Mirror - Vol. 07, No. 11 - November 11, 1983

              "The Image
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Volume 7, No. 11 Thursday, November 3, 1983 Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 Incorporated 1977
Apathy Seen In Election
by Christine Ryan
Roughly twenty-two percent of Falrfield's
undergraduates chose to vote in Tuesday's
legislature elections which resulted in thirty-four
new legislators, one tie, and one controversial
winner.
The tie was between John O'Brien and Rich
Barry of Gonzaga. The Student Election Com-mittee
will discuss the run-off procedure of either
a repeat poll in the Campus Center or a dorm-wide
distribution of ballots next week.
A question arose concerning the write-in win-ner
of one of Campion's positions. Steve
Callahan apparently hung a campaign poster
within twenty-five feet of the polling place, which
is a violation of Section 10 of the university's
Legislative Code. The committee is also in
charge of deciding the effects of this violation.
Present at the vote count was Antone
Siciliano, Election Committee Chairman and
representative of the Student Court, Melissa
Murphy standing for the Cabinet and Ginny Drew
of the Student Legislature. According to
Siciliano, this year's election turnout was
"apathetic." He commented, "There was a lack
of campaigning by the candidates; it was more
like a popularity contest."
This year there were fewer candidates runn-ing
and a much lower turnout than last year,
especially in Gonzaga and Loyola. The off-campus
boarders had a greater turnout than in
the past.
The new legislators will be responsible for
presenting bills to the administration, dealing
with the new grading system and dorm
grievances, and reviewing committee budgets,
among other things.
Elected from Regis were Laurie Brogan, David
Lombardo, Francis Reed, and William Rowan.
Jogues elected James English, Richard
Fahey, John Mancini, and Leigh Ann Wassem.
The two legislators from Kostka are Patricia
Daly and Michael Martino.
Campion's legislators are Eileen Corbliss,
Michelle McCahill, Maureen Sullivan and write-in
candidate Steve Callahan.
The Townhouses selected Brad Melius, Tricia
McGevna, and John Roche.
The off-campus winners are Mary Fleming,
Joe Graziano, Siobhan O'Connell, and Jay
Power.
Claver residents chose Jim Eustace, Lisa Fer-raro,
and Suzanne Machler.
The commuters voted for Allison Baxter, Mary
Ellen DeAngelis, David Robertson, and Delia
Smith.
Julie Hall's representative is Lynn Raccio.
The winners from Gonzaga include Leonard
Decanay and Michael Voytek, with a tie between
write-ins John O'Brien and Rich Barry.
Loyola representatives will be Charlie McCar-thy,
Michael McKeever, and Charles Tetro.
Although there have been some problems with heating and window leaks at the townhouses,
there are fewer problems this year than last. [Photo by Gerry McPartland]
Townhouses Have Fewer Flaws
by Kathryn King
In the townhouses, "there are a lot fewer prob-lems
this year" than last year in maintenance
upkeep, according to Carol Mansfield, head resi-dent.
Last year there were a lot of kinks that had
to be worked out of the system but by the second
semester, most of the problems had been
resolved.
"This year is going extremely smoothly," she
said. Most of the problems are very minor. She
said that there are approximately 20 reported
maintenance problems in a week, which usual-ly
include requests for burned out light bulb
repairs. There shouldn't be any problems with
the heat because the heaters were recently
checked in every house. Once in a while there
are water leaks.
For example, when there are several days in
a row with heavy rain,.basements leak. "When
they built the townhouses, they knew it would be
a problem," Mansfield said.
"We ask students to let us know when things
go wrong," she said. There is no way for
maintenance to know if something has gone
wrong if the problem is not reported. When a
townhouse resident discovers a problem, he
should report it to the head resident to fill out a
work order. Maintenance is then informed and
the problem is often fixed in the same day it is
reported. "Now almost everything is up to com-pletion
date," said Mansfield.
There have been few major problems. Con-struction
has only had to be done once. This
was in the case of one townhouse's shower leak-ing
into another's bathroom. A dry wall was in-stalled.
Three times kitchen tables had to be
repaired after the top part snapped off the legs.
A ceiling beam split from excess weight. All of
these problems were fixed.
