COMMENCEMENT 1985 : Loyola Marymount University

The 73rd annual commencement exercises were held at 11 a.m. Saturday on the campus of Loyola Marymount University, the largest Catholic university in Southern California.

Degrees: 1,371 diplomas, including 1,029 undergraduate degrees and 342 graduate degrees.

Speakers: Peter V. Ueberroth, now commissioner of baseball and former chairman of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, said the “most important thing about the Olympics” was China’s first-time participation in the Games and American friendliness toward them, exemplified by the standing ovation accorded Chinese athletes at the Opening Ceremony. “They showed an outpouring of love, respect and dignity for the whole world to see,” Ueberroth said. “They’ve shown the film 100 times to their television audiences (in China). That will do more against propaganda than anything else.” Ueberroth, who recalled that he failed to make the 1956 Olympic water polo team, told the graduates not to be afraid to take chances and to fail.

Honorary Degrees:

Peter V. Ueberroth, doctor of public service: “With his skills as an organizer and a leader, (he) found ways to solve financial and personnel problems that had plagued Olympic Organizing Committees for years . . . the results of (his) leadership will continue to benefit the country, and the city of Los Angeles, for years to come.”

Jilleen M. Halverson, founder of the Downtown Women’s Center, doctor of humane letters: “Jill dreamed of renovating an abandoned building . . . providing permanent housing for 50 to 60 women. She acted on her dream, motivated by the belief that if she did what she could to the best of her ability, everything else would fall into place.”

Martin Gang, lawyer and founder of the Martin Gang Institute for Intergroup Relations Training, doctor of humane letters: “Pioneer in entertainment law, leader in Catholic-Jewish relations, an individual committed to human relations training in higher education and a spokesman for the organized Jewish community, he presents a vision and sense of purpose which have helped create a better community.”

Maria de la Cruz Aymes, Society of Helpers, teacher and worker with the poor, doctor of humane letters: “To a long list of Jesuit writers of catechetical materials must now be added the name of a woman. . . . She has written more than one hundred books and she has radically changed religious education in most of the Catholic world. . . . Sister Maria is a genuinely liberated and liberating woman.”