Mirror - Vol. 05, No. 03 - May 7, 1981

              The Haig Conflict:
Kelley Answers Pressing University Concerns
by Carl Gustafson
and
Lauren Pennisi
In an interview held last Thurs-day
in the President's office,
Aloyisius P. Kelley, S.J., elabor-ated
on last week's University
statement on the Haig issue.
Pressing University concerns
were addressed by comment and a
formal statement on the Universi-ty's
stance on the Haig conflict
was discussed before its issuance
this past Tuesday.
Mirror: "Why hasn't the Univer-sity
responded to the political
and/or moral arguments for
rescinding Haig's appointment as
commencement speaker?"
Kelley: "The basic issue is an in-vitation
of two years' standing.
What has been debated has not
been this issue, but a lot of other
issues."
Mirror: "What are your
responses to the arguments that
have been posted?"
Kelley: "The four original
dissenters and I spent a great deal
of time discussing their opposi-tion.
There were three main argu-ments.
'This is a blanket endorse-ment
of everything Haig has said
and/or done?' This is simply not
true. 'Does Haig or any com-mencement
speaker represent an
ideal to the graduating class?'
Yes. Anything that is worthy of
honor in Alexander Haig's career
is worthy of honor as an ideal to
the graduates. 'Is it appropriate for
a Catholic University to honor
Haig considering the radical con-flict
between his views and the Je-suit/
Church views?' First, it isn't
against the Jesuit position, nor
the Church position, because
there is no one Jesuit position nor
one Church position. If you know
anything about Jesuits it is that if
you have three Jesuits you have
three opinions on the position.
Finally, we had to agree to
disagree."
Mirror: "If you don't feel those
are any reasons for re-evaluating
the invitation, then what do you
feel would be necessary in order
to univite Alexander Haig?"
Kelley: "Speaking conservative-ly,
it would seem to me that for the
University (to revoke the invita-tion)
it would be such a dramatic
step, we would have to feel that it
was not only the right thing to do,
but the only thing to do."
Mirror: "Do you think that the
change of status which occured
during the year (Alexander Haig's
appointment as Secretary of
State) was reason for a re-evaluation
of the invitation?"
Kelley: "The mere fact that he
became Secretary of State did not
require a re-evaluation of the in-vitation
that was given before he
became Secretary of State."
Mirror: (Having been briefed on
the student poll) On the results of
the poll, would you consider
revoking the honorary degree
while allowing Haig to speak at
graduation?"
Kelley: "I think one of the pro-blems
with the poll has been that
there has not been broad discus-sions
of honorary degrees and
their significance. I think this is
borne out by the fact that the ma-jority
favors the speaker but the
majority does not favor the
degree. I think this is the result of
a one-sided presentation of that
aspect for the past two months."
Mirror: "Question #5 on the poll
was answered by 83% in favor of
more student and faculty involve-ment
in the selection process of
the commencement speaker. How
will you respond to such an over-whelming
majority?"
Kelley: "I want and encourage
input. Input has never been a pro-blem.
Getting nominations for the
future are what has been lacking."
Based on The Mirror's emphasis
of how important it was that Presi-dent
Kelley respond to the stu-dents'
questions, he has agreed to
re-release his statement originally
addressed to the Academic Coun-cil,
as the University statement on
the Haig issue.
Nonprofit Organization
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Permit No. 34
Fairfield, Conn.
