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How in the name of St. Ignatius was the Iggy Run approved as a sponsored campus event?
To clarify, the Iggy Run took place on Friday night and consisted of about 400 students taking off their clothes to run around LMU, à la UCLA’s “Undie Run.” These clothes were to be donated to St. Joseph Center, a non-profit for the homeless located in Venice. I’ve already written collaboratively with the Loyolan’s managing editors, Heather Chong and Emily Rome, about why the Iggy Run was an all-around terrible idea in the Monday issue’s Board Editorial. But some things bear repeating.
There are certain things that should not happen on the campus of a Catholic university, and I’m willing to make the bold claim that university-approved nudity is one of them. When LMU allowed this event to happen, it made a statement about its adherence to the Catholic teaching of chastity (among other things): namely, that they see nothing wrong with the encouraging of students to strip and run around. So, when the world looks at LMU and sees that it approved the Iggy Run, it’s going to see a University that’s in conflict with its own mission and Catholic identity. How can we aspire to greatness under those conditions?
“But UCLA has one” is a common counter. True – but that’s irrelevant. We’re not UCLA. Being like UCLA is one thing, and I would certainly agree that they have a lot to offer in terms of examples of what makes a university great. But, of all those things, we took the Undie Run? Even worse, we changed the name to “Iggy Run,” which kind of made me want to retch. Do we realize that this event is named after St. Ignatius? I actually hope not.
On top of that, the Iggy Run demonstrated a skewed concept of philanthropy. Here’s what I’m interested in: Did the Iggy Run start with the idea of donating clothing to the poor or with the idea of running around almost-naked? Doing philanthropy isn’t the same as doing something in the spirit of philanthropy, and if we don’t examine the means by which we philanthropize as closely as we do the ends of our philanthropizing, then it’s way too easy to lose sight of why we are – in this case – taking off our clothes.
And come on – how was this not thought through? (This one’s directed at you, administration.) Common sense and campus culture dictates, unfortunately, that many participants show up inebriated. (Or that, at some point, alcohol will play a role in the night.) Then they strip. Then they run. Then – here’s the kicker – there’s a dance party. While people are still only clad in underwear. How did this get that far? Who in LMU’s leadership thought, “Putting on music for people to dance to in their underwear? What a great idea”? Or, even worse, and perhaps more realistically, who thought, “I have reservations about this event, but it’s what the students want, so yes, let’s do it”? Call me a prude; say that I don’t appreciate the human body; accuse me of being a killjoy. I’ll take that over saying Friday night’s event was acceptable at LMU.
I could go into how sadly ironic it is that free T-shirts were handed out at the Iggy Run, thereby wasting money that could have been spent on, oh, I don’t know – the event’s cause. I could go into how it should be a huge red flag when a TMZ reporting crew shows up on LMU’s campus, especially considering TMZ’s record (or lack thereof) when it comes to respecting the privacy and dignity of the people it treats as news items. Or I could again go into the administration’s approval of the idea of students taking off their clothes and running around, mostly because I’m still incredulous about it. But I won’t. (Even though I just did.)
Instead, I’m going to challenge LMU to discontinue the Iggy Run. It can come from the administration or the students – ideally, it’d come from both. The Iggy Run is hugely out of line with LMU’s mission and ending it would be doing the community a favor, in that it would no longer promote a distorted idea of what philanthropy is. We can do better than shaping our philanthropic endeavors to something we think would be fun. Our mission calls us to not only engage the marginalized – perhaps through philanthropy, ideally through actual service – but to do so while maintaining a distinctly Catholic-Christian identity.
Let’s keep our clothes on while we do that.
Counterpoint Article --Iggy Run: Go ahead and take it off
This is the opinion of José Martinez, a junior theology major from San Diego, Calif. Please send comments to jmartinez@theloyolan.com.
10 comments
Yeah how right you are Mr. Editor, but where were you and your holier than thou attitude when the hazing that has been part of the precious LMU tradition for so many years was taking place?
Let's face it, even the leaders of your precious Catholic University are full of hypocrisy. They call obviuos hazing a "welcome event". In the true spirit of the Church, they look the other way, just as the Pope and so many priests did with the sexual abuse of children that has been prevalent for years. When will you admit that "the Mission" that you constantly refer to is rarely practiced by LMU's Administrators and leaders. Why should its students be any different? Lead by example not teachings, and step up and admit your wrongdoings instead of constantly trying to cover them up.
1) Your challenge to him is a perfect example of the 'end's justifying the means' problem that Jose mentioned.
2)Charity in this situation was not even that significant...the campus could have bought and donated clothes rather than having hosted the dance/bought t-shirts.
3)If we value prudence in our administration of the university then the question of drinking is relevant, but only if we value sexual health first...which we should as a Catholic University.
4) Your argument concerning the non-compulsory nature of the event has nothing to do with anything. 5) You also seem to be unaware with what it means to be a Catholic University. Upholding our ideals is not discrimination. This University is not bound to approve any student activity if it deems it contrary to our identity. If students don't like that they can go to another school. Every student chose to come to a Catholic school and must accept what comes with the package. A private University is free to define the character of its campus life. No one would complain at Hebrew University if the campus refused to sponsor a Aryan pride week. The difference between that and this 'iggy run' is only a matter of degree. 6) Lastly, you began by stating that this event encouraged students to wear whatever they want. Are you serious! To tell college students that at a certain event they may wear only underwear, is to host an underwear event. We are not dealing with sexually restrained population. Your first point is rhetorical red herring as everyone was aware of what this event would look like when they planned it. Who cares about a costume and regular clothes run.Matt---thank you for offering your opinion in this conversation. It is clear from your post that you are close to the event coordinator and it is great that you want to support the above event. However, at LMU I find this event unsupportable and felt compelled to register my disagreement with your response. Derek Stevens nSJ class '09