Mirror - Vol. 04, No. 11 - October 30, 1980

              Fire Chief Calls Halt To False Alarms
by Philip McGinty
University administrators are
now calling for student support to
terminate the numerous false fire
alarms which have plagued cam-pus
dormitories in the past three
weeks. Out of concern for the
safety of dorm residents, any stu-dent
who has witnessed the pull-ing
of a false alarm is strongly urg-ed
to either turn in or report the
culprit.
The recent rash of false alarms
began on Saturday, October 11.
On that morning, four alarms were
pulled in quad dorms between 1:35
a.m. and 3:30 a.m. Just one week
later on Saturday, October 18, five
alarms were pulled in the same
dorms between 2:52 a.m. and 3:38
a.m.
Because the alarms were pulled
one after another on both of those
mornings, Mr. Vincent Brennan,
Director of Security, believes, "It
looks like one individual is respon-sible."
Mr. Jim Fitzpatrick, Direc-tor
of the Campus Center, agreed
with Brennan and added that the
pulling of alarms "seems to be a
deliberate attempt."
The alarms which have aggra-vated
the dorm residents have
also caused great concern on the
part of Campus Security and the
Fairfield Fire Department. Both
Brennan and Fitzpatrick stated
that the Fairfield Fire Chief, Chief
Russell, is presently "very con-cerned,"
and somewhat angered,
about the problem.
The recent alarms have burden-ed
Security in that the officers
must rush to the scene of each
alarm to determine whether or not
it is real or false. The fact that the
recent alarms have been sounded
one after another has placed un-necessary
stress on the officers, if
Security does not inform the Fire
Department that an alarm is false
within a brief time, the fire fighters
move into action immediately.
The fire fighters are in turn bur-dened
by the additional danger of
riding on the back of the trucks at
night. In addition, they travel from
all over town on trucks from dif-ferent
stations, rather than from
the closest one.
Brennan informed that it is
quite possible that Chief Russell
may take action against the uni-versity
if the false alarms con-tinue.
Brennan did, however, em-phasize
that the Chief has been
"very reasonable" in the past. Fitz-patrick
also stressed that al-though
the Chief "has gone out of
his way to cooperate with the uni-versity,"
there are many ways that
he could initiate a difficult sit-uation
for the university.
First, Chief Russell could con-duct
thorough inspections of the
buildings, such as the gym or the
Oak Room, in order to find a tech-nical
violation of the state fire
codes. Just one violation could
force the cancellation of a con-cert,
a dance or a sporting event.
The Fire Department could also
insist on having a fireman present
at all university functions. This
would put financial strain on the
student organization that is spon-soring
the event, for they would
have to pay for the service of the
fireman with club funds.
Last, Chief Russell could delay
the signing of temporary liquor
permits which are necessary for
student functions at which al-cohol
is served. A late signature
could make sponsoring an event
most difficult.
Any student caught pulling a
false alarm will be dealt with
severely, according to Cynthia
Wolfe, the university Judicial Of-ficer.
Wolfe informed that pulling
a false alarm is a criminal offense
and a violation of university reg-ulations.
She also stated that since pull-ing
a false alarm is a criminal of-fense,
it would warrant an arrest
by the police. "There is a good
chance that a student caught pull-ing
a false alarm could be sus-pended
from the university," warn-ed
Wolfe.
Nonprofit Organization
U. S. POSTAGE
PAID
Permit No. 34
Fairfield, Conn.
I ■■ C Mm Volume 4, No. 11, October 30,1980 ^
FAIRFIELD mW FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY, FAIRFIELD, CONN. 06430 [MIRROR \^^^^^ Incorporated 1977
Reagan Wins Student Poll;
Carter Places Poor Third
by Tom Callahan
Ronald Reagan was the clear
winner in a campus-wide poll con-ducted
by the Mirror last week. Il-linois
Congressman John Ander-son,
running as an independent,
edged out incumbent President
Jimmy Carter for second place.
Each respondent was asked
their sex, class, home state,
political party, most important is-sue,
and probability of voting. Fe-males
accounted for 53% of the
responses while nearly 50% of all
those surveyed were from Connec-ticut.
Other states represented in
the poll were, (based on the
number of responses), New York,
New Jersey, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Mary-land,
New Hampshire, Illinois, and
Minnesota.
The poll also found that Inde-pendents
and Democrats combin-ed
to form 61 % of those surveyed.
Republicans accounted for 28%.
The results were encouraging in
the respect that an overwhelming
78.5% said they would vote in the
upcoming election.
By preferring Mr. Reagan over
the other two candidates, Fairfield
once again distinguishes itself
from other schools in the region.
In recent polls Harvard, Brown,
Cornell, Princeton, Pennsylvania,
Williams, Holy Cross, Providence
and Boston College all preferred
Anderson, with Carter gaining se-cond
place in a majority of those
schools.
Thirty-seven percent of Fairfield
students, however chose Ronald
Reagan over both Anderson and
Carter. Anderson garnered nearly
25% while the President came in
third with just over 20% of the
vote, 17% were undecided while a
negligible .6% preferred other
candidates.
