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.
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