Mirror - Vol. 10, No. 16 - November 13, 1986

              The
FairfieldMIRRORy Volume 10, No. 16 Our Tenth Year Thursday, November 13, 1986 The Image of Fairfield
FUSA Budget Falls Short
By Joseph Draper
The Fairfield University Student Associ-ation
recently learned that it has less than
$25,000 for programming in the second
semester.
This semester FUSA had scheduled
several major events that normally
breakeven or bring in enough revenues to
cover other expenditures. Instead, due to
lack of attendance, FUSA fell short on
revenues. These include a $2,000 loss on
Harvest and $10,000 on the Hooters con-cert.
While the Hooters was a sellout the
loss incurred was more than budgeted for.
In addition, according to Mike Miller and
Chris Ritchie; FUSA has only recently been
notified of several outstanding bills from
last year. One is from the bus company that
carried students to Stag basketball games in
Madison Square Garden in February and
the MAAC tournament in March. The bill
was for $7,723. A second unanticipated
cost was incurred in the summer storage
program. In theory FUSA projected to lose
$1,500. This was to act as a subsidy to
make the plan more affordable. People used
the storage opportunity much more heavi-ly
than expected resulting in a $3,300 loss.
FUSA works on a $97,000 budget. How
it is spent is determined by the Student
Legislature.;According to James Fitz-patrick.
Assistant Dean and Director of the
Campus Center, the university agrees to
collect $35 from each student in activities
fees. How it is eventually split up is the
responsibility of students.
The Halloween was attended by less the
100 people this year. In previous years this
has been one of the most successful events.
Also in October was the "Stag-her in the
Oak Room" where Sister Sun performed.
Less the 50 people attended this event.
The Student Legislature has formed an
ad-hoc committee to study the problem of
why student attendance is way down.
"I think we're seeing the full effects of the
drinking age." said Fitzpatrick. This year
the drinking age in Connecticut is 21 with
no grandfather clause.
Fairfield Receives 2nd Largest
Donation in School's History
Fairfield University has received a gift of
$1.1 million from the estate of Dominic R.
Eiardi, an engineer who left the bequest in
honor of his brother, the Rev. Anthony J.
Eiardi, S.J., who taught mathematics at the
university for 25 years until he retired in
1979.
The gift will establish an endowment to
provide scholarship aid to deserving stu-dents.
The fund was established by the late
Mr. Eiardi and his wife, Florence M.
Eiardi and was presented to the university
by Mr. Eiardi's sister, Mrs. Francis J. Sel-grade
of Raleigh, N.C. One of seven chil-dren,
Mr. Eiardi was an engineer for 40
years for the DuPont Corporation in Wil-mington
and Newark Delaware. His work
took him to several States and to South
America.
Discussing his brother, Father Eiardi
said, "Dominic was the eldest child and
practically supported us so he never had an
opportunity to attend an engineering school
during the day to receive a degree. Instead,
he studied nights for 16 years and earned
certificates at Drexel Institution of Technol-ogy
in chemical, electrical and structural
engineering."
He added, "Dominic was a thinker who
valued a liberal education because it helps
teach students how to think." He also held
in high esteem the ethics taught in a Cathol-ic
and Jesuit institution and believed moral-ity
was necessary in the workplace. He said
he is uncomfortable having the Rev. Antho-ny
J. Eiardi, S.J., Scholarship Fund named
for him "but my brother wanted it named
after me and I'm here if the scholarship,
recipients want to come and talk to me."
Because the fund is endowed, it will con-tinue
in perpetuity and the interest will be
used each year for scholarships. The gift
brings Fairfield University's endowment to
approximately $13 million increasing from
just $1.5 million seven years ago.
The gift, comprised mainly of stocks and
bonds, is the second largest ever received
by Fairfield University, exceeded only by
the $1.75 million from the estate of Helen
Farrell in 1983.
Ellwood Discusses Japan's Economics
By Scott R. Davis
Professor Robert S. Ellwood from the
University of Southern California visited
Fairfield University from November 6-8.
He gave a series of seminars to the Reli-gious
Studies Department, a lecture to in-terested
students on the "Spiritual Roots of
Japanese Economic Success," and he par-ticipated
in a video project which involved
thirteen students from Dr. Benney's In-troduction
to Religion and Contemporary
Christian Anthropology classes.
Professor Ellwood gave a talk on the
Economic Success of Japan in the Nursing
Auditorium on November 6. During his
talk, he emphasized the paradox that existed
in Japanese life. He stated that "Japan Air
has a calm beauty that operates at the speed
of sound." The two-sided conflict can be
seen between Buddhism and Shintoism.
