Mirror - Vol. 32, No. 28 - May 03, 2007

              WEEK OF MAY 3,2007
Vol. 32, Iss. 28 - 20 pages
FREE - Take One MIRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Spring Weekend Underwhelms Upperclassmen, Entertains Freshmen
BY JESS MITCHELL
Whether it was the poor weather or
the new event format that influenced the
low attendance level at this year's Spring
Weekend, students were disappointed.
Unlike in past years, images of jam-packed
lawns, loud music, bright sunshine
and flowing alcohol provided by universi-ties
or campus groups were no where to be
found at this year's Spring Weekend.
This year, Spam Jam - now called
"Down by the Shore" - was combined with
May Day and held on Lessing Field on Sat-urday
for the entire student body. A separate
barbecue was held at the townhouses for
juniors and seniors in response to upper-classmen
who lodged complaints.
Saturday's Lessing Field Event
Ashlee Downing '08, the IRHA mem-ber
in charge of the Saturday event, said
there was a large amount of students pres-ent,
but the majority were freshmen and
sophomores because it was on campus.
Downing said she was surprised that
more students did not utilize the beer gar-den,
which was a fenced-off area where
students of legal drinking age could drink
beer. „
Charles Sousa, the area coordinator for
the townhouses, said the beer garden had its
challenges because students were unclear
about when alcohol would be served and at
what cost. However, Saturday was targeted
to the entire school community including
students, faculty and staff.
"Spring Weekend as a whole, starting
Thursday night, went well," said Sousa.
"There weren't an overwhelming amount
of issues. [The weekend] was fairly con-sistent
with what it's been like every other
weekend."
He said students came to "mingle with
their peers" at class-specific events such as
the Sunday barbecue.
FUSA President Hutch Williams '08
agreed that the weather was a major fac-tor
and that attendance | INSIDE:
was average, about 85 I
perC!"!' iSPRINGSPAM
The beer garden ;
numbers were low but |
that doesn't reflect the !
number of upperclassmen ; CARTOON
that were there; a differ- \ p 7
ent demographic of the !
junior class," he said.
For next year, Downing said she would
like to have more small activities like the-palm
reading and henna tattoos that took
place this Spring Weekend.
SEE "SPRING" ON P. 2
Contributed Photo
High hopes: Students and community members raise funds for cancer research during Relay for Life at Alumni Hall Friday night.
Relay for Life Exceeds Fundraising Goal
BY MEGHAN SCHELZI
More than 200 students, faculty and
friends participated in Fairfield's first
annual Relay for Life to raise money for
the American Cancer's Society's mission
to save lives.
"We more than doubled our goal
of $15,000. So, we've raised more than
$30,000. And money keeps coming in,"
said Megan Steel '08, president of the
Fairfield chapter of Colleges Against
Cancer and co-chair of the event.
Relay For Life was a 12-hour event
that was held in Alumni Hall from 5 p.m.-
5 a.m. on April 27.
Students, faculty and friends were
invited to participate by registering online
prior to the event. One team member from
each group was required to walk around
the track at all times.
"All in all, the event exceeded my
expectations, and I hope that next year's
is even better," said Steel.
Throughout the event there were
performances by the Fairfield dance team,
The Sounds, which is the student a capella
group, and On The Spot Improv to enter-tain
students. There were also events held
to fundraise including a silent auction.
"All of the silent auction items didre-ally
well, with the most expensive item at
$230, which was a digital camera, printer
and memory card," said Steel.
The scheduled appearance by Sena-tor
McKinney, the representative of Con-necticut's
28th District, did not occur.
Over the course of the event hun-dreds
of people walked the track inside
of Alumni Hall.
The track was lined with luminaria
bags, in which candles were placed, each
dedicated to an individual who lost his/her
life to cancer.
"The luminaria cer-emony
was emotional but
inspiring," said Steel.
Lauren Callahan '08,
a member of the Student
Advisor Athletic Counsel
(SAAC) organized over
90 athletes to help out at
the event.
"Word spread and
people came>" said Calla-han.
"I felt the event was
really rewarding to honor
fellow classmates who are
cancer survivors."
"Throughout this
event we were able to see what the Uni-versity
can do," said Callahan.
Steel said she is very enthusiastic
and optimistic about next year's Relay
for Life.
"My personal goal for the entire
event would be over $50,000. And I
think with the whole-hearted support
from the student body, and the faculty,
the event could smash the record books
as the most profitable non-profit charity
event in Fairfield University history,"
said Steele.
Students Sued
For Illegal Music
BY RACHEL BREAN
Contributed Photo
Survivor's lap: Proud cancer survivors stick together.
Marc Fedoras '09 opened his campus
mailbox expecting to find the occasional FUSA
flyer. But what was inside was far from a cheery
announcement.
Fedoras was one of 15 Fairfield students
who received a letter informing him he was be-ing
sued by the Recording Institute of America
(RIAA) for sharing copyrighted music on his
computer.
According to the RIAA Web site, on April
11, the RlAA sent a total of 413 pre-litigation
letters on behalf of the major recording com-panies
to 22 universities, including Cornell,
UMass-Amherst, University ofNew Hampshire.
The letters were sent to 50 students, the highest
number yet.
"The letter was completely out of the blue,"
said Fedoras. "I wasn't really worried about
getting caught and then it was just like getting
struck by lightning."
"You hear about it but you never think it's
going to happen to you," he said.
The letters, sent from lawyers representing
the RIAA, said that he was being sued for "shar-ing"
music, not downloading it. He is being sued
for 180 songs he had illegally shared with other
users, and the letter listed a few of them. Fedoras
lives in Kostka Hall, and said that his roommate
as well as another student in his hallway are be-ing
sued by RIAA.
"From what I hear, it's happening to thou-sand
of kids across the country," said Fedoras.
If Fedoras goes to court with RIAA, the
company will be suing him for $750 per song,
which could potentially amount to $135,000.
Fedoras plans to settle the situation outside of
court; he has two options: paying $3,000 up front
or paying $3,250 over a six-month period.
In February, the RIAA launched new deter-rence
and education initiatives targeted at col-lege
students who download illegally.
During this initiative, pre-litigation settle-ment
letters were sent to schools informing
them of a copyright infringement suit against
one of its students or personnel and request that
university administrators forward the letter to
the appropriate network user, according to the
RIAA Web site.
"We hope that fans on campuses and ad-ministrators
recognize the extraordinary legal
marketplace for music online now," said Steven
Marks, general counsel and executive vice presi-dent
of RIAA, on its Web site. "The question
we ask of students is this: with high-quality
legal music options available for free or deeply
discounted, why take the twin risks of exposing
SEE "STUDENTS" ON P. 6