Mirror - Vol. 04, No. 12 - November 6, 1980

              Administration Backs Schedule Changes
by Ken Vaughn
The Dean's Council and univer-sity
administration have made
public a proposal that would
change the class schedule start-ing
in the 1981-82 school year, ac-cording
to Academic Vice Presi-dent
Christopher Mooney, S.J. The
new schedule would alter the pres-ent
system by allowing courses to
be taught in either a 50 or 75 min-ute
session.
At the request of a number of
university professors, Mooney
said a number of alternative
schedules were explored to allow
certain courses to meet for a
longer period of time. Mooney
said teachers had said that many
courses would benefit from meet-ing
twice a week for 75 minutes
rather than the standard three
50-minute periods. According to
the College of Arts & Sciences
Dean Stephen Weber, the Deans
started looking for viable options
last spring, and they decided to
forward their first preference to
the faculty for their comments last
week. The proposal was drawn up
by newly appointed registrar
Robert Russo.
Basically, there would be eight
50-minute class rotations offered
on a Monday, Wednesday and Fri-day
basis. Classes would begin in
the morning at 8 a.m., and the last
one would conclude at 3:50 p.m.
Six 75-minute class rotations
would be offered on a Tuesday
and Thursday basis, with the earl-iest
class beginning at 8 a.m. and
the last class ending at 4:45 p.m.
In addition, there would be three
75-minute rotations offered on a
limited basis on Monday and Wed-nesday
afternoons. Likewise,
there would be three 75-minute ro-tations
offered on a limited basis
on Wednesday and Friday morn-ings.
In all, there will be 14 basic
teaching codes instead of the 11
currently used.
Mooney and Weber both cited
two advantages to the proposed
schedule. First of all, both men
said that certain subject matters
would be better adapted to the
twice-a-week longer sessions.
Weber said that certain subjects
take time to be explained, and by
the time a subject is beginning to
be explained, the 50 minutes have
expired. "The new schedule will al-low
us to be more flexible, enabl-ing
us to respond to various
needs," said Weber.
Secondly, the new schedule will
allow for a more efficient use of
the classroom space on campus.
With just 45 classrooms on cam-pus,
nearly 90 percent of the class-rooms
are utilized, thus virtually
prohibiting rescheduling of
classes or use of rooms for study-ing
or faculty meetings. Also,
Mooney said that shutting down
half the campus during fourth
period is a waste of class space.
With the 14 time codes in the new
schedule, students and profes-sors
will both benefit from the
schedule flexibility.
Weber said that the new sched-ule
will not have 4A and 4B to
guarantee a lunch period. Instead,
students will be responsible for ar-ranging
their own lunch period. He
said that there will be two or three
class periods that will be encom-passed
into the lunchtime. There-fore,
unless students arrange to
take all their courses during the
middle of the day, he or she
should have time for lunch.
Mooney added that he will ask pro-fessors
to not teach all the de-partments
"high priority" courses
during the middle of the day. Also,
Mooney said that Macke Food
Company saw no problem in ar-ranging
the new schedule around
an adequate lunch time.
Both Mooney and Weber said a
consensus of the faculty would be
needed very soon to begin the pro-cess
of implementing the sched-ule
for the 1981-82 year. The Un-dergraduate
Curriculum Commit-tee,
chaired by Religious Studies
professor Alfred Benney, was
scheduled to review the proposal
Monday while the Academic Coun-cil
was to look at it yesterday.
Mooney said that a decision either
way would be needed in the next
two or three weeks to avoid falling
behind in the course selection pro-cess
for next year.
While Mooney said that some
professors and students may not
like the schedule, they should not
oppose it because of fear of being
forced into a schedule they will
not like. "Because there are so
many options, nobody will have to
fall into a schedule they do not
like," said Mooney. He added that
the teachers could still get one
day off a week if they schedule the
offerings of their courses prop-erly.
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New Legislature President
Seeks Student Opinions
by Philip McGinty
The Student Legislature recent-ly
elected Vinnie Ferrante, a junior
chemistry major, as President of
the Legislature for a two-semester
term. Ferrante fills the positions
formerly held by Chris Pfirrman, a
senior.
Ferrante brings experience to
her new position as president. In
addition to having been a student
representative from Campion dur-ing
her freshman and sophomore
years, Ferrante held the position
of Legislature Secretary during
the past term.
The new president will be faced
with many responsibilities. She
will preside over the legislature
meetings by conducting parlia-mentary
procedure and directing
discussions and debates. Ferrante
will also oversee and offer sugges-tions
at the meetings of the Appro-priations
Committee, the Govern-ment
Operations Committee and
the Judicial Committee.
