Mirror - Vol. 09, No. 18 - November 21, 1985

              HAPPY THANKSGIVING
The
FairfieldMIRRORY
Volume 9, No. 18 Thursday, November 21, 1985 The Image of Fairfield
South African native speaks on apartheid
by Jeanne Burke
Anti-apartheid activist Don Woods spoke
in the Oak Room last week as part of the
Peoples Forum lecture series. University
president Aloysius Kelly introduced Woods
as a "courageous writer and a champion of
human rights."
Like most white South Africans, Woods
grew up accepting apartheid as natural and
right. As a student at the University of
Capetown Law School, he became "conser-vatively
unhappy" with the situation, recog-nizing
it as not in accord with the principles
of perfect justice he was learning. Woods
went on to become Editor-in-Chief of the
Daily Dispatch, and, through encounters
with black friends and influential thinkers,
came to the conclusion that, "environment
shapes people, not skin color." One of
Woods' friends was Steve Biko, an anti-apartheid
activist who died in police custo-dy.
The police report said that Biko starved
himself to death, but Woods has evidence
that he died of brain damage when the secu-rity
police went too far in their interroga-tion.
Woods published and spoke about
Biko's murder, and was arrested and banned
in 1977. A banned person is forbidden to
write, be quoted, or speak publicly, ttrtravel
more that 5 miles from his home, or to have
more than one guest at a time. Viewed as
a traitor by his neighbors, Woods was sub-jected
to attacks against him home and fa-mily,
and decided to flee South Africa. He
had to escape from his own house by hid-ing
on the floor of the car as his wife drove
past the guard outside their home. He then
crossed the border and leaders of neighbor-ing
countries helped him and his family.
Woods now runs the Lincoln Trust, which
lobbies governments, informs the media
about apartheid, and provides scholarships
to exiled black students to develop leaders
for the anti-apartheid cause. He is the sub-ject
of a British docudrama and an upcom-ing
feature film.
Woods travels extensively in Great Bri-tain
and the United States to speak against
apartheid. These two countries are block-ing
U.N.-proposed economic sanctions
against South Africa. Woods says that these
governments believe the $100 million
propaganda campaign put forth by the South
African government. One of the ideas that
the government spreads is that the sanctions
would hurt the blacks more than help them.
They produce black leaders who support
this view. Woods dismisses these people as
not representative leaders of the black
majority. To determine the representative
spokesman, Woods uses his "Lech Walesa
rule," saying that the voice of an oppressed
Continued on page 2
Don Woods a champion of human rights, spoke last Tuesday on the problems in South
Africa. [Photo by Andrea Whitehouse]
Dorm damage figures released
Students join in Oxfam Fast
by Connie McKenna
Efforts on behalf of Fairfield students,
faculty and community raised over
$1000.00 last week as part of Oxfam
America Week. The proceeds will be do-nated
to Oxfam, a charitable organization
designed to help feed those in starving
nations.
The day long fast which was organized
by Campus Ministry and the Faith and
Justice Coalition, was held on November
14. According to Susan Connery of Cam-pus
Ministry, 514 people fasted for the en-tire
three meals, 115 people fasted for one
meal, and 47 faculty members and commu-nity
members helped either by fasting or
by monetary contributions. The majority
of those students who fasted are on the meal
plan at Seilers, and the monetary equiva-lent
of their uneaten meals was donated by
Seilers to the Oxfam drive, thus pushing the
drive total to "well over the $1000 mark".
Although the National day for the fast is
November 21 this year, Connen explained
that "complications arose as to events al-ready
planned in the Campus Center for the
same time, and since it would be so close
to vacation, we decided to have it a week
earlier." Traditionally the fast is a week or
two before Thanksgiving.
Connery wishes to thank the Faith and
Justice Coalition and Campus Ministry and
wants to "extend thanks to all who gave of
themselves for Oxfam America Week." She
also cited that the collection of food and
monetary contributions for Common Alter-native
Food Coop in Bridgeport and Urban
Lines Retreat House was very generous',
and added, "Thanks to the people for their
presence and for their faith!"
by Gareth Charter
Dormitory damage for September and
October of this year has almost doubled
when compared to the same two month
period of last year. According to Director
of Student Residences Richard Rossi, the
total for the campus this year is approxi-mately
$7,594 whereas last year at this time
it was about $3,860.
Rossi said that, "it is higher than it should
be," and he is, "a little concerned," but
offered some further explanation for the in-crease.
This year's total encompasses more
bills and is in Rossi's words, "more com-plete,"
than last year's report. The reason
for this is that extra time was taken this year
to allow some bills to come in that in 1984
appeared on the May bill. Also, of the
$7,594, $2,065 is for the repair of the
smoke alarm system in twelve incidents.
The high rate of about $100 per hour being
paid for their repair is the same as last year
yet most of the smoke detector damage of
last year occurred towards the end of the
year. In defense of complaints about the
high rates, Rossi stated that the university
would pay the same rates as the students,
if it were responsible for the damage.
Rossi indicated that he is confused about
the increase because the number of discipli-nary
hearings is roughly half of last year's
and, "generally damage and discipline go
hand in hand." A few particularly high
priced items, such as stairwell windows in
Jogues and Regis Halls costing $629 and ,
$486 respectively, have helped to inflate
this year's total.
The Student Residence Director high-
Continued on page 2
Congressman Rowland
to speak on campus
Congressman Rowland will speak in Nov. 25th in the Nursing Auditorium
by Lisa Anne Biagiarelli
John G. Rowland, the 28 year old Repub-lican
representative from Connecticut's fifth
district, will speak on Monday, November
25 at 2:30 p.m. on the Nursing Auditori-um.
The title of his speech will be "Young
People in the Political Process." The event
is open to everyone.
Rowland, a lifelong Waterbury resident,
is the youngest member of the 99th Con-gress.
He graduated from Villanova in 1979
and was an insurance agent prior to his elec-tion
to the Connecticut House of Represen-tatives
in 1980. In this election, at the age
of 23, he defeated a four-term Democrat
in a district that was only 18% Republican.
He.won re-election in 1982 and was ap-pointed
House Minority Whip in 1983. He
earned a reputation for being an aggressive
legislator, and received the Republican
nomination to challenge incumbent William
R. Ratchford for the fifth district congres-sional
seat in 1984. With the help of Ronal
Continued on page 2
INSIDE THIS WEEK
News 1, 2, 3
Boos and Cheers 2
Campus Calendar 3
Editorials 4, 9
Politics 6,7
Features 8, 9
Thanksgiving Feature. .10, 11
Arts & Entertainment 14, 15, 16
Doonesbury 17
Crossword 17
Classified :. 17
Sports 18, 19, 20
NEXT MIRROR ON DECEMBER 5