Mirror - Vol. 09, No. 27 - March 06, 1986

              The
FairfieldMIRRORY Volume 9, No. 27 Thursday, March 6, 1986 The Image oi Fairfield
MAAC-nificent by Dave DeFusco
There sits a monitor by the side ot" the
bed emitting an endless line on its circular
screen- a beep rings out indicating the pa-tient's
faint heartbeat. Countless needles and
tubes envelope the patient. A doctor stands
motionless, arms folded- a guardian of the
failing patient.
Visitors come to see. to offer comfort-consolation.
There are sullen faces. Angry
faces. "Too young for this to happen- too.
too young." says a friend.
The patient is dying.
"Is there anything that can be done? Any-thing?"
asks one desperately to the doctor.
The doctor scratches the back of his head
and after drawing a thoughtful, heavy sigh,
delivers his prescription.
"What this patient needs is new blood.
A fresh start. It needs inspiration."
Old habits must change.
The patient was the Stag basketball
program.
SPECIAL REPORT
Just one short year ago the basketball pro-gram
was in dire need of direction. The
Stags were cellar-dwcllars. Now they are
the best in the MAAC and the toast of Fair-field
U. From have-nots to haves. From
chumps to champs. The "Fairfield basket-ball
program has not only been revived, it
has been taken to a higher level- one that
will ensure the accelerated development of
the program.
Let's take a short ride back in time, only
for a moment. Picture this: 1985- Stags fin-ish
last in the conference, 11-18 overall.
4-10 in the MAAC.
And this: Fans wear bags over their heads
and yell for O'Connor's dismissal.
And this: O'Connor leaves amid con-troversy,
claiming he has one more recruit-ing
year coming to him. Also he finds out
the media found out about his dismissal be-fore
he did.
And this: Faculty holds closed door ses-
Continued on page 12
Financial Needs are identified
by Stephen J. Humes
Editor's Note: This article is the second
in a series and a special report on minority
recruitment and retention on campus.
Two proposals recommending changes
in recruitment and retention strategies have
reached the hands of two university vice-presidents
this week, sources say.
The recruitment proposal was authored
by Michael Whittingham, assistant direc-tor
of admissions, and presented to
Christopher F. Mooney. S.J.. Vice-
President of Academics. On retention, Lar-ri
Mazon. director of Student Academic
Support Services, wrote a propsosal he sub-mitted
to William P. Schimpf. Vice-
President of Student Services.
The ultimate goal of both plans is to in-crease
the diversity of the campus by
recruiting and retaining minority students.
In an interview last semester with Aloy-sius
P. Kelley, S.J.. university president,
|he emphasized that "diversification is not
easily attainable." Kelley said, "Large
amounts of financial aid help to diversity
the student body."
One serious issue, then, is financial aid.
Minority students have significant need for
financial aid. say university administrators.
David M. Flynn, Dean of Admissions, said.
"It (Recruiting minorities) takes money be-cause
that particular segment of students
needs money most." Flynn said that the
method of changing diversity must progress
from the Long Range Plan, approved last
October, to increases in financial aid
revenues.
In the plan adopted by the Board of
Trustees, the goal of $5 million dollars was
identified in order to provide more scholar-ships.
Already, the university has received
some contributions, earmarked specifical-ly
for minority students, according to
FredricC. Wheeler, Director of Develop-ment.
Burger King Corporation led the de-velopments
by awarding a $100,000
challenge grant. Other contributions have
come from the Surdna Foundation
($50,000).. the Bridgeport Post-Telegram
($15,000). the Celanese Corporation
($15,000), and other individual gifts. The
Development division is working to build
to the base of scholarships for minority stu-dents.
"We view these grants as just the be-ginning,"
said Wheeler.
Tim O' Toole. Pat Yerina. and Tony George display the MAAC tournament trophy.
[Photo by Remy Sterner]
Cabinet positions announced
by Connie McKenna
FUSA President-elect Michael Miller has
appointed the members of his 1986-1987
Cabinet.
New Cabinet members include Caitlin
O'Connell as Vice-President of Student Ac-tivities,
Brian Flaherty as Vice-President
of Student Life, John Shine as Director of
Student Entertainment Commission, and
Christopher McNulty as Director of Aca-demics.
The positions of Director of Student
Services, Director of Security and Direc-tor
of Government Affairs have been filled
by Bridget Robinson. Michael Mancini and
Christopher Ritchie, respectively. Nicole
Tenbekjian has been named Director of
Communications.
Cheryl Westlund, Paul Holland and
Michelle Byrd share the title of Directors
of Arts and Lectures, and Tina Maciag has
been appointed Director of Daytime
Programming. Annemarie Micalc and An-nette
Agate will work together as Directors
of Coffee Houses, as will Anne Marie Mi-one
and Terri Durso on Oakrooms.
Newly appointed Directors of Publicity
are Joanne Pale and Terry Sullivan.Promo-tions
Director is Jeannine Carolan. Sports
and Leisure Directors are Sarah Hurley and
Michael Steed, and Nancy Gray and Deb-bie
Veinot have been appointed Directors
Continued on page 2
Bloodmobile a success
The Bloodmob.le was a success last Wednesday and Thursday.
[Photo by Andrea Whitehouse]
by Donna Savarese
Tim Martin and Peggy Battista, coordi-nators
of this semester's Bloodmobile which
took place last Wednesday and Thursday,
are both happy about the drive's final out-come.
Though the goal of 425 pints was not
quite reached, the count was close at 400.
The drive was quite a bit more success-ful
than that of last semester which pushed
for the same goal yet came up 100 pints
short. Martin attributes the higher amounts
to the increased publicity level of the drive
as compared with last semester. The Red
Cross also came up with a couple of new
campaigns which the coordinators used ex-tensively.
Even the donors had only praise for the
whole operation and said that the whole staff
was friendly and really tried to make for
a light, relaxing atmosphere. Rich D'lti-zio('
86) commented that the nurses were
"especially cognizant of the needs of first-time
donors."
Regina Scurlock('89) said that the nurses
were appreciative, nice, and they "make
you feel like you're doing a great thing.
They act like you've given them the world."
When asked why they decided to take time
out of their day to give blood, many people
like Birgitta Mayer('89) commented that "it
is a great feeling to know that I could be
saving someone's life. It could be me that
is dying someday and I would be thankful
that people decided to give."
Others like Bill McCormick('87) felt the
same way and added that the Bloodmobile
is also a great place to catch a quick break-fast
of coffee, juice, and cookies and even,
as with previous drives, see a good movie.
When asked the question of the day. "Does
it hurt?", not one person felt that it did; a
little pinch is about the extent of the pain-a
small price to pay for such a worthy cause.