Mirror - Vol. 12, No. 01 - September 10, 1987

              •s/'
News
I hinas look different this year 2 Commentary
Playing with lire 9 A&E
Album reviews for the everyman 11
The
FairfieldMIRRORv Volume 12. No. 1 Our Second Decade Thursday. September 10. 1987 The Image of Fairfield
(Above) The class of 1991 's caravan slowly winds its way through opening
day orientation procedures. (Below) Orientation Co-Chairs Beth Gillin and
Brian Kavanaugh greet incoming freshmen.
(Photos by Michelle i
Choral groups merge
By Melissa Campanelli
lulitor-ln-Chicf
On April 30. Mr. William Schimpf.
Vice President lor Student Services
announced that the three main choral
groups on campus, the Chamber Singers.
the Glee Club, and the Women's
Chorale, will merge together to form one-large
structured group called The Fairfield
University Glee Club. effective this
September.
According to Mr. Schimpf. the
decision, which was made by a
committee comprised of the faculty
moderators of. the Glee Club and the
Chorale, the chairman of the Academic
Department of Fine Arts, two faculty
members who participate in off-campus
chorale groups, an alumnus of the Glee
Club, an alumna of the Women's
Chorale, and two students appointed by
the government, will "maximize the
performance opportunities for current and
future students." Much opposition,
however, has become the result.
The committee to study choral
music was formed after certain
circumstances occured. Firstly, a limited
number of students seem to have taken
an interest in joining the groups in recent
years. For instance, in 1967, the Glee
Club consisted of eighty students, as
opposed to the 119 combined who took
part in all four University choral groups
last year. Also, the increase in students
participating in choral groups over the
past twenty sears is 4X'f. During that
same period of time, the number of
undergraduates increased by 74%.
Numbers of male students decreased by
219^. while the size of the Glee Club
decresed by oX'/r. Henceforth, according
to the aforementioned figures, the growth
of numbers of students participating in
organized choral activities has grown at a
slower pace than the number of students
in the undergraduate programs.
Schimpf stated that this decrease in
members "limits the variety of chorale
music. Expanding the chorus would take
away the limitations that small numbers
place upon our groups."
Also, according to Schimpf, there
was some friction occuring between the
three groups that had just begun, and he
felt a committee should be formed to
appease it.
Certain members of the Glee Club,
the Woman's Chorale and the Chamber
Singers, along with 65 alumni, countless
students, and members of the faculty,
feel, however, that the change is not for
the better. In fact, a petition was passed
around last spring by members of the
singing groups, addressed to Schimpf,
with names of hundreds of concerned
students, exhibiting their regret
concerning the consolidation of choral
music into one group. These students
feel the large group would "diminish
Fairfield University's reputation for broad-based
choral excellence which the
exisiting groups bring to our school."
See Choral, p. 3
Blaze damages Bannow
Chris Michailoff
News Editor
On July 2, the Bannow Science
Center caught on fire. The fire broke out
at 1:30 p.m., and was caused by an
overheated exhaust in an emergency
generator. The University Fire Marshall.
Henry Stevens, alerted the Fairfield Fire
Department, who responded to the. two
alarm fire.
Upon leaving his office. University
professor Fr. Thomas McGrath S.J.,
reported smoke to the University
Security Department. Fire Marshall
Stevens was sent to Bannow to
investigate. Stevens found the exhaust
pipe of the emergency generator to be
"cherry red, emitting tremendous heat."
The emergency generator had been turned
on because of a power outage that had
occured the day before the fire. Fire
Marshall Capt. Clarence Darrow
confirmed that a muffler pipe from the
generator in the basement had overheated,
and sparked the blaze. The intense heat
caused paper in a storage room to ignite.
Stevens tried to put out the fire with an
extuinguisher but failed. The fire
department was called immediately.
Seven engines, one ladder truck, and
two fire rescue units responded to the
blaze, which sent blankets of smoke
billowing out of the vents. Firefighters
spent the bulk of the afternoon battling
the blaze and had trouble gaining access
to the basement because the false ceiling
and shelving toppled and blocked the
entrances to the area. Stevens said, "it
was a tough area to fight the fire, because
of the shape of the building.." Fairfield
Security Chief, Vincent Brennan admits
that the fire was hard to battle because
"the floor is underground, and the smoke
was making access very hard." Four
fireman had to be treated for smoke
inhalation.
Henry Stevens felt that the blaze
could have done much more damage had
it not been put out fast, though he
confides that , "it was a very severe
fire." The smoke, lack of lights, and the
unfamiliarity.with the corridors prevented
the firemen from finding the blzae
quickly. The fire was contained in a
storage room near the computer center,
which housed the university's main
frame, but Dr. John Barone. the
University provost said it appeared fire
fighters were able to prevent any damage
to the computer. The smoke detectors,
and the fire alarms did not go off, since
the emergency generator had to be turned
off.
Dr. Barone feels a contributing
factor to the fire was the poor design of
the exhaust system for the emergency
generator, the town of Fairfield has a
ruling that does not allow exhaust pipes
to run by classrooms where there are
windows. This factor caused the
architectural designers. Eggers and
Higgins. to install a pipe that had a lot
of joints. According to Barone. this
caused a great deal of resistance, therefore
See Fire, p. 5