1980s: We Are the World
Hunger Week at Loyola, 1980
Like the famous 1980s hit song says, the world became a far smaller place in the 1980s, and the people of the United States became more concerned about what was happening outside of their own backyards. The decade held a myriad of events that saw the people of the world come together to deal with both positive and negative happenings, including: the devastating famine in Ethiopia, the AIDS epidemic, the nuclear arms race ballooning to terrifying proportions, and the destruction of the Berlin Wall. Chicago took part in all of the major movements concerning these events, but the city also saw changes of its own that gave cause for celebration as they elected their first African American mayor, Harold Washington, witnessed the Chicago Bears’ nationally celebrated Super Bowl win, and held a parade to show Vietnam veterans the gratitude they failed to receive when they originally returned home. In the midst of all of these goings on, the Loyola and Mundelein campuses were also contributing to the world around them. Loyola’s medical campus performed its first heart transplant and would soon add on a new cardiac wing, while Mundelein added a Peace Studies program, and a small group of their students were able to help others during a trip to the USSR.
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