Mirror - Vol. 35, No. 18 - February 24, 2010

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The Independent Student Newspaper
of Fairfield University
The Reflection of FairHeld
Muniz Wins FUSA Presidency
KIR I HARRISON & MIKAF.IV TIERNEY
NEWS STAFF
The results came in at 10:04 p.m. — Eddie Muniz '11 won
the FUSA election to become the 64th FUSA President, as The
Mirror reported on its Web site.
"Surreal. I am still in shock," said Muniz after he won. "I
didn't think I had it at all."
Muniz beat out fellow candidate Kyle Duggan '11, 586
votes to 289 votes, accord-ing
to the final numbers as
given by the FUSA Election
Commissioner Geoff Orth
'10.
"I congratulate Eddie
on the win and I think
FUSA has a lot of healing
to do after a particularly
negative campaign and I
hope Eddie oversees the healing," said Duggan.
The announcement was broadcast live on the Ham
Channel from the Levee at 10:11 p.m. Tuesday night. Approxi-mately
90 students attended the election party, including the
candidates.
Current FUSA President Jeff Seiser '10 said, "I am happy
for Eddie and it is a great night for the student body. Eddie
Muniz is someone who will build on what I have done."
MUNIZ I PAGE 6
EDITORIAL |
PAGE 7
Read the Editorial Board's
take on the election.
After winning the FUSA presidency, Eddie Muniz' 11 calls his mother to share the good news.
Peter Caty/The Mirror
University Can't Account
For $120,500 in
Perlitz Probe
BY CHRIS SIMMONS
MANAGING EDITOR
After an independent review of
Fairfield's involvement in Project Pierre
Toussaint, no problems were found, except
for a lack of financial oversight that left
$120,500 unaccounted for after being paid
to former Campus Ministry Director Fr.
Paul Carrier.
Day Pitney was retained in Sept. 2009
to determine the nature and extent of the
relationship between Fairfield, the Haiti
Fund, and Project Pierre Toussaint (PPT)
after the founder of PPT, Fairfield alumnus
Doug Perlitz '92, was indicted on charges
of traveling to engage in sexual activities
with children. It also investigated when the
University learned of the allegations.
But while absolving Fairfield of these
charges, it highlighted a new problem: a
lack of financial controls in Campus Min-istry
which allowed for $120,500 to be paid
to Carrier with no documentation for how
the money was spent.
Carrier was also the chairman of the
board of directors of the Haiti Fund, which
provided funding for PPT. Carrier was re-moved
as chairman in 2008 as allegations
of child abuse by Perlitz surfaced.
Perlitz operated PPT in Cap-Haitien,
Haiti. He was charged in Sept. 2009 in what
has grown to become 19 counts related to
sexual abuse of children in Haiti.
According to the report, the inde-pendent
investigation into Fairfield's
involvement in Project Pierre Toussaint
has determined that the University had
no knowledge of the allegations of sexual
abuse by Fairfield alumnus Doug Perlitz
'92 until May 2,2008. At that time, a repre-sentative
of the Haiti Fund called Univer-sity
President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx to inform
him of the allegations. The report also
states that while the University was widely
perceived as being affiliated with Perlitz,
the Haiti Fund and PPT, there was no legal
or fiduciary relationship with them.
But the report also states that ap-proximately
$604,000 in payments for the
benefit of PPT were made through the
University from 1997 to 2008. This money
consisted of primarily donations from
collections held during mass at the Egan
Chapel as well as donations made through
the University's Office of Development.
And during Carrier's time at Fairfield,
payments of $97,500 were made to Carrier
from Campus Ministry restricted accounts.
In addition to this money, an additional
$23,000 was paid to Carrier from the Cam-pus
Ministry operating account, bringing
the total money to $120,500.
A lack of financial records pre-
UNTVERSITY ! PAGE 6
BY LILY NORTON
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
David Keith'13, the
Fairfield student assaulted
at a Westport party attend-ed
by almost 100 Fairfield
students two weeks ago, is
making a speedy recovery
and has returned to classes,
according to his father, also
named David.
After spending four
days in the intensive care
unit at Norwalk hospital,
Keith was taken home.
"He is lucky to be alive,"
said his father David Keith Sr.
Even though au-thorities
have interviewed
Brian Chung, the Univer-sity
freshman who hosted
the party in his parent's
Westport home, and about
40 University students,
police have still not been
able to account for Keith's
whereabouts for about an
hour before he was found
unconscious in a driveway
by a neighbor around 1 a.m
on Feb. 6.
Peter Caty/The Mirror
One "person ofinter-est,"
a Fairfield student, has
left the state and has ob-tained
a lawyer, according to
an interview with Lt. Vincent
Penna in Westport News.
There is also another student
from Manhattanville College
that police are hoping will
turn out leads and help their
investigation.
"I wouldn't call them
suspects at this point,
I would say they have
information that we need,"
Penna said in the article.
"The main thing that
sets them apart is that
they're refusing to speak
to us. Their involvement in
what occurred is a mys-tery,"
he continued.
Keith maintains his
son's innocence and claims
the incident to be a result
of mistaken identity.
"How he ended up
there is crazy," he said. "This
was a full-out beating."
Westport police, who
are heading the investiga-tion,
are narrowing sus-
Freshman
Recovers as
Investigation
Continues
pects through continued
interviews, while David
Keith is recovering and
working to figure out what
happened.
"We're piecing things
together," said Keith Sr. "but
more eyes would help."
The University
continues to help West-port
authorities in their
investigations concerning
involved students. Dean
of Students Tom Pellegri-no
is in correspondence
with both Keith's family
and the Westport Police
Department.
Like Westport authori-ties,
David Keith's father
is calling for anyone with
information to come
forward.
"Anybody who was
witnessed this can help
bring these kids to justice."
Ifyou have any in-formation,
please contact
Det. Harsche of the West-port
Police Department at
203-341-6080.
INDEX
Opinion* Page 7
Features • Page 11
Arts & Entertainment • Page 13
Coffee Break • Page 17
Sports • Page 24
INSIDE THIS WEEK
HEALTH CENTER CHANGES
SEE PAGE 3.
SEAN KINGSTON
BURNS AT ALUMNI
HALL
SEE PAGE 3.
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