Mirror - Vol. 28, No. 19 - February 27, 2003

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ebruarv 27, 2003 - Vol. 28, lss. 16 Fairfield University's Student Newspaper-
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Immediate reaction: Chris Zeitz, left, mulls over his loss while Kevin Neubauer celebrates his win.
Chris Donato, Keith Whamond/The Mirror
Risingjunior takesfreshman, sophomore votes to become president
BY ZACK FINLEY
Kevin Neubauer, '05, has
made the FUSA elections historic
again this year as he became the
first rising junior to become FUSA
president in the organization's his-tory
Tuesday night at the Barone
Campus Center.
The current FUSA president,
Karen Donoghue, '03, made his-tory
when she became the first fe-male
FUSA president in the 2002
elections.
Neubauer defeated Christo-pher
Zeitz, '04, by 167 votes with
a 543-377 win. This year's elec-tion
marked the lowest voter turn-out
in 14 years, having only 974
voters coming to the polls.
"I am pumped," said
Neubauer seconds after hearing the
results. "I want to thank everyone
who helped me out along the way.
I really can't thank them enough."
Zeitz gave his reactions soon
after the results were given. "I wish
everyone who won good luck. I
congratulate them," Zeitz said. "I
hope that I can be of service to all
of them in some way."
"Kevin ran a great campaign,"
Zeitz said. "It was uphill at some
times for me, but I'm happy that I
tried hard and it was
definitely a good expe-rience
for me."
Neubauer's previ-ous
activities at Fairfield
include being a 2005
two-term Class Presi-dent,
a lector and being a member
of the S.K.I.L.L. Program.
In a written statement to the
Mirror, Neubauer stated that he
wanted to implement the follow-ing
initiatives: make teacher evalu-ations
available prior to registra-tion,
be an ear to the students and
to hear what programs and events
students want.
Neubauer also want to use the
student art that is produced on
campus as decorations, particu-larly
in the Campus. Center. He
EDITORIAL
Neubauer has his
work cut out for him
Page 10
effort to communicate what the
students would like to see in the
dining areas. Neubauer also hopes
to bring back the "Red Sea" to
sporting events and looks to estab-lish
weeknight programming in
addition to the existing
weekend programming,
which'he hopes will
make it more attractive
in general.
"I plan to meet with
students and survey
them to determine where they want
their programming money spent
and what programming events
they want on campus," Neubauer
stated in a letter to the Mirror.
Neubauer attributed his suc-cess
to his running mate, Jillian
Grant, '05, who lost her campaign
for VP of programming to Jeff
Holland, '04. However, the loss of
posting privileges for Zeitz may
have played.a factor in the results.
"I feel like it probably played
a factor," Zeitz said. "Voter turn-since
I lost by such a large amount,
I'm sure there were a number of
factors that contributed."
Neubauer's first requirement
will be his training for the position
of FUSA president. "There will be
a six week training period," said
Steve Winkel, a graduate assistant
and FUSA advisor. "He will work
will Student Activities director,
Kelli Rainey, Father Kelley, Mark
Reed and Karen Donoghue."
According to Winkel, the fact
that Neubauer will be the first jun-ior
FUSA president will contrib-ute
little to his success. "The suc-cess
will depend a lot on how
[Neubauer] uses the training that
will be offered," Winkel said. "The
foundation of the other FUSA po-sitions
will also contribute as
well... choosing his cabinet will be
crucial."
"Karen Donoghue is a great
leader," Winkel added, "but she
could not have done it without the
plans to work with Sodexho in an out definitely played a role. But SEE CHANCES ON P. 4
Rhode Island club fire causes students to be more careful
BY KEITH WHAMOND
When going to a concert, Jen-nifer
Nolte, '03, normally has a
few things to worry about. Getting
tickets, parking, and getting a good
spot at the show are some of the
things normally on her mind. Since
last Thursday, though, Nolte finds
herself worrying about something
else: the fire exits.
"I always check the exits now.
The fire [in Rhode Island] really
worried me about going to some
of the small clubs around campus,
like Toad's Place in New Haven,"
said Nolte. "I'm always going to
look out a little more, and be very
cautious of any show with pyro-technics."
Nolte is not alone in worry-ing
about crowds in light of the
tragedy. Michaela Chatel '05, who
is from West Warwick, RI, the
town where a fire ripped though
The Station club last Thursday
during a performance of the rock
group Great White, shares the con-cern.
The Rhode Island fire last
week left 97 dead.
"I saw Phish on Monday, and
as soon as we walked into Conti-nental
Arena I found myself look-ing
for fire exits and worrying
about crowd control," said Chatel.
"Before I left, my parents were
saying, 'Stay near the fire exits and
be careful,'" she said.
"My sister Elizabeth, who
graduated from Fairfield last year,
goes to The Station club all the
time," said Chatel. "I got a phone
SEE "CHANCES" ON P. 5
Fired RAs
raise questions
over dismissals
BY JESSICA HOLMBERG
An advisor. A counselor. A
helper. A community builder and
a disciplinarian. These are the
roles of a resident assistant. Un-fortunately,
for Tina Minerva, '05,
and Ryan Madigan, '05, their roles
as resident assistants were cut short
when they were fired on January
23, 2003.
"It was upsetting to be fired
for such controversial reasons,"
Madigan said. "I don't regret be-coming
an RA, but I wouldn't go
down that road again."
Minerva and Madigan's fate
was determined when they visited
a friend at Regis Hall on the night
of January 18,2003.
"There was alcohol present in
the room," Minerva said of her first
offense at the university. "We were
there for 10-15 minutes, when RAs
came to write up the room for un-derage
drinking. Ryan and I were
not drinking."
According to sources inside
Residence Life, another RA, Mary
McMahon '05, was terminated last
semester, but she could not reached
for comment.
According to the Resident
Assistant Agreement, which RAs
are required to sign when they ac-cept
the position, RAs are not to
consume alcoholic beverages
while on duty, in training or at any
time where they are directly re-sponsible
for the welfare of resi-dents.
In addition, RAs are not to
consume alcoholic beverages
within eight hours of starting duty.
Both Minerva and Madigan
were not only abstaining from al-cohol
use, but they were also not
scheduled to work on duty as RAs
until the following week, nor were
they directly responsible for the
students they were visiting.
"Ryan and I were fired be-cause
according to Fran Koerting,
director of residence life, we dam-aged
RAs' credibility and con-doned
the behavior," said Minerva.
"The whole experience has been
very disheartening because I had
so much support. It was really
SEE "REMOVED" ON P. 5