Mirror - Vol. 31, No. 01 - June 01, 2005

              JUNE. 2005
Vol. 31, Iss. 1-12 pages
Orientation Issue MfifWOR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Commencement 2005
Despite damp weather, 1185 diplomas awarded on Bellarmine Lawn
Rain Dance: Umbrellas in tow, soon-to-be graduates processed from the academic buildings to Bellarmine Lawn. Katie McCarthy/The Mirror
BY ASHLEYPHAN
Despite the rainy, cold and windy weather,
Fairfield University held its 55lh commence-ment
awarding 1185 degrees on the terrace of
Bellarmine Hall on Sunday, May 22.
The soon-to-be Fairfield graduates
marched through the muddy lawn to their
seats while the Brassalad Quintet played the
academic procession. Guests continued to
pour in, some wearing ponchos and carrying
umbrellas to avoid the rainy weather.
The event began with an introduction by
Dr. Orin Grossman, Academic Vice President
followed by an invocation by the most rever-end
William E. Lori, Bishop of the Diocese of
Bridgeport.
After the Brassalad Quintet played the
National Anthem, Valedictorian Timothy Wil-liam
Eberle took the stage for the valedictory
address.
"Our time on this beautiful campus,
Fr. Von Arx: "You will always be welcome back
admidst old buildings and new construction,
families of deer and wild turkey, old friends
and new faces, has taught us to let our passions
be our inspirations, to embrace limitations as
new opportunities, and to live fully inevery
question life has to offer," Eberle said to his
fellow graduates. "Wherever our various paths
may lead us, we can walk them now with the
strength and support we have found here at
Fairfield."
The honorary degrees were then given
by Father Jeffrey Von Arx, S.J. to Maryann T
Furlong, Arthur C. Laske, Monsignor John C.
Sanders and Florence Schorske Wald.
Father Von Arx remained onstage to de-liver
this year's commencement address. He
pointed out early on in the speech that he had
promised seniors that it would not be a long
address, but he did have a few words for the
for them to leave with.
"As graduates of Fairfield, you will always
be welcome back in this beautiful place, and,
indeed, we hope you
will come back of-ten,"
he said. "Some
of you have formed
friendships with your
professors that will
last a lifetime. But
for the most part, our
role as your teachers
is over. We hope we
have served you well
in that role, and for
Katie McCarthy/The Mirror our failures, we ask
in this beautiful place." your pardon."
Father Von Arx then awarded prizes
including the Bellarmine medal to Angela
Griffin Schuster for the highest four-year
academic average, the Saint Ignatius Loyola
medal to Meghan Marie Flanagan for outstand-
Katie McCarthy/The Mirror
Head of the class: Valedictorian Timothy
William Eberle delivers his address.
ing university service, the William J. Kramer
'60 Humanitarian award to Jill Taylor Macari
for community volunteer service, and student
achievement awards to Jillian Marie Grant,
Alison Kemezo Hildenbraud, and Kevin Mi-chael
Neubauer.
Degrees in course were then awarded
by Deans Timothy Law Snyder, Edna Farace
Wilson, Jeanne M. Novotny, Norman A. Solo-mon,
Evangelos Hadjimichael, and Margaret
C. Deignan which included 844 bachelor's
degrees, 303 master's degrees, 26 certificates of
advanced study and 12 associate degrees.
"I'm going to miss Fairfield a lot," said
Pat Carney '05. "I've had a lot of crazy nights
here and now it's all over."
998 students
register for
Class of'09
BY Liz COOPER
As Fairfield welcomes its
newest freshmen, students will
be sure to notice one thing about
the members of the class of 2009:
there are a great many of them.
Due to a high admittance rate,
the class of 2009 will be the largest
since the class of '04. This year,
the university accepted 5,127 of
its 6,894 applicants. As of June 9,
998 students had confirmed their
intent to attend Fairfield as fresh-men
in the fall.
These numbers are not fi-nal
and will continue to change
throughout the summer and even
into the beginning of the aca-demic
year. This time last year,
the number of confirmed students
stood at 891, but
STATISTICS
See how
the Class of
2009
measures up
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dropped to 826
by October.
As reported
to The Mirror in
June 2004, the
university in-tends
to increase
enrollment num-bers
during the
next few years
after the graduation, and conse-quently
the loss of tuition, from
the class of '04, which graduated
1,008 students.
The average SAT score for
accepted students generally fluc-tuates
between the mid-1100s and
the low 1200s. Admitted students
for the class of '08, had an average
SAT score of 1239. The average
scores for students admitted to the
class of '09 is 1227. Currently, the
average SAT score for confirmed
incoming freshmen is 1191.
AHANA (African-Ameri-can,
Hispanic, Asian, and Native
American) student enrollment is
up, with 88 members currently in
the class of '09 as compared to last
year's 70. The AHANA popula-tion
accounts for eight percent of
the freshman class.
The class of '09 includes stu-dents
from 28 stats, Washington
D.C., and Puerto Rico.
ORIENTATION 2009
Look inside for special frosh
features, including advice
from outgoing seniors on
books, hookups and more.
I. 11 H Iff i FIT fti
FACEBOOK FRENZY
Welcome to college. Now it's
time to learn about the greatest
invention since the keg tap.
Well, almost.
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