■ HE M^ Volume 5, No. 3, May 7, 1981 ' ^^
FAIRFIELD ^^ FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY, FAIRFIELD, CONN. Q6430 [MIRROR \^^^^ Incorporated 1977
The Mirror Poll
'81 '82 '83 '84 Total
1. Do you feel Secretary of State Alexander Haig should or
should not speak at graduation?
a. Should 83% 76.5% 81.5% 76% 79.5%
b. Should not 15 19.5 14.5 21 17.5
c. Don't know 2 4 4 3 3
2. Do you think Alexander Haig should or should not receive an
honorary degree at graduation?
a. Should 50% 37% 30% 31% 38.5%
b. Should not 42 52 60 59 51.5
c. Don't know 8 11 10 10 10
3. If "should not" on question 1 or 2, for what reason(s)?
a. Moral issues 41% 47% 47% 45% 45%
b. Political views 24 19 16 19 19.5
c. Against Haig's politics 23 27 26 28 26
d. Don't know 0 3 1 2 1.5
e. Other 12 4 10 6 8
4. If "Should" on question 1 or 2, for what reason(s)?
a. Status of the speaker 53.5% 55% 60% 57% 55.5%
b. Support Haig's policies 8 9 7 12 9
c. Agree with University 26 23 18 19 22.5
d. Don't know .5 .5 1 0 .5
e. Other 12 12.5 14 12 12.5
5. Do you feel the students and/or the faculty should be involved
in the selection of the commencement speaker?
a. Students only 16% 11% 5.5% 6% 10.5%
b. Faculty only 1.5 1 2.5 1 1.5
c. Both students and faculty 76.5 84.5 87 90 83.5
d. Neither students/faculty 3 2.5 1 1 2
e. Don't know 2 .5 1 2 1
f. Other 1 .5 3 0 1
6. What do you feel about the possibility of protestors at gradua-tion?
a. Against any protest 64% 57.5% 48% 46% 55%
b. Peaceful protest allowable 32 38.5 48 46 39.5
c. Don't know 4 3 2 7.5 4.5
d. Other 0 1.5 2 .5 1
7. What college are you in?
a. Arts and Sciences 64% 58% 69% 69% 64%
b. School of Business 33.5 35 26 26 31
c. School of Nursing 2.5 7 5 5 5
8. If you are a registered voter, of what political party?
a. Republican 35% 36% 24.5% 47% 33%
b. Democrat 33 30.5 32 46 32
c. Independent 30 30.5 39 36 31
d. Other 2 3 4.5 8 2
State Legislature Passes Bill
Permitting Sale of Wine On Campus
by Mary Kay Wysocki
Bill 1226, which "allows for the
sale of wine under a university per-mit,"
was passed in the Connec-ticut
State Legislature by a vote of
126-17, on April 30. "I didn't want
to watch the machine as the role
call vote came in," said senior An-drea
Petitte, whose politics intern-ship
in Representative Christine
Neidermeirer's office centered on
the wine permit bill.
The bill is effective July 1,1981,
giving the Stag-Her Inn the oppor-tunity
to add wine for next semes-ter.
"I was very pleased with the
passage of the Wine Permit Bill,"
said FUSA president Mike Ben-tivegna.
"It represents a lot of
hard work by those involved."
The plans began last summer
when former FUSA president An-drew
McGowan contacted Rep.
Neidermeier. "Administrations
before me always brought up the
question of wine In the Stag-Her,
but no one ever had the initiative
to get the bill to the State
Legislature," said McGowan.
Rep. Neidermeier needed ap-proval
by the administration
before she could begin writing the
bill. McGowan and Brian Bellows,
former Attorney General, pre-sented
the idea to the Board of
Trustees and to the administra-tion,
receiving their full approval.
Andrea Petitte took over FUSA's
legwork once the bill was in Rep.
Neidermeier's office. When the
bill was introduced to the General
Law Committee, it merged with a
similar bill submitted by Rep. Ro-bert
Sorenson, who was working
with Central Connecticut State.
At the Public Hearing on March
3,1981, the bill received much op-position
from the Cafe Associa-tion
and the Connecticut Hotel-
Motel Association. Their main fear
was reduced revenues by busi-nesses
in vicinities surrounding
universities.
"On April 28, the bill was to be
sent back to the Senate Finance
Committee. It would have died in
committee due to a lack of time re-maining
in this Congressional ses-sion,"
said Ms. Petitte.
