Mirror - Vol. 31, No. 17 - February 09, 2006

              WEEK OF FEBRUARY 9,2006
Vol. 31, Iss. 17-32 pages
FREE - Take One
TheRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Sophomore dies suddenly in Loyola Hall
Alejandro "Alex" Carrion
passed away in his sleep
BY KELLY SHEEHAN
Alejandro Carrion '08 always kept the door
open to his Loyola Hall room, welcoming visitors.
His friends described him as "the nicest guy you'll
ever meet."
"Alex was a great person," said John Kamotowski
'08, one of Carrion's closest friends at Fairfield. "He
did everything in his power to make sure you were
feeling good about yourself and good about life."
Last Thursday, Carrion, known as "Alex," passed
away in his sleep. His roommate found him the next
morning and immediately called 911, according to
The Connecticut Post.
When town firefighters arrived, university public
safety officers were performing CPR on Carrion, but
he was unresponsive.
Carrion's cause of death was still pending as of
Feb. 7, according to the Connecticut Chief Medical
Examiner's office.
Kamorowski said he considers himself lucky to
have been able to play poker with Carrion the night
before he died.
"It was nice to see him win for the first time,"
Kamorowski said.
Carrion, a Miami, Fla., native and member of the
Ignatian Residential College, enjoyed movies, guitars,
poker, friends and music. He avidly followed the band
Incubus. He was a politics major, involved in the Col-lege
Republicans and the university Pep Band.
"Alex Carrion's untimely death is a great loss,"
said University President Jeffrey von Arx. "Yet even
in the midst of our mourning, there are opportuni-ties
for us to grow in faith and in solidarity with one
another."
Now, the Fairfield community is trying its best
SEE "VON ARX" ON P. 12
Contributed photo
Alejandro "Alex" Carrion '08 posed for a picture before the
Presidential Ball in October.
REMEMBERING
ALEX
THOUGHTS AND PHOTOS
FROM FRIENDS
Page 2
MIRROR
EDITORIAL
GRIEVING THE LOSS,
CELEBRATING THE LIFE
Page 13
Friends, family gather in
Egan Chapel to remember
BY RYAN BLAIR
"Last night, a beautiful light in our home was
darkened," said Fr. Jim Mayzik, S.J. during his homily
to the throng of mourners who gathered Friday night
in memory of Alejandro "Alex" Carrion '08, who died
in Loyola Hall that morning.
"Upon the death of a loved one, everything seems
to come unglued ... it seems like creation has forgot-ten
its form," said Mayzik in his homily. "All of us, at
the moment of death, pause in uncertainty, forgetting
what it is."
Softly illuminated by candlelight, the service in
the Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola served as a
source of comfort and hope for a community stunned
by untimely death.
"It takes long to realize that nothing will ever be the
same again," said Mayzik. "When this happens, what
can you do? What is the meaning of this? How do we
resume the beat."
The congregation sat captivated by Mayzik's soft
yet commanding presence as a homilist, with little so
much as a sniffle throughout.
Gatherers filled every seat in the chapel. Classmates
and fellow residents of Loyola Hall occupied some
seats, while teachers and administrators filled some
more. Still, others did not know Alex but came and took
a seat in the chapel, bound by their communion with
him as a member of the Fairfield community.
Following the liturgy of the Eucharist, friends of
Alex approached the pulpit, sharing thoughts, reflec-tions,
and memories of their time with him.
"Sometimes we would fight like an old married
couple," said Alex's roommate, Mike Maggi '08, fondly.
"The best thing about him was his innate goodness."
Another friend tried to describe Alex's essence to
SEE "FRIENDS" ON P. 12
Judicial gets judged: Former student sues Fairfield, awarded $111,000
for wrongful suspension and loss of income
BY KELLY SHEEHAN
During William Rom's fresh-man
and sophomore years at
Fairfield, he ran naked through the
quad during a big-screen viewing
of "Meet the Parents." He dumped
buckets of water from a window
on students walking outside. He
broke a mirror with a football. He
drunkenly rode a dolly down the
hallway of his residence hall after
throwing up.
Now, the university may have
to pay up to $200,000 for economic
and non-economic damages it
caused Rom, according to The Con-necticut
Post. The exact amount
will be decided at a later date.
The verdict was returned on
Feb. 3, after Rom claimed in
Bridgeport Superior Court last
week that he was libeled and de-famed
by university officials when
he was suspended in 2002.
Residence Hall Director Kim-berly
Nickolenko and past Resident
Assistant Reagan Smith '03 were
also included in the case.
But Vice President of Student
Affairs Mark Reed, former dean
of students, said the university's
ability and responsibility to dis-cipline
its students falls within
the guidelines stated in Fairfield's
handbooks and catalogues.
"Courts have long recognized
the right of educational institutions,
especially private institutions, to
conduct their business according to
their own stated policies and pro-cedures,"
Reed said. "Suspension
or expulsion from the university
is a serious thing and those situa-tions..
.are outlined in the catalogs
and handbooks for all students to
see and be aware of."
Rom, 24, a Moorestown, N.J.,
native, graduated from Rutgers
University in 2005 as a political sci-ence
major. Now, he is a financial
planner for Met Life.
Under his job description on a
personal website, he wrote, "I help
people save and invest their money.
I plan for people's future[s]. The
funny this is I blow my paycheck
on strippers, booze and drugs every
weekend. Go figure."
"He's a maniac," said John
Cifelli, a senior at Rutgers Uni-versity
who lived with Rom last
year. "He wasn't running around
naked or dumping water on people,
but he was definitely still a party
animal." ■
"But he was loyal to his friends
and a good guy at heart," Cifelli
added.
Rom believes he was targeted
SEE "PUNITIVE" ON P. 9
Contributed photo
Case closed?: After being
suspended from the university
William Rom got the last laugh in
Bridgeport Soperior Court