Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 06 - October 11, 2007

              WEEK OF OCTOBER 11,2007
Vol. 33, Iss. 6-24 pages
FREE - Take one MIRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Fairfield EMS team traces hero's footsteps
Contributed photo
Tunnels to the Tower: From left to right: Tom Zelezny '10, Diana Westcott '10, Rudy Giuliani, Calin Calabrese '10 and Michael Langowski
'10. The Fairfield University EMS team took part in a race to honor those who sacrificed their lives to rescue victims of 9/11. They were
greeted by former mayor of New York City and presidential hopeful Giuliani.
BY DENISE LIGRECI
Emerging from the Brooklyn
Battery Tunnel into the sunlight,
four members of the Fairfield
University EMS Rescue Team
continued their run toward ground
zero. They passed hordes of people
chanting "USA" in the same spot
where smoke and chaos coexisted
six years earlier.
Along with soldiers, firefight-ers
and civilians, the four team
members ultimately made their
way across the finish line, located
beneath a huge American flag held
up by two fire truck ladders.
On Sept. 30, Calin Calabrese
'10, Michael Langowski '10, Diana
Westcott '10, and Tom Zelenzy '10
joined over 22,000 people partici-pating
in the 5k Tunnel to Towers
Run to honor firefighter Stephen
Siller and all those who sacrificed
their lives on 9/11.
"The experience was a little
emotional for me just because it
really hit close to home being part
of a volunteer fire department and
also knowing so many people lost
in 9/11," said Wescott, a rescue
lieutenant. "But I'm really glad I
participated."
"You never know how to give
back to people who have given so
much, so I guess this was a small
way of showing support for the
firefighters who lost so much,"
she said.
The run traced Siller's last
footsteps, which led them from the
tolls, through the tunnel and finally
to ground zero.
Siller had just gone off duty
and was on his way to play golf
with his three brothers when he
SEE "EMS" ON P. 2
Lack ofhousing plans, a cause for concern
BY M.T. CHURCH
Fairfield students said they
are disappointed by the lack of
progress by administrators in
combating one of the biggest
problems on campus: over-crowded
dorms and townhouses.
And they don't see any quick
relief in sight.
"The housing problem still
hasn't been fixed," said FUSA
President Hutch Williams '08.
"But what students are con-cerned
about, and I am also con-cerned
about, is that we have a
problem and where is and when
is the solution coming."
After putting an end to the
garden apartment plans in late
May, a committee was formed
in early July to start coming up
with a new housing plan. Mem-bers
of the committee include
Mark Reed, vice president for
student affairs; Deborah Cady,
associate dean/director of Res-idence
Life; Katie Boutros '08,
resident assistant; Williams; and
other university officials.
"The planning group serves
as a sounding board and a place
to review and consider options,
and gather feedback," said Reed
of the committee.
He also said that the group
does not replace those who are
directly responsible for facilities
planning, such as architects and
contractors.
Williams said the commit-tee
would like to have a plan
for the next Board of Trustees
meeting in December. He also
said that the committee needs to
go in with correct figures and a
complete report in order to move
forward on any project.
However, even if the com-mittee
meets the December goal,
there is still a lot more that needs
to be approved.
According
to Reed, among
finding an archi-tect
and the extra
funding, approv-als
must exter-
SEE "OVERCROWDING " ON P. 5
Scholarships
not in line
with rising
tuition
BY KATIE BARRY
Tuition increases from year to year,
yet one thing stays the same: the amount
of money awarded for academic scholar-ships.
Academic scholarships at Fairfield
have remained monetarily stagnant since
2004, when each of the three awards was
raised by approximately $3,000, with the
premier award capping off at $15,000.
However, tuition - including room and
board - has since increased from $37,200
to $43,770.
With continuous increases in the
amount it costs to attend Fairfield,
scholarships that once appeared com-petitive
may soon be little more than
superficial.
Affording a private college educa-tion
is increasingly problematic for many
families, with the median American
family income a mere $6,000 more than
Fairfield's tuition, according to the 2006
US Census Bureau. Thus, scholarships
- in addition to financial aid loans and
grants - are often essential for many
students, but Fairfield's top award now
composes barely one-third of the total
cost of attendance. The base award of
$10,000 does not even cover a quarter.
INSIDE:
"DROPPING THE BALL ON
STUDENT PRIORITIES"
P. 9
Spirits among US: A ghost hunter's encounter on campus
Jon Ollwerther/The Mirror
Flying rumors: Ghost hunter Lorraine Warren said she
has felt a "strong spirit" in Dolan Hall.
BY KERI HARRISON
When students ar-rive
at Fairfield their
freshman year, it does
not take long for the
stories about haunted
locations on campus to
circulate.
However, the Uni-versity's
administration
is hesitant to draw at-tention
to the "haunted"
buildings on campus.
Every year, ghost
hunters visit Fairfield's
campus and talk to stu-dents
about their ex-periences
with the su-pernatural.
They bring
psychic photographs
and pieces of evidence
and tell stories about
their encounters with
ghosts and spirits.
According to Lor-raine
Warren, a ghost
hunter who has visited
the University for many
years, she is permitted to
speak with the students
about their.experiences
and share her own per-sonal
encounters with
SEE "HAUNTED" ON P. 7
Katie McCarthy/The Mirror
Fairfield University Financial Aid office
located in the Kelley Center.
The office of Financial Aid said
that while there are no plans to increase
merit scholarships, more money is being
directed to the financial
aid fund, which helps all
students, not just those
of recognized academic
caliber.
"We recognize that
the dollar value of merit-only
scholarships has not increased in the
past several years, but our top priority
has been to enhance need-based finan-cial
aid to support students and families
who need assistance," said Judy Dobai,
director of enrollment management. She
also noted that the financial aid budget
has increased by $6 million in the past
two years.
However, the lack of increase in
merit scholarships has placed Fairfield
behind other schools of similar academic
standings.
Providence College in Rhode Is-land,
whose $37,855 tuition is less than
Fairfield's, offers full tuition scholar-
SEE "FAIRFIELD " ON P. 3