International students, or students who do not primarily speak English, are being denied admission to Loyola, said Debbie Danna, director of the Center for International Education.

“We’ve had to turn down students who were academically talented,” Danna said. “And the university’s starting to realize it was a mistake.”

In response, Loyola is seeking to bring back their Fulbright Grant-awarded English as a second language program, a possibility that was announced at the Nov. 13 faculty senate meeting.

The ESL program was initially shut down because of funding, Danna said, but when the program did exist, there were about 20 to 60 students enrolled in the program each year.

“The numbers were looking good right before Katrina,” Danna said.

Danna said the program was moved to City College right before Hurricane Katrina. Now, City College no longer exists

According Danna, students who participated in the ESL program came from all over the world. A large majority of the students hailed from Korea, Latin America and Japan.

Danna also said the program was home to many Fulbright Scholars. The Fulbright Scholar Program is designed to provide grants and scholarships for international students looking to continue their education in the United States.

If the university wanted to participate in the Fulbright program, Danna said the school would have to go through the application process again. She also said the program has expressed interest in Loyola recently.

If the ESL program starts again this semester, Danna said it will most likely be a pilot program. Students who almost have the level of English necessary to become enrolled at Loyola would take the classes available in the pilot program. Once they have completed these classes successfully, they would be able to take classes at Loyola.

Katie Urbaszewski contributed to this report. Jaune Jackson can be reached at [email protected].