As Loyola College in Maryland prepares for its upcoming designation change, Loyola President Brian F. Linnane, S.J., assured the campus community that Loyola remains strong during these challenging economic times.

“Yes, we were battered about by economic turbulence. And we were tossed around in what has become a fiscal blizzard,” said Fr. Linnane, delivering the first State of the University address to a full Alumni Memorial Chapel on Sept. 10. “We are standing on firm ground. We have sustained no permanent damage. The state of the university is strong.”

Acknowledging that members of the Loyola community have asked Fr. Linnane whether his assurance of the university’s fiscal stability is a statement of reason or faith, he said, “My answer to this question is yes.” Standard and Poor’s Rating Service has maintained an A rating on the university’s revenue bonds, commending Loyola for balancing the 2010 budget. “Even more critically, our fiscal discipline will enable us to continue to do right by the students who want the intellectual spiritual experience we offer. This is where there is not—and will not be—any compromise.”

Fr. Linnane addressed some of the challenges Loyola faces— a reduction in state funding and a drop in endowment value from $182 million to a low of $123 million. He pointed out that graduate enrollments are approaching new highs, however, and the first-year enrollment is higher than anticipated. Loyola has absorbed the costs of sending additional students to study abroad this academic year, Fr. Linnane said. Loyola also met the full demonstrated financial aid need of every first-year student for the third consecutive year. “This commitment to access is a matter of our fidelity to our Jesuit and Catholic principles. It is ultimately a matter of social justice.”

While lauding academic achievements of faculty and students and Loyola’s recent contributions to the community—including those by the Clinical Centers—Fr. Linnane also reflected on the losses the campus had experienced in recent months with the deaths of several community members.

“We were reminded that the Loyola community is held together by ideals that are as old as the Scriptures … and by commitments that are as fresh—and informed by—this morning’s headlines.”

In his fifth annual address on the state of the institution, Fr. Linnane spoke of his role in advancing the institution by building relationships with donors and looked ahead to the celebrations of the new School of Education Oct. 14 and the designation change to Loyola University Maryland Sept. 25.

“Loyola is healthy. Loyola is vibrant. We are doing more with less,” he said. “And we are proving that we can weather this—and indeed any—storm. Adversity is not intimidating us. It is energizing us.”

View an excerpt from the State of the University address on the Office of the President Web site.