Mirror - Vol. 06, No. 14 - December 9, 1982

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FAIRFIELD W V IMIRROR "The Image
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Volume 6, No. 14, Thursday, December 9, 1982 Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 Incorporated 1977
Kelley Responds To Student Concerns
by Dave Scott
Staff Writer
During a recent Student Legisla-ture
meeting, Fairfield University
President Aloysius Kelley replied
to many questions presented by
Student Legislature members, and
fellow students who were able to
attend the November 17th meet-ing.
One question asked of Fr. Kel-ley
pertained to his on-campus
visibility. He replied: "I think
visibility is a problem for any uni-versity
president. You move
around an awful lot and you have
to represent the institution exter-nally."
Kelley went on to describe
his typical work week: "New York
yesterday, Boston tomorrow,
Washington, D.C. Friday...the prob-lem
is always time." Last year Fr.
Kelley made two appearances
open to all students. He hopes
that in the future, time will enable
him to establish a closer relation-ship
with the student body.
Fr. Kelley also remarked about
the recent grants Fairfield has re-ceived.
The most recent of these
was a $500,000 endowment from
the IRA DeCamp Foundation
which will be taken into effect
through $100,000-per-year install-ments.
Fr. Kelley explained that
the endowment is "invested for-ever;
then the annual income from
that investment is to be used for
scholarships."
Fairfield hopes to build UD its
present endowment of $3.5 million
that is distributed to all levels of
the university's students. Fr. Kel-ley
commented on this sum, say-ing
it is "very small, yet not bad for
a young and growing institution."
Harvard has an endowment pro-gram
that comes close to $2 bil-lion:
the hightest of almost 3,200
American universities.
Fr. Kelley felt that the endow-ment
program is of primary impor-tance
as it insures that Fairfield
will be a university continually
growing and improving itself. He
went on to warn that students can
no longer rely completely on fed-eral
aid, meaning that private gifts
are essential.
When asked about future con-struction
plans, Fr. Kelley stated:
"There are no major construction
plans in the foreseeable future.
What we had been doing for the
last few years, in a sense, with
regard to physical facilities, is to
play catch-up ball."
Fr. Kelley explained that most
of the major construction just
completed was finished so that
those programs already establish-ed
would have the necessary faci-lities.
He felt that Fairfield's latest
construction was not for expan-sion,
but just for completing the
plans designed years ago.
The Bankey card was also
brought up as one student felt that
Fairfield students may have been
taken advantage of regarding the
charging of fees. Fr. Kelley men-tioned
that he has had an account
with State National Bank for many
years. "The Bankey is a much
more expensive operation than
people thought. It is a conve-nience
that the state can no longer
provide free of cost." Fr. Kelley ad-ded
that this policy is statewide
and not an act of exportation of
only Fairfield students.
The Student Legislature meets
every week. Also present at the
meeting were Robert Sullivan,
President of the Student Legisla-ture,
Brad Melius, who gave a
report on government operations,
Jay Powers of the Judicial Com-mittee,
and Appropriations
chairperson Surrah Carlson.
Faculty Rejects
Two Reading Days
by Dave Gay
Staff Writer
A F.U.S.A. proposal to extend
reading day from Tuesday the 14th
to both Monday and Tuesday of
that week was ultimately dropped
due to insufficient time for
legislative procedure.
Initiated by Sean McAuliffe and
Fran Kennally of FUSA, the pro-posal
was not submitted for con-sideration
until Mid-November and
would not have had the time re-quired
to pass through the faculty,
the University Council and Fr. Kel-ly-
According to McAuliffe the
reaction received from members
of the faculty who received the let-ter
was split. Some faculty
members felt they needed the ex-tra
time provided by having
classes on that Monday to cover
material. Others who favored the
change felt that it was a wasted
day and that they accomplished
little with it anyway.
Robert Russo head of the Univ-ersity
Registrar Office and in
charge of setting up the exam
schedule said that, "the reason we
have classes on that Monday was
to make up for the classes we
missed because of Columbus Day.
This way all classes meet the
same number of times." Although
Mr. Russo is in charge of setting
up the exam schedule, he has,
"nothing to do with any changes
in it."
The proposed change, had it
President Aloysius Kelley fielded questions from student Legislature
members at a recent meeting. Topics that concerned students the most
were the Bankey, monetary endowments, and the president's own
visibility to the students. This is the third time Father Kelley has ap-peared
before the group. [Photo by Chris Haggerty]
gone into effect, would have given
Monday and Tuesday of next week
as reading days and thereby free-ing
Saturday, Sunday, Monday and
Tuesday for students. This was
the reason McAuliffe and Kennally
submitted the proposal. McAuliffe
added that, "conceivably a person
could have five exams in two
days," and that he thought there
was something "worthwhile" to
be gained in the extension.
McAuliffe along with Kennally
appeared before the faculty Mon-day
to reprapose their proposal for
the extension of reading day next
semester. McAuliffe said that he
wants to go before them before
the semester break so that, "the
teachers will go home with it On
their minds and be aware of it for
next May."