Last year’s winter rains were a gift to California’s water supply. The state measures yearly rainfall from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. The 2022–23 year was the seventh wettest in Los Angeles since records were first kept about 128 years ago, and the 10th wettest for the state as a whole.
But one impact of the rain upon LMU was damage to the university’s letters on the bluff. The rain caused soil erosion on the hillside and damage to the letters, specifically to the letter U, and lighting. By mid-March, the university placed a protective tarp over the letters and had begun to study ways to stabilize the site and prevent further damage to the letters. Now, the university is working with the city of Los Angeles to restore the integrity of the bluff and repair and preserve areas that support the letters. The project will likely involve measures such as regrading and reinforcing soil by compaction, the insertion of staking posts, and installing plants with deep roots as ground cover.
The LMU letters — each about 50 ft. in length and made of concrete — are among the three most revered symbols of the university, along with Sacred Heart Chapel and the bluff itself. The letter L, for Loyola University, first appeared on the hillside in 1928, with M and U being placed after the Loyola-Marymount merger.
Michael Engh, S.J., LMU chancellor and former dean of the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, graduated in 1972. He remembers the tradition of first-year students painting the letters each year prior to orientation. The letters were highly visible, and few other universities had anything like them, he says. “They were a point of pride,” Engh adds.
This past October, the university launched a fundraising campaign to preserve the letters. The initiative, which will end on Feb. 1, has a goal of $100,000, 89% of which was reached in mid-December. Engh isn’t surprised by the response so far. “The letters are an iconic symbol of the university,” he says, “I’ve gone to a number of Beyond the Bluff gatherings around the country. There’s been a surge in contributions every time we bring it up.”
Learn more at givetogether.lmu.edu.