Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 01 - June 21, 2007

              WEEK OF JUNE 21,2007
Vol. 33, Iss. 1-12 pages
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Goodbye To Garden Apartments
Budget Constraints Thwart Plans For Additional Campus Housing
ile Photo
Locked up: The townhouse basements will remain locked, as plans to convert them into garden-level apartments were recently abandoned.
BY BILL KLUMP
Plans for on-campus garden apart-ments
are no more.
Vice President for Administrative
Services and Student Affairs Mark Reed
confirmed in an e-mail last month that the
plans to convert townhouse basements into
additional housing had fallen through due
to financial complications.
"The bids for the work were exceed-ing
the financial estimates at a ratio that
wasn't desirable to move forward at this
point in time," Reed told the Connecticut
Post.
The original plan, presented to the
University in late January, was to convert
the townhouse basements into either two
or four person garden-level apartments,
depending on the size of the house. These
new apartments would have added approx-imately
90 more beds for upperclassmen
on a campus in need of more housing.
Though the proposed garden apart-ments
would have no immediate effect
on underclassmen, they would offer more
space for juniors and seniors in years to
come.
Nearly 30-40 percent of freshmen cur-rently
live in converted triples, Fairfield's
lawyer John Fallon told the Connecticut
Post, and more students than the Uni-versity
would like are already living
off-campus. Reed echoed this sentiment
early this year.
Additional housing is still coming,
however, as plans to renovate the suite-style
St. Ignatius Hall, a former residence
for Jesuits living on campus, are still in
effect.
Administrators said the new living
space will accommodate 68 juniors and
seniors by September 2008, and the Jesuits
will move to new lodgings, closer to Bel-larmine
Hall.
Reed told The Mirror that today's Je-suit
community has different needs than in
the past, which is why their proposed new
living space will better suit them.
The 34 suites will have a sleeping
area, a private bathroom and a large living
and work space.
Though the suites do not have a
kitchen area, there are kitchens on each
floor in addition to a full dining room.
Earlier this year, Reed mentioned the
possibility of a modified meal plan for
students living here.
Reed stressed in his e-mail that this
new residence is the key to the conversion
of St. Ignatius Hall.
"[The plan] is still in motion, but, of
course, contingent on the construction of a
new Jesuit community center on campus,"
he said.
Plans for the project had yet to be sub-mitted
to the town's Zoning Department as
of May 17, according to the Post.
Little will change for students dur-ing
the upcoming school year, however,
since both plans were set for completion
in 2008.
This includes the status of the base-ments.
Following a fire in one of the base-ments,
the University locked the once
popular party spots to ensure that they
were not being used for anything but
storage.
This stance, according to Reed, will
continue to be enforced.
"The basements of the townhouses are
not permitted for use, and this will remain
the same," he said. "Dr. Thomas Pellegri-no,
dean of students, wrote to students in
the spring and explained the reasons for
this. They are very compelling."
Who's WhoAdministration Guide
BY MEGHAN SCHELZI
With people pointing you in
many directions, your first month
at Fairfield University can be try-ing.
People may tell you to see the
dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences if you want to switch
your major or talk to the director
of Residence Life if your roomate
is intollerable. That may be all
well and good, but who are these
people, you wonder.
Here is a little help.
Name: Fr.
Jeffrey P. von
Arx, S.J.
Title: Uni-versity
Presi-dent
Location:
President's Of-fice:
Bellarmine
Hall 123, ext.
2217
E-mail: president@mail.
fairfield.edu
Bio: Fr. von Arx started his
academic career in 1982 at George-town
University as a faculty mem-ber
in the history department,
VON ARX
where he served as chair from
1991 to 1997. During his time at
Georgetown, he was a founding di-rector
of the Center for Australian
and New Zealand Studies in the
School of Foreign Service.
At Fordham, von Arx had di-rect
responsibility for the operation
of the college at Rose Hill, which is
the original undergraduate division
of Fordham University.
Von Arx has served or is cur-rently
on the board of trustees of
Boston College, Canisius College,
Loyola Marymount University and
Xavier University. In 2002, von
Arx joined Fairfield's board of
trustees. He is also a member of
the boards of Fordham Prep, Re-gis
High School and St. Barnabus
Hospital.
In 1969, von Arx received his
undergraduate degree in history
from Princeton University, which
was the year he entered the Society
of Jesus. He received a master's de-gree
in history and philosophy and
a doctorate in history from Yale
University. As a 1981 graduate of
the Weston School of Theology,
von Arx was ordained in 1981.
In 2004, von Arx succeeded
Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., to
become Fairfield University's
eighth president.
Name: Fr. Charles Allen,
S.J.
Title: Executive Assistant
Location: President's Office:
Bellarmine 123, ext. 2256
E-mail: executive@mail.
fairfield.edu
Name: Michael Doody, S.J.
Title: Director of Campus
Ministry
Location: Egan Chapel 103,
ext. 2547
Bio: Prior to coming to
Fairfield, Fr. Doody was the as-sociate
pastor and business man-ager
for Holy Trinity Parish in
Washington, D.C. from 1978-81.
From 1981-82, he was the associ-ate
director of development at the
Weston Jesuit School of Theology
in Cambridge, Mass. It was at the
Weston Jesuit School of Theol-ogy
that he moved on to become
the director of development from
1982-86.
SEE "PEOPLE" ON P. 4
LETTER FROM FUSA PRESIDENT HUTCH WILLIAMS
Welcome To The 'Family'
Welcome class of 2011!
Hello, my name is Hutch
Williams, and I am the president
of the Fairfield University Stu-dent
Association (FUSA).
I am proud to serve you in
the upcoming year.
I will work hard and so will
all of FUSA to ensure you have
a great year.
You may be a bit worried
about coming to Fairfield, but
don't be; there are so many
people here to meet and to help
you find your place.
The "Fairfield Family," as
many of us here like to call our-selves,
provides the support that
assures you will have a great
time here.
There are so many great
things planned for you during
the fall semester, including, but
not limited to, Broadway shows,
bonfires and Stags Unleashed
Week.
FUSA is a great way to get
involved, and so I invite you
to participate in whatever way
seems to fit you best.
Involved in high school? Not
so much?It
doesn't mat-ter!
Fairfield
is a brand
new experi-ence;
you can
keep doing
what you did
in high school WILLIAMS
or pick up something new.
That goes for student gov-ernment
involvement or any other
area of interest.
I look forward to getting to
know many of you.
Please don't ever hesitate to
come up to me with a question
about something or just to say hi.
I will be around campus through-out
orientation.
Class of 2011, welcome to
the best four years of your life!
There is no place better than
Fairfield, my friends.
Your bright future begins
here.
Go Stags!
Proud to be your president,
Hutch Williams