Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 08 - October 25, 2007

              WEEK OF OOOBER 25,2007
Vol. 33, Iss. 8-24 pages
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*M am 1 JlC MIRROR WWWFAIRFIELDMIRRORCOM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Student is remembered for her 'courage' and 'energy'
Maureen McAvoy '10, above
and right, passed away on Mon-day,
Oct. 15 after being diag-nosed
with a brain tumor less
than one year prior. Her family
members and friends said she
loved Fairfield and those she
met during her freshman year.
"Maureen was a very special
person to me. She was like part
of my family," said high school
friend Kristen Lambertus.
BY STEPHANIE LAUTO
Jacqueline McAvoy remembers
her sister, Maureen, as a best friend,
someone with whom she'd spend time
sleigh riding during the winter months
and swimming year-round. Despite a
six-year age gap, Jacqueline deems her
an exemplary older sister known for her
courage.
"I remember once when she was
a senior in high school and on varsity
soccer, someone stepped on her hand
— because she was goalie — and broke
her hand," said Jacqueline. "But even
though it was hurting her, she kept play-ing
because she didn't want to leave the
game. She loved sports."
Jacqueline, 13, said it was this
fortitude that kept Maureen McAvoy
' 10 in high spirits after being diagnosed
with a brain tumor in December 2006.
Throughout McAvoy's illness and
recent death, her sister said she never
complained.
"She just dealt with it. She did what-ever
was needed to help her get better,"
Jacqueline said.
Maureen McAvoy's eighteen-year-old
sister, Siobhan McAvoy, agreed that
her energy and modesty were visible.
"When she was first diagnosed, she
didn't really show that she was upset at
all. [Maureen] just said, 'I'll get through
this,'" Siobhan added.
Siobhan said McAvoy had been
receiving treatments at Memorial Sloan-
Kettering Cancer Center, in New York
City, five days a week since January
2007. Although the tumor shrank, it
returned more powerfully in late Au-gust.
She said the treatments weakened
McAvoy before her death on Monday,
Oct. 15.
"The last few days, that's when she
really had it tough," she said.
McAvoy's older sister, Kelly, 22,
said treatments were reduced to only
once a week during the summer. But
when McAvoy began having difficulty
breathing and eating earlier this month,
her family brought her to Sloan-Ketter-ing,
where she later passed away.
Although McAvoy was only able to
complete her first semester as a freshman
on campus, her father, John McAvoy,
said she completed online courses during
the spring to continue her studies.
"She did very well through the sum-mer
and was fully enrolled to come back
fall semester but unfortunately had to
withdraw in late August," he said.
Amathematics major from Brewster,
N.Y., McAvoy left a lasting impression
on many from her hometown as well as
at Fairfield.
Gina Bartolomeo, for example, met
McAvoy at John F. Kennedy Catholic
High School in Somers, N.Y., in 2002.
They became friends after playing
sports, sharing classes and participating
in the National Honor Society, where
McAvoy tutored fellow students in
mathematics.
"We also coached three- and four-year
olds in soccer together, volunteer-ing
every Saturday morning bright and
early. But Maureen didn't mind because
SEE "CHERISHED" ON P. 5
University endowment grows by more than halfin two years
BY ROB FITZGERALD
With tuition and room and board ap-proaching
$45,000 per student, one would think
it was more than enough to support the continu-ing
operations of Fairfield University.
On the contrary, nearly 7 percent of the
current budget for the 2007-2008 academic
year comes from another source: the Univer-sity
endowment.
The endowment, valued at $214.8
million as of Dec. 31, 2006, grew over 50
percent in the previous two-year period. This
nearly $77 million growth was comprised of
$4.3 million in new gifts, with the remaining
growth a product of investment gains and
budget excess reinvestment.
This growth rate, annualized to 24.8
percent per year in the period, outpaces many
schools generally perceived to be in competi-tion
with Fairfield, such as Boston College,
Villanova University, Providence College and
Fordham University.
Fairfield, like many universities, uses en-dowed
funds to supplement tuition and other
fees in funding operations. Endowment dol-lars
are raised initially through gifts, then also
acquired through investments managed by
the Finance Committee
of the Board of Trustees
and, specifically, Vice
President of Finance
Bill Lucas.
Gains on these in-vestments
are partially
used to continue in-creasing
the fund, while
approximately 5 percent
of net assets are used to support the budget, al-lowing
the principal funds to remain intact.
These funds support various University
programs, though according to Lucas, the
LUCAS
"majority is utilized for student financial aid
and academic programs."
In the past four years, endowment funds
have grown from less than 5 percent of the
budget to a projected 6.8 percent, or about
$3,000 per undergrad this year, and should
continue to grow as the University builds the
endowment. Such increases allow diversion
of at least part of the rapidly rising costs of
running the University from being absorbed
by greater tuition increases.
Much of this gain can be attributed to
SEE "THE" ON P. 5
Fuels 01 the future: Fairfield students use alternatives to gasoline
BY DENISE LIGRECI
Fairfield's color may be red, but going
green is becoming a trend on campus.
Flip on the news and you will probably
hear something about soaring gas prices,
environmental disaster and international
conflict with oil-producing countries.
Two Fairfield students, Robert Scribner
'09 and Peter Krueger '08, are helping to
protect the ozone layer and lessen our coun-try's
dependency on oil by using alternative
sources of fuel for their cars.
The United States is the top oil-con-suming
country, using 20,730,000 barrels
a day according to the CIA World Fact
Book. However, a car engine can also run
on grease or various oils by either modify-ing
the fuel or modifying the car.
Krueger, who just bought a 1972 Mer-cedes
Diesel car, chemically combines oil
with other substances to create the biodiesel
fuel for his car. Biodiesel is a reformulation
of vegetable oil that acts like a petroleum-derived
diesel fuel but has 85 percent lower
emissions.
uoninuuiea rnoio
Burn baby burn: A student's 1972 Mercedes
Diesel car now runs on biodiesel fuel.
He said he first got excited by the idea
when he saw his brother-in-law drive a
biodiesel car.
"I'm an environmentalist, but it is more
the idea of no dependency on foreign oil.
The amount of money we give away be-cause
of it is ridiculous," Krueger said.
The process, which he says doesn't
require a scientific background, involves
filtering and warming the oil, and then mix-ing
a sodium or potassium hydroxide with
SEE "DRIVING " ON P. 7
"GREENING UP
THE RED SEA"
EDITORIAL P. 9 mw
"REWRITING
THE RECORD BOOK"
SPORTS P. 24
"AVOID THE COSTUME CLICHE"
HE SAID/SHE SAID
P. 17