Event Analysis - Chris Stokes

For this week’s event analysis, I chose to analyze Father Linnane’s State of the University Address. In Father Linnane’s address, he discussed the economic state in which Loyola is currently in and explained that Loyola is going to be fine. He came to this conclusion through Jesuit thinking. Fr. Linnane explained that the way Jesuits think and come to conclusions is through both faith and reason. Thus, when people ask whether he says the school is going to be fine because of faith or reason, he simply answers “yes.”

In his address, Father Linnane also discussed the idea that Loyola does not turn away students because they cannot afford the school. This, according to Fr. Linnane, is a demonstration of fidelity. Loyola paying for every student who needs financial aid is what a Jesuit University ought to do.  Father Linnane, however, talks about how Loyola is an exceptional Jesuit University.  Just the few of Loyola’s accomplishments listed in the address prove just how impressive the school really is.

In Richard Hague’s poem, “Directions for Resisting the SAT,” the speaker, through sarcasm, basically explains how insignificant the SAT’s really are. The speaker talks about how if one does well on the SAT, that person can just be lazy and do whatever. This is clearly sarcastic because in reality, the SAT’s are not worth that much in life and while they can help with getting into a good college, they do not give people the right to stop caring. In my senior year of high school, I found that the mentality of the speaker in this poem was actually not uncommon. Many people, after finding out they did well on the SAT’s, gave up on school. This is not acceptable because any superior College or University is going to look at way more than just someone’s SAT scores. Even though Fr. Linnane’s speech was serious and Hague’s poem clearly was not serious, there was one line from the poem that struck me as having a similar idea to what Fr. Linnane was saying: “Make your marks on everything.” One way this line can be seen as similar to what Fr. Linnane was saying is that in his speech, Fr. Linnane asked that we all, in a sense, leave our mark through philanthropy. Donating to the school and to those who need it is definitely an excellent way of leaving our mark. As Loyola students, we are to recognize the needs of others and do what we can to help out.

Gary Gildner’s poem “First Practice,” is about a very serious coach and his intense desire to win. In the poem, it is clear that he has a strong desire to succeed as a team and that he will do anything in his power to motivate his team. The overall idea of this poem reminded me of Fr. Linnane’s address because, like the coach, Fr. Linnane wants Loyola to succeed. When Fr. Linnane explained the importance of philanthropy, he was giving the members of the Loyola community tips on how to succeed and achieve greatness within Loyola, just like how the coach told the players that the person across from them is the person they hate most in order to help them succeed.

Father Linnane’s State of the University Address touched upon many Jesuit ideas and proved just how great of a school Loyola is. Throughout his address, Father Linnane talked about how we know the school is going to be fine in this time of economic hardship. We know this because of the beliefs and traditions of the Jesuits. Father Linnane then went on to discuss the importance of philanthropy and how we need to know how every single one of us is being called to help out in this time of need.