Dear President Snyder,

Several years ago, an essay entitled, “Is Loyola Marymount University Losing its Catholic Identity?” made this prediction, “In order to reflect what is really happening in the university, mission statements will have to be altered by deleting words such as ‘the service of faith’ and ‘commitment to Roman Catholicism’ from university and college mission statements. Deletion of these few lines will have no effect on the day-to-day running of the university, as they had no effect for years previously.” 

Unfortunately, this has already happened. Please compare the following mission statements.

“The Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (BCLA) embodies the wider University goals of liberal education and commitment to Roman Catholicism and the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The curriculum in the College liberates the mind, nourishes the spirit, and cultivates creativity for the challenges of today and tomorrow. Its courses, therefore, are at the heart of the University’s core curriculum for all undergraduates.” (LMU Bulletin 2014-15, p.49)

Under the leadership of Dean Robbin Crabtree, who served on the advisory board and media-relations committee for Planned Parenthood, the Mission Statement of the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts changed to this:

“BCLA is the oldest and largest school at LMU and the liberal arts is at the heart of the LMU undergraduate education for all our students. We have 25 degree programs and 31 minors that will help you sharpen your intellectual capacity, gain deep content knowledge, and practice the marketable skills–such as critical thinking, writing, diversity awareness, and teamwork–that are highly valued by employers. In fact, the overwhelming majority of employers prefer to hire people who demonstrate the outcomes from a liberal arts education. Liberal arts graduates have similar peak earnings as business and pre-professional majors, and are more likely to pursue graduate degrees” (LMU Bulletin 2015-2016, p.57)

We write because we want you to restore the missing language of a “commitment to Roman Catholicism and the Judaeo-Christian tradition.” 

More importantly, we want BCLA, and LMU more generally, to actually live out this stated mission and Catholic identity in its decisions. We need both words and deeds.

Sincerely,

George Cassar, LMU Alum 1987

To support this effort, please sign below and circulate the link to this petition https://renewlmu.com/ on your social media.  LMU’s President can be reached at 310.338.2775 and on twitter @LMUSnyder

Before Dean Crabtree

After Dean Crabtree