On January 20, 2017, the Loyola Marymount University community gathered to watch and discuss the presidential inauguration at LMU’s Inauguration Teach-In.
The event began with a livestream viewing of the swearing-in ceremony. After the livestream, a panel of faculty from LMU and Loyola Law School offered responses and fielded questions from students.
The panelists commented from their unique disciplinary perspectives: Elizabeth Drummond (History), Christopher Finlay (Communications Studies), Herbert Medina (Mathematics), Stella Oh (Women’s and Gender Studies), Jennifer Ramos (International Relations) and Kimberly West-Faulcon (Law).
Ramos reflected on the nationalism in President Donald Trump’s inaugural address and considered the foreign policy changes on the horizon in the new administration.
Finlay, a media scholar, suggested one simple way to be an informed citizen and root out “fake news”: “Stop using Facebook to get your news.”
Students asked questions and expressed some fears, with concerns as diverse as the safety of their immigrant families to freedom of expression for conservative students on campus.
“A university is a laboratory for democracy,” Drummond said.
Following the teach-in were faculty-led breakout sessions on relevant themes like interfaith relations, race and racism, information literacy and others.
The teach-in followed a busy election season on campus, which included debate watch parties and a successful get-out-the-vote campaign led by ASLMU, LMU’s student government.