Mirror - Vol. 12, No. 06 - October 15, 1987

              News
Alcohol Awareness Week Schedule 2 Features
Playhouse Profiles 6 A&E
Focus on New Music 10
MIRRORy The
Fairfield
Volume 12, No. 6 Our Second Decade Thursday, October 15, 1987 The Image of Fairfield
Niering
discusses
environment
By Lynn Ann Casey
Staff Writer
Dr. William A. Niering was here to
give what he believes is a "holistic view
of environmental impacts confronting
humankind." He said he did not "want to
paint a picture of gloom and doom"
about the environment and its problems
today, but, instead, to "make us think"
about it.
Dr. William Niering is a professor
of Botany at Connecticut College.
Niering who has served as a land
ecologist, an editor of a bulletin on
ecology, and as a consultant to wildlife
committees, spoke in the Center for
Financial Studies on October 7 at 8:00.
He is a member of the North Atlantic
Regional Advisory Committee, and a
consultant to the New York City Parks
Natural Resources Group.
Dr. Niering launched a series of
three lectures presented by Fairfield
University's Program in Environmental
Studies, and funded by a grant from the
Olin Corporation Charitable Trust.
There are so many problems and so
many complications that have to be
dealt with that society must begin
somewhere. Such problems on a global
level include: climatic change, loss in
biotic diversity, nuclear winter, and a
loss of the ozone layer.
In remedy, Dr. Niering has two
basic suggestions. First, he advocates
"developing solar energy to the
maximum" as opposed to fossil fuel.
The sun is an excellent source of
untapped energy. Second, we must
"promote energy conservation." Society
is not serious enough about conservation
and a change is needed in the
"environmental ethic nationwide."
Dr. Niering addressed the young
people of the audience by saying that it
"may take your generation and not mine"
to bring about the change necessary to
improve the environment and increase
efficiency in energy use. Niering stated
that he not only wanted to make his
audience think, but more importantly to
make them act.
In quoting Lincoln, Niering said,
"we can sin in silence"; or as Niering
says "we can leave this world a little bit
better than we found it."
The next speaker in the
Environmental Lecture Series will be
Gary D. Brewer, professor of resource
policy and managment at Yale, on
November 4.
Diverse, well-rounded students
comprise Class of 1991
By Joanne Smith
Staff Writer
The Class of 1991 is a diverse group
of over 750 students carefully chosen
from a pool of 5,711 applicants.
The students were chosen based on
the quality of their high school record,
the types of courses taken, honors
received, and grade point average. "Each
year the University receives a better
student," notes Dean of Admissions,
David M. Flynn. This year's freshmen
averaged in the top 21% of their class,
with an average GPA of 88 or better and
SAT scores averaging over 1100,
compared to the national average of 920.
The board of admissions also chose
students who display the characteristics
of a well-rounded individual, participating
in such activities as the high school
newspaper, yearbook or taking leadership
roles among their peers.
The new freshmen represent 27
states and four countries. Dean Flynn
states "Fairfield is striving to make
everyone's experience here diverse and the
learning process more inclusive. The
freshman class is a step in that
direction."
He attributes the broadening of the
University's reputation to its academic
status, Jesuit origin, prime location, and
picturesque campus.
The diversity, he claims, is also due
to an expansion of recruitment programs,
notably in such places as Minneapolis,
California, Florida and Atlanta, although
the influence of Alumni references should
not be underestimated.
Fairfield is also ranked as "very
competitive" in nationally distributed
college guides such as Peterson's and
Insider's. Only 1 of every 100 colleges
in the nation accept fewer than 50% of
their applicant pool-Fairfield is included
in this category.
The most frequently chosen majors
in the School of Arts and Sciences are
Liberal Arts, Biology, English, and
Politics; Accounting, Undeclared
Business, Finance and Management are
most commonly selected in the School
of Business.
The Freshmen, 85% of whom live
on campus, are approximately 90%
Catholic. 4% are minorities. R
Support group meets
needs of students
By Chris Michailoff
News Editor
To meet the ever-increasing needs of
students, Dr. Robert Stepsis, the
Academic Vice President, has set up the
Academic Support Group.
The Academic Support Group is
headed by Fr. Thomas Savage, S.J., the
Assistant Academic Vice President. This
committee is comprised of all the
assistant and associate deans throughout
the University, as well as Fr. Henry
Murphy, S.J., the Dean of Freshmen, the
Registrar, and two members from
Student Services. Both Fr. Lawrence
O'Neil, S.J. and Linda Tribuzio, the
director of Tutorial Services, make up the
Student Service aspect of the group.
According to Fr. Savage, "This
group is unique because it combines
Student Service Staff members with
Academic members of the school."
Incorporating Student Services and
Academics was done with the intent of
having a better overview of the student.
Dr. Stepsis has given this group a
few areas to look at in the University.
The Academic Support Group will
review the policies for student probation,
suspension, and re-admission to Fairfield.
This group will also be responsible
for making up the academic calendar. Fr.
Savage is looking into a way that would
combine the calendars of both the
Undergraduate and Graduate Schools.
Fairfield University must comply
with regulations on how long records
must be kept; and this group will focus
on the amount of time the University
must keep records.
Fr. Savage said, "We will try to get
more systematic about making sure that
the students fulfill the proper class
requirements to graduate." He felt that in
the past students lost out since the
University would not notify them if they
failed to have enough classes to graduate.
The Academic Support Group will
provide a semester's notice to a
graduating student indicating if they have
failed to meet necessary requirements to
graduate.
The process of faculty advisors will
be reviewed at all levels. Fr. Savage
states, "We are going to prepare a
University handbook for all students to
review." This will allow faculty advisors
to formulate a better system to advise
students; while at the same time
establish a definite role for the advisors.
Fr. Savage feels this group is a step
in a positive direction, since it brings
together Academics and Student Services
which can "look at the entire student."
Reeves presents lecture
(PR)-Author and syndicated
columnist Richard Reeves will present a
lecture entitled "The Incredible American
Journey: 1787-1987," at Fairfield
University, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. in the
Campus Center Oakroom. The lecture is
part of the People's Forum lecture series
made possible through a grant from
People's Bank.
As one of the country's leading
commentators on American and
international affairs, Mr. Reeves' writing
appears regularly in "The New Yorker"
and "The New York Times Magazine."
He is the author of seven books
including the best selling "Convention"
and "American Journey: Travelling with
Tocqueville in Search of Democracy in
America."
Mr. Reeves has also won several of
American television's major documentary
film awards. His ABC "Clqse-Up" film,
"Lights, Camera Politics!" received
the 1980 Emmy for outstanding program
achievement; "Struggle for
Birmingham," produced for public
television's "Frontline" won a 1984
Colombia-Dupont Award for best
network documentary; and "Red Star
Over Khyber," also for "Frontline," won
a 1984 George Foster Peabody Award.
A former chief political
correspondent for the "New York Times,"
Mr. Reeves has been an editor of "New
York" Magazine and "Esquire." Educated
as a mechanical engineer at Stevens
Institute of Technology in New Jersey,
he began his journalism career as the
founder of a weekly newspaper in
Phillipsburg, New Jersey, before
becoming a reporter for The New York
Herald Tribune.
Mr. Reeves' Fairfield lecture will
provide a provocative and original
analysis of Tocqueville's "Democracy in
America." By retracing the French social
commentator's travels across the United
States, Mr. Reeves will compare the
Americans of 200 years ago to their
modem-day counterparts.
The annual Appalachia festival, which took pi ace last weekend, attracted gift-buyers
from all over Fairfield County. (photo by Langzettel)
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