Mirror - Vol. 07, No. 18 - February 16, 1984

              'The Image
of
Fairfield"
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Volume 7, No. 18 Thursday, February 16, 1984 Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 Incorporated 1977
Townhouse Construction
Continues On Schedule
by Chris Tyler
There is no basis for the rumors that the con-struction
of the Townhouses is behind schedule,
according to Provost Dr. John Barrone. Recent-ly
there has been a fear that the Townhouses
would not be ready for occupancy in September
of next year. The Townhouses received approval
in late December and excavation began the first
week of January.
The Townhouses received their approval so
late in December because of a heavy agenda
schedule of the Fairfield Town Zoning Commit-tee
before the Townhouse issue could be raised.
According to Dr. Barrone this has led to a two
week delay in the start of construction. Dr. Bar-rone
wished to have a ceremonial ground break-ing
event before the end of first semester. It was
the two week delay that slated excavation to com-mence
January 5.
Mr. Chudy who is in charge of operations at the
site of construction said that the recent weather
has done nothing to impair the construction in
any way. Presently the foundation for one Town-house
has been poured and preparations for the
second are now beginning. The site of the third
Townhouse is being dug out. Eastern Builders
Inc. is the prime contractor for the work and is
sub-contracting Fairfield Homes, a division of
Fairfield Lumber Co., to build the frames and
walls of the Townhouses. Brennan Construction
is another company that is being sub-contracted
to do work. Dr. Barrone said they chose this com-pany
because they were pleased with the work
they did before. Brennan Construction worked on
the building of F.O.B. keeping it both on time and
on budget. Dr. Barrone concluded, "There is
plenty of time for the work that has to be done."
Soon the new Townhouse project will reach this stage. Pictured above is a scene from the
construction of the original Townhouse units. [Photo by Rose Anne LaBarre]
Grade Dispute May Bring New Policy
by Kathryn King
Professors may be required to keep students'
exams and other work for a certain length of time
after the end of the semester if the Academic
Coalition Pushes Theme
by Dana Agnello
Nearly three years ago a few teachers at Fairfield started a committee advocating Peace and
Justice as a part of the schools' curriculum. Dr. Kevin Cassidy, a professor of politics, is the
head of the committee and Dr. Martin Lang, professor of philosophy, heads the sub-committee.
Peace and Justice raises questions concerning inequality, peace and human injustice, and
attempts to find solutions. The ethics of Peace and Justice can be applied to economics, math,
philosophy and many other courses, stated Delia Smith, a member of the sub-committee. It deals
with topics such as computer theft, drug sales and injustice in business transactions as well.
A poll was conducted last week to see if students feel Peace and Justice is sufficiently em-phasized
in their courses. The six person sub-committee ran the poll. The sub-committee
members felt that more students would have replied had there not been such confusion in the
Campus Center because of Valentine's. The poll was held again at the beginning of this week.
The results have not yet been tallied.
The idea for this committee came primarily from Manhattan College where they have a Peace;
Studies Program which has about 10 majors and involves nearly 1000 students. Dr. Lang con-tacted
Professor Joseph Fahey, the director of the program, for information.
"The course is spread into various departments (at Manhattan)," said Dr. Lang. The sub-committee
here would also like to have Peace and Justice incorporated into most of the courses
at Fairfield, rather than offer it separately. "We were looking at what departments here would
be offering courses in Peace and Justice Studies," stated Dr. Lang.
Last April the sub-committee wrote to the chairperson of each department in order to test their
interest in such a program. Delia Smith said on the average "most departments evaded the
issue," although a few did reply. Miss Smith, and the sub-committee, commented, "Just because
teachers feel they're already dealing with Peace and Justice doesn't mean students feel the
same way." The sub-committee is going to "try to identify for students courses offered in Peace
and Justice," stated Dr. Lang, if there is enough student interest.
Peace and Justice will be introduced more and more into the curriculum until, if possible, it
Continued on page 2
Council makes such a policy according to Father
Christopher J. Mooney, S.J., Academic Vice
President, who asked the Academic Council to
formulate such a policy. He said, "I suggested
a semester."
A policy such as this one did not seem to be
needed until a student, Frank Chechile, a junior
math major, had a complaint about a grade. For
the 1983 Spring semester Chechile said he
received a C + in a course in which he believed
he had been doing well.
According to Chechile, the teacher had not
handed back assignments to the students so the
only indication he had of how he was doing was
his own assessment of his work. He called the
professor over the summer to ask what his
grades had been on his exams. The professor
told him that he had thrown out all the student's
work so he couldn't tell him his grades. The pro-fessor
declined comment about the situation
when asked and Mooney and Chechile prefer-red
that the professor remain unnamed.
