Mirror - Vol. 35, No. 15 - January 27, 2010

              FREE I Take one THE D^MIRROR
Week of Jan. 27, 2010 | Vol. 35, iss. 15
Perlitz Defense Files
Motion to Dismiss
BY CHRIS SIMMONS
MANAGING EDITOR
• fairfieldmirror.com ■
The Independent Student Newspaper
of Fairficld University
The Reflection of Fairfleld
The defense for Doug Perlitz '92, the Fairfield alum-nus
who is currendy facing 10 counts of charges relating
to travel to a foreign country and engagement in illicit
sexual conduct, filed a motion to dismiss the charges on
several grounds.
The defense argued four main points to dismiss the
case in a memorandum in support of their motion to
dismiss the charges:
1. The indictment fails to allege the necessary ele-
NEW I PAiGE 4
Power Outage
Hits University
BY ALEXANDRA FOREMAN
STAFF WRITER
The University was impacted Monday after-noon
when the campus temporarily lost power.
The United Illuminating power grid, which
feeds into the North Benson Road area, lost a relay
in the Co-Gen gas compressor control system. This
caused the Co-Gen to shut down, which led to the
power outage on campus. The relay was soon re-placed
from spares, and the Co-gen was restarted.
Student houses on Fairfield Beach Road also
lost power, some for hours throughout the after-noon.
According to Bill Auger, the director of Utilities
Services, there are a number of back-up generators
on campus, as well as battery back-up systems.
There is also a diesel generator at the Central
Utility Facility (CUF), Fairfield's energy producer,
which can "blackstart" the University if needed, he
said.
Even though this has happened before, "it
could happen again under similar conditions," says
Auger, "but overall [the Co-Gen] has done what it
was designed to do."
Warrants Issued for Students in Bravo
Dan Leitao/The Mirror
BY JOHN PADOVANO
STAFF WRITER
On Oct. 20, 2009, 74
people were arrested in the
raid of Bravo Restaurant. Now,
the students who playfully refer
to themselves as "the Bravo
survivors" are being held ac-countable
for getting caught
underage drinking.
According to the Con-necticut
Post, 17 students were
arrested last week and another
34 turned themselves in during
the past week.
On the night of Oct. 20 at
about 10:15 p.m., police closed
off all the doors of Bravo and
separated the people inside
into two groups — those over
21 and those under 21. The un-der-
21 side was an overwhelm-ing
larger group. After the
police confiscated the students'
fake I.D.s and took their infor-mation,
they told the students
they could go home.
"[The police] said that
nothing was really going to
happen because of the number
of underage kids," said a fresh-men
involved who
wished to remain
anonymous. "They
just told us you
would hear from
the school and that
was about it."
Although
the police were
responsible for
detecting these
underage drink-ers,
the University
responded with
disciplinary actions
long before the
law did. Students
received letters in
their mailboxes on
Nov. 20 instructing
them to meet with
Dean Pellegrino.
Students who
were first-time
offenders were
required to do at
least five hours of
community service
and pay a $50 fine.
For second time
offenders, it was a
$75 fine. Students
had the option to
pay these fines
through the University's Toys
for Tots program.
In the Dean's meetings
with students, Pellegrino said
he tried to get to the root of
why so many underclassmen
were at Bravo on the fateful
Tuesday night.
The Dean found it was
more than students just want-ing
to drink.
"Some students I spoke
to were interested in getting
together to dance, others want
to hang out with friends. Some
were bored, and others simply
wanted to get off campus for a
while," said Pellegrino.
"I think we have to try
to understand more than just
the 'legal' part of what hap-pened
here in order to mitigate
against future occurrences," he
continued.
In terms of the legal"
aspect, those caught at Bravo
didn't hear from the Fairfield
police until the week of Dec. 14
when they were sent warrants
for their arrest.
Most of the students have
been given two options once
they report to the station:
1. Take advanced rehab
with six months of proba-tion
and once that six months
is over, all charges will be
dropped off their record, or
2. They are charged with
a criminal infraction, have to
pay a $90 fine and lose their
license for 30 days, after which
the incident will be struck from
the record.
The same anonymous
source was grateful that he was
only charged with underage
drinking and not possession
of a fake I.D., but he still felt he
was misinformed.
"They made it seem as if it
was not a big deal at the time of
the raid and then months later
we get a warrant for our arrest,"
he said.
The Connecticut Post
reported on Tuesday that
Bravo will close on Saturday.
Sources tell the Post that it will
reopen as a restaurant owned
by Leo Redgate, who owns the
nonprofit of the Community
Theater in Fairfield.
The Fairfield Police De-partment
could not be reached
by press time.
Renovations Being Planned for Alumni Hall
BY DAN LEITAO
STAFF WRITER
"I don't want to say I'm embarrassed to bring
people in here ... but it's a bad high school gym."
Athletic Director Gene Doris said this to the Con-necticut
Post when discussing new plans to renovate
Alumni Hall.
The University's plans are part of a much larger
overhaul of the campus, which includes the build-ing
of new residence halls, as well as the mainte-nance
of other buildings on campus.
Vice President for Administrative and Student
Affairs Mark Reed said that the planning of renova-tions
to "Alumni Hall is particularly unique ... as
a multi-purpose facility that serves not only as an
athletic venue for the University and Prep school but
also as the largest indoor event location on campus for
a variety of functions."
Reed had reported to the Connecticut Post that
the expected renovations would run approximately $15
million. He clarified this statement to The Mirror saying,
"The $15 million figure is a best guess and nothing more.
We are still in the planning process ... there becomes
a true cost to complete a total project, and it is not
known at this time what that number will be."
To figure out the logistics and what the num-bers
will look like, Fairfield has hired the Boston
firm Canon Design, which ranked fourth out of
100 in "Construct 300" survey in the category for
University Design in 2008, to help the dream of
an updated Alumni Hall come to fruition.
The University has continually stressed that
this is part of a campus-wide initiative, and it is
not to be looked at as a new basketball facility.
When Reed was asked about Doris' comment
on Alumni Hall being referred to as a bad high
school gym, he said, "I think most people who have
been in Alumni Hall in recent years — whether for
a sporting event or another function of some kind —
would agree that the facility is in need of an upgrade
and falls below the standards for a university of Fair-
ALUMNI I PAG8 6
INDEX
f«atmm*t§§»§
Arts Jfc twtmtiimmt * ?wU
INSIDE THIS WEEK
HELPING
HANDS FOR
HAITI
SEE PAGE 3.
DAY FOUR IN HAITI
SEE
FAIRFIELDMIRROR.
COM
CHECK OUT OUR
WEB SITE!
LOG ONTO FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
TO CHECK OUT MORE!