On March 24, the Center for Community, Service, and Justice (CCSJ) wrote a letter to the Presidential Search Committee and Board of Trustees. The letter included what the student leaders, alumni, and staff of CCSJ envision for the future of Loyola over the next five to ten years. 

Opening the letter, CCSJ cited its hope that the University’s executive leadership will “reflect the diversity of the Loyola student body and our home City of Baltimore.”

Statistically, according to the letter: 

• Loyola’s Board of Trustees is 85% white and 82% male, and
• Loyola’s President and Vice Presidents are 83% white and 83% male, while: 
• 26% of Loyola’s undergraduate population is students of color, and the University’s graduate population is 34% students of color. 
• Loyola’s undergraduate population is also 58% female, and 71% of graduate students are female.

CCSJ also wrote about their desire for Loyola students to feel proud of their educational experience.

Elaborating, they wrote:

“All Loyola students have access to a diverse and accepting culture on campus and a 21st century curriculum rooted in antiracist teaching grounded in the humanistic traditions of the Society of Jesus, and all students want to stay at Loyola because they belong to the Loyola community, in the classroom, through their faith experiences, through their service, through their athletics and extracurriculars.”

CCSJ envisions a Loyola in which faculty and staff “feel inspired” to promote learning environments, and a next generation, dedicated to antiracism. This, in turn, should create invested alumni who feel committed to developing further generations of Loyola students who are learning about and applying antiracist practices.

In regards to authentically linking Loyola with the Baltimore community, they wrote:

“Where Loyola demonstrates its commitment to place, with as much green space on the Evergreen quadrangle as on Loyola’s York Road campus, where communities along York Road are just as valued as those along Charles St., and where Loyola’s educational pipeline from Baltimore City schools to Charm City Scholars is strong and growing to ensure Loyola and our home city’s future success.”

Finally, CCSJ cited hopes of “the voices of our historically marginalized student and faculty colleagues [being] centered in Loyola’s priorities, policies, and planning,” listing some examples:

• 2020 Student Letter to Loyola Administration 
• Open Letter by Savoy Adams ‘To be Black in America’
• The LGBTQ+ Experience letter to President 
• 2020 ALANA Faculty Letter

In their letter, CCSJ also reflected on two hopes for Loyola’s next President. They hope that this person will:

“Ensure Loyola’s current and future sustainability by leading the institution to meet the rapidly changing demographic, educational, and spiritual needs of the city, state, country, and world’s students.” 

The incoming president should have demonstrated experience in leading predominantly white institutional change for diversity, equity, and inclusion. They should have a good track record in recruiting, retaining, and ensuring representation of students, faculty, administrators, and staff of color, and all diverse identity groups. 

CCSJ also hopes that the new President will add antiracism as a new Loyola core value and have an active antiracism and anti-oppression commitment in all of his or her leadership decisions.

Secondly, they hope that the new President will:

“Model Loyola’s Jesuit mission, identity, and core values of Academic Excellence, Focus on the Whole Person, Integrity & Honesty, Diversity, Community, Justice, Service, Leadership, Discernment, and the Constant Challenge to Improve.”  

According to the letter, the president should show their commitment to these values by exercising Catholic social teachings, exhibiting their understanding of “authority as a form of service,” and by being personable and approachable. 

They also hope the next president will demonstrate the core values through self-awareness to lead a predominantly white institution in a majority Black city. Lastly, CCSJ mentions that:

“Through inspiring students, faculty, staff, and the Baltimore community with a generosity of spirit as well as a strategic, thoughtful mindset to implement Loyola’s mission to learn, lead, and serve in a diverse and changing world.”

The letter was signed by 34 members of the Loyola community, including students, faculty, and staff. 

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