Mirror - Vol. 08, No. 08 - October 04, 1984

              The Image
of
Fairfield"
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Volume 8, No. 8 Thursday, October 4, 1984 Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 Incorporated 1977
Theft in Art Corridor
Mars New Gallery
by Barbara Murray
The new Corridor Gallery located on the bot-tom
floor of Loyola nearthe Art Studio, just opened
at the beginning of September. On Friday, Sep-tember
21, the continued existence of the Gallery
was threatened when two paintings were stolen
and the Fine Arts Department of Fairfield respond-ed
by formulating an open letter to the Fairfield
Community, stating that "...we must respond to
this rather pathetic act by closing the gallery." The
decision has since been reversed, however, and
the Corridor Gallery will remain open.
The idea for a campus art gallery was the brain-child
of the Fine Arts Department. The project was
headed by Professors Jane Sutherland and Peter
Gish. The main reason for having the gallery ac-cording
to Ms. Sutherland is because Fairfield
has never had a formal place for students and
faculty to exhibit their works. It was a widely held
belief among members of the Fine Arts Depart-ment
that such a lack constitutes a weakness in
the department, so despite warnings against set-ting
up a gallery, faculty members went ahead
with the plans anyway. The warnings came mainly
from students who said they thought the works
would be stolen or mutilated. They felt a perma-nent
art gallery would jeopardize the safety of
students' work.
Eight years ago, art by students and faculty was
exhibited in the Oak Room. Shows would be set
up periodically for two to three days at a time, but
owing to the multipurpose nature of the Oak
Room, the shows would have to be, "Put to bed
each night and set up again the following morn-ing,"
according to Professor Sutherland. The
inconvenience of this system was enormous
Ms. Sutherland said.
The Center for Financial Studies on campus
has hosted a number of art shows; however, the
works exhibited have only been by faculty mem-bers.
No students work has been shown.
The recent thefts from the Corridor Gallery have
upset faculty and students alike. The stolen paint-ings
were part of the Gallery's exhibit of works
by Suzanne Kachmar, a 1980 graduate of Fair-field
and a winner of the Dept. of Fine Arts award
to an outstanding student that year. Following the
theft, the artist withdrew the rest of her work out
of fear for the safety of the remaining pieces. Ms.
Sutherland, who knows the artist personally, says,
"She (Ms. Kachmar) is particularly embittered that
this theft occurred at Fairfield, where she lived
and studied for three years, rather than at one
of the many places where she has exhibited
recently."
Ms. Sutherland responded immediately with
an Open Letter to the Fairfield Community. In it
she wrote, "For me this signals the end of the
Corridor Gallery..." The letter, however, was never
made public.
A revised letter will go out to the Fairfield Com-munity
in the near future stating that the Corridor
Gallery will remain open despite the unfortunate
events of the recent past. Dr. Philip Eliasoph, an
associate professor of Fine Arts at Fairfield, spoke
on behalf of the Department, saying, "We will
seek whatever way is possible to maintain the
Corridor Art Gallery. The Fine Arts Department
is aware of the risk involved for the participating
artist, but an even greater risk is the idea that a
university campus can exist without having a
proper gallery for its students and faculty."
Currently, the Corridor Gallery contains works by
Professor Gish.
SO^NE KAcUtm
Seen here is a work from the Loyala corridor art gallery. Two paintings were stolen from this
corridor and officials considered closing the gallery./Pftofo by Maureen Winkler and Karen Haney]
Seniors Probe Commencement
by Chris Tyler
Trouble at last spring's commencement exer-cises
has led to the formation of a Senior Com-
Nader Blasts President Reagan's Policies
by Chris Tyler
Ralph Nader presented a lecture in the Oak
Room on Tuesday evening, September 25 in
which he criticized both Presidential can-didates
for overlooking an integral sector of the
voting public, the average consumer. Mr. Nader
levied the bulk of his attack at President Reagan,
and cited several examples of his failure to "pro-tect"
the average consumer.
Another part of Mr. Nader's lecture consisted
of his advice to students about how to become
more involved with today's "political" scene.
Nader urged students to give business a scare
and make corporations aware of them. He
stressed the need for leadership and said, "the
world today is in great need of leaders." Nader
also commented, "We are all at fault, collective-ly,
for what is going on. We have not said 'We will
not be manipulated any more.'"
