Mirror - Vol. 39, No. 21 - March 12, 2014

              THE MIRROR Student newspaper Week of March 12,2014 Vol. 39, Iss. 21
www.fairfieldmirror.com ]Vl
@fairfieldmirror
The Fairfield Mirror
Mentor to be shut down despite faculty opposition
Mirror Staff Report
Fairfield professors have become increasingly vocal about
the decision that, they say, would effectively delete 10 years of
data, software development and reporting algorithms.
Mentor, a course management, registration and informa-tion
hosting platform, is set for official shutdown on March 30.
Since last August, faculty have questioned the reason be-hind
Chief Information Officer Paige Francis's decision to shut
down the widely used course management system. Francis
made the decision to shut down Mentor because she said flaws
in the coding posed security risks for Fairfield. Some faculty
have called the emergency shutdown a "manufactured crisis."
At the request of the Academic Council, the Educational
Technology Committee completed a five-month-long investi-gation,
the implications of which 55 faculty members called
"unfavorable" in a letter to the editor featured in the Feb. 19
issue of The Mirror.
The ETC report, which investigated how and why the de-cision
to shut down Mentor was made and the appropriateness
of said decision, culminated in a request from the ETC rather
than a conclusion:
"... We recommend that CIO Francis and ITS: 1.) honor
Fairfield s contract with Axiom Education, work with it to fix
any remaining concerns in Mentor, and restore it to full func-tionality;
or 2.) demonstrate the severity of Mentor's alleged
flaws in a transparent and convincing manner that justifies
turning it off permanently," the ETC report stated.
According to Dr. Michael T. Tucker, professor of finance,
the Mentor system was developed by Dr. Curt Naser, professor
of philosophy, in collaboration with "hundreds of faculty and
administrators at the university" over the course of 10 years.
"[Mentor] does what we need it to do. At any point if we
needed something added, [Naser] modified or added to the
software. There is no such interface with Blackboard," said
Tucker. Although Tucker's statement is accurate, Blackboard's
website does have a section where consumers can suggest new
features. Blackboard did not respond to The Mirror's requests
for comment.
While Mentor started simply as a course management
system, the developers at Axiom Education - a company Nas-er
founded - added other features to meet Fairfield's specific
needs.
I get what they're asking for, but
we're not going to be able to show
them the smoking gun that they're
looking for; this is just based
on about 100 years of expert
experience in this field.
- Paige Francis,
Chief Information Officer
"I was chair of the Dolan School of Business Assessment
Committee that over the course of the 10 years helped Profes-sor
Naser configure Mentor as a premier assessment tool," said
Tucker. "When we started creating our accreditation mandated
assessment of learning we looked for existing software. It did
not exist."
After helping Naser create this pioneer software, Tucker
said the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
cited their "work ... as an example of best practices in the edu-cational
field."
Francis and her staff began work at Fairfield 15 months
ago, meaning that her department has had no prior experience
working with the software.
"I mean we're all new basically, so there is no preconceived
notions coming into this, there is no conspiracy theories in-volved
in this, there's none of that," said Francis.
The ETC investigation determined that claims about
problems with Mentor were invalid.
The inconclusive report was not enough to convince Fair-field
administrators that Mentor was safe.
However, Francis confirms all FERPA violations, a secu-rity
flaw which originally raised questions with the Mentor sys-tem,
have been fixed by Axiom Mentor. The unresolved issue of
problems in the "back-end of the system," remain.
The ETC report was published with no conclusion as
to what "back-end" issues in the software were. Professors
against the shutdown of Mentor say they have never been told
what those "back-end" issues are, specifically.
"From what we can tell, after the shutdown, ITS did not
spell out what Axiom Education would need to fix in Mentor,
nor did it give Axiom Education the opportunity to do so," Fr.
Mark Scalese, S.J., chair of the ETC, told The Mirror.
For Francis, an explanation to these "back-end" issues is
difficult to explain to those who are not experts in the field.
"I get what they're asking for, but we're not going to be
able to show them the smoking gun that they're looking for;
this is just based on about 100 years of expert experience in this
kind of thing," said Francis.
