Mirror - Vol. 10, No. 14 - October 30, 1986

              &
The
FairfieldMIRRORv Volume 10, No. 14 Our Tenth Year Thursday, October 30, 1986 The Image of Fairfield
Lecture Covers U.S.
Military Action
By Jedd
Last Wednesday night in Loyola
Chapel, George Plage, Sonata Bohan,
and Rev. Peter Marchetti, S.J., gave a
joint lecture on U.S. Military
involvememt in both Nicaragua and El
Salvador. They told the audience of their
experiences in these two Central
American countries and expressed their
disappointment with Congress' funding
of these bloodbaths. During the first half
of the lecture, George and Sonata
explained how El Salvador's civil war has
destroyed the country as the U.S.
continues to fuel the war with taxpayer's
money and weapons. During the second
half, Rev. Marchetti discussed why
Nicaragua's civil war started and why we
continue to destroy a government that
has tried to serve its people well
In the past, Sonata and George have
been active in social work. They worked
in Kentucky for Appalachia and traveled
to India to study social change through
non-violence. Looking for a challenge.
Sonata, a nurse, and George, a carpenter,
felt that their skills could be used at an
El Salvadoran cooperative. There, they
studied Spanish and offered their services
to the cooperative but later transferred to
a church refugee camp on the outskirts of
SanSalvador, the capital. Close to a
million Salvadorans were in these refugee
camps, their homes destroyed by trie war.
In the past seven years, over 60,000
Sherman
civilians have been killed as a direct
result of the war, not even counting the
victims of malaria and typhoid.
Sonata and George treated hundreds
of small children who were hit with
bullet shells and schrapnell. Fortunately,
their church camp was not a target of
Operation Phoenix (blanket bombing)
but they could recall tales ofmany other not-so-
lucky camps, where between tortilla
meals, many families would hide from the
bombing raids. But why are Salvadorans
bombing other Salvadorans?
Sonata and George explained that
El Salvador is an agriculture-oriented
culture where a large population of
campesinos (farmers who don't own land)
must work for a small group of wealthy
landowners. However, many campesinos
desire land reform, and now they are
rebelling against the government which
is currently backed by U.S. military.
Apparently, the U.S. fears that if these
guerrillas were to overthrow the
government, then there would be another
communist country in America's
backyard. Currently, the guerillas are
being supported by Nicaraguan
(Sandinistans), Cubans, and Russians.
'- w
Sonata feels that the land reform
should be allowed to take place and that a
change in government should occur. The
U.S. military should pull out because the
Congressional Debate Hosted
By Monica Roberts
The League of Women Voters of
Fairfield presented the Fourth
Congressional District Debate on
Thursday, Oct. 23, in Gonzaga
Auditorium. Titled, "Agenda for
Security," it placed Rep. Stewart B.
McKinney (R) against challenger,
Christine M. Niedermeier (D). The debate
was broadcast live on Cablevision,
Channel 12, and consisted of four rounds
of questions, half of which concerned the
area of national security. Some of the
subjects of national security included
nuclear weapons, terrorism, and foreign
policy.
The candidates were asked
questions of national as well as local
policy. They clearly disagreed on only a
few issues. On the subject of aid to the
contras in Nicaragua, McKinney
supported non-military assistance, while
Niedermeier opposed any assistance. On
trade policy, Niedermeier opposed
protectionist legislature while McKinney
supported it, stating that "We can't have
fair trade without free trade." Other areas
had less sharp disagreement, and some
questions were evaded.
Some issues showed the moderate
views of Niedermeier, as opposed to the
tougher stands of McKinney. McKinney
called terrorism an "act of war," and
believed any nation that supported it
Continued on page 2
Peter Marchetti, S.J.[Photo by Agniescka M.]
damage that we cause far outweighs any
damage that could be made if the
government were to change hands
peacefully. In fact, they feel that if the
U.S. were to pull out now, then the
current government could fall within a
month. Meanwhile, Sonata and George
will continue to work in El Salvador,
serving as internationals who act as the
eyes for human rights activists.
Continued on page 3
COUNCIL TO MEET
By Joseph Draper
The University Council will meet this af-ternoon
in the Faculty Dining Room. For
the past month the Council members have
been meeting in their respective subcom-mittees
to discuss and gather information on
the future of the Stag-her Inn.
According to student representative Ken
Caisse the Council hopes and expects to
resolve the matter. "I think now they will,
have the facts. Closing the Stag-her is not
the answer to the problem." he said.
Caisse is a member of the Community
Life subcommittee along with Mr. William
Schimpf, Dr. James Farnham and Miss
Katherine Demeri. "We met twice and dis-cussed
the problems leading up to the poli-cy
decision, alternatives and looked into
proposals.
Caisse indicated that the larger decision
of the University's role in programming, es-pecially
during the week would also be dis-cussed.
Some professors and administrators
feel that their role has been declining and
that the diversity of programming that may
have once existed, no longer does. "We
have information that there is that diversi-ty."
he said.
The meeting begins at 3:45 and is open
to the entire University community.
Niedermeier and McKinney battle it out in the Fourth District debate, which was sponsored
by the League of Women's Voters. [Photo by Andrea Whitehouse]
Alumni Return for Weekend
by Connie McKenna
News Editor
Over 1000 Fairfield University alumni
returned to their alma mater last weekend
to take part in the annual alumni weekend
festivities.
Dick Popalowski, Director of Alumni
Relations, plans the event each year with
the help of his staff, including Associate
Director Maura Coakley ('81) and Assistant
Director Fr. Pat Cafferty ('59).
Alumni Weekend '86 activities included
a tailgating contest, an alumni rugby game,
and a video dance party in Alumni Hall
which was attended by over 700 peo-ple.
Also included in the festivities were
events geared toward the younger crowd;
face-painting, button-making, a moonwalk
and a mini-train.
Saturday evening, in addition to the
dance party, an Alumni Awards Dinner
was held in the Center for Financial
Studies.Awards were handed out lor
professional achievement, alumni service,
and faculty service.
Coakley added," "both Circle K and
Cardinal Key members helped run the
events, and Mary Ellen Maurer was in-strumental
in getting volunteers."
"Carole Baily, '87, takes a breathalyzer test after drinking three screwdrivers as part of Alco-hol
awareness week education." [Photo by Andrea Whitehouse]
IT'S HERE!
The Mirror presents
its first ever
FASHION ISSSUE!
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INSjDE THIS WEEK
News 1,2
Commentary 3
Editorials 4
Financial 5
Features 7-10
Comics -11
Arts & Entertainment . 12, 13
Sports. . 15, 16