Things often get fixed so quickly because one
maintenance man is usually assigned to the
townhouses alone. He is there when there is
enough manpower in maintenance which is
usually the case.
iff
U.S. Congressman Richard A. Gephardt (D-MO) addressed the Committee on the Develop-ment
of American Capitalism luncheon last week and called for a significant tax reform to
increase the tax base. [Photo by Rerny Steiner]
CODAC Examines Economy
At Oak Room Luncheon
by Arnold Natali
Congressmen, financial consultants, and
noted economists all gathered together last
Thursday afternoon in the Oak Room for the
Seventh Annual Symposium on American
Capitalism. This session's main topic of discus-sion
dealt with the federal budget crisis. The four
prominent members who spoke on the issue
were U.S. Congressman Richard Gephardt (D-MO)
and Barber Conable (R-NY), both members
of the House Ways and Means Committee;
former Congressman Albert Ullman of Oregon,
now president of Ullman Consultants; and Alice
Rivlin, former director of the Congressional
Budget Office and now director of economic
studies at the Brookings Institute.
The two main speakers, Rep. Richard A.
Gephardt (D-MO) and Rep. Barber B. Conable
Jr. (R-NY) stated their thoughts pertaining to the
apparent problems and possible solutions con-cerning
our nation's budget. The first speaker,
U.S. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, proposed some
very interesting solutions.
Congressman Gephardt's main topic of
discussion dealt with the major tax simplification
plan known as the Fair Tax which he is co-sponsoring
with New Jersey Senator Bill
Bradley. According to Congressman Gephardt,
a flat tax is a little too drastic when making taxes
less complicated, but a significant tax reform
must be imposed. He proposes to do this by in-creasing
the base of the tax so that it would be
possible to lower the rate.
The next speaker on the political side was
Republican representative from New York,
Barber B. Conable Jr. Although Mr. Conable and
Mr. Gephardt do not share common partisan
views, they do both agree on the evident prob-lem
concerning the federal budget. Rep. Con-able
is serving his tenth term in Congress and
is the Senior Republican member of the Com-mittee
on Ways and Means which considers
legislation on taxation, social security, interna-tional
trade and welfare.
Rep. Conable sees our deficit (currently 200
billion) as a disaster, and unless we find a
remedy it will bring this country to its end. A
change in the economy must occur if we are to
begin to erase the national debt. Mr. Conable
stated, "unless some crisis such as a
resurgence in inflation happens before 1985 we
will continue to have a high deadly deficit." Rep.
Conable believes accordingly with Democrat
Rep. Gephardt on the latter's proposed "fair" tax
as opposed to a flat tax.
The second half of the Symposium heard pro-posals
from the committee itself. This commit-tee
is composed of nonpartisan members from
business, labor, economics, and other profes-sions.
These views allow us to take a fresh look
Continued on page 4
Katz's Pre-Law Program Succeeds
by Christine Ryan
Fairfield University's Pre-Law advisor, Dr. Alan
Katz, associate professor of politics, has a 95%
placement rate of university students who apply
to law school. By meeting with each prospective
law student individually, Katz said that a suc-cessful
course for the future can be arranged.
"With freshmen and sophomores, I discuss their
selection of a major, not so much their selection
of specific courses," Dr. Katz declared. "I try to
dissuade the myth that pre-law students have to
major in politics. I tell them to major in what they
like, what they do well in, and what will increase
their speaking, reading, and writing skills,
especially through classes with essay tests,
which are the only kind that exist in law school."
The only specific course he recommends is
speech.
Dr. Katz works most intensely with juniors and
seniors, preparing them for the LSAT and devis-ing
strategies after their scores return. This is the
most complicated time, when the student must
choose where to apply. "I help to tailor their pro-spective
schools to their specific needs and
academic records, keeping in mind the kind of
practice they eventually want and the
geographical location. Right now, the best
schools to apply to are away from the Northeast,
which is currently glutted. There are six excellent
law schools feeding into the Boston area alone,"
Dr. Katz stated. Of all the law school applications
that were processed last year, fifty percent were
Continued on page 2
Dr. Alan Katz, Fairfield's Pre-Law advisor and associate professor of politics, counsels students
and helps them apply and gain acceptance to law schools. [Photo by Ftemy Steiner]