Mirror - Vol. 31, No. 24 - April 06, 2006

              WEEK OF APRIL 6,2006
Vol. 31, Iss. 24-20 pages
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TheRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
British Robinson to speak at commencement
BY MEGHAN TOUMEY
Fairfield University President Jeffrey
von Arx, S.J., kept to his policy of having a
commencement speaker with Jesuit ties and
a familiarity with Fairfield.
British Robinson, senior advisor for
public partnerships in the office of U.S.
Global Aids coordinator, will be the speaker
at Fairfield University's 56th commencement,
according to Director of Media Relations
Nancy Habetz.
"She is an example of a lay person who
has worked closely and effectively with Jesu-its;
she knows the Jesuit mission well," Fr.
Richard Ryscavage, S.J., said.
Robinson has worked for the U.S. Jesuit
Conference. She began as a policy analyst in
the office of Social & International Ministries
(SIM) and soon became the national director
of SIM as well as the national director of the
Jesuit Refugee Services USA.
Ryscavage is a long-time, former col-league
of Robinson's.
Along with Jesuit ideals, Robinson
is very familiar with Fairfield University.
Several years ago Robinson helped set up
the formal relationship between the Jesuit
Conference and Fairfield University, accord-ing
to Ryscavage.
She has also worked with Fairfield since
then.
"She oversaw the Jesuit conference end
of the many research projects that faculty
from Fairfield launched using the Jesuit social
priorities," Ryscavage said.
These projects have included banking
discrimination in Bridgeport, evaluation of
the Jesuit Volunteer Corp and developing
a database for Jesuit social ministry in the
United States, according to Ryscavage.
Ryscavage believes Robinson, a gradu-ate
of Johns Hopkins University School for
Advanced International Studies, will be an
excellent commencement speaker for the
class of 2006.
"She is young enough to be a model for
students; I think students will be able to relate
to her age and her interesting career choices,"
he said.
Seniors have mixed feelings about Rob-inson
as their commencement speaker.
Kim Czarnecki '06 would rather have a
speaker whom she has heard of before.
"When you know who the speaker is, you
feel like they have some sort of importance,
like the school has put in an effort to make the
SEE "COMMENCEMENT" ON P. 5
Contributed Image
British Robinson: Senior Advisor for
Public Partnerships in the Office of US
Global Aids Coordinator, will be this year's
commencement speaker.
HANGING UP HIS FAIRFIELD VESTMENTS
Elyse Rsby/The Mirror
On April 2, President Rev. Jeffrey von Arx S.J. announced that Fr. Paul Carrier, Universi-ty
Chaplain, director of Campus Ministry and a Jesuit in the Fairfield University communi-ty
for 20 years, will not be returning to Fairfield in the fall. Provincial Rev. Thomas Regan,
S.J. informed Carrier this past weekend that he would be taking a sabbatical at the end
of the academic year in anticipation of a new assignment. For a full story, see p. 2
Fairfield police: no increase
in negative
BY JESS MITCHELL
Fairfield police said there has not been
an increase in beach activity after President
of the Fairfield Beach Resident's Associa-tion
Chuck Abercrombie said last week's
stabbing of a Fairfield student is an "indica-tion
of a degeneration of people's decorum
at the beach" as well as a "lack of control
of people renting at the beach."
Although police Capt. Ed Filush told
the Fairfield Minuteman in a March 20
article that he handled 14 calls over a six
week period that "could be considered
'rowdiness' complaints, such as noise
violations, breaches of peace and fights,"
Capt. Robert Comers said beach activity is
"about the same" as usual.
Fairfield University's beach residents
have been under the microscope once again
after Sean Wargo, a 19-year-old Bridgeport
man, stabbed Tom Foran '06 last week.
Duane Melzer, coordinator of Off-
Campus Affairs, said "according to police,
there has been a slight decrease in negative
beach activity: in complaints called in and
tickets issued."
The stabbing is a negative incident
involving a student, however only "10
percent of [beach] students do stupid
things and that brings the wrath down on
everyone," said Melzer.
"Police have taken action against
both people involved," said Melzer. "The
stabbing was a confrontation between a
non-student and student who were both
equally responsible."
"College student behavior [at Fairfield]
is by far better than any other college I've
worked at," he added.
Abercrombie that the stabbing was
a result of "people not being careful with
whom they are associating with."
. - Getting through to students is like
"preaching to the choir," said Abercrombie.
"Students don't listen and don't respond
appropriately. [They] lack respect for their
neighbors. Fairfield beach is a residential
area and not a playground."
Yet, Abercrombie said he "rarely in-teracts
with students."
As member of the FBRA since 1998,
Abercrombie said there has been a defi-nite
increase in complaints, summons,
and arrests in spite of the Lantern Point
Injunction.
Students disagree with Abercrombie.
Artie Roberts '07 said that the stab-bing
"is uncharacteristic of what usually
happens down at the beach and it probably
should've been prevented."
"For the most part kids behave pretty
well but there's always the occasional
incident," added Roberts.
"It can get rowdy sometimes, but I
don't think it's too bad."
Chris Ward '08 added that since there's
a lot of police down the beach, it stays un-der
control. However, he said the stabbing
made him think twice about beach safety.
"I don't think we're that different
from other schools; in terms of partying,
we're in the middle somewhere," said Mike
Kmetzo '08.
"I feel extremely safe living at the
beach," said Gregory Pasler '06, a beach
resident. "The students have done a great
job this year of respecting the year-round
residents. Incidents like the stabbing are
rare occurrences that don't necessarily re-flect
a rise in crime. Those events happen
even in the safest communities."
"I've definitely noticed an increase
in police presence at the beach, but the
decrease in negative activity has little to do
with the police presence," said Pasler, "it
has to do with students trying to be more
respectful."