The College Fix

Coalition of liberal groups deliver demands to university president

Loyola University New Orleans should divest from Israel and oil companies, according to a new petition.

The university should also hire more racial minority faculty, according to the list of demands recently presented by a coalition of left-leaning groups.

“On Feb. 24, representatives from these organizations delivered a signed letter addressed to President Xavier Cole, the Loyola Board of Trustees, and the Loyola Corporation of Jesuits, outlining a series of demands for institutional change,” the student newspaper reported.

The petition includes a host of issues, ranging from “Israeli apartheid” to “faculty diversity.”

The Maroon reported:

The four page letter includes a detailed list of demands addressing issues such as the rising cost of tuition, Loyola’s partnerships with corporations linked to Israeli apartheid, fair wages for faculty and staff, protections for students disciplined for protesting, concerns about the student code of conduct, increased funding for multicultural studies, and the need for greater faculty diversity.

Racial minorities comprise more than 50 percent of the student body, according to the petition.

Six separate groups signed the petition: Loyola NAACP, National Lawyers Guild, LoynoPlus+, Students for Environmental Action, Loyola A La Mode, and Theatre for the Culture.

LoynoPlus+ is an LGBT group on campus. Loyola A La Mode is “[a]n outlet for students who are passionate about fashion, service, and the total student bonding and involvement experience,” according to its Instagram page.

The groups relied on the “Jesuit Catholic” values of the university to justify its demands.

They wrote:

We are a Jesuit Catholic institution, and the Catholic doctrine, which flows from Sacred Scripture and Tradition, calls on us to uphold justice, community, compassion, and service to others. To live by these principles, we must stand against any action perpetuating harm. In line with the thought and authority of Pope Francis, we cannot claim to honor these teachings while remaining complicit in the destruction of human lives, locally and abroad, while supporting the devastation of the planet, and while ignoring the voices of those on this very campus. As long as the University keeps its investments hidden, mistreats its workers, and neglects its students, it fails to uphold the values it claims to champion. In this way, Loyola becomes complicit in harm, undermining the very principles of justice, dignity, and solidarity it claims to uphold. By prioritizing financial gain over the well-being of its students and workers, the University betrays the core tenets of Catholic Social Teaching and its Jesuit mission.

“We want to know our money is spent in good faith and does not come at the expense of human life and our planet, but we cannot claim to practice ethical investment if the leaders of this school shroud our investments from public scrutiny,” the petition also stated.

MORE: Check out the new Restore the Media series

IMAGE: Steve Sanchez Photos/Shutterstock

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter