In My Opinion: To prevent our community’s light from going out, Loyola needs to do more

In+My+Opinion%3A+To+prevent+our+community%E2%80%99s+light+from+going+out%2C+Loyola+needs+to+do+more


Loyola’s initial response to the recent death of Juliano Mastroianni consisted of one 124-word mass email from the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university. On some level, I can understand the president’s brevity. Amidst all this death, he must be tired. The ongoing attempt to process the tragic events of this semester is exhausting for all of us.

I too am tired. I’m tired of writing this story. I’m tired of hearing about body bags and coroner’s reports. I’m tired of trying to continue to function. But at no point in my Jesuit, liberal arts education have I ever been encouraged to give up or phone it in.

On the contrary, a cornerstone of this institution is the Jesuit principle of the Magis, which is the idea that we here at Loyola are called to do more, for ourselves and especially for those around us. 124 words does not constitute “more” by any stretch of anyone’s imagination. To me, those 124 words are frighteningly, appallingly inadequate.

The president’s email almost completely ignores Julian’s personhood — it makes no mention of the exuberance with which he lived his life, or the joy he brought to everyone around him.

The only service mentioned in the email is a regularly scheduled daily mass in Julian’s honor, with a gathering in the Manresa Den afterward. Offering such a service may have helped some members of our community to grieve, but no option was given that was not directly tied to a religious service. While this service represents some effort by the administration to respond to this tragedy, it is not enough.

There are many individuals within this community who are fighting incredibly hard to make up for this lack. Several of my professors have gone out of their way to mention the counseling services available at Loyola in class, and have personally offered their support to myself and my classmates. And, in a beautiful display of the enduring power of love, several students organized a celebration of Julian’s life, which took place on what would have been his birthday at the Tree of Life in Audubon Park. Those who organized this gathering, and those around me who refuse to be defeated by this tragedy give me hope for the future of this community.

While the university may be planning something in the background that has yet to be announced, but we have been suffering for over a week with nothing but an email and a religious service which allowed few outside the Catholic faith to grieve. On top of this, the university has yet to hold a memorial service for Kyra Koman, who we lost in February.

To those who have the power to make meaningful change at Loyola, I have this to say: look around you. We as a community are suffering. Each person I know is suffering. I recognize that some efforts are being made, and that, surely, more is being planned, but I submit to you that what the university has done so far is not nearly enough.