Mirror - Vol. 01, No. 14 - March 9, 1978

              THE
FAIRFIELD
Volume 1 No. 14 March 9, 1978
FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY, FAIRFIELD, CONN. 06430 MIRROR ^ Incorporated 1977
Nonprofit Organization
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Permit No. 34
Fairfield, Conn.
Open Legislature Meeting Flops;
Reps Deny MotionTo Reduce Body
Carolyn Fette
Orientation
Chairmen
Selected
By John McCullough
Student Services has announced
that this year the chairmen of the
orientation committee are
sophomores Carolyn Fette and Patrick
McCabe. The administration
representative in charge of
overlooking the operation is Dean
Samwayr;who stated that with the
work and cooperation of next years'
junior class" we will try to put together
the best orientation possible."
Pat McCabe, commenting on his
appointment stated: I feel very lucky
to have been chosen as Chairman. I'm
sure it will be a lot of hard work, but it
should be a very rewarding ex-perience."
Carolyn Fette added "I'm looking
forward to planning Orientation as an
opportunity to make many new
friends and to work with Pat in
organizing a great beginning for the
incoming freshmen.
According to Dean Samway, who
was "very pleased with last years'
orientation" the key to improvement
in the process is freshmen input. The
committee plans a questionnaire to be
distributed to the freshman class in
order to determine the areas in which
improvement is needed.
Past experience has shown that
there are two important areas of
improvement necessary, namely to get
more freshmen involved in the various
activities planned for them and to
make the students who live in upper
class dorms (Southeast and Fareast)
Continued on p. 3
By Trudy Newhaus
Poor student attendance marked an
open Student Legislature meeting
designed to inform and clarify Student
Legislature's function held last
Tuesday. A panel discussion and
question and answer period with the
FUSA officers followed the Oak Room
meeting. Few students attended and
no one remained until the meeting
was adjourned.
Pat Cizzo, President of the
Legislature, said, "It was well
publicized and I am disappointed that
there wasn't a greater turnout on the
part of the student body."
"Everybody says the legislature does
nothing," said Rich D'Autillio,
Chairman of Government Operations,
"but they don't know and this shows
they don't-care. If they wanted to
know, and they do care, they would
have come."
Both Gizzo and D'Autillio feel that
much of the criticism the legislature
receives is unfounded, which Is
illustated by the fact that when the
legislature made *. special effort to
report directly to the students, they
did not respond.
At the meeting, the legislature
adopted a new Constitution as revised
under the Dorrigan administration.
There were many minor changes that
had to be made to bring it up to date,
but the only major revision was the
amendment to formally recognize the
office of Executive Director and its
function.
Executive Director will be an ap-pointed
position by the FUSA
President requiring the approval of the
legislature. His/her main duties will be
to oversee the Executive and provide
for it running efficiently, to take the
place of the President, by the
President's discharge, when the
President of FUSA cannot be present,
to assist the President of FUSA in any
capacity required.
A second amendment proposed and
rejected was signed to reduce the size
of the legislature from the present 36
membered body to one of only 27
members. The reduction would
become effective in the next election
of legislature representatives, and
would only make a slight alteration in
the present student-representative
ratio. Presently, each legislator
represents approximatgely . 75
students; however with only 27
members, each legislator would
represent a constituency of about 100
students. - _
Nancy Donahue, the Attorney
General, pointed out that a change in
the number was necessary because:
(1) With an odd number of people in
the body, a vote will never be evenly
split; (2) With fewer positions, only
those willing to work will be elected;
(3) The reduced number would make
the legislature less cumbersome. The
figure of 27 was derived by dividing
the total number of students that
attend Fairfield (2760) by 100.
Chris Newhall, a representative of
Far East, said 'The change in mem-bership
to an odd number is good, but
the number should not be reduced to
27 because the positions are not
filled." She feels the negative attitude
Student Services Gives
Ground On RA'S Demands
Patrick McCabe ~
Ed Hatton photo
By GIGI BYRON
Poor communication, lack of ad-ministrative
organization, lack bf
professionalism, duty switches are the
headings under which are listed
twelve specific complaints that the
Resident Advisors handed to Don
Hastings (Assistant7 Director of
Housing) and Phyllis Rogge (Director
of Residence) at their weekly staff
meeting last Sunday.
One R.A commented that "the list
was drawn up by a few of the R.A.s.
We read the list and talked about the
complaints, through, and decided that
it represented the views of the
majority of us."
Three of the R.A.'s objections were
rectified at the meeting. As of now the
R.A.s can switch their on-duty nights
with those of another R.A. in the
building as long as they both sign a
form and notify Student Services at
least 48 hours in advance. Two other
changes made are that discipline
reports will no longer be read openly,
to all R.A.'s present at staff meetings,
as had been the practice. Many R.A.'s
considered this to be an an invasion
on the privacy of the individual
student
"I'm pleased with the changes" one
R.A. said, "but I can't help saying that
they should have been made long
ago."
