Freshman roundup

New Loyola President Xaiver Cole is beginning his rst year as president after a long search from November to February of last year.

Last semester, Loyola’s student government association failed to vote in the SGA president's cabinet.

Former head of Loyola’s African and American studies program Scott Heath was terminated, causing protest from students and faculty around campus.

Loyola’s food service, Sodexo, received enough votes in favor of beginning their union after a long ght.

More information can be found on e Maroon app, available on the app store and play store, or on our website www.loyolamaroon.com.

rectors of interdisciplinary minor programs, according to University Spokesperson Rachel Hoormann.

Currently, Loyola o ers 10 interdisciplinary minors; however, many of them lack search options and information availability on the website and on LORA Self-Service, Loyola’s online records system, for students to nd.

For the fall 2023 semester, there are two African-American studies classes being o ered, according to LORA Self-Service.

Most interdisciplinary minors require up to 21 credit hours to complete the program.

“ ere's a much greater demand than there is availability for a lot of cultural studies courses, so it was very di cult to have a minor in that,” He ernan said. “I just think that there weren’t enough classes to properly serve people interested in pursuing that.”

He ernan attributes the lack of diversity in minor studies courses to limited faculty.

“ ere's a limited amount of tenured opportunities, speci cally in the humanities,” He ernan said. “And, our compensation for humanities professors is well below average, even compared to schools that are at a similar size to us.”

Psychology senior Akilah Toney also wanted to pursue a minor in African-American studies, but said she was in learning about African-American experiences and cultures – students who aren’t even African-American, Toney said.

“We don’t deserve courses just put on LORA to ful ll a credit,” she said. “People deserve to feel seen, heard, and to have the opportunity to learn about experiences that are outside of themselves.”

Mass communication senior and women’s studies minor Domonique Tolliver said the women’s studies minor has variety in course o erings, yet no one is teaching them.

While the women’s studies minor has 22 participating faculty members, that is not indicative of the number of courses likely o ered.

Hoormann said that membership on these committees is voluntary and that program directors are responsible for recruiting faculty. And serving as a committee member is not a necessary condition of o ering courses that count as part of a speci c minor., she said.

He ernan said that not only is there a lack of courses to get credits for your degree, but there's also a lack of depth and focus in some of the classes.

Medieval studies Program Director Alice Clark said that interdisciplinary minors faculty are individually and collectively spread thin.

“ ere's not a lot we can do without much support, and we're all doing the e African-American studies minor currently does not have a program director after it was determined Heath would not be reinstated, leaving only two participating faculty members, neither of which are Black.

In the English department, tenure-track candidates in the elds of hemispheric American/Latinx literature and African-American literature are being evaluated, according to an email sent by English professor Hillary Eklund. is evaluation process comes in the midst of the controversy regarding professor and African-American studies program director Scott Heath’s tenure.

Toney said while she appreciates the e ort and would never dispute adding more diverse faculty members, departments need more than placeholder classes and professors.

“It’s still not enough when we still might have only one Black person in the entire English department,” she said.

He ernan said that recognizing the demand for cultural studies, even for students who don’t necessarily want the minor, is the rst step to addressing the issues in the programs.

“I'm sure they have other metrics to decide these things, but from my perspective, there is a really strong demand for a better-supported framework of different cultural studies,” he said.