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LMU honors Philippine President
Caroline Burt | Loyolan
[From left to right] Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, U.S. Rep Maxine Waters, President of the Philippines Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. and LMU President Tim Snyder participate in a ceremony to award Aquino an honorary degree in the presence of the LMU community.
LMU honors a current head of state for the first time. Ali Swenson Senior Editor @LALoyolan
President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III received an honorary doctorate in humane letters degree from LMU in an invitation-only ceremony on Wednesday, Feb.17. Students, staff, faculty, Board of Trustees members, community members and elected officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, attended the event, which took place in the Life Sciences Building auditorium at noon. Aquino, who is the Philippines’ 15th president and the son of former President Corazon Aquino and Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., came to LMU on the heels of a two-day summit with President Barack Obama and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Palm Springs. He was honored with a degree, according to University President Timothy Law Snyder, because he embodies the spirit of LMU “glowingly and successfully.” “He has spent his life protecting the integrity of the individual, pursuing the common good, he has produced meaningful social change in his country and he role models the values, character and purpose of what we life here at LMU as a Jesuit and Marymount Institution,” said Snyder. In Aquino’s keynote address, he spoke about his own Jesuit education — he graduated from Ateneo de Manila University in Manila, Philippines in 1981. “The be-all and end-all of our existence here is how does it lead to the bettering of the condition of the other?” he said. “The greatest commandment is to love one another.” Aquino also spoke about the morality of right and wrong.
“Perhaps I can use the words of a colleague of mine in Congress when he said our difficulty is always being able to say that we can, by default, choose the difficult right over the easy wrong,” he said. He highlighted his efforts toward educating people in the Philippines, assisting millions of families to keep their children in school. While listing his accomplishments, Aquino was grateful rather than boastful. “I can go on and on with the list of things that I keep saying we have done,” he said. “I have not done all of these things. It is the people who elected me to office. It is the people who write me … all of the vested interests … it is the people who continuously express their support.” In welcoming Aquino to Los Angeles, Garcetti discussed his own connection to the Philippines. His grandfather, an immigrant to the United States, earned his citizenship fighting in the Philippines during World War II. Waters emphasized the size and strength of the Filipino community in Los Angeles, and particularly in her congressional district, which is home to over 21,000 Filipino-Americans. “These Filipino-Americans are a significant part of the multicultural fabric that makes the Los Angeles area a great place to live,” she said. After words of welcome and a citation from Board of Trustees Chair Kathleen Hannon Aikenhead, Snyder bestowed the degree upon Aquino. Edward James Asuncion, a senior accounting major and president of Isang Bansa, presented Aquino with cords representing the colors of the Philippine flag. “It was a great honor to just be up there as a student,” Asuncion said. “I think a majority of what he said really relates to Filipino people.” The ceremony was co-sponsored by the School of Education’s Teach for the Philippines Program and the World Policy Institute at LMU. A video recording of the event can be viewed at www.lmu.edu/resources/livestream.
Family Weekend unites Lions A variety of activities greeted LMU families this week. Gillian Boss Staff Writer @LALoyolan
The LMU community grew this past weekend as hundreds of parents, siblings and grandparents came together for the annual Family Weekend. Whitney DeBruin, a Parent Programs and Parent Giving associate, discussed how the weekend provides families of all class years the opportunity to personally experience the academic, service and social aspects at LMU that their Lions experience every day. “Family Weekend is an opportunity for current students to invite their family members back to LMU’s campus, so everybody from parents, to aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, etc. are able to see what it is like for an LMU student,” DeBruin said. “This year in particular what we decided to do was break up the weekend. ... So on Friday we focused the events around the encouragement of learning.” The weekend began with a Welcome Lunch at Lawton Plaza on Friday, Feb. 19 as well as campus tours of the Life Sciences building, Hannon Library, Sacred Heart Chapel and even the Ballona Discovery Park. Academic Deans’ Sessions took place for all colleges, giving parents an opportunity to learn more about their student’s college and their respective deans. Following the Academic Deans’ individual sessions, parents had the opportunity to join the deans and faculty
from all schools and colleges at an Academic Reception. In addition to meeting with the deans and hearing from President Snyder, one of the highlights for Family Weekend was the special Shabbat dinner where Jewish families gathered for a festive Kosher meal. This event allowed Jewish families and students to connect with each other and Jewish faculty and staff, as well as provide an opportunity to hear about Jewish life at LMU. Parents of graduating seniors were invited to join Brian Slaught (’09) for a tasting tour of “Beer in America” that gave seniors the opportunity to toast to their parents. Many other students attended the Delta Desserts for Family Weekend, as the women of LMU’s Delta Delta Delta sorority hosted a night of all-you-can-eat desserts for their bi-annual philanthropy event. “We’re trying to touch more groups and clubs and organizations on campus and invite them to be a part of family weekend, so Tri Delta reached out to us and wanted to be a part of Family Weekend, so we were able to work with them on that,” DeBruin explained. Another new event for Family Weekend included LMU’s Best Dance Crew. Kuumba Beatz, IB Modern and Radix performed while parents and students watched the student performers battle it out for the title of LMU’s Best Dance Crew. Freshman studio arts major with a multimedia emphasis Bridget Lewis attended the dance competition with her parents and younger brother. Lewis stated, “For me, personally, my See Family | Page 3