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Veterans in our midst A look inside the experiences of LMU veterans and how they cope with returning from the line of duty.
Editor in Chief
Imagine for a moment that you’re traveling across LMU’s campus. You walk past Sunken Garden, where students are shooting each other with water guns, joking around and enjoying themselves. For most, this sight is not given much thought. But what if less than a year ago, you were deployed to Afghanistan, carrying a real weapon in a combat zone? “As a veteran, you walk around campus and sometimes you see students who are shooting water guns at each other and it’s funny. I understand because that is the traditional student’s way of thinking because they haven’t experienced that and they haven’t been in an environment where you’re actually being shot at,” said William Martinez, a second-year graduate student and president of the Student Veterans Organization (SVO) on campus.
Graduate student Brittany Holland
By Erika Gill News Intern
It is estimated that over 1 million human beings are enslaved in the United States today. Modern-day human slavery is the subject of “Call + Response,” a documentary created in 2008 by Justin Dillon, lead singer of the band Tremolo. The web site for the movie says, “‘Call + Response’ reveals the world’s 27 million dirtiest
secrets: There are more slaves today than ever before in human history.” The documentary is structured as both an awareness tool and a portable benefit concert, featuring information and interviews with people ranging from activists like Ashley Judd to government figures like Madeleine Albright, as well as musical performances from artists like Imogen Heap, Matisyahu, Talib Kweli and Cold War Kids, to name a few. A free screening of the film was held in St. Rob’s Auditorium this past Tuesday night, followed by a musical performance by LMU sophomore screenwriting major Julian Moon. The event included several service
ESTABLISHED 1921 April 7, 2011 Volume 89, Issue 40 www.laloyolan.com
LMU evaluates alert system
By Adrien Jarvis and Kenzie O’Keefe
Modern slavery film prompts activism
“Call + Response” was screened Tuesday night, bringing attention to slavery across the globe.
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Loyolan Staff
See Veterans | page 4 Graduate student Lourdes Tiglao
SAT SUN
An in-depth look at the emergency alert system prompts new protocol.
By Kenzie O’Keefe
Graphic: Liana Bandziulis | Loyolan Photos: Lourdes Tiglao and Brittany Holland
THUR FRI
and awareness booths for attendees to visit. The event was sponsored by Pi Beta Phi, which coordinated with Sigma Chi, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta, Alpha Phi, Lambda Chi Alpha, and service organizations, Belles and Crimson Circle, as well as students currently taking the Modern Slavery class with political science professor Jodi Finkel. About 115 seats were filled for the screening, and most students stuck around afterward to sign a petition or respond to the film at other tables. At one booth, students lobbied government officials, while at another they accessed laptops and the website chainstorereaction.com to
If a devastating earthquake hit LMU or a shooter showed up on campus, what would students do in order to be and feel safe? How would they receive this safety information and subsequent important tips related to food, living arrangements and classes during the aftermath? These questions bring up the two main areas of study related to LMU’s emergency preparedness protocol. “There’s a big difference between putting communications out to keep you safe and communications to make you feel safe,” said Associate Vice President of Administration Lynne Scarboro, who oversees the Department of Public Safety (DPS) at LMU. On March 17, an incorrect alert message went out to the entire campus community, advising the community to “barricade” due to the imminent threat of an individual with a firearm on campus. Both Scarboro and Chief of Public Safety Hampton Cantrell explained that this slip-up was the result of a “human error” in which a pre-made template was sent out mistakenly, causing many people to question why pre-made templates are used in the first place. Alert messages are created from pre-made templates because having the templates ahead of time allows the administration to think about what they want to say outside of the emergency situation. “The adrenaline goes through the roof” in emergency situations, explained Scarboro. Having the templates
See Slavery | page 5
See Alert | page 4
Witness of Japan earthquake reflects on ordeal FIRST-PERSON FEATURE
LMU student Dorothy Ford was studying abroad in Tokyo when the disaster struck Japan. By Dorothy Ford Contributor
Everyone asks me what it was like in Tokyo the week of the Sendai quake. Some people ask if I felt anything at all and, affronted, I want to tell them everything. I want them to know the panic and the fear, that there was nowhere to run, no way to escape and that the world seemed to come apart at its seams. Dozens of times that weekend, the earth shook me from my sleep in a cold sweat, knocked over books and glasses as I tried to study,
L ve it or leave it
whispering incessant apocalyptic threats. Then the reactors began melting and five different people would give you five different stories about whether or not you were about to die. For days on end we lived in suspense and uncertainty, wondering if the disaster had already passed or if it was only just beginning. Some people ask me if I “felt it,” and I want to tell them everything. But more people ask if I’m OK. Their eyes fill with sympathy and the assumption that I have suffered a great trauma. Even more uncomfortable, I want to assure them how lucky I was. Some of my friends walked seven or eight hours in the cold night to get home; others were stranded altogether for days. My roommate and I lived 20 minutes from school, only took in a handful of refugees and never lost
See Japan | page 2
AP Image
Dorothy Ford was studying at Temple University’s Japan campus in Tokyo when the earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan. Two hundred and twenty-seven miles from Tokyo, Sendai (pictured above) was the closest major city to the quake’s epicenter.
Index
Lasseter shares magic of Pixar
AnnaMichelle Escher highlights what is great about LMU.
Opinion...............................6 Pixar Chief Creative Officer Cartoon...............................9 John Lasseter hosts screening A&E.................................. 10 and Q&A on campus. Classifieds......................... 12 Sports.................................16
Opinion, page 7
The next issue of the Loyolan will be printed on April 11, 2011.
A&E, page 10