Whereas Loyola University Chicago is celebrating its 150th anniversary as the only Jesuit Catholic university in Illinois on September 5, 2020; Whereas Arnold Damen, S.J., sought to open a college in affiliation with Holy Family Parish in 1856 to serve Chicago’s Catholic immigrants, purchased land at the corner of Twelfth and May Streets, and began construction in 1859; Whereas St. Ignatius College opened on September 5, 1870, with a class of 37 students; Whereas the Great Chicago Fire started only a few blocks from St. Ignatius College in 1871, but the new College survived and served as a safe haven for the devastated neighborhood; Whereas, in 1905, Henry J. Dumbach, S.J., purchased nearly 20 acres of land in Rogers Park, the future home of Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus; Whereas the School of Law opened in 1908 where men and women were both admitted; Whereas, on October 23, 1909, St. Ignatius College was granted a new charter by the State of Illinois and was officially renamed Loyola University; Whereas Loyola’s student newspaper, The Loyola News, later the Loyola Phoenix, was founded in 1924; Whereas, in 1926, having no home field for its football team, Loyola adopted the nickname Ramblers for all of its athletic teams; Whereas, in 1935, Loyola established a School of Nursing, the first fully accredited collegiate school of nursing in the State of Illinois; Whereas, in 1963, Loyola’s men’s varsity basketball team played Mississippi State University in the Game of Change, a landmark of the civil rights movement; Whereas Loyola’s men’s basketball team goes on to win the 1963 NCAA Tournament, becoming the first and only team from Illinois to win the national championship; Whereas, in 1970, Loyola University marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of St. Ignatius College, and officially changed its name to Loyola University Chicago; Whereas Loyola’s women’s studies program awarded its first master’s degrees in 2002; Whereas, in 2013, Loyola launched a new Institute for Environmental Sustainability