Mirror - Vol. 29, No. 23 - April 01, 2004

              April 1,2004 -Vol.29, Iss. 23 Fairheld University's Student Newspaper
Tuition to increase more than 7% next year
BY ETHAN FRY
Students attending Fairfield University
will face a seven percent increase in tuition
next year, according to Paul J. Huston, chair-man
of the Board of Trustees.
Tuition will go from $25,650 this
academic year to about $27,445, a raise
of $1,795.
Huston confirmed the tuition increase on
Tuesday. "The budget is brought to the finance
committee of the board of trustees," Huston
said. "The finance committee then brings a
budget to the whole board that is voted on.
The budget approved by the board this year
includes a seven percent tuition increase."
Vice President of Finance William
Lucas declined to comment on the tuition
increase Tuesday.
"Father Kelley and I will be meeting
with students on the budget on Tuesday
April 6 at 3:30 p.m. in the campus center,"
Lucas said.
Students interviewed by The Mirror
were not happy with the news.
"I understand that colleges and uni-versities
across the country are consistently
increasing tuition, but that doesn't excuse
it," said Karel Vetrovec '05. "They need to
adapt better fiscal policy, because ifthis trend
continues, an education at a private institu-tion
like Fairfield will be out of reach for a
majority ofAmerican families."
"I'd like them to give us reasons as
to the increase...whether it's due to all the
expensive construction projects they have
undertaken, or future plans for improving
the campus," Vetrovec said.
SEE "BUDGET" ON P. 6
Two students suffer serious injuries
Carleigh Brower/The Mirror
Following the trail: After leaving Paddy Mac's in Black Rock, Matthew Ryder '07 ended up next door at the U-Haul lot, where he was
beaten with a crowbar.
Accident puts study abroad
student in hospital
Student beaten with crowbar
after night out in Bridgeport
BY STEVEN ANDREWS
For three Fairfield Universi-ty
students studying in Florence,
a spring break trip to Barcelona,
Spain last week resulted in a
tragic accident, leaving Sean
Reilly '05 hospitalized in a coma
in critical condition.
"Myself and another girl
went to Barcelona with Sean
last Friday [March 19]," said
Keli Bannister '05.
The next day, Reilly, a
native of Summit, N.J. left the
group to visit a friend.
"Saturday night Sean went
out with a friend from home who
is studying in Barcelona to watch
the basketball games," Bannis-ter
said. "When he didn't come
back Sunday morning, we didn't
worry because we assumed he
was still with his friend."
SEE "EMERGENCY" ON P. 6
BY MEG MAHONEY
Fairfield freshman Matthew
Ryder '07 was listed in serious
condition at Yale-New Haven
Hospital on Tuesday after be-ing
beaten with a crowbar in
Bridgeport's Black Rock area
last week, suffering serious
head injuries.
The 19-year-old student
spent a portion of the night
at Paddy Mac's bar, students
have told The Mirror.
At some point in the night
he wound up in the yard of the
U-Haul facility on the corner
of Fairfield Ave. and Gilman
St. when the manager, Derrick
Mimms, accused him of tres-passing,
according to the Con-necticut
Post.
Mimms did not return tele-phone
calls for an interview.
SEE "DETAILS" ON P. 6
Contract of
Prof. Court
not renewed
BY KELLY SHEEHAN
According to Visiting Profes-sor
Russell Court of the history de-partment,
Fairfield has decided not
to renew his year-to-year contract
without notifying him or providing
any explanation.
However, Dean of the Col-lege
of Arts and Sciences Timothy
Snyder said the university has not
finalized all decisions concerning
next year.
"I don't
feel great about
this, actually. A
couple of days
before [being
informed by the
chair of the de-partment],
I had
a conversation
with the dean
and he didn't tell
me. I was rather upset. Obviously
this is something that I really like
to do," said Court. "The history de-partment
was also very surprised. It
came completely out of left field."
Court teaches two "Renais-sance
and Reformation" and
"History of Italy" courses during
the academic year as well as eight
HI 30 courses. He says he has a
great deal of turnovers from his
beginning level courses into his
upper level courses and that some
students have taken all three.
Court has also put long hours
into the Fulbright committee
for Fairfield graduates and has
been looking forward to spend-ing
a third year with them. He
is extremely proud that Fairfield
received more of the scholarships
than Yale and thinks the university
would be losing a valuable profes-sor
who maked this opportunity
possible.
SEE "COURT'S" ON P. 4
COURT