The Loyola Marymount University community celebrated David W. Burcham’s selection as the university’s 15th president Tuesday. Faculty, administrators and students braved the autumn chill and gathered during convocation hour for a brief ceremony.“Education, I’ve always said, is a noble calling, a noble profession,” Burcham said. “There’s something that approaches almost a sacred nature when students, or any of us, have a hunger to learn more about ourselves, more about our world, more about our God. That’s why we’re here and what we’re all about here at our university.”
Burcham told the estimated crowd of 500 he was humbled by “the opportunity and the honor” to lead the university.
R. Chad Dreier, chair of LMU’s Board of Trustees, reflected on the change of leadership and said Burcham was “absolutely” the right person for the job. “I am ecstatic today to declare the beginning of the Burcham era.”
Robert Scholla, S.J., rector of LMU’s Jesuit Community, said, “I think our hearts today resonate with the words of the psalmist who says, ‘This is the day that the Lord has made, and let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ This is a great day for the history of Loyola Marymount University.”
Burcham’s selection has been hailed as “wonderful,” “a superb choice” and “a great selection” by students, faculty and administrators.
Barbara Busse, dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts, lauded the selection as “Wonderful news!” She said that Burcham is known for his “fresh and insightful thinking.” He is “someone who will challenge the university community and all its leaders, staff, students and supporters to imagine bold ambitions for Loyola Marymount University that reflect our deepest, most important aspirations.”
Student reaction was also enthusiastic.
Liberty Padre, a senior, said Burcham’s selection embodies the strength of LMU’s mission and principles.
“David Burcham’s commitments as a student and educator at Loyola Law School, and his experience helping lead LMU, prove that he has the ability to uphold and maintain our mission,” she said. “It’s great to have a president who experienced what the students at LMU are learning today, and truly gratifying to see that the values he learned from Loyola still resonate in his life.”
Sophomore Adrien Jarvis, managing editor of the campus newspaper Los Angeles Loyolan, called it “a great selection.”
“Obviously, Burcham has proven himself at LMU with the work he has done over the years,” she said. “And it is a very important step that the trustees would select someone who is not a religious.”
She discussed his accessibility and interest in speaking with students. “He came to the Loyolan summer retreat,” she said, and discussed the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “He is willing to put in the face time and to meet and speak with students,” said Jarvis. “He talked about always being able to approach him. That is really important.”
Faculty also celebrated the choice.
Allan Ides, the Christopher N. May Professor of Law at Loyola Law School and an alumnus of both LMU and LLS, taught Burcham and worked with him at the law school. He called Burcham “a superb choice.”
Recalling that Burcham was a student in his criminal procedure class years ago, he described Burcham, a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk, as “a most impressive student.”
“Since then, he has continued to excel at everything he has done, from lawyer to professor to administrator,” said Ides. “Most important, he is a natural leader and will play a major role in the development and continued success of LMU. Of course, we at the law school are a bit jealous, but we celebrate the good fortune of the university and look forward to many more years of working with our friend and colleague.“
Professor Michael P. Horan, chair of the Department of Theological Studies, said Burcham’s appointment is good news for the university and its future, and he directly commented on Burcham as the first non-Jesuit president.
“President Burcham’s considerable talents will serve us well, as they already have, and his appointment as the first lay president of the university also signals a new and important moment for all of us,” Horan said. “The documents from the Jesuits’ Congregation and the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary make clear that Jesuits and the Sisters participate in a mission that does not belong to them alone, a work to which lay persons are called and for which they are gifted. This new moment in LMU history – the appointment of a lay president – furnishes the chance to make those words more real and urgent, and to hold all of us accountable for the mission and identity of this great place in a deliberate and sustained way.”
