Mirror - Vol. 29, No. 25 - April 15, 2004

              April 15,2004 Fairfield University's Studei
Fairfield athlete graduation rates well above average
BY BRYAN MAHONEY
While the last 16 teams remaining in
the NCAA men's basketball Championship
tournament may have been considered the
best, according to the latest NCAA gradua-tion
report they certainly aren't considered
the brightest.
Of the final 16 teams in the 2003-04
NCAA tournament, only four schools—
Duke, Kansas, Vanderbilt and Xavier—post-ed
graduation rates of 50 percent or better,
while seven teams graduated one-third or
fewer of their players.
Further, of all the teams selected to the
2004 Division I men's basketball Cham-pionship,
four institutions had graduation
rates of zero, and a total of 16 had rates of
25 percent or less.
While the graduation rate for men's
basketball programs may be an issue for a
number of institutions, at Fairfield Univer-sity
the rate is hardly an issue.
Overall Fairfield student athletes gradu-ated
at a rate of 88 percent. The men's bas-ketball
rate was 75 percent, two percent
lower than the student body rate. Fairfield
Athletic Director Eugene Doris attributes
such high graduation rates to the school's
commitment to academic success.
SEE "GOING" ON P. 14
Contributed photo
Smoked out?: Despite the recent arrests on campus, most students interviewed are not afraid of getting caught using illicit drugs.
Busts have no significant effect on drug use
BY ETHAN FRY
With law enforcement agen-cies
recently targeting marijuana
dealing on campus at Fairfield,
one might think it would be harder
for students here to buy drugs.
According to students inter-viewed
by The Mirror, however,
that is not the case.
While there was an impact
after two students were arrested
in relation to an undercover police
operation which began in February,
most students interviewed, who
agreed to be quoted on condition
of anonymity, believed the arrests
will not have a major effect on the
flow of illicit drugs at Fairfield.
"It has been really
easy getting marijuana
this year," said one senior,
who was one of seven stu-dents
willing to comment
to The Mirror. "There are
a lot of kids who need to
push stuff in order to af-ford
to smoke as much as they do.
The bust a few weeks ago got a lot
of kids scared. I know two kids
who are refusing to sell out of fear
they'll be next. But there are still
enough people out there looking
to make an easy profit."
"It's always relatively tough
to get drugs," said another senior.
"I mean, you are buying some-thing
that is illegal. The recent
3RUGS
This is part one
of two in a series.
bust scared some people,
sure, but the bottom line
is that if you want drugs
and you go to Fairfield,
you can get them."
One junior inter-viewed
by The Mirror
was less enthusiastic.
"It was difficult but not impos-sible
to get drugs on campus
before the arrests," he said. "But
now it scared many people into
laying low and not even dealing
with drugs anymore."
Still, those interviewed said
they believed drug abuse is not a
widespread problem here.
"There are kids using drugs
at any school, especially pot
because a lot of people think
it's harmless," said a senior. "I
don't consider drug use to be
a problem at Fairfield, I don't
think it's any worse here than
anywhere else."
Others concurred. "Ifyou go
to any college or university in the
country where there's a relatively
diverse mix of people, you'll
probably see drug use," said a
junior. "It's just something that
happens everywhere."
Furthermore, most students
interviewed who use drugs were
not concerned about the possibil-ity
of getting caught.
SEE "DRUG" ON P. 4
SBRA plans
events, not
parties
BY MEG MAHONEY
The exact role performed
by the Student Beach Resident
Association eludes some students,
Mirror interviews have shown.
"The SBRA plans the
Nauts, Mock Wedding and prob-ably
would plan the Clam Jam if
we had one," said Mike Messenger
'05 when asked about SBRA.
However, this is a common
misconception on campus—
SBRA only plans the parties at
the beach.
In fact, they do not. And the
leadership of the organization is
attempting to change their public
profile.
So what does SBRA actually
do?
"It is a resident life communi-ty
just like RAZOR and UNITE,"
said Duane Melzer, co-ordina-tor
for off-campus events. "But,
there is a common misconception
about what the SBRA does or is
supposed to be doing."
"The SBRA focuses on pro-gramming
and planning events
for students," added Melzer.
"Such as community service,
educational programs down the
beach for people and give them
the opportunity to take part in
events out of beach area like
trips to NYC, New Haven and
Boston."
However, SBRA is usually
associated with drinking and par-ties
at the beach, not community
service and trips; a fact that the
members of SBRA, Dean of Stu-dents
Mark Reed and Melzer are
trying to change.
Matt Coolidge '04, SBRA
co-president, said "We need to
separate the SBRA from what
goes on at the beach. There needs
to be a distinction between what
the school sponsors and what the
students do."
SEE "SBRA'S" ON P. 6