Mirror - Vol. 09, No. 15 - October 31, 1985

              The
FairfieldMIRRORv Volume 9, No. 15 Thursday, October 31, 1985 The Image of Fairfield
South African playwright accepts Bellarmine Medal
by Ann Sullivan
South African playwright Athol Fugard
articulates one of his visions in a scene from
"Master Harold and the Boys." His vision
is one of civilized decency in which people
and countries conceivably move like
dancers. They don't collide, they don't get
hurt, and they live lite right.
In his acceptance speech of the Bellar-mine
Medal of Honor on Sunday. Oct. 27,
Fugard said that he's lost faith in this vi-sion.
Fugard had "a bitter thing to say " to
the audience, "I think I've lost faith in it."
He asked the audience to compare the vi-sion
he presented through Sam, one of the
boys of "Master Harold and the Boys", with
television footage from South Africa today.
Fugard said that the footage depicts "bru-tal
collisions that must shock civilized
souls."
Fugard went on to say that he had "to face
the fact that I don't believe any longer that
my society will evolve towards they decen-cy
that I hoped."
Fugard was pessimistic about the future,
as well as the present of South Africa. His
plays and opinions, he said, are rooted in
one small corner of the world, specifically
Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He said that
he addressed himself to his own people, and
"that my work has significance outside my
own country is overwhelming." Fugard said
that he wanted to use the opportunity of his
acceptance of the Bellarmine Medal of
Honor to do what the medal commends, that
is, to be an "educator in the highest sense."
According to Fugard, South Africa is "not
on the brink of apocalypse," but rather "on
the edge and falling." He cited two things
which were clear in his mind concerning
the current political situation in South Afri-ca.
First, he said that the white minority rul-ing
class, or Africans, are "not prepared to
share power." He said that these people do
believe that what they're doing is just and
fair, but are "plainly schizophrenic.They
are aware of the latest brutality and death
figures, and they say that they're just." Se-condly,
Fugard said that "only force can
take power from the Africaner." He said
forceful, or revolutionary measures have
started, and will only escalate in the months
to come.
Fugard went on to discuss his views of
the economic sanctions, boycotts and dis-investments
that are taking place. He
claimed to be confused. The argument that
sanction would hurt those that it intended
to help, namely the black majority, is true,
the blacks will feel the sanctions before the
higher classed whites, but, said Fugard, the
black arc "prepared to pay any price in order
to get closer to the day emancipation or
liberation."
Fugard then explained the American im-age
in South Africa. "South Africa," he said,
"is important to America." According to
Fugard, South Africa is strategically posi-tioned.
He said that the blacks' opinion of
the current American policy is that the U.S.
is representing reinforcement of the status
quo because of the lack of U.S. action. The
blacks are asking for radical action and help
from the outside. Fugard warned that
American lack of action might mean a loss
Continued on page 4
Controversial playwright, dramatist, and actor
Athol Fugard speaks for Fairfield Students.
WVOF shut down over broadcast static
by Stephen J. Humes
One university official took control of
WVOF, tbe student-operated radio station,
and suspended the station manager in-definitely
as a result of last Thursday night's
broadcast, said the director of university ac-tivities.
James D. Fitzpatrick, Director of
University Activities, issued the following
statement Monday: "Effective immediate-ly,
the university activities department has
assumed total control of all operations of
WVOF." Fitzpatrick cited Thursday night's
broadcast by two disc jockeys, Joel Gray
and Bill "Spud" Webb, as the reason for his
decision.
Fitzpatrick acted after he heard Thurs-day
night's show. He said he tuned in while
at his home in Fairfield and decided to come
to the radio station at 12:30 a.m. Friday.
At that time, Fitzpatrick asked the two DJs
to discontinue broadcasting, turn the sta-tion
off, and leave. The program was sched-uled
to end at 1:00 a.m. Fitzpatrick said,
"The foul language used during the 90
minutes that I listened, and the type of
material used on the program, are totally
unacceptable by standards of Fairfield
University."
Fitzpatrick met with Shaun O'Leary on
Friday at 12:30 p.m. Fitzpatrick said, "I
suspended Mr. O'Leary indefinitely as sta-tion
manager ofWVOF because he was the
student in charge of the station and because
without him, the station could not operate."
