Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 26 - April 17, 2008

              WEEK OF APRIL 17,2008
Vol. 38, Iss. 26 - 24 pages
FREE - Take one
M~ The IRROR
LOMAURO
Searing the cross with honor: Fairfield students held a mock funeral for a deceased American soldier. See "Cry for Peace" on p. 11.
University releases budget, tuition rises to $35,510
BY CHRISTOPHER HALISKOE
When most students think about how
to budget their funds, their biggest decision
usually comes down to how much to spend
on food or alcohol. However, if that decision
involved $147 million, the process would be
more complicated.
Vice President for Finance and Admin-istration
and University Treasurer William
Lucas completed the last step of that process
when he presented the budget to student
leaders earlier this week, a University tradi-tion
for the past 20 years. The budget for the
fiscal year 2009 was approved by the Board
of Trustees on March 27.
Among the changes, tuition rose from
$33,340 to $35,510, a 6.5 percent increase.
The total budget will gain about $8 million
for next year on the expense side, with a $ 10
million increase in operating revenues.
Lucas, along with University President
Fr. Jeffrey von Arx, presented the budget to
students. He said he views the increase as an
accomplishment, given the current economic
condition and the University's competing
schools. Quinnipiac raised tuition by 7.6
percent and Villanova by 7.7 percent while
tuition for Holy Cross and Loyola Maryland
both increased by 6 percent.
Room and board saw about a four per-cent
increase, from $10,430 to $10,850 for
students living in traditional residence halls.
Those living in apartments will have to pay
$9,100, up from the previous $8,750. The
townhouse fee also increased from $8,480
to $8,820.
The budget is based on an ap-proximation
of student population
and expenses. The University Budget
Committee assembled the budget
before it was presented to the Board
of Trustees for approval.
The committee, which is com-prised
of staff, faculty members and a
student representative, hears presen-tations
from different departments in
the fall on their individual requests.
They then hold an open hearing in
November and receive written re-quest
from individuals.
"Mainly tuition was the key
factor from the student perspective,"
said Kevin Love '09, the student rep-resentative
on the committee. "I just
thought about my parents when they
talk about how much to increase."
Love said he spoke with some of
his close friends to seek the varying perspec-tives
of students on what they want.
According to Lucas, the budget commit-tee
tries to appease as many as possible.
"Probably the hardest part is trying to
SEE "FINANCIAL" ON P. 5
2008-09 University Budget
$1,000,(X
Compensation [j General Operations
Divisional Requests H Contract Setvkes
Interest
Photo Illustration Iby Peter
Rising costs: The above chart indicates the increases
the 2008-2009 budget.
Fairfield goes against student concerns for FYE
BY TOM CLEARY
For many students, the adjust-ment
to the first year of college can
be a challenging one; with the help
of peers and older mentors, it can
be much easier to make the change
from life at home to the freedom of
the college campus.
The First-Year Experience
(FYE) program has served as a
way for older students to help
the freshman make a seamless Dean of Students and Director of
transition. Despite its helpful Residence Life Deborah Cady. "We
points, the FYE program did have did so through a comprehensive
its problems and after process including run-months
of discussion,
Fairfield has adopted the
new First-Year Mentor
(FYM) program.
"Since July of last year, a com-mittee
of faculty, staff and students
met to evaluate and assess our cur-rent
FYE program," said Associate
ning many focus groups
consisting of current first
year students as well as
upper-class students, fac-ulty
who teach first year students,
FYE facilitators current and past,
as well as the faculty and staff
resource people current and past."
Emily Dragone '09 was one of
two students on the final committee
that decided how the new program
would be drawn up.
"Being on a committee that
consisted of all faculty and staff
with the exception of me over the
summer and another student during
the school year, it is not surprising
SEE "FIRST" ON P. 7
WWW.FAIRFIELDM1RR0R.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Woman denied
participation
in Mr. Fairfield
BY JOE CARRETTA
Shawne Lomauro ' 11 thought she
had everything she needed to win the
Mr. Fairfield competition, and decided
she was going to represent Gonzaga Hall
in the event. But
Lomauro did not
realize that a Y
chromosome was
necessary for all
contestants.
Mr. Fairfield
is a competition
in which male
students, one
from each dorm
on campus, com-pete
against one another in several
categories. Competitors are judged on
how they look in swimwear and formal
wear, how well they display a talent and
how they perform in a brief question and
answer period.
No female has ever entered as
a contestant in the history of the Mr.
Fairfield competition, which is held by
IRHA, until Lomauro, the vice president
of the Gonzaga Residential Community
Council (RCC).
"As a group, we never had to deal
with an issue like this before," said IRHA
President Christine Papazicos '09. "There
were a lot of pros and cons we had to
weigh out, but in the
end we decided she
should not be allowed
to compete."
"Mike Stahl
[sophomore IRHA
Vice President] told me that if I were al-lowed
to be in the competition, it would
turn into a beauty pageant," said Lo-mauro.
"At the final meeting they had, the
executive board decided it was a tradition
to have only men in the competition and
disallowed me from participating."
Lomauro said she was very disap-pointed
in the decision and feels it is a
sexist competition because there is no
alternative competition for women.
Stahl defended the decision of the
organization and said it took the board
several meetings and much deliberation
before they reached a decision.
"With the University making a much
needed push towards diversity and gen-der
equality, it became an issue beyond
just IRHA," said Stahl.
"The IRHA Executive Board came
up with the same answer each time they
met. IRHA plans to create an identical
event for females to be held next year,"
he added.
Despite the future plans of IRHA
programs, the Office of Residence Life
disagreed with the decision of IRHA.
The office composed a formal letter
and met with members of the execu-tive
board to make them aware of their
disagreement.
"We advised them to allow Shawne
to compete in the competition because of
the larger gender issue at hand," said Co-
Advisor ofIRHA and Associate Director
of Res Life Karen Donoghue.
SEE "IRFiA" ON P. 7
Caty
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CARTOON
P. 9