Thursday was a session day,
continued Ms. Petitte, "We were
very surprised to see Bill 1226 on
the day's agenda."
The bill was opened to debate
on the floor. Republican Rep.
Sweeney stated that children are
not sent to school to learn to
drink. The Republicans tended to
back up Sweeney's arguments
saying that universities are estab-lished
for education. Serving li-quor
is not a university's respon-sibility.
The Democrats tended to argue
for the permit, saying that aca-demics
is not the whole of educa-tion.
They backed this with a more
practical argument that allowing a
campus to serve wine will keep the
students on campus more.
Stan Kapinos, manager of the
Stag-Her Inn, feels that diversity is
the key advantage of the wine per-mit.
"Our ability to serve wine will
bring in a new type of clientele. It
also opens up a new area of ideas
for special nights." Mike Kane, a
Stag-Her bartender, added, "Wine
will bring in more people. There
are a lot of students, particularly
girls, who prefer wine." "It is feasi-ble,"
added Kapinos, "that we may
have a full liquor bar on Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday nights in five
or six years."
Vigil Begins Faculty Protest
Poll Reveals
Student Attitudes
The Mirror conducted a poll last
week in order to determine the stu-dent
attitude on the Haig issue.
Eight hundred and eighty-two stu-dents
filled out a questionnaire
concerning various aspects of the
conflict which affects each
member of the student body.
Questions were organized
through events and articles which
The Mirror has reported on in the
past 2 weeks. Over 31 % of the full-time
students took the poll and
the polsters had their names
checked off against the student
directory to ensure its validity.
The poll was compiled by Carl S.
Gustafson, Mary kay Wysocki,
Lauren Pennisi, and Kathleen
O'Gorman.
by Bryan LeClerc
Faculty members angered by
Alexander Haig's planned trip to
the university and receiving an
honorary degree have begun their
planned protesting. Last Thursday
the Humanitarians Against In-justice
in Government (H.A.I.G.)
held a half-hour vigil outside the
Campus Center.
The vigil started with only a
handful of people present, but its
numbers steadily grew once the
speakers began. Ending the event
was a minute of silence and the
distributing of blue and white rib-bons
to be worn by those concern-ed.
These colors represent El
Salvador, a country where a
reported 13,000 people have died
in the past eighteen months.
This vigil is the direct result of
the actions of a steering commit-tee
composed of faculty members
who signed the dissenting peti-tion
that appeared in the Mirror on
April 24. Members of the commit-tee,
which represents all learning
centers of the university, are: Dr.
Caffrey from Religious Studies,
Dr. Dew and Dr. Cassldy from
Politics, Dr. Petry from History,
and Dr. Bongiorno from Biology.
According to Professor Dew,
"We have deliberately not deter-mined
what we will do at gradua-tion.
A lot of things are still up in
BEIuwton
K» <Cm &lh\
IN
at-—1 \
*
The April 30th vigil organized by
H.A.I.G. drew a small group of
students and faculty to the Campus
Center to hear several speeches
such as the one given here by Diana
Filiano. [Photo by Bryan LeClerc]
the air." The vigil is a way of
demonstrating concern toward
current U.S. foreign policy. Future
protests are planned to show the
faculty's concern in a continuing
way.
Some of the faculty attending
plan to wear street clothes, while
others will don arm bands over
their gowns. Any demonstrations
will be reserved and courteous on
the part of the faculty. Dr. Dew
commented, "We hope there will
be no demonstrations by anyone
to disrupt the ceremony. It is not
right for outsiders to take advan-tage
of our in-house ceremony."
He said the steering committee
hoped that security will turn away
all potential gate crashers. Never-theless,
if one was determined
enough he could get in, Dew
stated.
The concerned faculty feel that
they are not setting a bad exam-ple.
They believe that they are ex-ercising
their rights as members
of the Fairfield University com-munity
towards the commence-ment
speaker. . --«*fl