READ SHUTDOWN ON PAGE 4
Juicy J scheduled
for spring ' 14
By Danica Ceballos
Executive Editor
Classes will be over, summer
will be just days away and Juicy J is
scheduled to be in Alumni Hall.
On Wednesday, April 30, the
last day of classes for spring semester,
rapper Juicy J is scheduled to be the
main performer at the FUSA spring
concert. His opening act is expected to
be announced later today.
Most recently known for his part
in Katy Perry's hit "Dark Horse," Juicy
J has been gaining popularity based
on his frequency on top hits charts.
He may also be recognized from the
song "Bounce It" with Trey Songz or
his new single "Talkin Bout" with Wiz
Khalifa and Chris Brown.
Tickets will go on sale Monday,
March 31. They are $25 for students
and $40 for guests. FUSA is also offer-ing
a package for $30, which will in-clude
both a ticket to the concert and
a ticket for the Dogwood dance on
Friday, April 11. FUSA will implement
the 18 and over rule, as they did with
Bingo Players in the fall.
"Last year Kendrick Lamar was
a huge success and he really blew up
from there. We think Juicy J has the
potential to do the same," said FUSA
Vice President Alex Cucchi '15. "He
has been notable in the media lately ...
and he fit right into our budget. ... I
think he is going to be a hit."
The decision to book Juicy J was
made by six FUSA members: Presi-dent
Alex Long '14, Vice President
Alex Cucchi '15, Head of Program-ming
Lindsey Hanley '15, Vice Chair
of Programming Kalee Brunelle '14
and Directors of Concert Dominic
Paolino '14 and Katie Donahue '15.
After beginning their search in
mid-December, they sent their bid in
January. Based on the price and popu-larity
of Juicy J, all six members were
in agreement that he was the best pick
for the concert.
"It wasn't difficult to decide on
our performer," said Hanley. "We
knew it was who we wanted."
Long added, "We're extremely
excited to host Juicy J."
While the FUSA members all as-sumed
that Juicy J would be popular
among students, reactions are mixed.
Some students are excited to
have this top-hits rapper coming to
Fairfield.
"I think it's great. You know, he's
not the most popular, but he's not like
somebody that nobody knows so it
will definitely bring a lot of people,"
Photo taken from Creative Commons
Juicy J will be headlining this year's FUSA Spring Concert.
said Everett Reed '17. "They like his
music so it's going to sell a lot of tick-ets,
bring a lot of money to Fairfield
and maybe use that to help better Fair-field
or even get better people next se-mester
for the fall concert."
Others, however, are not as en-thusiastic.
"I can't say I'm enthused. It's kind
of a swing and a miss if you ask me,"
said Joe Marino '14. "It's been four
years here, eight concerts and there
hasn't been one yet that I've really
been legitimately excited to attend,
and this really isn't an exception."
FUSA has come close to selling
out their last three concerts. Ticket
sales will prove if Juicy J was the right
choice for FUSA's spring 2014 concert.
Senator
hosts talk
on sexual
assault
By Robert Joyce
Staff Writer
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal
hosted a roundtable discussion about
sexual assault Friday in the Dolan
School of Business Dining Room with
students, faculty and administration
from Fairfield, Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac
and other area schools.
Congressman Jim Himes also spoke
on the panel along with Laura Cordes,
executive director of Connecticut Sexual
Assault Crisis Services, Inc.
At the event, Blumenthal asked for
insight on "underreporting [of sexual
assault], what the reasons are, what can
be done, for example through bystander
intervention, to prevent the behaviors
that maylead to sexual assault, whether it
is drinking or other kinds of behaviors."
According to Blumenthal, "the first
thing to understand about sexual assault
is that it's a crime - it's a heinous and
horrific crime.
"Sexual assault is absolutely
unacceptable and intolerable, whether in
the military or in our neighborhoods, in
our homes, and so we have an obligation,
all of us, to do something about it."
READ CHANGING ON PAGE 2
NEWS:
New portal well received by
students
OPINION:
Crisis in Ukraine not to be
ignored
Page 5
THE VINE:
Performing for Change
fosters open dialogue
SPORTS:
Sad end in Springfield for
Stags basketball
Page 16