Mirror - Vol. 12, No. 08 - October 29, 1987

              Features
New Lit course confronts death 4 Commentary
Point/Couterpoint on Nicaragua 7 A&E
INXS rocks Alumni Hall 9
MIRRORy The
Fairfield
Volume 12, No. 8 Our Second Decade Thursday, October 29, 1987 The Image of Fairfield
Trade imbalance
Reeves focuses on American Democracy discussed ^
By Jeanne Lynch
Staff Writer
A large crowd filled the Oak Room
Tuesday night to hear Richard Reeves
speak on Democracy in America.
Reeve's, a syndicated columnist and
author, presented an informative analysis
of American democracy. In his book,
American Journey: Traveling with
Tocqueville in Search of Democracy in
America, Reeves retraces Alexis
deTocqueville's travels across the United
States in 1831. Reeves duplicated
Tocqueville's journey and documented his
observations . During his lecture,
Reeves focused on the comparison of
these two trips.
"We are the same people that
Tocqueville saw", Reeves began. His
assertion was that we are no different
than the Americans 150 years ago. He
offered a comical example of this point.
Tocqueville visited a prison in Auburn,
New York. When he interviewed the
warden, he inquired about the prisoners'
daily wages. The reply was forty-five
cents. Reeves visited the same prison,
and met with the current warden, and
when he asked about the prisoners' daily
pay the reply was still forty-five cents.
Reeves stated that Americans of both eras
have similar characteristics and goals.
Individuals will differ from one to
another, but Americans share a set of
universal qualities.
Tocqueville was shocked to find that
democracy actually works. He found,
surprisingly, that people can govern
themselves. Reeves found that
democracy today, although not
necessarily flawless, consistently works.
"It does not always do what each of us
may want it to do, but it works for most
people most of the time."
Reeves finds the America of the 80's
to be more democartic than ever.
"America is not about freedom to
succeed, but freedom to fail." This
country allows its people to continually
rise and fall again. Tocqueville was
stunned by the leniency of America's
bankruptcy laws in the 1830's. In France
during that time, those people who went
bankrupt were immediately sent to
debtor's prison. Today, America remains
to be the home of second chances.
Reeves observed that in order for further
growth in democracy, changes must
continually be made. Reeves pointed to
the making of foreign policy as an
example, and felt that more people
should be involved in deciding the
country's fate when defense of war is of
concern.
The greatest problem that both
Tocqueville and Reeves saw in American
Society is race. Tocqueville travelled at a
time when we were forcibly removing
the Indians from their homeland. He was
a witness to the treatment of one race by
a dominant other, just as Reeves saw our
treatment of blacks to be the same form
of racism. Reeves suggested that, "part of
being American is to be better."
Unfortunately, Americans have not
handled this social inadequacy any better
than we did in the 1930's.
" Reeves concluded by stating that we
are the same people which Tocqueville
observed. America has been strengthened
in some areas by the growth of
democracy, while other areas remain
needy of democartic attention. He stressed
that democracy alone does not produce
glory and greatness. As Americans we
must find greatness within ourselves and
manifest glory within our country.
at CODAC
By Joanne Smith
Staff Writer
Events mark Alcohol Awareness Week
By AnnMarie Puckhaber
Staff Writer
This year's National Collegiate
Alcohol Awareness Week was from
October 19 to October 25. All of the
colleges and universities across the
nation participated in some way. Peer
Counseling and FUSA sponsored a full
week of events here at Fairfield.
Barry Vesciglk), substance Abuse
Counselor, said that "college drinking is
a phenomenon" and that he hoped the
past week's events would provide
"education to make the students more
aware." He described the programs of
Alcohol Awareness Week as "programs
that are fun, but that also have a purpose
behind them".
There was a Film Fest on several
days throughout the week. Ken Caisse,
Vice President of Student Life, described
the Film Fest as a "collaboration of
videos". Segments were taken from
various shows about alcohol and put
together. The purpose of the video,
according to Caisse, was to bring about
"awareness". Vesciglio commented that
the Peer Counselors and FUSA "tried to
be real visual".
i On Tuesday, an Alcohol Bowl was
held in the Campus Center lobby. The
bowl was hosted by Father William
Cullen and eight students participated.
