Mirror - Vol. 06, No. 17 - February 10, 1983

              Nonprofit Organization
U. S. POSTAGE
PAID
Permit No. 34
Fairfield, Conn.
FAIRFIELD W \\ [MIRROR! "The Image
of
Fairfield"
Volume 6, No. 17, Thursday, February 10,1983 Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 Incorporated 1977
University Considers
Bankey Alternatives
Four inches of snow fell Sunday night causing first and second period
classes to be cancelled. Some professors cancelled later in the day due
to the weather conditions. Snow removal crews plowed the campus so
that students could finally get to their 10:45 classes.
[Photo by Vinny DeAngelis]
by Elizabeth Kline
News Editor
Since September of 1982, the
controversial presence of the
State National Bankey has been
the only means available for
students to conduct financial
transactions on campus.
In the past five months, two
changes have taken place. First,
the transaction fee dropped to the
current rate of twenty cents and
State National Bank has merged
with Connecticut Bank and Trust.
When State National Bank in-stalled
the Bankey before the start
of this academic year, they re-quired
a minimum number of
transactions to take place and a
maintenance fee of twenty five
cents would be charged for each
transaction. According to John
Hickson, Vice President of
Business and Finance, "The activi-ty
was much higher than ex-pected"
and has exceeded State
National's estimate.
With the number of transac-tions
exceeding the minimum re-quirement,
Hickson attributed the
decrease in fee to this. "The twen-ty
five cent fee is now twenty
cents," stated Hickson.
According to James P. Flaherty,
Executive Vice President of State
National Bank (which has merged
with Connecticut Bank and Trust)
the nickel drop in fee resulted
from increased activity in a
number of area Bankeys and not
just from the activity at the univer-sity's
automatic teller. Flaherty
told the Mirror last August that
State National would be willing to
look into changing the
maintenance fee by raising, or
decreasing the quarter charge.
The merger occurring between
State National Bank and Connec-ticut
Bank and Trust has delayed
university action regarding the
automatic teller. Two computer
systems between the recently
merged banks must be integrated
to run efficiently and accom-modate
a larger capacity. Hickson
commented, "This has delayed
changes in the machine we
wanted to make concerning
denominations."
At this time, the uni/ersity is
looking into other area banks pro-viding
their services through an
automatic teller on campus. For
students currently holding ac-counts
with State National, their
checking account balance may
not go below a $300 minimum or a
$600 minimum in the savings ac-count
if they want to avoid a four
dollar monthly service charge on
these accounts. Hickson explain-ed
the university is examining the
minimum balances other local
banks require. As for the twenty
cent transaction fee, "I'm looking
for them to eliminate the fee,"
stated Hickson.
It is possible that another bank
will provide their services to
students on campus for the 1983-
1984 academic year. The universi-ty
hopes to make a decision by
March concerning the future of
the Bankey, but Hickson revealed,
"I don't have all the information
yet."
The university plans to notify
students in April or May if their
decision concerning the Bankey
"necessitates account changing,"
according to Hickson.
If another bank provides cam-pus
service, it is feasible for the
bank to use the machine State Na-tional
installed before the start of
the school year. "The machine
might very well be useable by
other banks," stated Hickson.
Stench Aggravates Quad Students
by Scott Grasso
Features Editor
For those of you who live on the
Quad, have you noticed a
thoroughly revolting smell? We
always thought that if we ignored
it, it would float back to Bridgeport
where it belongs.
There has been no explanation
for this noxious odor. University
official John Dunnegan was
unavailable for comment about
this serious problem. Students;
however, were very verbal in their
objections. "I just hate that smell!
It makes me want to lose lunch,"
commented one sophomore.
"This is really offensive. I mean,
I thought my roommate was
bad..." explained a Campion
Junior.
This smell has led some
students to worry about a possible
sewer leak. "We have a septic
tank, and this seems remarkably
familiar. I am appalled that the
University is ignoring the
problem," complained a North-west
(Joques) Sophomore.
Students believe this problem
deserves attention. Not only is it
distracting, but possibly un-sanitary.
"I can not help but
wonder whether if this smell was
up at Bellarmine, if it would have
lasted this long," stated a junior
Politics major.
The university is currently looking into other banks besides State Na-tional
that provide automatic teller services. Students will be notified in
April or May if a change in campus banking is to take place next
September. [Photo by Christopher Chomyn]
Unforeseen Obstacles
Limit Social Platform
When Connecticut raised its legal drinking age to 19, it hindered the
social aspects of Sean McAuliffe's F.U.S.A. platform. In spite of this,
McAuliffe has been active in advocating an extra reading day and stu-dent
input into the current curriculum review. [Photo by John Pastorelle]
by Marguerite Downing
Public Relations Editor
Despite limiting factors such as time, the new
drinking age, and Bankey, current F.U.S.A. president
Sean McAuliffe feels that he has effectively worked
on implementing goals set at this time last year.
As the new F.U.S.A. president in September,
McAuliffe was faced with one unexpected obstacle:
the raised drinking age in Connecticut. Because
about five items on his platform "blew up" when the
drinking age changed, Sean had to alter some of his
goals toward setting up programs for students who
are under the new legal age. According to McAuliffe,
following his old campus life platform would have
"defeated the purpose of bringing people together."
He added that the demand for an extended keg limit,
extended Stag-her Inn hours, a Friday Happy Hour,
and larger Stag-her Inn facilities diminished when the
new law went into effect. His campus life platform
was almost solely comprised of these items. Now,
McAuliffe's energies are directed toward the develop-ment
of programs for students who can't drink.
Another area which has consumed much of
McAuliffe's energies has been the new Bankey
Automatic Teller Machine on campus. According to
McAuliffe, he has tried to insure that student input
reach the administration. He stated that he has been
working on it since September, when the issue reach-ed
the University Council.
McAuliffe cites time as a major limiting factor. The
thought that all of his plans may not be realized this
year bothers him. According to McAuliffe, the
"ground work, which takes time and is tedious," will
have been done by April. Because he has "put a lot of
work in" he hopes to see some returns on his long
run plans before he leaves office in April.
These returns will be the result of "progressive
work" McAuliffe has done in other areas. Following
his platform, McAuliffe is currently working on a
Commuter Lunch program with Delia Smith. Earlier in
the semester McAuliffe implemented a workshop for
resume writing and mock interviews in conjunction
with the Writing Center. Because students did not
use the workshop, it had to be discontinued. As for
closer student/advisor interaction, McAuliffe, along
with Beth Kramer, is working on a Coffeehouse
meeting between interested faculty members and
students. "Even if five faculty members show up, it
will be worthwhile;" stated McAuliffe. With the help
of Larry Miners, Economics Department, McAuliffe
hopes to inject student input into the current Cur-riculum
Review which is taking place among faculty
members.
As far as an additional Reading Day, McAuliffe is
very hopeful that another one will be added to the
Spring semester exam schedule. According to
McAuliffe, the issue has passed through University
Council. The final decision remains in the hands of
Fr. Mooney and Father Kelley after the additional
cost to Seller's is straightened out.
McAuliffe is also hopeful that a centralized ticket
booth will go into full scale operation in the near
future.
McAuliffe's advice to future F.U.S.A. presidents is
that they should realize the importance of student
contact with the administration and try and continue
a strong liaison.