Mirror - Vol. 37, No. 12 -December 07, 2011

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Week of December 7,2011 |voi.37,iss4
THEWMIRROR
fairfieidmirror.com
The Independent Student Newspaper
of Fairfield University
The Reflection of Fairfield
Tradition ofPast, Present, but Not Future
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Photo Illustration by Tom McKiver/The Mirror
One of the beach houses currently up for rent to the seniors of Fairfield may not be occupied by Fairfield students next year.
BY CHELSEA WHITTEMORE
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
It was once a bustling student
colony, the ultimate place to reside,
the place where Fairfield students
dreamed of living their senior year.
But this fall, many houses
around the beach still feature "for
rent" signs, even halfway through
the academic year.
Fairfield administrators have
moved swiftly to slash the number of
students allowed to live at the beach
by half over two years so that new
on-campus housing can be full.
The numbers are clear.The
student population at the beach report-edly
peaked at 1,200 students in the
1970s, including some from Sacred
Heart University. It was cut to 400 in
recent years, 300 students in 2011 -2012
and down to a projected 200 students
for the 2012-2013 school year.
"Why take away a tradition that
goes back beyond some parents that
are alumni?"Mckenzie Naylor '12, who
is currently living at the beach in the
house known as the "Last Resorf ; said.
The decision to reduce one of
the attractions to attending Fairfield
comes as the school struggles to
close a $4.3 million budget gap.
Director of Admissions Karen
Pellegrino said she is not concerned
that any change in the number of
students living at the beach will im-pact
enrollment for the Class of 2016.
"Students choose to attend Fair-field
for reasons such as the quality
of their campus visit, the school's
academic reputation and the beauty
of the campus," Pellegrino said.
Fairfield administrators had
promised the construction of new
dorms on campus was not designed
to end one of the school's most cher-ished
student prerogatives.
Fairfield President Jeffrey von
Arx SJ. repeatedly said the purpose
of the construction was to provide
extra space so that dorms rooms and
townhouses could be reduced in size
and brought back to their originally-planned
student capacity.
The Mirror reported in recent
years that Director of Residence Life
Charlie Sousa has said, "The Beach is
here to stay;' Dean of Students Karen
Donoghue had said construction
plans for the new dorms were aimed
at decreasing overcrowding as well
BEACHI PAGE 3
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Curious about the progress
I of the $4.3 million budget deficii
and impact of the recent layoffs?
Fairfield will soon be releasing a
document updating the campus
community on budget progress
I and the University's current
financial situation.
Check out our website at
www.fairfieldmirror.com
for fuir coverage of the budget update!
Jesuit Greek Life Does Exist
16 of 28 Jesuit Colleges have Greek life, why not Fairfield?
BY SALVATORE TRIFIUO
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Beach.Townhouses. Apartments.
These are three things that
come to your head when one thinks
of campus life here at Fairfield
University. But one thing that would
never come to mind is Greek life.
For most Fairfield University
students Greek life is a system they
are neither familiar with nor knowl-edgeable
about.
Many students believe that
Fairfield University doesn't have
fraternities and sororities because of
Jesuit beliefs and ideals.
However 46% of Jesuit universi-ties
have Greek systems. Among
these are universities such as
Georgetown and Marquette.
Others still believe that Fairfield
lacks a Greek system because it is
simply too small.
However Collegeprowler.com,
a college search website "by students,
for students"which receives more than
1 million hits a month by high school
and college students, list 12 oftheirtop
15 Greek system universities as having
an enrollment of 5,000 or fewer.
So what's the deal with Greek
life at Fairfield University?
Greek Lifeat Fairfield University
Fairfield University was founded
in 1942. Since its founding, the Uni-versity
has neither had nor allowed
Greek life.
Traditionally Greek life was not
allowed at Jesuit universities because
it was seen as counter-productive to
Jesuit ideals.
In an interview with the Fairfield
Mirror in 2004 President Jeffrey von
Arx, SJ. stated, "It wasn't just the
Jesuits; it was the Catholic Church
that opposed fraternities at Catholic
universities."
But that's not the reason for the
lack of a Greek system at Fairfield
GREEK IW^ 5
Fairfield Fails Trojan Condom Report Card
BY MEGAN FORBES
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
When it comes to the Trojan
Brand Condoms Sexual Health
Report Card, it doesn't pay to be a
Catholic school.
Seton Hall University, Boston
College, and St. John's University
were all part of the bottom 20
schools out of the 141 schools
surveyed.
Fairfield University was not
even on the annual ranking.
Trojan says that this assess-ment
is about "celebrating positive
sexual health and the campuses
.that empower it."
The universities and colleges
are ranked on categories such as
the student opinion of the health
center, contraception availability-free
or at cost, HIV/STI testing on
or off campus, lecture programs
about sexual health, and student
peer groups.
Fairfield provides a means of
public safety and alcohol aware-ness,
but sex safety is nowhere to
be found at 1073 North Benson Rd.
Although people all over the
world are told to practice safe
sex, Fairfield makes it difficult
to endorse such an activity. It's a
constant controversy on campus
between the students and Univer-sity
policy, paired with Catholic
values.
Why didn't we make the list?
There are zero condoms
available to students on campus.
Fairfield students have to obtain
condoms by hopping on the Stag
bus to go to stores in town.
Ten students, who are to
remain anonymous, say they buy
them in town in pfaces such as
CVS and Stop and Shop.They also
said they ask their friends in their
hall for condoms when necessary.
Fairfield students are aware
that there are no means of con-traception
available on campus.
Fairfield is a Jesuit university, and
due to traditional beliefs it's hard
to break away from practices that
have been held onto for so long.
Harry Cintineo, a sophomore,
said "I think a lot of people would
use them if we had then on cam-pus.
It's unfortunate that we don't
have them available."
Populations across the globe
are going through epidemics of
sexually transmitted diseases, such
as HIV. So why wouldn't Fairfield
help show students how important
it is to have safe sex?
Why doesn't the church believe
in condom use?
The Catholic Church has been
debating means on contracep-tion.
Although Pope Benedict XVI
announced last year that the use
of condoms is appropriate at times
to prevent the spread of AIDS, the
overall view of Catholics still holds
to tradition.
CONDOMS| PA§i 6
Megan Forbes/The Mirror
Trojan condoms, purchased off campus, on top of a Fairfield student's desk.