There was also an alcohol discussion on
WVOF. Jim Quinn, Public Affairs
Director of the Station, interviewed
Carolyn Curran, Director of Alcohol
Awareness Week, and Nancy Castelluci,
Peer Counselor.
On Wednesday, Richard Edstrem, a
counselor at the Guenster Rehabilitation
Center in Bridgeport, gave a talk and
answered questions. Curran said that
they "could have had a better turnout at
the lecture." On Friday, two alcoholics
from the center spoke about their
experiences. One listener asked, "What
do you do if you have a roommate who
has a problem?" Caisse said that their
answer was "to hold the person
responsible for (his/her) actions and to let
them know that you're concerned."
In addition to these events, there was
a questionnaire conducted by the Peer
Counselors, the showing of the movie
Only When I Laugh, and the traditional
party in the Stag-Her Inn. There was
also a Dorm Council Banner Contest that
Loyola Hall won and a Resident Advisor
Bulletin Board Contest that Barbara
Sheehan, RA of Koska Hall, won.
The main purpose of Alcohol
Awareness Week was to "make people
aware of the effects of alcohol and what
can happen with abuses," said Caisse. He
added that this year's Alcohol Awareness
Week was "better than in the past
because we had more events and more
publicity." Castellucci added that "if we
helped , we achieved our goal."
The Alcohol Awareness Committee
is planning more events for the rest of the
year. Curran said that the committee will
try to "promote responsible drinking and
prevent drinking and driving". Vesciglio
said that the advantage at Fairfield
University is that there are "people and
students who care enough about each other
to put time and money into these
programs."
Alcohol Poll results tallied
Ambassador Hidetoshi Ukawa,
consul general of Japan in New York,
spoke at a luncheon in the Oak Room
on Thursday, October 22. The event was
sponsored by the Committee on
American Capitalism (CODAC) and
was moderated by Walter Hoadley, who
is a commmittee chairman and senior
research fellow at the Hoover Institution
at Stanford University.
The Ambassador discussed the trade
imbalance between the U.S. and Japan.
He questioned the validity of the
statistics that portray an enormous
imbalance in Japan's favor. For
example, he rioted that the Disneyland
in Tokyo has even a greater gross than
its American counterpart; and that Japan
is the leading consumer of Coca-Cola
only after the U.S. and Mexico. He
accredited the Americans with teaching
the Japanese the key to success in
marketing - "a quality product,
competitively priced, delivered on time."
Ukawa stated that the Japenese are
willing to negotiate, but "the U.S. must
make an effort to compete." He
continued, "we can provide the pull into
our market, but somebody has to push."
It is also difficult for economies of both
countries to adjust to a major shift in
trade, he noted.
Ukawa commented that the U.S. is
assuming the roles of "judge, jury, and
executioner." We should not point
fingers at each other, he warned, for that
only brings out the worst in everyone.
Ukawa also defended the new Prime
Minister's decision not to increase
defense spending. There has been
pressure by the U.S. to have Japan
assume some American obligations in
the Pacific. The Ambassador said that
the 1.5% now spent by the Japanese
on defense, although seemingly minute
in comparison to America's 6%, is still
the fifth largest in the Western
Hemisphere and is threatening to Japan's
See CODAC, p. 11
By Nancy Castellucci and
John Sturtevant
A recent alcohol awareness survey,
conducted by peer counselors, has
determined the following results:
The number of people polled: 166
(90 males, 75 females, and 1 neuter). Of
these students, 76% considered
themselves to be "normal" drinkers, 25%
have missed class at least once because of
drinking, 36% have pressured friends into
drinking, and 50% have been pressured by
friends to drink.
, When questioned abouit their
drinking habits, most people answered that
they usually only drink on weekends. The
second most popular answer was that they
occasionally drink on weekends. The
strongest reason why people drink seems
to be that they enjoy the taste. The
next strongest reason is to make them
happy or to relieve tension.
The most popular drinking
hangouts for Fairfield students are the
townhouses with the beach running a
close second.
Most people said that if they were
concerned about a friend drinking they
would be most likely to contact another
friend first, and then possibly the R.A.
Most students feel that the Fairifeld
University's policy on drinking is
neither too strict nor too lenient. 73%
of those polled feel that there are enough
non-alcoholic social events on campus.
The most popular suggestion for non-alcoholic
social events, however, is the
structuring of more sociafgatherings,
such as movies and dances.