Buddhism deals with an "exploration and
development of inner resources and the
eternal now, while Shintoism is celebrated
with a frenetic energy as seen from marri-age
festivals." Professor Ellwood further
stated that "Shintoism is the only surviving
polytheistic religion that exists in an ad-vanced
society." This Japanese religion
uses colorful mythology and symbols which
explores earthly rewards and the idea of
historical destiny under the Kami's will.
"This religion has many centers of mean-ing
which can sometimes be considered the
spirit of a modern democracy." Shintoism
emphasizes consensus, the unity of spirit.
This is an important element of the Japanese
decision making process.
Confucianism is another religious tradi-tion
that exists for the community. The
ideal of the religion is for each member to
sacrifice himself for the good of the fami-ly
so that harmonious relationships can be
established for all. This can be better un-derstood
by an example given by Prof. Ell-wood
that illustrates the work ethic oriented
Continued on page 2
[Photo by Andrea Whitehouse]
Blood Reaches Goal
by Connie-McKenna
News Editor
The bi-annual blood drive, sponsored by
Circle K and the Student Nurse Associa-tion,
elicited the donation of 365 pints of
blood last week, well over the projected
goal of 340 pints.
Co-chairs of the event were Deanne Ja-son
of Circle K, and Angela Caseria of
SNA, both of whom planned the event in
cooperation with Arlene Carlson of the
American Red Cross, Connecticut region.
Typically, Circle K and SNA split the
moderate cost of sponsoring the bloodmo-bile.
Cash outlays are made for the balloon
decorations and various sundries.
Members of SNA donate their time by
taking donor histories and administering
blood tests.Circle K participants acted as
typists, escorts, and donor aids.
Sue Ballinger.president of Circle K, not-ed
that there were also a fair number of peo-ple
who intended to donate, but were unable
to because ofa slight cold or because he/she
had been out of the country for more than
a year.""We really appreciate these people's
intentions,""added Ballinger.
Essential to the production of the blood-mobile
were Lisa Billello for publicity,
Stephanie Span for Circle K staffing, and
Donna Duncan and Carol Patzer for
recruitment.
Both Jason and Ballinger were enthusias-tic
about the drive's outcome;'"'We're real-ly
pleased with the results and with the help
that everyone gave us.It's especially gratify-ing
that we achieved even more than what
we had hoped for." "The next bloodmobile
on campus is tentatively scheduled for
February. '
Bishop's Letter To Be Discussed
A conference on the U.S. Bishops'
pastoral letter on the economy will be held
on Wednesday, November 19 in the Fair-field
university Campus Center Oak Room.
The afternoon and evening program has
been scheduled to respond to the vote taken
this month by the National Conference of
Catholic bishops on the third and final draft
of the letter, "Economic Justice for
All. . .Catholic Social Teaching and the
U.S. Economy."
The first draft of the pastoral letter, made
public the week following the 1984
Presidential election, attracted strong and
divergent responses. For some, the letter
was a welcome invitation to address the
problems of the poor as a national issue
while others thought it was too critical of
present economic policies in the U.S. Ad-dressing
these issues as well as other ramifi-cations
of the letter will be national leaders
in business, ethics and social concerns as
well as a member of the drafting commit-tee
of the letter.
The afternoon session from 2-4pm will
examine "The Origins, Objectives and Sig-nificance
of the Pastoral Letter" and feature
the Most reverand Peter A. Rosazza of
Waterbury, auxiliary bishop of the Arch-diocese
of Hartford and a member of the
drafting committee for the letter, and Rev.
Peter J. Henriot, S.J., director of the
Center for Concern in Washington, D.C.
Continued on page 2
Town Approves Townhouse Zoning
Construction of new townhouses has
been approved by the Fairfield Town Plan
and Zoning Commission. In its Tuesday
October 27 meeting held in Independence
Hall the commission voted five to one in
favor of an additional 29 townhouses. The
one opposing vote was cast by TPZ Vice
Chairman Myron Hinckley. He had
presented an analysis which supported his
claims that the area along North Benson
Road was ill-suited for another density
structure considering that it was a residen-tial
neighborhood.
According to the Fairfield Citizen News,
he criticized the lack of drainage retention
on the site and that allowing another 29
units to the 79 that now exist would be a
mistake.
Commissioner Richard Saxl said he felt
that student housing was an appropriate use
for the land. He pointed out that the con-struction
was beneficial to the community
because it will allow the university to house
more students on campus, thus removing
the student renters from the Fairfield Beach
Road environs. Planning Director Joseph
Devonshuk explained the drainage system
would flow away from the neighborhoods
that surround the site.
Groundbreaking is expected to take place
as soon as possible.
Inside This Week
"A Day of Fasting
for World Hunger"
page 6-7