Chechile then made a complaint to Dr.
Thomas E. Conine, Jr., the associate Dean of
Business, Dr. R. Keith Martin, Dean of the
Business School reviewed the complaint to see
if there was a case for a grievance. Since he
agreed there was a case, according to Chechile,
it went to Father Mooney. "Father Mooney
agreed that there was a case," Chechiles stated.
According to Mooney, "a grievance procedure
involves a definition of grievance. A grievance
is defined as a complaint of unfair treatment for
which a specific remedy is sought." Chechile
never specified a remedy, Mooney said.
Father Mooney suggested several remedies.
A grade change, which is what Chechile sought
could not be obtained because there was
"nothing to base the grade change on,"
Chechile asserted, once the papers had been
thrown out. There is no present school policy
about holding papers. "Even if they do make this
policy," Chechile claimed, "it's too late for me."
The alternative solutions included having
Chechile take another exam but he said that he
hasn't had the course in so long that he's forgot-ten
a good deal of it. Chechile explained that he
would be allowed to repeat the course but his
present work load is too demanding. The course
was taken as part of his major.
Because he has not yet thought of a remedy,
the grievance procedure has been stopped. The
problem is that there is no policy on the length
of time professors are required to keep exams.
"There should be a policy but there has never
been a case like this before," Mooney said. He
added, "The lack of that policy results in a pro-blem
in processing certain grievances."
Lecture On Campus Fires
Discusses Dangers
Henry Guasp is seen here taking the Peace and Justice poll that was held in the Campus
Center last week. [Photo by Remy Steiner]
by Christine Ryan
"There have been four serious and dangerous
fires on campus recently, three of them this
semester," stated Leigh Cromey, Assistant Direc-tor
of Student Residences, as she opened the re-cent
"Fire Awareness" lecture, held in Gonzaga
Monday night.
Guest speaker was Chief David Russell of the
Fairfield Fire Department. The gravity of this
situation was dramatically demonstrated by Chief
Russell as he opened his taik by citing an arti-cle
in the Bridgeport Post, announcing the recent
arrest of three Fairfield students for arson.
Ironically, the Fairfield Fire Department was
never called to the blaze, and he first learned of
it through the paper. The lecture, which was man-datory
for Resident Advisors, was the start of a
campaign by Student Residences to increase the
fire awareness of the student body.
The session included a graphic movie depic-ting
an actual fire in a Chicago school that kill-ed
ninety-eight children. Russell emphasized
that all of the fire safety precautions learned
since the movie was released, have been incor-porated
into the architecture of the buildings on
campus. "If students did not mess with the
equipment, the buildings would be safe. We can-not
keep on top of it. It's up to you people,"
Russell emphasized.
The film, normally not shown to civilians,
stressed the importance of quick notification of
proper authorities. It took twelve minutes from the
time the fire was first discovered to when the fire
department was called. The movie also stated
that every second of every minute, another fire
starts.
According to Chief Russell, "You have been
cheated as far as fire awareness goes. There just
has not been enough emphasis in the schools.
I think cardio-pulmonary resuscitation is more im-portant
to learn than volleyball." Russell and his
department are currently involved with Fairfield
elementary schools and fire awareness.
The main concern beyond fire safety was the
foolishness of the frequent false alarms. The fire
department now responds to the fire box calls in
all buildings except the dorms. "We used to be
here ten times some Saturday nights." He con-tinued
by saying that the real tragedy surround-ing
false alarms is that the engines might be
needed elsewhere, and lives may be lost.
As far as individual safety goes, Russell em-phasized
that the proper equipment is in place,
but it is being misused. He pointed to the Gon-zaga
fire doors which were unlawfully propped
open, and he mentioned the disconnection of fire
detectors. The students are simply asking for
trouble.
If students are ever caught in a fire, Chief
Russell emphasized dropping and rolling as the
most important things, then getting out of the
building. He mentioned a recent fire in a Pro-vidence
College dorm, in which twelve co-eds
were killed. "They made some basic mistakes,
and did not survive. Pulling out fire detectors and
leaving doors open are definite mistakes. The*
doors have windows with wires in them to pre-vent
melting. That does not help very much when
they are left open."
As a further preventative measure, he recom-mended
investing in a portable smoke detector
for traveling. "I just cannot emphasize their im-portance,"
Russell declared. "It has been a
disappointing past concerning fire awareness,
but hopefully that will soon change. It has to
change with you."