Mirror - Vol. 04, No. 20 - February 26, 1981

              Seniors Able To Pursue Individual Research
by Marguerite Downing
In order to provide an opportuni-ty
for exceptional students to pur-sue
research or creative projects
in their major field of study while
experiencing the benefits of an in-terdisciplinary
seminar, a new
Seniors Honors Program has been
established.
According to Dr. Leo F. O'Con-nor,
Chairman of the Honors Com-mittee,
the Honors Program en-tails
a full year of academic study
for which the senior student earns
six credits. The six-credit program
is composed of two elements:
1) An independent study project
defined by the student and carried
out under the supervision of one
or more faculty members for
which the student will earn three
credits.
2) A year-long colloquium at-tended
bi-weekly by all students
enrolled in the program and titled,
"Crisis and Creativity: The Modern
Experience." A faculty member
will present a lecture and lead a
theme discussion, to which the
student will react in an essay.
Speakers from various fields will
examine important moments in
the evolution of thought during
the 19th and 20th centuries. This
course will also receive a three-credit
designation.
Separate grades will be issued
for the student's work in both
parts of the program. The indepen-dent
study project will be graded
by the student's faculty supervi-sor.
The student's colloquium es-say
will be graded by both the in-vididual's
faculty sponsor and the
Director of the Honors Program.
According to Dr. O'Connor,
those students who complete the
entire Honors Program with a 3.5
average for the two grades will be
designated Honors Graduates
from the College of Arts and
Sciences. This achievement will
be recorded on their transcript and
it will be part of their permanent
college record.
Students who have attained a
Q.P.A. of 3.25 or better may apply
to the program. In some circum-stances,
the Honors Council will
consider the admission of seniors
who do not meet the minimum
Q.P.A. requirement or of under-classmen
who demonstrate ex-ceptional
intellectual promise.
Dr. O'Connor recommends that
all students interested "in the
challenge and the intellectual
stimulation" of this new program
and who desire further informa-tion
may contact any of the follow-ing
Seniors Honors Committee
faculty: Dr. Dorothea Braginsky
(Psychology), Dr. Morris Gross-man
(Philosophy), Mr. Lawrence
Kazura (History), Dr. Leo O'Connor
(American Studies—English), Dr.
John Thiel (Religious Studies), and
Dr. Gary Weddle (Chemistry).
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Cox Leaves Public Relations
by Philip McGinty
The Public Relations Office bid
farewell last week to newsman
Tim Cox, Manager of the News
Bureau and assistant to Murray
Farber, Director of Public Rela-tions.
Cox has accepted a posi-tion
as sales representative for
The Corbett Press, Inc., of Wood-bridge,
Ct.
Cox is entering the new field
with the hope of a "long-term goal
of getting into publishing." He
added that he would someday like
to work in publishing "esoteric
material or photography."
During his four years at Public
Relations, Cox was responsible for
writing press releases for the
university's academic, athletic,
and special cultural events. He
was also in charge of photography
for a time at the office.
A native of New Haven, Cox gra-duated
from Fairfield in 1977 with a
B.A. in English. He is currently
working towards an M.A. in Human
Communications from the Gra-duate
School of Communications.
While an undergraduate at Fair-field,
Cox held the positions of
News Editor and Photography Edi-tor
at the Voice, the student news-paper.
Cox noted that the media
experience he received at WVPF and
CPTV has also proven valuable in
his career in communications.
Cox concluded by saying that
he looks forward to staying in the
Fairfield County area with his
position with Corbett, for it will
give him a chance to return to the
university to visit and, perhaps, to
continue his studies.
Bomb Scare Interrupts Dance
by Ken Vaughn
A bomb threat forced evacua-tion
of the Snowball semi-formal
dance Saturday night for approx-imately
20 minutes. The investiga-tion
is still open at this time, but
nothing has been discovered, ac-cording
to Security Director
William Brennan.
Brennan said the Security De-partment
received a call at 10:33
p.m. and was informed that a
bomb was set to go off in the Cam-pus
Center at 11 p.m. At about the
same time, WVOF 88.5 radio re-ceived
the same call informing
them of the threat. The word was
relayed to the security officers
and dance officials at the Campus
Center. Shortly afterwards, the
couples were asked to leave the
cafeteria while a search was un-dertaken.
A 20-minute search un-covered
no bomb and the dance
resumed at approximately 11:15
p.m.
"In my opinion, it is a serious of-fense.
To him, it may be a joke. If
he is apprehended, he should be
punished to the hilt," said Bren-nan.
He added that the students
were extremely helpful by quickly
evacuating the cafeteria. "I feel
sorry for the people at the dance,"
he said.
Brennan explained that when a
threat is called in, ij,is evaluated
as to whether it is a prank or legiti-mate.
Then, when the threat in-volves
a social function, a deci-sion
is made whether to evacuate
the premises or not. Then a careful
precautionary search is under-taken.