Ferrante informed that the thirty
two student representatives who
comprise the legislature represent
the dorm residents, the off-campus
boarders and the com-muters.
As well as their respon-sibility
to attend weekly legis-lature
meetings, all legislators
must participate on either the Ap-propriations,
Government Opera-tions
or Judicial committee.
Ferrante explained the duties of
each committee of the legislature
to better inform interested stud-ents.
The Appropriations Commit-tee
reviews, and sometimes alters,
the budgets submitted by student
clubs. The committee then sends
the budget to the legislature for
final approval.
The Government Operations
Committee oversees FUSA ac-tivities
and reviews the perfor-mances
of the FUSA cabinet
members.
The Judicial Committee reviews
the individual students who are
nominated for judicial positions.
Members of this committee also
review the constitutions of the
student clubs.
Because Ferrante believes that
many students are ill-informed
about the legislature, she stress-ed,
"The purpose of the legislature
is to voice the opinions of the stu-dents."
In fact, the legislature is
the most powerful way to voice
student opinions, added the new
president.
After learning of the immense
power that the legislature has had
in previous years, Ferrante thinks
that recent years have been mark-ed
by a decrease in the power of
the legislature. Therefore, Fer-rante
would like to see "greater
student input" during her term as
president.
Any student with a complaint
concerning academic policies, so-cial
regulations or any other
aspect of student life is welcome
to voice his opinion at the legis-lature's
open meetings. With the
support of the legislature or other
students, a student may draft a bill
to formally propose change of any
nature.
Vinnie Ferrante, the new President of the Legislature, sees increased
student input as the best way to achieve a "stronger" legislature.
[Photo by Patty Lanza]
Alexander Haig To
Address 1981 Graduates
Ted Schimoler, a junior, has his blood pressure taken prior to giving
blood at last week's Bloodmobile. The event was sponsored by the
Student Nurses's Association. [Photo by Anne Stadtmueller]
by Robert Gribbon
General Alexander Haig, Jr., will
be the guest commencement
speaker at the Fairfield University
graduation in May. Haig, schedul-ed
to speak last year, was unable
to due to poor health.
Traditionally three speakers are
selected to address the gradu-ating
class at commencement.
Recommendations for the guest
speaker come from a number of
sources including faculty, stu-dents,
and administration. The
most important criterion sought in
the guest speaker is his or her
outstanding contributions in a ma-jor
area. According to University
President Rev. Aloysius P. Kelly,
S.J., "We try to recognize some-one
who has made outstanding
contributions in a major field,
such as the Arts, public life or gov-ernment."
The final decision is
made by the Board of Trustees.
In addition, two student
speakers will be selected from the
senior class. A student committee
reviews speeches submitted by
seniors and elects one to be given
at commencement. The second
student speaker is chosen on the
basis of academic achievement.
General Haig is a prominent in-ternational
figure who played a
critical role at a critical time in
both the military and public life,
according to university President
Aloysius Kelly. He further stated
that "Haig's broad background of
experience is unparalleled in
American life."
General Alexander Meigs Haig,
Jr., was born in Philadelphia, Pen-nsylvania,
on December 2, 1924.
Haig pursued undergraduate stud-ies
at the University of Notre
Dame in Indiana, and in 1944 he
was appointed to the United
States Military Academy at West
Point. In 1954 he attended grad-uate
courses in Business Ad-ministration
at Columbia Universi-ty
in New York and received his
Masters in International Relations
at Georgetown University eight
years later. Shortly thereafter, he
was assigned to the Pentagon to
work on top level European and
Middle Eastern Affairs.
Haig continued to be an impor-tant
military and diplomatic figure
throughout the 60's and early 70's.
Haig_ became the White House
Chief of Staff under President Nix-on.
When the'top leadership of the
White House resigned in May
1973, General Haig was called
upon to rebuild the staff. He re-mained
the White House Chief of
Staff under President Ford.
In October 1974, Ford recalled
Haig to active duty to become
Commander in Chief, United
States European Command. In
December of that year, General
Haig was also appointed Supreme
Allied Commander in Europe.
There he won the highest praise
from European leaders, the Carter
Administration, and American
leaders, and he has built a reputa-tion
as being the finest NATO
commander since Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
General Haig is presently the
President and Chief Operating Of-ficer
of the United Technologies
Corporation, Hartford, Connec-ticut.
When asked how he felt about
General Haig speaking at com-mencement
university President
Aloysius Kelley replied, "'It's«
always a tribute to the institution
when we can attract an interna-tional
figure of prominence such
as Alexander Haig."