hurt in any way.

Three weeks after the stabbing the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, sent out an e-mail discussing the incident, although University Police had not published a B.O.L.O.

Administrators say even though Loyola’s handbook specifically states that the university has the right to expel or suspend the alleged attackers without an official verdict of guilt from any courtroom, no action has been taken against the students – international business freshman Gustavo Antonetti and criminal justice junior Joaquin Rosales-Aramduru. Many students at the session said they had seen the alleged attackers attending classes.

James Eiseman, vice president of Student Affairs, and Roger Pinac, captain of University Police, attended the special session and explained why Loyola had done little about the alleged attack. According to Eiseman, because the New Orleans Police Department is involved and is conducting an investigation, any secondary investigation by the university could eventually harm the case should it come to trial – if there are any discrepancies between the police investigation and a university investigation the legitimacy of both can be questioned. Eiseman said that the university could therefore damage both parties’ chance at a fair trial.

Both, Mills and SGA Vice President Michelle Clarke, communications junior, disagreed with the administration’s actions.

“[SGA] is here to represent the students. It is unfortunate when a student goes directly to the administration and does not feel vindicated,” Mills and Clarke wrote in an e-mail. “In this case it has only been with the persistence of the victim’s friends that more attention is being granted to this incident. In the future, the university must be more forthcoming with information that directly involves the welfare of students.”

Meghan Iverson can be reached at [email protected]