In Support of Allowing Vanessa Clemente-Walters to Walk With the Graduating Class of 2006.

Abstract:
We, the undersigned, are strongly supportive of our friend and classmate, Vanessa Clemente-Walters who has been denied the privilege of walking with the Loyola College Class of 2006 in this year's commencement ceremony. Her mother had endured a long battle with cancer since Vanessa came to Loyola in 2002. In January 2005 Vanessa returned home after studying abroad in Newcastle, England in order to take care of her mother in the final days of her battle. Having missed spring semester 2005, she is currently 4 Elective courses away from the necessary courses required to graduate. She has completed all courses for both her Major and Core curriculum. She returned to the fall semester 2005 for her senior year, only weeks following her mother's death. She was assured that although she would have outstanding courses, she would still be able to walk with our graduating class and complete the remaining courses over the summer. However, at the end of March 2006 she was told by the administration that she would not be allowed to participate in the commencement activities. This petition is in support of allowing Vanessa to walk despite her current outstanding courses.


Full Petition:
The Community Value section of the Core Values Statement of Loyola College reads, "...the College reminds its members of the practical wisdom of St. Ignatius, who encouraged people to give each other the benefit of the doubt i.e., to be generous in spirit, and more ready to put a good interpretation than a negative one on each others words, actions, and intentions" (http://www.loyola.edu/about/visionvalues/values.html).

This quote exemplifies the objective of this petition. One of the reasons we came to Loyola College was to be part of its caring, supportive, animated, and charitable community. Having been part of this community for 4 years, we feel that it is our duty to stand behind our fellow community member in her time of need.

Throughout Vanessa's college career she has successfully excelled in the classroom while balancing her commitment to her mother's fight against cancer. She is an example of the type of student we all strive to be, one that not only is academically successful but also displays integrity in one's personal life. A student who selflessly chose to put aside her goals of college completion in order to take care of what really matters in life: Those we love.

As stated before Vanessa missed spring semester 2005. She is currently 4 Elective courses away from the necessary courses required to graduate. She has completed all courses for both her Major and Core curriculum. Upon her return to Loyola in fall 2005, having been assured that she would be able to graduate, she took five courses each semester (the full work load). Only recently she was told by administration regarding her outstanding courses "That is a full semester's work, and beyond what the College has ever allowed, no matter what the circumstances." Knowing this information at the start of senior year would have allowed Vanessa to take advantage of opportunities of which she was unaware. Recently in the Social Sciences category Vanessa won third place in the 2006 Loyola Undergraduate Student Research and Scholarship Colloquium. This award demonstrates Vanessa's commitment to "student involvement and creative intellectual endeavors" (www.loyola.edu/usrsc/2006.html). After completion of this research she was informed that this endeavor could have been counted as a 3 credit independent study course. This would have lowered her remaining classes to 3 courses. Other opportunities include overloading (taking more than 5 classes) each semester and taking winter session classes (she is pre-approved to take 2 of the other 4 courses at another institution) which would have significantly lessened her outstanding courses if not ensuring that she would be able to walk with our class. The Loyola community has failed to provide a grieving student in need with information necessary to complete her goals in a timely manner.


From a students perspective, ask yourself:
-Wouldnt you expect your college community to support and guide you in a time of grief?

From a parents perspective, ask yourself:
-Wouldnt you want to see your son/daughter graduate with the class he/she entered and grew with, and walk proudly with them after demonstrating academic excellence, despite experiencing unfortunate hardships?

From an administrators perspective, ask yourself:
-At a college which promotes community and justice wouldnt you view your students as a product of your guidance and therefore do everything in your power to take action in order to protect them in a time of bereavement?

We are not asking that Vanessa be excused from completing the remaining courses. We are simply asking for Loyola College to allow Vanessa to walk in our graduation ceremony and complete her elective courses over the summer.

This is our chance to rise to the occasion and prove that we at Loyola stand as a community in which we make our values a reality. A reality of which we will be proud.

Thank you for reading our petition. Please keep in mind: Let yourself be known-The motto of our freshmen orientation, Class '06