President Reagan was lambasted during the
major portion of the lecture for what Nader termed
a "Failure to act." According to Mr. Nader, the
president has passed only one safety standard
during his tenure as Commander and Chief, "and
that one is very weak," added Mr. Nader. "Govern-ment
is insensitive. We don't have government
of the people, by the people, for the people. What
we do have is government of the Exxon, by the
DuPont's, for General Motors."
Fault was again found with the president by
Nader when the topic of auto safety arose. At this
time Mr. Nader launched one of his biggest criti-cisms
of the president. Nader feels that the presi-dent
gives big business what it wants when it
wants it. "Reagan would rather accommodate the
twelve automobile companies than try to regu-late
one hundred fifty thousand motorists." Nader
sarcastically added, "Autos without protection,
by President Reagan's reasoning, are like hav-ing
no police protection. You get rid of it and say
look how much money I've saved by eliminating
this!"
Nader felt that both Reagan and Mondale were
at fault for not asking the people what they want.
He went on to criticize both for "telling us how
many debates we can see."
Reagan's foreign policy came under attack as
well. "Reagan is not tough on Communism," said
Nader, "however, he is tough on the fate of the
earth." Nader advised that the best way to defeat
Communism is to "export better economic con-ditions
and more humane living conditions."
Nader added at the end of his lecture that he
was working to get others to act and become
involved. He urged all in attendance to work
at becoming skilled citizens.
mencement Council by Fran Kenneally, F.U.S.A.
president. The group will be charged with the task
of spreading information about the nature of
graduation to the Senior Class.
The principle cause of trouble has been of a
behavioral nature according to Mr. Kenneally.
"During the reading of the names is when the
bulk of the problems happen," said Mr. Kenneally.
Mr. Kenneally stated that there were several
ways to curb some of the problems. One such
problem, the popping of Champagne bottles,
could be remedied by holding the ceremony earli-er
in the day. Another alternative would be to
eliminate the reading of the names of the gradu-ates.
"I don't want to see that part of the ceremo-ny
eliminated. It's a very special part of the day,
and Fairfield is one of the few schools that does
it," said Mr. Kenneally.
The group, which will be comprised of 2 Juniors,
6 Seniors, two Faculty, and a dean, will try to bring
about a respect for the tradition associated with
the Commencement exercise.
Mr. Kenneally says that he hopes to have all
of the fine details worked by the end of this week
when he plans to begin reviewing those people
who are interested in being on the Council. Those
who are interested can sign up in the F.U.S.A.
office in the Campus Center beginning Friday.
"It's important for the Juniors to become involved
because what ever happens at this years gradu-ation
will affect next years: I would like to see a
smoothly run graduation this year so that there
are no difficulties for the next class," added Mr.
Kenneally.
Plan to Relieve Beach Noise
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader addressed a capacity Oak Room crowd and attacked Presi-dent
Reagan's administration during his lecture last week. [Photo by Gerry McPartland]
by Kathryn King
Beginning on Thursday, beach residents who
wish to complain about loud beach student par-ties
and other problems can call the F.U.S.A. office
to get something done instead of calling the
police.
The Bridgeport Post dubbed it the Noisebusters
plan. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays be-tween
8:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m., a student will
man a hotline. He will take the "name and ad-dress
of the complainant and ask what the
problem is," said Fran Kenneally. They will prob-ably
say that "at such and such a house, there's
a loud party going on. The student will call the
house and ask them to rectify the problem."
Students will be paid to answer the phone. If
interested, students can sign up in the F.U.S.A.
office. "Right now, I'll take anyone that's interest-ed,"
said the F.U.S.A. president. He would like to
have beach residents who are in need of work
study money or anyone who needs work study.
"It's important to get the student in need."
Student Services Vice President, Mr. William
P. Schimpf, made the plan possible by freeing up
work study money. He was approached with the
noisebusters plan in a meeting with Robert Wern-er,
president of the Fairfield Beach Association
and others from Fairfield University.
According to Fran Kenneally, Robert Werner
really likes the plan. "It's a step before the police
get involved." Mr. Werner will send letters to all
the beach residents informing them of the plan
and the phone number to call. Fran Kenneally also
wrote a letter to Fairfield Police Captain Comers.
"It's not solving the whole problem, but it's put-ting
us on better terms with the beach residents
which is important," Fran Kenneally commented.
"The important thing is for the beach residents
to keep the neighbors in mind."