Mirror - Vol. 39, No. 26 - April 23, 2014

              THE MIRROR Student newspaper Week of April 23,2014 Vol. 39, Iss. 26
www.fairfieldmirror.com JVI
@jairfieldmirror \M
The Fairfield Mirror
n O yiO O
By Luigi DiMeglio
Managing Editor Emeritus
By Salvatore Trifilio
News Editor Emeritus
As construction begins for Rafferty Stadium, disagree-lents
have also begun to build around the project, calling
into question the transparency of the administration and
Board of Trustees.
The Board gave approval for the project on Dec. 5 and,
on April 7, Fairfield began construction on the estimated $11
million project. The original projected cost was approximate-ly
$9 million.
THE DISPUTE
Confidential documents - obtained by The Mirror -
from the Board of Trustees' recent March 27 meeting state
the current budget estimate of the stadium to have risen to
$11,050,000.
A major critic of the unanimous Board decision to be-gin
construction, Dr. Richard DeWitt, professor of philoso-phy,
says the use of Fairfield reserve monies to help fund the
stadium is misguided. These reserve monies are commonly
referred to as the school's plant fund, which represents any
money leftover from the previous year's operating budget.
Additionally, in the April 9 issue of The Mirror, Michelle
Russomano '16 authored an opinion piece also criticizing
Fairfield's construction on Rafferty Stadium because it took
precedence over the planned RecPlex renovation.
"I was also under the impression that Fairfield lacrosse
alumni were donating the entire renovation," Russomano
stated. "From my understanding, the alumni donations have
not reached their goal yet, but construction is still proceed-ing."
However, Dr. Mark C. Reed, senior vice president of ad-ministration,
chief of staff and interim vice president of uni-versity
advancement, said there was no goal to receive only
donations to fund the project.
The Board of Trustees' meeting notes from Dec. 5 pro-vided
by DeWitt shows that the administration did anticipate
full funding from donations: "While it had been planned that
100% of the funding for this project would have been raised
through gifts, results to date have fallen short of expecta-tions."
Because the stadium project budget has increased from
$9 million to $11 million, roughly $2 million will have to be
taken from the plant fund under revised donation expecta-tions.
"At this moment, I am confident in saying we have raised
over $7 million for the stadium and we are still actively fun-draising"
said Reed.
Reed told The Mirror that the Board of Trustees ap-proved
the beginning of construction with current funds
raised and approved the use of "about $2 million" from the
IS / Ths Mirrat
university's plant fund. As ofthe March 27 Board of Trustees'
meeting, the plant fund's current balance sits at $8.2 million,
excluding what will be used for Rafferty Stadium - a figure
that has yet to be permanently set - according to documents
obtained by The Mirror.
DeWitt criticized the administration and Board for
withdrawing from the plant fund to help cover the fundrais-ing
shortfall, but not to save faculty jobs during a budget defi-cit
a couple years ago.
However, Reed explained this was not a possibility. Fur-thermore,
research of plant funds show that these funds are
designated specifically for construction purposes, according
to a Rutgers University Accounting web page.
According to Reed, it would be irresponsible for the uni-versity
to use these reserve monies to fund salaries, since it is
impossible to guarantee those same funds would be available
in the next fiscal year.
WHY THE STADIUM WAS APPROVED
Despite controversies surrounding the Rafferty Stadium
construction, Reed, the senior administration and the Board
of Trustees all believe the project to be an essential com-
READ ADMIN, ON PAGEA
Founder of ClamJam hopes to keep tradition alive
By Megan Harney
Contributing Writer
On a warm, spring day a lit-tle
over 27 years ago, a group of
Fairfield students decided to host
a beach party at Lantern Point to
relax before final exams and enjoy
some clams and drinks. An annual
end-of-year celebration known
now as Clam Jam has arguably be-come
one of the most hotly debat-ed
events of the school year.
Timothy Ahern '87 and his
friends planned an end-of-year
beach event in the spring of 1986
where Fairfield students could un-wind
and hang out at the beach.
"It basically started as a way to
relax before hitting the books for
finals," Ahern said. •
There were several local bands
that were willing to play for the
event and one senior decided he
was going to cook three bushels
of clams for his fellow students.
"Of course we needed something
to wash down the clams," joked
Ahern. "Everything just kind of
evolved from there."
Several years after Ahern
graduated, Clam Jam began to
grow in size. By the new millen-nium,
year-round beach residents
were losing their patience with
Fairfield students and their par-tying.
In 2001, a Fairfield County
court judge placed a temporary in-junction
on the Point after a week-end
of heavy student partying and
misconduct.
Nevertheless, it seemed that
nothing could quell Fairfield's stu-dent
spirit when it comes to their
year-end celebration. Kate Hickey
McGee '05 said that when she at-tended
Fairfield, "Clam Jam was
still a big event, but it was scaled
down a bit because of the injunc-tion
on the Point."
Today, Clam Jam incites even
more problems. Ahern said, "As
property values go up, the beach
residents are going to expect fewer
college parties."
McGee said that in 2005,
"The town-gown relationship was
strained, but not horrible. There
were a few year-round residents
who consistently complained and
I know after Clam Jam there were
complaints of beer cans on lawns
and people urinating on private
property."
The drinking age has been
raised since Clam Jam began,
which allows police to interfere
with people who attend Clam Jam.
Twenty-six people were arrested at
Clam Jam in 2010, and 36
were arrested in 2011.
Despite the danger of being
arrested for attending Clam Jam,
students are still more than will-ing
to participate in the year-end
tradition.
"Obviously being in college
we all love a giant day drink, but
the fact that there is tradition be-hind
Clam Jam gives the party a
little bit more meaning," said Kelly
O'Brien'16.
Last May, hundreds of Fair-field
students congregated at the
Point to celebrate the 27th Clam
Jam. "I think Clam Jam is some-thing
everyone looks forward to,
including myself, and I hope it
never ends," Julz Lister '16 said.
Soul and Spirit
Gianpaolo Seguso brings glass
blowing to Bellarmine
Museum ofArt