SURVIVE &
Loyola’s dancing, but
ATLANTA — In a region full of teams that nobody expected to be here, Loyola stands as the one true Cinderella. And while the Missouri Valley Conference representatives are hoping that the clock won’t strike 12 on Thursday night, just like the fairytale princess, things for the Ramblers aren’t going so well at home.
According to reports by The Nation, one of the oldest publications in the country, Loyola’s Chicago campus isn’t one of the calmest places to be right now, despite the basketball team’s emergence as the darling of the NCAA Tournament.
And a large part of the reason why these issues haven’t breached the surface of national media coverage is because the country has become enamored with Sister Jean, the team’s 98-year-old team chaplain.
“I pray for the other team, perhaps not as hard,” she said during an interview on Good Morning America Tuesday No. 11 Loyola-Chicago vs. No. 7 Nevada, 7:07 p.m., CBS No. 9 Kansas State vs. No. 5 Kentucky, 9:37 p.m., CBS No. 7 Texas A&M vs. No. 3 Michigan, 7:27 p.m., TBS No. 9 Florida State vs. No. 4 Gonzaga, 10:07 p.m., TBS morning. “But we have God on our side and these young men have great faith and if you don’t have confidence in faith, then you might as well not be playing.”
Quotes like that are golden, which is why much of the focus has been on Sister Jean and the team, and not the turbulence on campus.
Non-tenured faculty members are threatening to strike next month because of poor pay and benefits, on top of feeling like there isn’t a path to becoming tenured employees.
“The bargaining process here has been ridiculously slow. The university has been trying the old tactic of ‘stall, stall, stall,’ and they think we don’t have teeth,” said Fine Arts Professor Sarita Heer to the school’s student newspaper, The Loyola Phoenix. “And now with authorizing the strike vote, I think they’re going to sit up and take us seriously and try to move this process faster.”
But the drama doesn’t end there.
There have also been reports of unrest amongst students as they are protesting the plan to spend over 18 million dollars on a new practice facility strictly for the men’s & women’s basketball and volleyball teams. There was also a recent situation of police brutality and misconduct, when a black student was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested for