Mirror - Vol. 34, No. 21 - March 12, 2009

              WEEK OF MARCH 12,2009
Vol. 34, Iss. 21- 16 pages
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CHRIS SIMMONS
NEWS EDITOR
Out in Albany
During the drive back from Albany and
the MAAC basketball tournament, the other
sports writers and I realized a few things.
First, it's going to be interesting how the
womenls team gels next year. Second, the
men's team has a chance to be a contender
in the conference next season. Third, you
should never order catfish from a hotel.
(Your stomach will thank you if you heed
this advice.) And finally, how desperate are
you for food if you order a Bluffin from a
gas station?
The men's basketball team survived to win
17 games, despite losing four of five starters
down the stretch. It's a testament to head coach
Ed Cooley and the way his players responded
to the adversity that the team made it to the
MAAC semifinals with Fairfield's first win the
Tournament since 2003.
Next year, with the return ofjunior An-thony
Johnson and sophomore Warren Edney
along with a completely healthy junior Greg
Nero, the team could be one of the top teams
in the conference. Lyndon Jordon '11 and
Yorel Hawkins ' 11 began to flourish when
they were given more opportunity as the in-juries
mounted. The experience of this young
team, along with the returning players makes
next season outlook much brighter.
The women's basketball team endured
some up-and-down stretches this year, and
next year may be more of the same. When
head coach Joe Frager took over the team two
years ago, he inherited a veteran-laden team.
Now after this season, most of those players
are gone. Seniors Megan Caskin, Baendu Lo-wenthal,
Lauren Groom and Shireyll Moore
have all been vital to the team's success, but
they played their last game on Saturday.
Now, Frager will turn to his own
recruits, including MAAC All-Rookie
Team freshman Desiree Pina and class-mate
Tayrn Johnson, a forward who has
provided a spark off the bench for the Stags
this season. Returning, he will rely on ju-nior
Stephanie "Inspector Gadget" Geehan,
who set the MAAC single-season record
for blocks this year and the only remaining
starter from this year's team.
For those ofyou who don't read women's
baskeball articles, first let me thank you for
actually reading one now. I should put myself
on the front page more often. And second,
Frager. loves the analogy of Geehan being
Inspector Gadget because of her long arms.
Either that, or he's just a huge Don Adams
fan. I think the jury's still out.
The potential for great things is there
and Frager seems to be bringing in some
good players, but it remains to be seen how
he will choose to put it all together.
Students might look at the results from
both teams (losses in the MAAC semifinals)
and still think "Fairfield sucks," but the real-ity
is that hiring both Cooley and Frager a
year apart is beginning to seemingly set the
programs up for a solid future.
The new question becomes: Can the
teams rise above just being "solid" to being
on the same level as Marist for the women or
Siena for the men? Programs of that nature
take years to build along with a few special
players. With Frager and Cooley at the helm,
the potential is there. But for now, like Dodg-ers
fans, we'll wait until next year.
TheRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Twiceas
nice
University announces
2009 commencement
speakers
BY MEGHAN SCHELZI
Alongside the Dalai Lama, Barack
Gbama, Lance Armstrong and Miley
Cyrus, who have earned themselves a spot
on TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential
People of 2008, is this year's Fairfield
University commencement speaker.
Dr. Peter Pronovost '87, is currently
a professor at Johns Hopkins University
School ofMedicine and hasjust been named
this year's commencement speaker.
Pronovost developed a health care
safety "checklist" that is saving countless
lives around the country, which brought
him such attention and honor to be added
to TIME'S Most Influential People of
Contributed Photo
Under the influence: Dr. Peter Pronovost '87 was named to TIME Magazine's 100
Most Influential People of 2008 for his work on health care safety.
2008 list in the Scientists and Thinkers
category. Pronovost was also recently
selected as one of the 25 MacArthur
Fellows, making him the only Fairfield
alumni to ever receive this honor.
In the first 18 months that Michigan
hospitals began to implement Pronovost's
"checklist," the number of hospital-acquired
infections at typical Intensive
Care Units (ICU) in Michigan dropped
from 2.7 percent to zero, saving more than
1,500 lives, according to TIME.
When he was a student at Fairfield, Prono-vost
always knew he wanted to be a doctor.
"I wanted to get into a top medical
program and do something that would
make a difference in the :■•"'" INSIDE-
world," said Pronovost i QVRTOON •
in an exclusive inter- :: . P. 5
view with The Mirror. '■ :
"I wanted to grow intellectually, but also
spiritually, socially and emotionally."
Pronovost is quick to attribute
the impact of his Fairfield education
' SEE "UNIVERSITY" ON P. 2
Remodeling registration
Now completely online, electives and majors/
minors for each class register at the same time
BY KRISTEN MCMANUS
In a move to facilitate the registration
process, the Fairfield Registration Committee
has decided that students will now register for
all courses at the same time online, starting
with the registration period at the end of April
for the fall 2009 semester.
. In a memo to faculty and students from
Mary Frances Malone, associate vice president
of academics and chair of the committee, cites
that the new process will shorten the time it
takes to register, assign privilege to students
based on class rather than major or minor
and will "enhance [the students'] educational
experience."
Before, students had advising for one
■: week, then major and minor
• registration, and then core
• and elective registration.
• Time slots were assigned
by random lottery numbers.
Now, the grouping is done alphabetically within
each class.
"Everything is the same as you did it be-fore,"
said Robert Russo, the University regis-trar.
"We just do away with you coming to our
office for registering for majors and minors."
The advising period still remains the
week before registration. Scholars and var-sity
athletes will still precede the alphabeti-cal
groupings. Now students, though, must
independently register for everything through
INSIDE:
EDITORIAL
P. 5
StagWeb at their assigned time.
Normally, the rising sophomores would
register in the library with help from the Dean
of Freshmen Debnam Chappell. Now they will
join the rest of the student body in the online
process. If they require additional guidance,
however, Chappell and her staff will still be in
the library to assist them.
The committee finalized the change with
student input. Student representatives Elizabeth
Ingham '12 and Kelly Young '10 both serve on
the committee board.
"There were too many dates before; it was
a lot to remember all at once, and it was too
confusing," said Ingham.
She said that this was a concern voiced by
a majority of the FUSA Senate.
Malone stressed in a meeting with The
Mirror's editorial board that students still must
receive their PIN from their advisors. The
committee added a day to the advising period,
giving students an extra 24 hours to retrieve
their PIN.
"That doesn't mean that you can't go see
your advisor before advising period though,
so you don't get caught in the crush," said
Malone.
The class of 2010 will begin registration
this year on April 14. Students can log in at
their assigned time slot and can continue to
do so until 8 a.m. the next day. After 8 a.m.,
SEE "STUDENTS" ON P. 3
TlffMllOKINBIIEF
W"Stag-approved beverages" -
Find out the drink of choice
of Fairfield students.p. 5.
"Giving their time, making a
difference" — Reaction from
students who went on Spring
Break trips. See p. 7.
"After long delay, everybody
is watching" — Reviews of
"Watchmen." See p. 9.
"Bitter sweet ending"
—Coverage of the men's and
women's MAAC basketball
tournament. See p. 16.
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