Mirror - Vol. 29, No. 28 - May 06, 2004

              May 6, 2004 - Vol. 29, Iss. 28 Fairfield University's Student Newspaper
University receives payment for on-campus cell phone tower
BY STEVEN ANDREWS
High atop Canisius Hall, two
cellular towers quietly pull in elec-tromagnetic
waves from all over the
world, improving cell phone reception
on campus and providing funds for
Fairfield University. Some scientists
feel such towers could lead to health
risks for students and workers at the
university.
The school added a second tower
during spring break, much to the alarm
of some administrators who were still
in the building and uninformed about
the placement.
"At the beginning of break, a few
trucks came in and started drilling,"
said Linda LaVine, the administra-tive
coordinator in the academic vice
president's office. "Then they brought
in huge flatbed trucks and a crane and
just started hoisting up large pieces
of steel."
No one in the office had any idea
why the gigantic crane was lifting the
steel so close to the building and plac-ing
it on top.
"Even [Academic Vice President]
Orin Grossman didn't know what was
going on and we had to call campus
operations," LaVine said.
"Everyone was angry because we
didn't know any construction would
be going on. No one could get any
work done," LaVine added.
In addition to the noise problem,
these towers have been studied exten-sively
in the past for links to cancer.
Though there are no concrete rela-tions,
researchers advise moderation
in usage at the very least.
Cell towers are a hazard for peo-ple
who live and work around them,
according to a group of researchers
at Harvard University who presented
SEE "TOWER" ON P. 6
EXPANDED
COVERAGE
Men are from
Motorola,
women are
from
Verizon
Page 13
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Carleigh Brower/ The Mirror
We're jammin': Members of the junior and senior classes enjoy Spam Jam festivities, including a "beer garden" and live bands, on
Saturday.
Students increase options with custom majors
BY JOHN GRIFFIN
Every student reaches a point where
they have to declare a major and choose one
subject on which to focus their studies. But
what happens when Fairfield does not offer
anything a student is interested in?
Dave Grazynski '04 found himself in
this situation when he arrived at Fairfield.
He still wanted to get as much out of his
four year experience as possible and the
university did not offer a major that caught
his interest.
Grazynski took matters into his own
hands and created his own major called
Visual and Auditory Culture.
"I was really interested in the subject
matter and I couldn't find interest with any
other established majors," said Grazynski.
"I thought that my time at Fairfield would be
best spent doing something that I designed
myself."
Lindsay MacDonald '04 chose an
individually designed major in environ-mental
studies because she had taken a few
classes in the subject area that caught her
attention.
"Being given the opportunity to design
my own major and study the environment
has been a really good experience," said
MacDonald.
"I suggest to anyone that is interested
in designing their own major definitely do
it," MacDonald added.
While individualized majors are not
the norm, they are available in the College
of Arts and Sciences for any student who
wishes to pursue their own course of study
in an area the university does not offer.
SEE "STUDENTS" ON P. 4
Students
worried by
armed officers
BY TOM MALLEY
When answering the door, the last
thing any student wants to see through
a peep-hole is that oh-so-familiar white
shirt, black pants and Fairfield University
security badge looking back. Especially
when they're packing heat.
Security officers at Fairfield have car-ried
guns loaded with real bullets since the
1970s, according to security officials.
Frank Ficko, assistant director of
security, said that a security officer's
firearm can only be used "in defense of
an officer's own life or that of another
person."
Ficko added that since 1984, when
he arrived at the university, there has not
been an occasion where an officer had to
discharge a weapon.
"Firearms are a tool used by the de-partment
to assist in our basic responsi-bility
which is to protect the public," said
Ficko. "Officers must attain local, state
and security officer firearms permits and
... meet Connecticut guidelines for police
firearms instruction."
The use of firearms by campus police
has been hotly debated by other college
campuses.
An incident in November 2003 at
Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana
prompted outcry when a univerisity secu-rity
guard, while responding to an emer-gency
call, shot and killed a student, ac-cording
to the Ball State University Daily
News. The officer was not sufficiently
trained in the use of non-lethal force.
Some students were surprised to
discover that security officers have guns,
given Fairfield's location in a suburban
area.
SEE "FICKO" ON P. 4