Mirror - Vol. 32, No. 06 - October 12, 2006

              WEEK OF OCTOBER 12,2006
Vol. 32, Iss. 6-28 pages
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Ditching the SAT
Providence College joins the bandwagon
BY KATIE BARRY
High school students are breathing
easier as more universities nationwide adopt
standardized test-optional policies. That's
right, no SAT. But according to Director of
Admissions Karen Pellegrino, Fairfield is not
following suit.
"Standardized tests are considered in
light of the students' academic record from
high school and are never looked at in a
vacuum," said Pellegrino. "There is no mini-mum
score, and while standardized tests can
provide one helpful piece of information, it
is never the only piece or most important
piece," she said.
Students including Tim Rich '08 agree
that the SAT should not be the sole factor in
a school's admissions decision.
"I feel the idea that a test like the SAT
can provide an accurate portrayal is insulting
of an individual. Students with the money to
pay for tutors and hours of preparation courses
are groomed for better schools while the poor
are left behind," Rich said.
It was this idea Providence College ad-ministrators
had in mind on July 26 when the
Rhode Island school joined the 730 colleges
and universities that do not require the SAT
for acceptance.
Students at Providence College can now
submit their SAT score if they believe it will
help their application. They may also choose
to withhold their score if it would be detrimen-tal
to their overall high school record.
Christopher Lydon, head of admissions
at Providence, said the decision was based
largely on allegations that show the SAT is
biased toward students from higher socio-economic
backgrounds.
"There is a body of evidence that shows
students from disadvantaged socio-economic
cultures where English is not the primary
language routinely score lower than students
from affluent backgrounds with English as the
primary language," he said.
Lydon believes "the playing field is not
level" as a result of monetary factors, namely
"the ability to spend money on test prep or
take the test multiple times" - an advantage
many students do not have.
Providence College also hopes the new
policy will increase the application pool of
minority students as well as first generation
SEE "MIXED" ON P. 10
Katie McCarthy/The Mirror
And the winner is...
Students get grants for diversity proposals
BY JOE CARRETTA
As the quest to change perception of the
homogeneous student body at Fairfield rages
on, students have taken the lead in the plan-ning
of diversity-centered groups.
A newly established student diversity
program challenged Fairfield students to
"increase respect and understanding on the
Fairfield University campus for the contri-butions
and lifestyles of various underrepre-sented
racial, cultural and economic groups
in our society," said Fairfield psychology
professor Betsy Gardner.
Six student teams and one faculty advi-sor
created their own proposals focusing on
an issue relevant to campus and important to
them as well. Proposal topics ranged from
GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual)
student understanding to a campaign about
self-image and women's awareness.
Three of these proposals were selected
as winners of grants. The students receiving
grants were honored at a press conference
Tuesday in the Barone Campus Center
lobby.
The winners were The Closet Collegiate
(homosexual rights and awareness), the
Fairfield Roots (origin and ethnic background
of Fairfield students and faculty), and Project
Peg (female body image awareness).
"The money comes from private orga-nizations
and is allotted in equal amounts
to the final three student proposals," said
Gardener.
Gardener spearheaded the program
with Larri Mazon, director of the Center for
Multicultural Relations and FUSA members
including Ashley Toombs '07, student body
representative of the grants. Toombs de-scribed
the selection process as "extremely
difficult," adding that the chosen groups "best
illustrated the proposal criteria."
University President Fr. Jeffrey von
Arx, who has set out to diversify Fairfield's
cultural makeup, described the event as a
"wonderful occasion." After the presentation,
von Arx said the goal of the program was to
"broaden diversity in terms of racial, social
and cultural standards."
"[The] good reception from the commit-tee
will allow the program to continue beyond
its inaugural year," von Arx added.
SEE "FULCHER" ON P. 10
ONLINE OUTRAGE
Parents, students, and beach
^^ residents sound off on
^k 'Zero Tolerance' policy
PAGE 11
MEET 'COMIC BOOK BOYT
Mike Fischetti '10
talks about his mos
recent acquisition
PAGE 20
WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PSYCHE?
Understanding fall colors
through the lens of
Chromatherapy A
PAGE 19