He concluded that his concern
is that future bomb scares at
social functions will not elicit the
prompt and speedy reaction of all
concerned. "It may lose its
believability," he concluded.
Tim Cox, a four-year employee of the Public Relations Department,
his post to become a sales representative for a publishing firm.
Photo by Patty
has left
Lanza.
Prof. Petry Gets Green Light for New History Course
by Ken Vaughn
A new history course entitled
Human Sexuality in Western
Thought has been accepted by the
department as a two-semester,
six-credit course beginning in the
fall. However, Professor Walter J.
Petry, the proposer and teacher of
the course, said he now needs
Dean's Council approval for the
course plus an okay to allow the
offering to be a core option for
Western Civilization.
Petry said the course was ori-ginally
designed to be offered for
one semester only. It would deal
with image and role of men and
women and the concepts and atti-tudes
of human sexuality from the
time of Moses to Rabelais. How-ever,
Petry said the department
suggested that the course be of-fered
for two semesters. Thus, the
second semester would continue
the same themes through modern
times.
"There is no course here that
surveys the western tradition in
human sexuality. What is more im-portant
than for students to find
out who they are?," explained
Petry. "It does not mean we will be
concentrating on sexual organs
Irish Society Gets Dance Approval
In a surprise decision, Campus
Center Director Jim Fitzpatrick ap-proved
the Irish Society's use of
the cafeteria for their "Luck of the
Roommate" Dance. According to
Andy McGowan this issue is no
longer of an impasse and the
March 13 event can be opened to
the entire student boy, not just
Irish Society members.
A meeting was arranged early in
the week between the two sides.
This raised concern over the fact
that a disapproval from Fftzpatrick
for any reason would necessitate
the Irish Society to go back to the
University Council. This would
take too long a period of time,
since the dance is scheduled for
March 13 and tickets must go on
sale soon.
After much discussion the Uni-versity
Council, a body consisting
of representatives of the -student
body, faculty and administration,
came up with a new dance policy.
*An additional event will now be
allowed to make use of the main
dining room, bringing the total
number to five. The other four are
Harvest, Sadie Hawkins, Snowball,
and Dogwood.
Mr. Fitzpatrick immediately ap-proved
the new policy and FUSA
President Andy McGowan stated
that the Irish Society is the group
which the student government de-signated
to make use of this extra
cafe event.
William Schimpf, Vice-President
of the University and a member of
the U. Council, put an end to fur-ther
discussion of the Irish Socie-ty
dance when he pointed out that
once a policy is made it is no
longer a function of the council.
Fitzpatrick, who refused the So-ciety
access to the larger room
several weeks ago, said his deci-sion
was "based on general
policy, not the Irish Society."
When referring to the Friday
meeting he stated, "I want a policy
statement out of this."
According to Irish Society Co-
President Brian Gilbert, his group
has increased its membership
82% in the past year, bringing the
total number of students involved
to 340. To accommodate all of the
club's members and their dates,
Gilbert feels that the dining room,
is needed.
Neither Bob McVie or Brian
Gilbert could be reached for com-ment
but it is certain that they are
pleased with the turn of events.
and activities. Instead, we will take
a traditional look at human sex-uality."
Such topics that the
course would cover include celi-bacy,
homosexuality, contracep-tion,
abortion and family life.
Because Petry did not antici-pate
turning the course into a two-semester
offering, he said he may
not be ready to teach it this fall. At
this time, he has a bibliography for
the first semester only. With him
preparing a syllabus for another
new course he plans to teach, he
said he may not have time to as-semble
the entire course in time.
Petry stressed that the course
would be approached from a
historical basis. "This has nothing
to do with psychology; we will not
be making value judgments." He
would run his course similarly to
other HI 15 courses he has taught;
primary sources would be read
and discussed with weekly
quizzes given to test the students'
understanding of the material.
The course was okayed despite
a few objections by history pro-fessors
that the topic was too nar-row
for a core requirement, said
Petry. But Petry disagrees with
this notion, adding that the course
will take T look at western civiliza-tion
through a specific viewpoint.
Speaker Addresses
Women Tonight
The Fairfield University
Women's Group will meet tonight
at 7 p.m. in the third floor lounge
of Bannow Science Center to hear
a speaker discuss the problem of
battered wives.
After the group listens to a
representative from the Darien
division of Battered Wives, the
club will plan the publicity drive
for Women's Day, scheduled for
March 10. The day will celebrate
the tenth anniversary of women at-tending
Fairfield University. A
birthday cake celebration will get
things started at 11:45 a.m. Alumni
women will speak in the after-noon,
while a panel discussion
will be held in the Oak Room at
night. The panel will feature
distinguished women from Fair-field
County discussing the role of
women in today's society. It will
be moderted by Sociology pro-fessor,
Dr. Rose Rodrigues.
The club was formed last fall to
promote women's awareness on
the university campus. All in-terested
in joining the organiza-tion
are invited to attend the
meeting or get in touch with Presi-dent
Margie Deakin in Loyola Hall.