Mirror - Vol. 35, No. 05 - September 30, 2009

              WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 30,2009
Vol. 35, Iss. 5-20 pages
FREE - Take one MIRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
University responds to Perlitz scandal
BY CHRISTOPHER HALISKOE
The University community has con-tinued
to deal with the repercussions of the
allegations against Doug Perlitz '92, who
was charged with sexually abusing children
attending his Haitian school. The scandal
came to light two weeks ago and since then
the University has been under some scrutiny.
Not only is Perlitz a Fairfield alum and
the 2002 commencement speaker, but the
University has also
INSIDE:
INTERVIEW WITH
HAITIAN REPORTER
SEE STORY ON
p. 3
helped to raise funds
for his organization
in the past years.
In a statement to
the entire University
community last week,
University President Father Jeffrey von Arx
said, "If the allegations against Doug Perlitz
are true ... then it will be a tragic outcome
for the affected group of children in Haiti
and the irreparable harm caused them, as
well as for the members of the University
community who donated their time and sup-port
to this cause."
"As a University, it is important that
we take appropriate steps to respond to
the situation," von Arx continued in the
statement.
One of the steps the University has
taken thus far has been addressing the is-sue
during masses this past Sunday. At the
opening of his most recent homily, during
the 9 p.m. mass geared towards students, Fr.
James Bowler began by saying, "I have two
homilies for you tonight. A longer one which
I will give now, and a shorter one later." The
shorter homily Bowler was referring to was
an expression of his reaction to the issue that
appeared on the front page of The Mirror
last week. Bowler expressed his anger and
sadness over the situation, and alluded to
the hurtful affects the various priest scandals
in Boston has had on the Catholic Church.
Bowler urged students to take the issue seri-ously
and to know that the University most
certainly is as well.
Fr. Gerald Blaszczak, the University
chaplain, invited members of the congre-gation
to gather after the morning mass for
prayer and mutual support. He said about 55
or 60 people attended.
Rama Sudhakar, the vice president of
marketing and communications, said, "In the
near future, a campus forum will be orga-nized
to reflect on the University's mission
and core principles related to helping and
serving the poor."
However, the University that once sup-ported
Perlitz has found itself wondering
about certain issues in the two weeks after
the indictment. Among the many questions
expected to come up in litigation is how
exactly the donated money was used.
The University plans to seek outside
council to conduct an internal review of
campus support and Mass collections.
Sudhakar confirmed that "the University
has retained outside counsel from Day
Pitney LLP."
Von Arx stated that the institution has
no oversight on the two organizations that
directly supported Perlitz: the Haiti Fund
and Project Pierre Toussaint.
Many University and Fairfield commu-nity
members are on the board of the Haiti
Fund. Because the situation is currently
under a grand jury investigation, Sudhakar
could not comment on whether any Univer-sity
members were subpeoned.
PERLITZ
In efforts started
by Rev. Paul Car-rier,
a former director
of campus ministry,
over $2 million was
collected at masses
and sent to a bank
account in Haiti con-trolled
by Perlitz.
Carrier would
continue to visit Perlitz, as he was his main
contact to the University's benefactors. It
remains unclear if Carrier knew at any point
the circumstances to the situation.
Perlitz was able to file his funds under
501c3 tax-exempt status, which usually
avoids audits. This would in fact make it
easier for Perlitz to hide his expenses on
alcohol and drugs.
When asked if the Perlitz scandal would
have an impact on the University's charitable
efforts in the future, Sudhakar responded,
"We would hope not."
"We will continue to dedicate ourselves
to the mission to develop our students' intel-lectual
potential and prepare them to contrib-ute
to the common good, "she continued.
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THE MIRROR IN BRIEF
"Where's our diversity?" —
A response to the Princeton
Review.
See p. 7.
"Rufus Wainwright bring-ing
'popera' to the Klein"
— Exclusive interview with
musician Wainwright.
Seep. 11
TTS«IIIII*II«—I8 Owiuiifa
"A Princeton Review"
See p. 20
Haitian Flag, Photo Illustration by Meghan Schelzi
Princeton Review: Fairfield has least diverse interaction
BY CHRIS SIMMONS
Fairfield has received positive accolades
in the past few years for its academic rigor,
but this year, the University also tops a few
ignominious rankings as well.
The Princeton Review named Fairfield
as the No. 1 school in the category for Little
Race/Class Interaction. It also ranked No. 3 in
Lots of Hard Liquor and No. 19 in Town-Gown
Relations are Strained.
"The 62 ranking lists are based on surveys
of 122,000 students at the 371 schools in the
book during the 2008-09 and/or previous two
school years," according to a press release by
The Princeton Review.
Fairfield did earn the honor of being
named a Best Northeastern College, but the
topping of the other rankings overshadowed
that tribute.
Will Johnson, the assistant dean of students
and the director of student diversity programs,
disputes that interpretation of Fairfield.
"I certainly do not think this is an accurate
reflection of our campus," he said. "To those
who are quite familiar with our school, the tre-mendous
strides that we have taken to diversify
our student body is well known."
In 2005, when only 9.4 percent of the
student enrollment was comprised of blacks,
Native Americans, Asians or Pacific Islanders,
Hispanics, Native Hawaiians or multi-ethnic
people, all of which Fairfield identifies in its
Fact Book as ethnically diverse. In 2008, that
figure has jumped to 15 percent, the majority of
which are Hispanics, comprising 7.6 percent.
"I do realize that these are only statistics
but one would have to think that if you almost
double the number of students of color in any
environment there is naturally the probability
of greater interaction amongst different racial
and ethnic groups," said Johnson.
In 2006, however, the national average of
total minorities at four-year institutions was
28.7 percent according to the 2009 Minorities
in Higher Education report by the American
Council on Education. Fairfield's freshmen
class is comprised of 19.4 percent ofAHANA
students, Fairfield's designation for ethnically
diverse students, standing for African-Ameri-can,
Hispanic, Asian, and Native American.
"The Princeton Review does not publish
the exact methodology they use to come up
with their ratings, so it is difficult to understand
the placements on their lists," said Rama Sud-
SEE "FAIRFIELD" ON P. 3
What's the status
ofthe Amethyst Initiative?
BY MEGHAN SCHELZI
Last summer Fairfield became the first Jesuit University to sign onto the
Amethyst Initiative. In doing so, it made public its motivation to facilitate dis-cussions
on campus about a change in drinking age.
"We are advocating for a discussion, not necessarily a change in the law,"
explained Tom Pellegrino, the University's dean of students.
Since signing on in July 2008, Fairfield has been joined by fellow Jesuit
University Holy Cross, making the total number of signatories 135 at this time.
Despite the University administration's attempt at making moves towards dis-cussion
about a possible change in the drinking age, it is not well known that these
SEE "DRINKING" ON P. 3
Contributed Photo
Although the University signed the Amethyst Initia-tive
in July 2008, many Fairfield students have been
unaware of any of the discussions regarding a
lower drinking age on college campuses. Whether
the University will take into consideration student
standpoint remains to be seen.