Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 15 - January 24, 2008

              WEEK OF JANUARY 24,2007
Vol. 33, Iss. 15 - 16 pages
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The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Hateful graffiti in Campion Hall upsets campus community
BY LESLEY ALMEIDA
What is the price of tolerance?
In this case, it'll cost the students of
Campion Hall a fairly hefty chunk of change.
But this single act of hatred scrawled across
the walls of Campion will hit more than just
the pockets of the Fairfield community. For
many, it means a loss of dignity and the feel-ing
of a divided community.
Racist, sexually offensive and anti-Se-mitic
graffiti was tagged on the second floor
walls and the second floor south stairwell in
Campion Hall on Jan 14, according to Elissa
Pelland, Campion's area coordinator.
The graffiti wasn't found until 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday when Pelland was walking down the
stairs. Several students also reported seeing
the graffiti on their way to morning classes.
"It was shocking to see, and a lot of
students who I have talked with said they
were offended by it," said Pelland.
On Wednesday night, Campion RAs
held meetings with their residents to discuss
the issue and the outcome. The entire build-ing
is currently being punished for the acts of
an unknown individual or individuals.
Public Safety officers are now going
to patrol the dorm four nights per week,
at a cost to the residents of about $40/hour
per officer, according to Campion resident
Kristen Prestano '11.
To move forward, the community as a
whole must respond to this incident. According
to Pelland, the students are coming together to
find ways to make the community stronger.
"We can only do that if people are
willing to confront those who are being dis-respectful
and are going against the beliefs,
values and mission of our community," said
Pelland.
"People are making an issue about the
money, but it's really the principle of the in-cident
that is the worst part about all of this,"
said Prestano. "I was appalled."
Residents of Campion Hall have already
had several meetings after graffiti of sexual
nature appeared in the building during the first
semester, said Prestano.
But in this case, the act was more than im-mature
antics; with the racially offensive and
anti-Semitic connotations, the graffiti became
a hate crime and is being treated as such.
"The first meetings were just about
people drawing penises on the walls," said
Campion resident Liz Maccarone '11. "But
this was really rude and offensive."
As an immediate response, Public Safety
officers and Campion RAs were alerted,
and the graffiti was covered, according to
Pelland.
"One of the RAs for the building hung
paper over it and put up inspirational quota-tions
from people like Martin Luther King,
Jr. and Anne Frank to show that we do not
believe or tolerate such ignorance," said
Pelland.
The University responded to the incident
by issuing an official statement written by
Mark Reed, vice president for administra-tive
services and student affairs, and Tom
Pellegrino, associate vice president and dean
of students.
SEE "STUDENTS" ON P. 3
Stag strength overpowers St. Peter's, 70-64 Newyear,
new dean
BY RACHEL BREAN
Fairfield communications profes-sor
Robbin Crabtree said the classroom
has always been her home.
But Crabtree, also director of the
office of service learning, is onto big-ger
and better things.
Crabtree will continue her distin-guished
career r ^
Jon Ollwerther/The Mirror
Making an impact: Anthony Johnson '10 goes in for a layup and knocks down Raul Orta in the process in the Stags' 70-64 victory over St.
Peter's on Monday night at Alumni Hall. Johnson missed the shot, but point guard Jonathan Han '09 raced in for the offensive rebound and
gave the ball back to Johnson, who scored and drew a foul on his second shot of the possession. This put Fairfield up by five and ahead
for good. The Stags improved to 4-4 in the MAAC, moving into a tie for sixth place in the conference. Nearly 2,500 fans were in attendance,
including a packed student section, to see the final Alumni Hall game of the men's season. Johnson scored 13 points off the bench, while
Han dished out a career-high 13 assists. For more coverage of men's basketball see Sports, p. 14-16.
CRABTREE
at Fairfield as
the new dean
of the College
of Arts and Sci-ences
after re-turning
from a
sabbatical. She
will begin her
new position on
Aug. 1,2008.
"There is
no doubt that I will miss being in
the classroom," Crabtree said in a
recent press release. "However, I am
confident that I will find new ways to
interact with our great students; after
all, creating an outstanding learning
experience for and with them is what
it's all about."
Crabtree is currently out of the
country and was unavailable for com-ment.
She replaces Timothy Law Snyder
who left Fairfield on July 1, 2007, to
serve as vice president for academic
affairs at Loyola College in Maryland.
Raymond Poincelot, professor of biol-ogy,
is serving as interim dean for the
2007-2008 academic year.
SEE "CRABTREE" ON P. 3
The globe-trotting, AIDS-fighting, book-writing alumnus
BY JESS MITCHELL
Second semester is a frightening time
for seniors who have jobs lined up and
anticipate the shock of entering the real
world.
However, the final days of college are
all the more terrifying when a student has
no plans for life after graduation, which was
the situation Marco Ambrosio '07 found
himself in last spring.
Ambrosio, a deeply involved member
of Face AIDS and FUSA, was initially in a
panic because he had no job and no plans
after graduation. But after glancing down
at a theology book on the floor of his car,
the idea came to him to travel the world and
write a book about the AIDS struggle.
"When you're a senior there's so much
pressure on you. [You] don't have to have
a concrete plan; you can do so much," said
Ambrosio, who is currently in Bangkok,
Thailand.
In his book, he will include experiences
from San Francisco, Calif; Newark, N.J.;
Mumbai, India; Leon,
Nicaragua; Ukraine;
and South Africa.
Ambrosio said he
hopes the book, which
will "highlight several
key facets about HIV/
AIDS through a lens
that focuses on social
justice," will be pub-
. lished by next year. He AMBROSIO
began traveling in November 2007 and is
collecting material for his currently untitled
book by volunteering for up to three weeks
at all locations and interviewing the heads
of the respective organizations, as well as
three people suffering from AIDS.
However, communication is one ofAm-brosio's
greatest challenges, especially when
comforting patients in the hospice in Thai-land
where, as he wrote in his blog, "I had to
SEE "ALUMNUS" ON P. 3