Mirror - Vol. 30, No. 23 - March 31, 2005

              WEEK OF MARCH 31,2005
Vol. 30, Iss. 23 - 20 pages
FREE - Take One MIRROR www.FAiRFIELDMIRROR.coM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
New hires will double number of black faculty
BY GREGORY HILL
The old homogenous rerun of
"Leave it to Beaver" that has been
playing on campus has finally been
edited by the Fairfield administra-tion
through the hiring of four
black professors.
In the wake of President
Jeffery Von Arx's Martin Luther
King Day address, the College of
Arts and Sciences hired four black
professors, more than doubling its
current faculty number.
"Having professors with dif-ferent
cultural backgrounds brings
Fairfield students out of this ho-mogenous
bubble that we live in,"
saidAaminaAwan '07. "Having di-versity
among the professors gives
students a different perspective. We
get a chance to broaden our hori-zons
by cultivating professors who
can bring an array of different ideas
and cultures to the table, both inside
and outside of the classroom."
According to Arts and Scienc-es
Dean Timothy Snyder's address
to college faculty in September, the
university's current percentage of
black faculty is two percent. Al-though
the Wrings do not tremen-dously
increase the percentage,
next year the university will raise
the bar to four percent.
Professor Walter Petry's re-tirement
at the end of the year will
bring the count to six black faculty
members for next year.
"Increasing diversity has been
a priority ofmy tenure at Fairfield,"
said von Arx, "and a challenge that
most institutions of higher educa-
SEE "HIRES" ON P. 6
MIRROR SNAPSHOT Fairfield's percentage of black
EYEING DIVERSITY faculty will double next year. Here's
"" ' tl,,V' UI¥CI\OII I how other schools compare:
Source: Journal of Blacks in Higher Education Graphic by Joshua O'Connoll/Trte Mirror]
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ID photos now used for faculty classroom rosters
BY CAITLIN CALLAGHAN
Frizzy hair. Closed eyes.
Food in your teeth. Luckily you
and the card swiper at Barone are
the only ones to gaze upon your
StagCard photograph.
But wait! Your professors
now have access to your Stag-
Card photograph as part of their
online class lists.
The Educational Technolo-gies
Committee, a group of 14
faculty members from a variety
of departments on campus, unani-mously
decided to add student
photographs to their class lists
with the aid of the StagCard Of-fice
and the Office ofAdministra-tive
Computing.
Dr. Richard Regan, an as-sistant
professor of English and
chair of the Educational Tech-nologies
Committee, said that
students in a database class last
summer mentioned the use of
photo archives, and he thought
that putting StagCard photo-graphs
online would be a great
way to learn students' names.
Jessica DiBuono '06, a stu-dent
in Regan's Shakespeare
class, thinks that having student
photographs online is a great way
for faculty to get to know their
students better.
"It will help teachers put stu-dents'
name to faces and improve
professor-student relationships,"
said DiBuono.
Lauren Callahan '08 agrees
and feels that having the pho-tographs
online will eliminate
wasted class time and encourage
a closer bond between faculty
and students.
"I think it's a good idea to
be able to see students' pictures
online because it eliminates the
time it takes for the professor to
learn names in class, and helps
develop a more personal relation-ship,"
said Callahan.
Kristina Chomick '06 feels
that professors who choose to use
the new system will demonstrate
their commitment to students.
"I know that I really appreci-ate
when a teacher takes the time
to know my name," said Chomick.
"It really makes me feel like they
want to be teaching and that they
care about the student."
Regan finds the system help-ful,
because his students submit
their class papers electronically.
Before the addition of the student
photographs, Regan was rarely
able to learn the names of all of
the students he teaches.
SEE "PROFESSORS" ON P. 4
Res Life strife
continues; two
more RAs leave
BY MEGAN J. MAHONEY
More scrambling is in order
for the department of residence
life as two more resident assistants
have resigned from their positions,
making a grand total of nine staff
changes this year.
. Vicki Lizardi '05 and Burim
Gjidija '05, both resident assistants
in Dolan Hall, resigned last week
citing medical reasons, according
to residence life staff.
"The two that left were fan-tastic
RAs and it was in their best
interest of medical reasons to
leave," said Laura Cantrall, associ-ate
director of residence life.
"I support them in their deci-sions
and it was a very hard deci-sion
to make," she added.
They are the eighth and ninth
staff terminations in a rash of resi-dence
life problems this year. Even
before the school year began, resi-dence
life lost an RA, Steve Tyburski
'06 who quit while still in training.
Clark Callaghan, the former
RHC of Regis, was forced to resign
after being caught away from cam-pus
while on duty, a breach of con-duct
among residence life staff.
He is currently working as a
graduate assistant in University
College.
SEE "FRESHMAN" ON P. 4
FINAL DAYS
Candidates for
FUSA president
share their plans
for next year.
Page 2
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