Fitzpatrick cited a clause in FCC regula-tions
that a station cannot operate without
a manager. When asked for clarification of
this statement, Fitzpatrick said his primary
goal was to get the station off the air until
it could be guaranteed that problems of this
nature would not happen again.
Fitzpatrick said that his decision was
based on the fact that the university, not the
students, holds the FCC license for the sta-tion
and is ultimately responsible for its
operation. "The university Board of
Trustees delegated the responsibility of the
radio station to William P. Schimpf, vice-president
of Student Services." Fitzpatrick
added that the division of Student Services
granted WVOF the right to run itself. "We
agreed not to get involved in the day to day
operation of the station."
Fitzpatrick allowed the regular weekend
programming to go on as scheduled. This
segment of WVOF features ethnic
programming and is coordinated by Saul
Nowitz.
Last Friday's incident was the second this
year involving WVOF broadcasting. As a
result of aspects of the station's trivia con-test
during freshman orientation, Fitz-patrick
placed WVOF on probation. When
asked ifWVOF had known that the univer-sity
would shut it down after something like
Thursday's broadcast, Fitzpatrick com-mented
that if they didn't know it before the
orientation incident, the knew it after.
O'Leary did not expect Fitzpatrick's de-cision.
"He (Fitzpatrick) has every right to
do whatever he wants, its his station."
O'Leary commented about last Thursday's
show. "It was a terrible show for WVOF
and Fairfield University to air. I was real-ly
embarrassed by the show." O'Leary said
he did not think Fitzpatrick had to suspend
him. Rather, he expected that they would
work together on any problems. "We set
up pre-described discipline procedures."
O'Leary explained that he thought Fitz-patrick
would let him handle DJ problems,
but Fitzpatrick went against their under-standing.
O'Leary, now serving as station manager
for his third year, was looking forward to
the new changes at WVOF. "The station has
come a long way. We are about to go to
100 Watts. We have some great programs."
One of the new additions to WVOF
programming is basketball coverage for the
season. O'Leary announced Monday that
WVOF would cover both home and away
Stag basketball games exclusively. In the
past, WNAB out of New Haven covered
Stag basketball.
Fitzpatrick's actions are affecting WVOF
planning for the upcoming basketball sea-son,
as well as such plans as full coverage
of Tuesday's local elections said O'Leary.
Also, O'Leary said that Fitzpatrick's deci-
Continued on page 3
Jesuit speaks on Nicaragua
by Chris Tyler
"Can we really be afraid of a people that
lays there on the main drag through Man-gua
with wheelbarrows and shovels?,"
asked Rev. John H. Zupez, S.J. at a lec-ture
he delivered in the Nursing Buildings
Auditorium on October 23.
Zupez, a teacher of Social Justice at Fair-field
Prep, spent time in Nicaragua at the
variomCollegios run by the Jesuit fathers.
Speaking before a crowd of some thirty in-terested
faculty and students, Zupez showed
slides - pictures he took during his nie-week
visit to that Central American country this
summer. Zupez's travelled primarily to the
three Jesuit communities in Managua, the
capitol city of Nicaragua from June until
August.
During his travels, Zupez commented
that rebel contras (counter-revolutionaries)
were in the mountains near a city called
Jinotega, which is 125 miles north of
Managua. He cited rumors that the contras
might have been in that city itself.
Zupez noted that many of the propagan-dist
expressions painted in prominent areas
have catholic overtones and are not altered
by the government. Zupez had several pic-tures
of billboards with pro-governmental
expressions and he commented that many
of the children are taught pro-government
beliefs through the use of the print media.
Zupez showed a picture of a classroom
bulletin board that displayed anti-American
and pro-Sandinista newspaper clippings.
Questions from the audience were field-ed
by Zupez, and he stated that he believed
there was » deal of free expression
in the newspapers, and concluded that a
great deal of criticism is levied against the
government in one of the newspapers, La
Prensa.
John H. Zupez, S.J., holds a copy of La Presna ounng h'~ LdiK
[Photo by Andrea Whitehou