Another R.A. said that he was
pleased with Sunday night's meeting,
once concerning Rogge and Hasting's
attitudes at the meeting, he "couldn't
really ask for anything more. It's just a
shame it took a letter to the paper to
get anyone to listen."
When questioned about the letter to
the Minor, he commented that
"people should realize it wasn't just a
first measure. It was really a last resort
to try to get some changes made."
Another outcome of the staff
meeting is a committee composed of
one R.A. from each dorm, Phyllis
Rogge and Don Hastings. The com-mittee
will investigate the other
objections listed by the R.A.s and
determine the feasibility of making
these changes. R.A.s from each in-dividual
dorm will decide who will
represent them on the committee.
One R.A. feels that "this committee
will hopefully take a deeper look into
the R.A.'s concerns than the com-mittee
from the University Council
sounds like they're going to do. We
(the R.A. committee) are in a better
position. After all, we know the
problems and concerns of the R.A.s;
we not only hear about them, we
experience them. This gives us a
certain viewpoint, a certain empathy
that no one else can have."
When asked about the role of
Student Services with regard to the
Resident Advisors, another R.A.
stressed the importance of "getting
backed upon matters of discipline. If I
write a kid up and send him down to
Student Sevices, and they just tell him
not to do it again, it makes me look
like a fool. The kid realizes I have no
power."
Regarding the judicial board she
commented, "It's a joke. They ask
ridiculous questions and make' you
feel like you're the one on trial instead
of the student. Also they all (the
judicial board) had copies of the
report I had written up, but I didn't. I
was expected to remember what I had
written a month before."
Another R.A. felt that it was im-
Continued on p. 3
already taken .toward .the legislature
would be further enhanced by
reducing the number. In addition, a
more extensive_representation can be
given, and a larger diversification of
ideas can be received, with a large
membership.
Barbra DOnofrio stated tha' "we are
one of the only small 'schools that has
such a large legislative body" The
majority legislators did not feel that a
sufficient reason for reducing the
number existed.
"We shouldn't rule out the
possibility of a full turnout by limiting
the size of the legislature," said Joe
Murphy, a- representative from
Gonzaga. "It is noj cumbersome, and
only those willing to work will come."
The legislature voted and decided on a
membership of 35.
Within two weeks, the Constitution
will come before the students in a
referendum for their approval. A 50%
plus one majority, of the total number
of votes cast, is needed for it to pass.
The Constitution is available to all
students and can be obtained either
from their legislature representative or
in the FUSA office.
Just prior to adjournment, Fr. Fit-zgerald
addressed the legislature,
discussing the Recreation Center now
under construction.
'The Sports Complex has a long
history;" said Fr. Fitzgerald, "and has
been under discussion prior to my own
arrival at Fairfield. Years ago we had
been hearing from the student leaders
that a sports complex was desirable by
the students and greatly needed.
Commenting on the feeling that
student opinion had been overlooked
in the development of the Rec Center
Fr. Fitzgerald pointed out that due to
the time span, "many people over the
years have had an input, and all the
aspects of the University have been
consulted at one time or another. The
process of consultation has to stop
somewhere in order to get things
done," he said, "and I believe it is an
oversight if the present student body
was not informed, but the majority
was not here to be consulted."
Burt Ticket Investigation
Reports Conflicting Answers
By Tony Tarnell
"It is a pity for the students to pay
$5,000 a year and then get slapped in
the face the way we are," stated senior
Ned Burt, chairman of the basketball
ticket investigation committee, in a
recent interview. The 27-person Ad
Hoc committee was formed when over
200 student ticket holders, as well as
public ticket holders, were refused
admission to the January 23 lona
basketball game.
Burt's committee was sanctioned by
the Student Legislature, and divided
into five sub-committees, which
would question C. Donald Cook,
Athletic Director, interview Dean
Schimpf and Dean Samway of Student
Services, speak with the Fairfield Fire
Department, and keep students in-formed
on the progress of the com-mittee.
The sub-committees would
search for Student Services' and the
Athletic Department's reasons for
turning students away from the lona
game.
Burt pointed out that on 'Tuesday,
February 21, the three principal sub-committees
went to see Cook,
Samway and Schimpf at the same
time." He continued that "we wanted
to ask the same questions, and see if
we got conflicting answers. We did get
conflicting and contrasting answers to
some of the questions, which we
found rather strange."
The questions centered on the lona
game, the $20 athletic fee, and the
procedure for the fire department.
Burt added that when asked what the
student's athletic fee guaranteed thev^
student in terms of basketball tickets,
Schimpf replied that it entitled every
student to a ticket and a seat, while
Samway and Cook said that it just
guaranteed the student a ticket.
Oean William Schimpf of Student
Services, commented that "before you
can look at the actuality of the
problem with the basketball tickets,
you must look at the history of our
gym facility." Schimpf pointed out
that back in 1972 the Stag basketball
team played all their major home
games at the New Haven arena, and
minor games were played in the gym.
Originally, the gym was separated into
two parts, and the half which housed
the basketball games had a maximum
seating capacity of 1500. Schimpf
pointed out that "a couple of bad
Continued on p. 3
C. Donald Cook
Ed Hatton photo