Loyola Marymount University is nestled atop a bluff with a perfect view of Los Angeles, one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in the world. From campus we can see the Pacific Ocean, where our faculty and students conduct important marine biology research; we see the bustling Silicon Beach tech hub, where our Playa Vista campus invites collaboration with tech industry leaders to bring key changes to the field; and we see the expanse of the ever-growing city of L.A. that has welcomed millions of adventurous students, entrepreneurs, creatives, and explorers.
Our physical location is important as it plays a major role in the past, present, and future of LMU and the communities we live and work in. As the largest Catholic university on the West Coast, we celebrate our Catholic identity and the heritage of its founding religious orders (the Society of Jesus, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, and the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Orange), and we embrace our city’s rich diversity, which manifests itself on our campus through our multicultural student body, faculty, and staff populations.
The Chicano Movement of the 1960s had a deep impact on our campus and especially on our 11th president, Donald Merrifield, S.J., who put the wheels in motion for LMU (then Loyola University) to recruit and support more students of color. The founding of the Chicano Latino Student Services office in 1965 paved the way for our many ethnic and intercultural services that exist today. The establishment of one of the first Chicana/o Studies programs in the nation sent a message that the lives of Chicano/a people are a deeply important part of history and have a permanent home at our institution.
Today, LMU is an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution as nearly 24 percent of our undergraduate population identify as Latinx. While we have come a long way in our effort to be an intentionally inclusive campus that reflects our city’s diverse population, we are incessantly working to improve and build upon this tradition.
We are proud of the resources and opportunities we offer Latinx students and of the crucial role our students, faculty, and staff play in making LMU a more inclusive and representative institution.
Our Chicano/Latino Student Services office gives students the opportunity to explore their culture and connect with their identity. With leadership and professional development at the forefront of programming, students are prepared to make the most of their undergraduate education and leave campus as leaders. The office provides direct, individualized student support in addition to hosting events like Latinx Heritage Month, Mujeres Empowerment Retreat, and Bienvenida — a welcome event for new students to connect them with the many on-campus clubs and organizations for Latinx students. These clubs include Grupo Folklórico de LMU, El Espejo Mentoring Program, Latino Business Association, Latino Student Union, and many more. The annual Día de Reconocimiento is an LMU tradition that celebrates and recognizes the academic and personal achievements of our Latino students as their time at LMU is completed.
More than 800 LMU undergraduate students identify as first-generation, and of that group a majority identify as Latinx. As a part of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and educational justice, our first-generation college student population is supported by the First To Go program, an office that provides resources and opportunities for this population’s academic, professional, and personal growth. FTG creates community through peer mentorship, living-learning communities, unique coursework focused on first-gen specific career and development strategies, and access to one-on-one advising. Our FTG program recently received a $50,000 grant from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education that will empower first-generation college students and their campus advocates and prepare pathways that will enhance the pursuit for a life of purpose, service, and justice.
In our Upward Bound program, participants have a college matriculation rate of 99 percent and a six-year college graduation rate of 71.2 percent, and I am proud to share that LMU recently received a federal Upward Bound grant of $1.49 million to help even more low-income students who would be the first members of their families to earn degrees to prepare for and enroll in college. A TRIO program unique to LMU is Ignacio Student Support Services, which was designed to serve students from first-generation, financial need, and disability backgrounds who demonstrate strong academic potential.
While we persist on our journey of becoming an official HSI, we celebrate the accomplishments we have made along the way. Our campus has active Latinx staff and faculty associations, a working group co-led by the dean of students to review and update services provided to undocumented students, and five social justice scholarships dedicated to undocumented students per school year. In 2020, the retention of our Latinx freshman cohort was 91 percent and the incoming fall ’22 cohort in our University Honors Program is majority Latinx for perhaps the first time in campus history thanks, in part, to the review and revision of admissions processes.
When our Latinx alumni leave LMU, they bring about change in public policy, earn Ph.D.'s and law degrees, teach in underserved communities, explore, and create. ALMA Backyard Farms, founded by LMU alumni Erika Cuellar and Richard D. Garcia, focuses on restorative justice and environmental stewardship. This highly acclaimed, community-centered organization is one of many examples of the work by LMU alumni affirming that the ethical leadership skills we hope to impart to our students are, indeed, absorbed.
We exist for our students, and our work to support our vibrant community of Latinx students, faculty, and staff will persevere as long as our university always continues to seek the Jesuit Magis— the desire to do more and be better. We are grateful that our students continue to challenge us to remain true to our mission of being people for and with others, and to dedicate ourselves to the service of faith and promotion of justice. Adelante.
Author bio:
José I. Badenes, S.J., Ph.D. is the associate provost for Undergraduate Education and has been a professor of Spanish at Loyola Marymount University since 1996. As associate provost he oversees the Core Curriculum, the University Honors Program, the Academic Resource Center and Disability Support Services, among other programs.”
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