Mirror - Vol. 05, No. 18 - February 11, 1982

              "The Image
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Volume 5, No. 18, Thursday, February 11, 1982 Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 Incorporated 1977
Committee Turns Down
Credit for Student Leaders
Former Presidential candidate, George McGovern, is scheduled to visit
Fairfield Tuesday, March 2. The Topic of his address will be "Reagan and
the Liberal Alternative."
McGovern to Present
Liberal Alternative
by Tom Callahan
Executive Editor
George McGovern, the former
senator from South Dakota and
1972 Presidential candidate, will
speak at Fairfield University on
Tuesday, March 2.
McGovern will address an Oak-room
audience on the liberal alter-native
to President Reagan's poli-cies.
The 8:00 P.M. lecture is spon-sored
by the Fairfield University
Young Democrats.
Club President Rich Marano
feels that "the McGovern lecture
demonstrates to the University
community just how politically ac-tive
the Young Democrats are."
McGovern is presently chair-man
of Americans for Common
Sense, a public interest group
which was started after he was
defeated in his 1980 re-election
bid. The Washington D.C. based
organization was formed to coun-ter
the numerous right-wing polit-ical
action committees that have
been so successful in recent elec-tions.
Graduation '82
The liberal Democrat was a
member of the House of Repre-sentatives
from 1956 to 1960 when
he was appointed as President
John F. Kennedy's first Director of
the U.S. Food for Peace Program.
In 1962 he was elected for the first
of three terms to the United States
Senate.
McGovern was the Democratic
nominee for President in 1972. His
campaign floundered from the
start and as a result suffered a
devastating loss to President Nix-on
in the largest electoral land-slide
ever.
During that campaign Nixon
portrayed McGovern as hopeless-ly
isolated on the far left. Young
Democrat President Marano
states, "McGovern was unfairly
portrayed as an extremist, a view
that was perpetuated by the
media. He is not as extreme as he
is perceived."
Tickets for the event are $2 for
students and $4 for the general
public. They may be purchased in
advance by contacting Rich Mar-ano
at 255-6229.
by Michael Cummings and Dave Scott
Staff Writers
Last Thursday's proposal allowing students in
leadership positions to gain academic credit, was
voted down by the Undergraduate Curriculum Com-mittee
by a vote of ten to three.
The plan was proposed by Mike Bentivegna FUSA
President, and would have given academic credits to
students in leadership positions. Those who believed
themselves eligible would present their qualifications
to the Dean of the student's school. If the student
was deemed eligible they would have to fulfill three
requirements.
Those chosen would have had to meet on a regular
basis with an advisor, written assignments would ex-plain
the student's allocation of time, and students
would have had to submit a final report on their
accomplishments and failures. Those chosen would
have been graded on a pass/fail basis.
Dr. John Orman, assistant professor of politics,
and chairman of the Council.^fid not support the Ben-tivegna
proposal. Orman, who would have only voted
in the event of a tie, believed that "student leader
positions are not comparable to the academic experi-ence."
Orman went on to say, "These students receive
awards in other areas such as gaining experience,
making contacts, receiving peer respect and pres-tige."
Bentivegna's proposal was based on four items.
First, certain talents, such as "the communicative
and the constant use of delegation" are in consistent
use in the classroom. Also, "the experience and the
leadership skills gained through being actively in-volved
in an organization is comparable to the knowl-edge
that is obtained in the classroom."
Secondly, Bentivegna stated in his proposal that
because the work of the student leader is concerned
with budgets and finances, "many leadership posi-tions
are comparable to management positions in a
small corporation." »
Third, students who assume leadership positions
are doing a great deal to improve University life.
Finally, Bentivegna felt that leaders, "gain as much
valuable experience" as those students who are in-volved
in Independent Study Programs and Intern-ships.
Despite the unanimous approval of the University
Council and what Bentivegna termed in his proposal,
"much support from the University Community," the
measure did not gain the needed support from the
Undergraduate Curriculum Council.
Despite the outcome of the vote, Orman hailed
Bentivegna's presentation as "admirable and
thorough."
Congressman Makes Plea
For Campaign Backing
by Richard Swietek
News Editor
"I'm making a real gamble
here," stated U.S. congressman
Anthony "Toby" Moffett (D) re-garding
his decisions to make a
campaign stop at Fairfield Uni-versity.
