Mirror - Vol. 34, No. 02 - September 11, 2008

              WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 11,2008
Vol. 34, Iss. 2-24 pages
FREE - Take one MIRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Jon Ollwerther/The Mirroi
Drinking discussion: Fairfield President Fr. Jeffrey von
Arx was one of more than 120 college presidents to sign
the Amethyst Initiative.
Von Arxjoins call to
discuss drinking age
BY Louis BUCCHERI *
Empty jugs of Jack Daniels litter the floor. Vomit
drenches the rug. A fake ID sits on the desk. The aftermath
of a night of binge drinking is visible in dorm rooms na-tionwide.
In an effort to change this, a movement to reopen pub-lic
dialogue over the drinking age is mounting. It's called
the Amethyst Initiative, and more than 120 presidents and
chancellors of colleges across the nation, including Fairfield
President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx, have joined. The movement
calls upon elected officials to support an informed public
debate over the unintended consequences associated with
the 21-year-old drinking age.
The college administrators who have signed on believe
the culture of concealed binge drinking that has materialized
in residence halls is augmented by the fact that drinking is
illegal until age 21.
Since Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking
Age Act in 1984, states that choose to set their
INSIDE: : drinking age lower than 21 lose 10 percent of
CARTOON + : tne'r fe<^eral highway appropriation,
p : Dean of Students Tom Pellegrino, referred
to the high-risk drinking plaguing college
campuses as "a public health issue." He said
he views the Amethyst Initiative as an oppor-tunity
to provoke conversation and weigh the pros and cons
of re-examining the drinking age.
"What we are calling for is to have a discussion on the
impact of the effectiveness of the 21 drinking age," Pel-legrino
said. "If it is going to be a full and fair conversation,
you have to get people in the know. This law does have a
unique influence on college campuses."
The statement each of the college presidents has signed
can be viewed on the Amethyst Initiative's Web site, and calls
for elected representatives to "rethink the drinking age."
The statement also comments on the overwhelming
amount of young people who use fake identification to buy
alcohol.
It cites ineffective alcohol education "that mandates
abstinence as the only legal option" as a contributing factor
SEE "SAFETY" ON P. 6
p. 7
Coming
next week...
Fairfield falls behind Quinnipiac in
Baron's college rankings; drops to
"very selective"
Student hacks into StagWeb as
teacher; falsifies grades before
graduating
Fairfield face-lift
BY JOE CARRETTA
Meghan Schelzi/The Mirror
The Quad: Phase one of the campus development plan called for a redone quad.
Like aging actors trying to
rejuvenate their careers through
cosmetic surgery, the Fairfield cam-pus
has begun its four step face-lift
by giving a whole new look to the
outdoor social Mecca of any college
campus: the Quad.
As part of its "Four Phase
Development Plan," Fairfield has
begun to make significant changes
to the Quad area of campus, which
is the land bordered by Jogues,
Loyola, Gonzaga, Regis and Cam-pion
Halls.
According to the Fairfield Web
site, the aim of the first phase it to re-duce
the amount of grass in the area
and construct a "more pleasant place
to congregate," as well as improve
the flow of pedestrians.
Senior Vice President Billy
Weitzer, who is heading the beauti-fication
process, said in a press re-lease
that despite the campus's aes-thetically
pleasing look, there were
parts that "were not functioning well
and left pedestrian and vehicle traf-fic
in conflict at some
points." I "INSIDE:
Changes to campus:
New dorm to be built between Cam-pion
and Jogues. New apartment to be
built in the Kostka parking lot.
An emphasis on living and learning
and a more integrated living experi-ence.
Dolan converted to apartments.
St. Ignatius Hall converted to dorm
rooms.
Changes to walkways and roads.
More apartment living options.
No triples for freshmen.
Return to 4 and 6-man townhouses.
Parking overhaul.
Consistently have 400 beach resi-dents.
Mark Reed, vice president for administrative services • EDITORIAL
and student affairs, said he was personally pleased to see ; p j
the Quad get some much needed renovation.
"The Quad was done first as it was an area that has not been touched
in quite some time," he said. "It is such an important part of the residential
experience for students residing their and those who go there for other
reasons."
The plan also calls for a new dormitory to be built in between the
INSIDE:
COCK-A-DOO-DLE-
DOO!
p.9
Jogues and Campion dorms next year, as well as new
student apartment building on the land currently filled
by the Kostka Hall parking lot!
This new construction will cause an obvious void
of parking for sophomores on campus, which will be
solved by a University decision to not allow freshmen
or sophomores to have their cars on campus.
The second phase of the plan will involve "beautifying the 'campus
core'", the area at the top of the Loyola Drive loop, and will eventually
include improved parking lots, a nature trail around the perimeter of campus
and improving the Barlow Road campus entrance.
SEE "PLANS" ON P. 6
WVOFloses student voice
BY LILY NORTON
Voices of Fairfield spoke out over
the summer months in response to the
University's decision to allow WNPR,
a radio station in Hartford, Conn., to air
programs on WVOF, turning the station
into a National Public Radio affiliate.
The merger which took effect on
Aug. 1 has caused a frenzy among
student radio enthusiasts and lovers of
WVOF a.k.a. the "Voice of Fairfield"
because the decision has resulted in
the dropping of student and community
programming, which as seen as another
blow to the ever-disappearing presence
of college radio.
The fight only became aggravated
when Mark Gadja, a former student
radio host at WVOF, wrote a scorching
letter of complaint to the Connecticut
Post (June 24, 2008).
"A partnership between the Univer-sity
and Connecticut Public Broadcast-ing
has been forced upon WVOF 88.5
and the students involved with it," said
Gajda.
Gajda continued his list of griev-ances
with Fairfield's decision by saying
that "little care was given to the opin-ions
of those who ran this supposedly
student-run radio station," he said.
Station manager Dan Grazynski
'10 said most members of the WVOF
student staff protested at first hearing
the possibility of the partnership.
"Even though we saw the benefits
of the decision, the most important thing
to us is airtime, which we would be los-ing
a lot of with the decision," Grazyn-ski
said in a July 2008 interview
Other staffers have said the Univer-sity
is giving up a student learning expe-rience
in exchange for greater publicity
with the off-campus community.
The announcement of the merger
was made by Jerry Franklin, president
and CEO of Connecticut Public Broad-casting,
and University President Fr.
Jeffrey von Arx on June 19th. Under
Mirror File Photo
Sound of silence: WNPR will be us-ing
a huge chunk of students' airtime.
the agreement, WVOF will broadcast
the WNPR program schedule every
weekday morning from 5 to 10 a.m.
and every weekday afternoon from 4
to 6 p.m., as well as weekend mornings
from 5 a.m. to noon.
In recent years, WVOF has been
trying to have a more prominent voice
on campus and in the community with
SEE '"VOICE"' ON P. 4