The freshman class was the
strongest Reagan supporter at
42%. The class of '81, although
also preferring Reagan, was the
only class to put Jimmy Carter
ahead of John Anderson for se-cond
place. The seniors also had
the largest group of undecided
voters at an unusually high 36%.
The campus survey also reveal-ed
the same as polls nation-wide
in regard to female attitudes. Of
the females on campus, 31 % sup-ported
Mr. Reagan, representing a
sharp difference from the 43.5%
of males who favored the former
governor of California.
Many of the Carter supporters
are frightened by Reagan's ag-gressive
stance on foreign issues.
As one Junior stated, "I fear
Ronald 'Rayguns' which is Joan
Baez's name for Mr. Reagan."
Reaganites express great dis-satisfaction
with the Carter admin-istration
and a desire to have a
strong leader as President once
again.
An Anderson supporter from
New Jersey summed up the entire
presidential race by stating, "We
need a comprehensive program
that is forward looking in nature. A
leader is needed who does not
easily make political concessions
but faces issues in their true
light." Based on this poll, Ronald
Reagan Is the choice of students
here, but the question is, who will
be the choice of the nation on
Tuesday?
Carter Reagan Anderson Undecided
Probable Voters 19.6 36.4 25 18
TOTAL Surveyed 20.4 37 24.9 17.1
Sex
Male 20 43.5 22 13
Female 21 31 27 21
Class
Freshman 20 42 29 9
Soohomores 20 33 25 21
Juniors 23 38.5 26 10.5
Seniors 18 32 14 36
State
Connecticut 22.5 36 27 15
New York 24 45 10 21
New Jersey 12 28 40 20
Massachusetts 21 21 16 37
Political Party
Independents 20 29 31 20
Democrats 40 7 31 20
Republicans 4 76 12 8
Issues
Economy/Inflation 16 39 27 18
Foreign Affairs 18.5 38 23 20
Energy 43 14 28.5 —
Social Problems 31 44 19 6
Phillips Woos Students
United Way Sets Higher
Fund Raising Goal
John Aristotle Philips,'
Democratic Congressional can-didate
from the Fourth District, is
currently wrapping up his .1980
campaign by visiting Connecticut
college campuses in the hopes of
winning students' votes.
Phillips has stressed to
students that he is not trying to
win student support "by making
glib promises, but by pointing to
some of my qualities as a can-
As elections draw near John A. Phillips hit campuses across the state for
some last minute politicking.
didate that are desirable and
demonstrable."
In addition to his support of
equal status for women, Phillips
encourages "a sane foreign and
military policy, one that will
reduce the pressures towards
war." Such a policy would improve >
our relationships With other coun-tries
and better understand the in-terrelationships
of nations in a
shrinking world.
Part of his military policy would
be bolstering our military strength
through better pay rather than
through forced enlistment.
Ultimately, he would like to see us
"not using foreign policy for
domestic political purposes."
Although Phillips has yet to be
in Congress, he has: "cracked the
secrets of atomic bomb design;
written an autobiography criticiz-ing
U.S. nuclear policy and sold
the movie rights; and spoken
across the nation in favor of solar
and renewal energy."
Most importantly, Phillips
stresses that by voting, we refuse
to let others make the crucial
choices that affect us' today. He,
therefore, encourages all students
to vote, regardless of their choice.
by Kathy Noonan
Once again, the Annual United
Way Campaign is in full swing
here at Fairfield under the co-ordination
of Fr. John Hlggins.
The United Way is a voluntary
fund-raising campaign that is de-signed
to allocate resources bas-ed
on local community needs to
various agencies in our area such
as the Red Cross, the Boy and Girl
Scouts, and the Salvation Army.
They are all agencies that provide
services to others and that might
not be able to financially pay the
costs for the services they offer if
not for the help of the United Way.
The campaign extends over a
wide range of businesses and cor-porations.
One important sector is
the educational sector — the con-tributions
from school systems
and institutions of higher educa-tion.
Fairfield University has been
a leader in this sector over the
past few years, last year con-tributing
just over $12,000.
The president of each institu-tion
is asked to serve as the cam-paign
coordinator. Fr. Kelley dele-gated
this responsibility to Fr.
Higgins. In the past, the campaign
was directed on campus by Fr.
George Mahan.
Fairfield's goal this year is
$13,000. In order to meet this goal,
Fr. Higgins divided the university
into groups and appointed area
coordinators for each group. The
student coordinator is Lynn Des-mond.
She is being assisted by
Brian Bellows, Dae Magrino, and
Jean Luglio. Last year, from the
profits of Casino Night, selling
candy in the Campus Center, and
individual dorm efforts, the stu-dents
contributed $547. This year,
Fr. Higgins is hoping for a student
contribution of at least $700.
The student sector of the cam-paign
is placing most of their em-phasis
this year on a Halloween
Dance, to be held on Oct. 31, in the
Campus Center. Jim Fitzpatrick
has given permission to use the
whole Campus Center for the
event. They are hoping to realize a
minimum of $1000. There is also a
campaign for the individual
dorms.
Even though this year's goal is
much higher, Fr. Higgins is very
optimistic about meeting it. The
United Way Campaign serves to
bring the university community to-gether
in a common goal.