Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 28 - May 01, 2008

              &
WEEK OF MAY 1,2008
Vol. 40, Iss. 28 - 20 pages
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MThe 1TKDKDUAKD WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
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Stayin' alive... Va-va-Vegas??
Kelly Kenyon/The Mirror
The king has left the building: Hundreds of seniors gathered to celebrate the mock marriage of
seniors Lauren Mazzaferro, right white dress, and Matt Slowey, center blue tux.
BY JESS MITCHELL a reception at Villa Bianca in Seymour, Conn.
Food, alcohol and transportation was included
and seniors danced the night away both under the
tent and on the large patio as a DJ played.
"[The Villa Bianca] was really impressed
with us," said Student Beach Resident Associa-tion
President Erin Hickey '08.
"Everything went really smoothly," she said.
"Our class was really respectful."
Last year's reception was cut short after
the Aqua Turf in Bristol, Conn, discovered the
wedding was fake and students began to get out
of hand. The students were asked to leave the
reception.
Seniors praised the behavior of their peers
and the success of this year's Mock Wedding.
Bride Mazzafero said the ceremony and reception
was the most fun she has had at Fairfield.
"I'm a very lucky girl to be the new Mrs.
Slowey because he's a stud and he's amazing,"
she added.
Studio 54 made a comeback this Saturday in
the form of a bridal party, clad in pink sequins, big
hair, bell-bottoms and big bubble shades, which
strutted onto The Point for Mock Wedding, a
cherished senior tradition.
A '70s-inspired Vegas theme bedazzled the
bride, groom, priest, bride's parents, groom's
parents, flower girl, ring bearer, bridesmaids
and groomsmen in front of about 350 seniors
who gathered on The Point for the semi-formal
ceremony. The senior ritual began at 2:30 p.m.
"My highlight was my first married kiss with
my wife [Lauren Mazzaferro '08] and seeing all
the seniors on the Point for a beautiful sunny
Fairfield day," said groom Matt Slowey '08.
For seniors, Mock Wedding is a realization
that senior year is coming to a close and having
a good time is a priority, Slowey said.
The wedding ceremony was followed by
Wrecked-plex:
Weight room in need of revamp
BY JOE CARRETTA
Unsanitary. Broken. Ineffective.
These are the words the FUSA Sen-ate
used to describe the weight room in
its proposal to Dean of Students Tom
Pellegrino concerning possible renova-tions
for the Recreation Complex.
The Rec Plex, especially the weight
room in the lower level, has been an
area of concern for students who use it
frequently, due to its unkempt state and
run-down equipment.
"[Director of the Rec Plex] Mr.
[Phil] Palumbo does not consider the
weight room and its flaws a top pri-ority
within the Rec Plex," read one
line of Senate Resolution S44-09, an
emergency bill presented to the Sen-ate
that was passed unanimously on
April 6, 2008.
"We first met with Palumbo," said
Sen. Michael Bennett '10, who spon-sored
the resolution along with fellow
sophomore senators Nazar Kamenchen-ko
and Michael Macindoe.
"He has been supportive and admit-ted
that there is only so much he can do
with the money he is allotted from the
rty/The Mirror
Bad bar: The weight room is in nee#of an
overhaul, according to many students.
school," said Bennett.
Palumbo, who was unable to be
reached for this article, had commented
in a Mirror article earlier this year
about his reluctance to push for more
money because of students' lack of
concern for the weights.
"Over $50,000 has gone into that
room since 2003," he said. "The kids
who use it, abuse it on a daily basis
and rarely make the effort to iceep it
in order."
Vice President for Administrative
Services and Director of Student Affairs
Mark Reed was not able to be present
for the meeting with FUSA senators,
but said the University has taken into
account the age of Alumni Hall.
"Any observer will notice the age
and condition ofAlumni Hall," he said.
"It is an issue the University very much
wants to address."
Pellegrino met with Senate Chair
Dan Lamendola '09 as well as the three
senators who proposed the resolution,
and addressed their list of concerns. The
list included the age of the machines,
the lack of hand sanitizer, broken water
fountains and damage to some of the
equipment bars.
"Many of the problems are
not difficult fixes [pins, sanitizers,
stickers, etc] and can be addressed,
as Mr. Palumbo already communi-cated
to the students," Pellegrino
said. "In terms of the weight room
equipment, they gave me a good
sense of What the current needs are
during our discussion."
He added that the University is
in the process of detailing costs for
the items on the list, with the problem
largely a budgetary matter. He also
said Palumbo is a "staunch advocate"
for student recreation and the intra-
SEE "FUSA" ON p. 6
Women as CatalyStS for change: New organization starts micro-lending fund
BY RACHEL BREAN
Imagine being able to donate to female
entrepreneurs on the other side of the world,
to actually track where your donation goes
and choose which projects to support. Then,
after a few months, you will get your full
donation back and be able to choose another
project to fund. j"' 'INSIDE;':' '
Nine students and their professor • EDITORIAL
have made this dream a reality through : _
their women's studies capstone and : :
have created the Sustainable Equity for
Women (SEW) Fund. The SEW Fund lends
money to female entrepreneurs in developing
countries to aid their business ventures.
"SEW is a movement created by a group
of 10 women [nine senior Fairfield students
and Professor Gita Rajan] who utilized the
benefits of available resources to alleviate
those women in need—those women who are
not afforded the same resources," said Kristie
Davida '08, one of the students involved.
The SEW Fund seeks to empower
women though micro-lending, one ofthe new
powerful methods in dealing with issues of
global poverty. Micro-lending offers people
in developing countries with an opportunity
to enterprise independently and attain eco-nomic
stability and growth.
I think it's important because not only
should these women have the chance
to become sustainable, they should
also be able to have a say in the work
they do for a living," said Michelle
Holmberg '08.
However, SEW does not only exist to
benefit women even though that may be its
most immediate concern.
"An obstacle we face as a women's or-ganization
is that people think we exist only
to benefit women, but we exist to benefit all
and use women as our catalyst to do so," said
Lauren Campbell '08.
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Courtesy of Gita Rajan
SEE "GROUP" ON P. 6
Changing the world through women: Seniors Kathryn Barry, Lauren Campbell, Kristie
Davida, Michelle Holmberg, Stephanie Lauto, Farrell Lewis, Brett Maron, Maeghan
McLoughlin and Caitlin Rose founded the Sustainable Equity for Women Fund.
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Inside SPORTS:
Top seven headlines from
this year in Fairfield sports
p. 20