In the week following graduation, the people walking around an otherwise abandoned campus are not at Loyola to take classes or sit through lectures-they are typically all business.

The few people still haunting campus provide the life support for the university during the limbo between graduation and summer sessions – without them, the campus would be a ghost town. The first summer session begins May 26, and there are more squirrels on campus than students.

Typical among the remaining staff, Information Technology workers remain on campus maintaining firewalls and security for the school network.

Jacee Brown, director of Web communications, said she has to remain “day in, day out…9 to 5, Monday to Friday” working on the school Web site. Working on the otherwise-abandoned campus does not bother her, as “it makes it much easier to get stuff done,” she said.

Information Technology workers are not the only staff still on campus.  Allison Mehr, director of the Annual Fund, said she still has to make plans for the next semester. As director, she has the responsibility of raising scholarship money for incoming students through fundraisers, such as the annual phone-a-thon, during which dozens of students call alumni for donations.

The lingering staff members are also not strictly administrative – the athletic department is using the quiet time to prepare for next semester. Tommy Harold, head womens’ volleyball coach, said he is working throughout his summer recruiting incoming students for the volleyball team.

But the eerily-abandoned campus is not just a playground for getting things done.

 “In one sense, it’s almost depressing, like coming to a zoo and not seeing the animals,” said Tharren Poplion, assistant director of Admissions. “But there are still tours that go on; we want students to be seen”.

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Alex Davis is an incoming freshman from St. Martins Episcopal School and can be reached at [email protected]