In his February 2nd appearance
in the Oakroom, Moffett made a
plea for student support of his
senatorial campaign and touched
on areas he felt were of impor-tance
to voters.
Moffett's staff was hesitant to
Ceremony Plans Upset Seniors
by Kathy O'Connor
Staff Writer
Graduation ceremony.changes
was the topic of discussion last
Thursday night when Dean Weber
and Father Mooney, Academic
Vice President, met with approxi-mately
400 seniors in the Oak
Room.
No final decisions were reached,
but the one hour discussion ses-sion
enabled the University Ad-ministration
to hear which aspects
of the ceremony seniors were or
were not willing to have modified.
The University Administration
felt that there was a need to
modify the graduation ceremony
because the two hour event gets
to be too long to maintain the
audience's attention. They told
the seniors that the dignity of the
ceremony is lost when people
begin to wander from the cere-mony.
Thus, they suggested that
parts of the ceremony should be
shortened.
The Class of '82 felt that the
reading of the graduates' individ-ual
names and walking up to the
podium to receive their diplomas
should remain in the ceremony.
Dean Weber pointed out that this
was a very lengthy process and
often the names do not match
with the person who is receiving
his diploma.
The seniors stated that they
realized the great task in coordi-nating
over 700 graduates, but
they felt it could be done.
If parts of the ceremony have to
be shortened, some seniors sug-gested
that the length of speech-es,
by the valedictorian and honor-ary
guests, should be limited. Still
other students wished that no
parts of the ceremony be changed.
Both Dean Weber and Father
Mooney were willing to listen to
the students' opinions. They stat-ed
many times that the graduation
is the seniors' ceremony and that
nothing would be modified from
the traditional graduation, unless
the seniors wanted the changes.
The meeting ended with the Uni-versity
Administration stating that
they will now consider what the
seniors were willing to have modi-fied
and try to come up with a
ceremony that would please all
parties.
Two additional items were dealt
with at Thursday's meeting. Mike
Bentivegna, FUSA president, in-formed
seniors of the possibility
that the class will be giving a
senior gift to Fairfield University.
Seniors interested in helping with
the organization of the gift selec-tion
and fund raising, should con-tact
FUSA.
Seniors were also informed that
the selection process for the hon-orary
speakers for graduation has
not yet been completed.
make a major effort to capture the
student vote. Moffett stated,
"There are people who tell me in
my own organization, 'You're cra-zy!
They're not going to do any-thing
for you."
Despite this advice Moffett isn't
planning to put campuses on the
periphery of his campaign. He
hopes Fairfield will be, "a place I
can come during the campaign to
get recharged in terms of ideas
and a place where we can have vol-unteers
help us."
Moffett opened his address by
admitting to the crowd that his bid
for a senate seat would not be an
easy one. Both of his opponents,
incumbent Senator Lowell Weick-er
(R) and Republican challenger
Prescott Bush, have already raised
more money than Moffett.
"Here I am, on paper, not even
really belonging in this race in
terms of the financial wherewith-al,"
stated the sixth year con-gressman
from Connecticut.
This money differential has
prompted Moffett to call for a limit
on spendingJor the campaign. He
added that it would be difficult for
a person from an ordinary back-ground
to have access to the.U.S.
Senate.
Moffett also considers effec-tiveness
an important issue in the
race. He feels the Northeast is in
serious economic and political
trouble. There is a gap forming
between our region and that of the
sunbelt which includes Texas,
Oklahoma and Louisiana. Many of
the political leaders, present and
future, are coming from these
states, which also have a stronger
monetary status than states such
as Connecticut.
The congressman remarked
that because of this division,
voters in the northern states, "had
better think long and hard before
we send anyone to Washington.
We had better analyze them to see
how effective they're going to be;
how well they can organize, how
well they can round up votes and
what kind of advocate they can
be." .
Moffett expressed his concern
that Senator Weicker has been un-successful
in capturing a block of
votes to help push motions
through the Senate. He labeled
Weicker's actions as, "ineffectual
bickering."
U.S. Defense was another major
point which congressman Moffett
Continued on page 2
Fairfield Administration has been working to investigate optional ways of providing shuttle service to stu-dents.
Although no plans have been finalized, a decision on this matter will be reached sometime this week.
[Photo by Chuck Hacker]