Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 11 - November 15, 2007

              WEEK OF NOVEMBER 15,2007
Vol. 33, Iss. 11-20 pages
FREE - Take one MIRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
RA fired, residents rally for reinstatement
BY RACHEL BREAN
Jon Ollwerther/The Mirror
Strong and steady support: Gonzaga second floor residents rally behind their RA, Laura DeFrancesco '08, who was fired on Monday
after reportedly violating the RA contract. DeFrancesco, 21, went to the Health Center after imbibing too much alcohol in late October
and was recently notified of her termination as a Gonzaga Hall RA. Her residents protested to have her reinstated.
A 21-year-old Gonzaga Hall RA has
been fired by Residence Life after admit-ting
herself to the Health Center following a
Friday night of drinking in New Haven.
Laura DeFran-cesco
'08, spent Oct.
26, in the Health Cen-ter
when she felt sick
after drinking. De-
Francesco was told on
Monday by Residence
Life that she had vio-lated
the terms of the
Resident Staff Mem-ber
Agreement and
was thus terminated
from her position as
the Gonzaga second
floor RA.
Jenny Mingus '08,
who drove DeFran-cesco
to the Health
Center, said she thinks
DeFrancesco set an
excellent example for students.
"[For freshmen] they drill x2241, and
for an RA to volunteer to go is really brave
knowing that there could be consequences.
I think it's absolutely unfair she got fired.
She's a great RA," said Mingus.
DeFrancesco went to the Residence
Life office on Monday morning because she
wanted to be honest with her supervisor.
SEE "RA" ON p. 6
DEFRANCESCO
iNSIDE:
WRONG PUNISH-MENT
FOR THE
RIGHT CHOICE
SEE P. 8
Cheers and boOS: Students weigh in on Ludacris as FUSA concert performer
BY JOE CARRETTA
Ridiculous. Nuts. Crazy. Awesome.
These are some of the words students
voiced after hearing that Ludacris will
perform for FUSA's annual spring concert,
which was announced at a press conference
Monday night.
According to Cristina Pires '08, FUSA
executive of programming, the successful
bid to have Ludacris come to Fairfield was
$85,000.
The concert, which will be the only
major one of the year, will be held in Alumni
Hall on Friday, Feb. 15.
Vanessa Jackson '08 and Katelyn
Waters '08, FUSA directors of concerts,
were the main organizers of the event and
expressed their excitement over getting Lu-dacris
to appear on campus in concert.
"The decision of the performer is
based on online surveys and FUSA per-sonal
initiative," said Jackson. "It worked
nicely because our goal was to do some-thing
different than what has been done in
the past years."
"We are hoping for a positive student
reaction," said Waters. "He [Ludacris] is a very
popular name, so I think most of the student
body is familiar with him and will come out
to see him perform here."
Ticket sale dates have
yet to be announced but will
be set before students leave
campus for Thanksgiving
break.
Fairfield students will
be able to buy one ticket
per StagCard for $30, and
an unlimited number of
general admission tickets
for $40 each.
FUSA President Hutch Williams '08 ex-pressed
his approval of the hard work of his
FUSA counterparts and is excited about the
way students will react to having Ludacris
visit Fairfield.
Williams was very optimistic about
bringing something different to this year's
spring concert.
"A change was needed. In the past we
have had the same general type of bands
INSIDE:
EDITORIAL
SEE P. 7
DASHBOARD FOLLIES,
LUDAJOLLIES (MAYBE)
SEE P. 7
here, but there really are so many different
genres of music out there," he said.
Williams also said, "I am very proud of
Vanessa, Cristina and Katelyn for securing
the date. I think the overall student
reaction is tremendous, and I'm very
excited about bringing Ludacris to
Fairfield."
Many students were taken
back by the surprising choice for
the spring concert but thought that
bringing Ludacris to Fairfield will
make for a fun, exciting concert.
"It's a nice change. I think
it's such a good idea, and that, even
though it's not typical Fairfield music, I think
kids will definitely go to the concert," said
Jackie Hirschbeck '11.
Colleen Kennedy '09 said she is also ex-cited
about Ludacris coming to campus.She
extended her praise to those who planned
the event.
"It's fantastic that they got someone so
big and popular. Hats offto the committee who
managed to book him," she said.
While the overall opinion of Ludacris
was positive, some students were some-what
dismayed that he would be this year's
sole performer.
"I don't think Ludacris is a real good 'col-lege'
performer," said Gary Pelletier '09. "He is
a very specific artist who appeals to one specific
group of fans for one genre of music."
AJ Piper '08 agreed with Pelletier and
was unsure if the Fairfield student body will be
able to relate to Ludacris's style of music.
"I feel like a lot of people won't be
familiar with rap music and the genre Lu-dacris
is part of," he said. "I also feel like
his music includes some harsh lyrics that
may not appeal to all students."
Despite some
misgivings, many
students said they
are already count-ing
the days until
Ludacris lands at
Fairfield.
. "Its going to be
awesome," said Ben
Andrews '11. "Just
plain ridiculous."
Senior class size grows, students denied off-campus option
BY JESS MITCHELL
Back in 1999, when the senior class
consisted of 604 students, 600 students were
allowed to live off campus.
Since then, the apartment complex has
been constructed, thereby providing more
housing options. And now, with a rising senior
class originally comprised of 948 students,
only 400 students were recently released off-campus.
This number was established in an
agreement between the town of Fairfield and
the University administration through letters
and correspondence, according to Duane
Melzer, off-campus coordinator.
He said that if any changes were made
to the number of students released, it would
decrease "as soon as admissions starts to hit
more on target."
Melzer, whose first year in this position
was 1999, said that the 400 limit agreed upon
was negotiated in 2000 because the apartment
complex built that year accomodated 200
more on-campus residents.
"Personally, I would like to see [the
number] lowered," he added.
With regard to complaints, 400 is a good
number; the senior-year experience should be
more connected to campus so upperclassmen
can serve as mentors, Melzer said.
"Half the senior class is disconnected
with the University; they come to campus just
for class, and that's it," he said.
However, Melzer said that students
wanting to live at the beach senior year will
never change.
"As long as Lantern Point exists, I think
there will always be students living there,"
he said.
This year, not all rising seniors who want
to live off-campus were released. In the class
of 2009 there were 570 students who applied,
SEE "LIVING" ON P. 6