Mirror - Vol. 12, No. 13 - December 10, 1987

              Merry Christmas
MIRRORV The
Fairfield
Volume 12, No. 13 Our Second Decade Thursday, December 10, 1987 The Image of Fairfield
Politics Professor
discusses Surinam
By Claudine Kiffer
Staff Writer
Dr. Edward Dew, professor of Po-litcs
at Fairfield University, recently re-turned
from the country of Surinam after
participating in the United States Presiden-tial
Delegation to observe the general elec-tions
held there on November 25.
Surinam, a former Dutch colony, is
located in South America near Brazil. Dr.
Dew, who has been studying Surinam for 17
years, has written over 20 articles and a
book, The Difficult Fioweriing ofSurinam,
on the subject. The people of Surinam are
multi-ethnic, including Africans, Indians,
Indonesians, Dutch, Chinese and Amer-indians.
This diversity lends itself to inter-group
strife and conflict.
In 1975, when Surinam gained its
independence, a military system was cre-ated
to go along with the democratic govern-ment.
In 1980, the government was over-taken
by a coup, and the military came to
power. At first the coup was welcomed by
the people, but soon they were in despair.
There were many human rights abuses by
the dictator, which frightened the people.
These abuses also helped cast Surinam,
formerly one of the richest nations in the
Caribbean, into economic failure. The U.S.
and the Dutch cut their foreign aid, which
had largely comprised Surinam's prosper-ity,
in protest to the human rights abuses.
Surinam's dictator, Sgt. Major De-sire
Bouterse, was under great pressure due
to the Civil War, the public's uncertainty
and impatience, and the economic despair.
He consented to hold elections in order to
possibly re-establish a democracy. Bouterse
declared an invitation to observer teams to
come in from other countries and monitor
the elections. The aim of an observer team
is to put pressure on the government, and
make sure the elections are run fairly and
without fraud. Twelve different teams from
the US and other countries participated.
Dr. and Mrs. Dew, with the help of
Senators Weiker and Dodd, were able to
secure positions on the United States' 14
member Presidential Delegation. The trip
lasted two days, which were tightly sched-uled
with meetings, briefings, and interro-gations.
They were guests of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and were treated very well.
At the conclusion of the assignment,
the members of the team found no apparent
fraud or misrepresentation. Possibilities for
fraud were cancellation of the elections,
stuffed ballot boxes, and fixed counting of
the ballots, yet none of this happened. The
election results showed a landslide against
the dictatorship.
Although there is optimism, there is
no guarantee that democracy will be re-stored.
Ideally, ndw members of parliament
will be sworn in within 30 days, who will in
tum elect a president to take office in an-other
30 days. Due to the fact that the
military still possess the weaponry to con-trol,
the whole idea of democracy could be
aborted. The U.S. is concerned with the
outcome, because of the desire to preserve
the safety of democracy in the hemisphere.
Dr. Dew is very enthusiastic about
Surinam and his part in the elections. The
people of Surinam were "delighted" to see
the observer teams. They were eager to give
"revealing and frank answers to questions
asked," asserted Dr. Dew.
Mid-year report
compiled by FUSA
By Lynn Ann Casey
Staff Writer
Back in April 1987, FUSA President
Chris Ritchie and the entire FUSA admini-stration
set up a list of goals and promised to
resign if they were not doing their job. Now,
FUSA has compiled a 1987-88 Midyear
review, a self-analysis of its progress "of the
goals set in April."
FUSA is submitting their report to
the student legislature. Then it will be
reviewed by the judiciary committee who
will, in turn, make recommendations to the
president of FUSA. These recommenda-tions
wil be about new ideas or about present
progress of the cabinet members.
When asked about how well the goals
have been fulfilled, Ritchie said he thought
everything was "going very well, especially
in terms of dollars and cents." In the past six
months, the events have had improved at-tendance.
More events than ever before
have been sold out, including Airbands and
Dogwoods last semester, and Harvest, the
INXS concert, and the William F. Buckley
lecture this semester. Because of this im-proved
attendance, FUSA will be able to
hold many more spring events. There will
be 44 events, 34 more than last spring be-cause
there is $49,000 in the budget, an
improvement of $30,000 over last year.
Overall, Chris Ritchie is happy about
this year's administration. More students
are involved in FUSA this year than ever
before. Ritchie highlighted two committees
for their excellent work, the Student Enter-tainment
Committee led by Terri Durso and
the Special Events Committee. Also, he
commends Mark Dietz, Frank Carroll, and
the three Vice Presidents, Kerry Pollicino,
Ken Caisse, and Marianne Walsh who
"have done more than any other FUSA vice
presidents before them."
This is the first Midyear report ever
published by FUSA. Ritchie says that it has
been helpful to all involved in student gov-ernment.
The first review ever will "set a
precedent for all other FUSA administrators
to govern the student body in the future."
Now, the Fairfield University community
will see the results of their votes.
See page 5 for
Christmas messages
FUSA proposes raise in
student activities fee
By AnnMarie Puckhaber
Staff Writer
The proposal to raise the student
activities fee was completed last week by
the Fairfield University Student Associa-tion
(FUSA). FUSA is requesting a $10
increase in the activities fee, from $35 to
$45. The proposal was originally for a $15
increase but lowered according to Chris
Ritchie, FUSA President, "because we want
to be realistic."
FUSA has several reasons why it
would like the fee raised. One reason says
Frank Carroll, Executive Director of FUSA,
is to "beef up the programming in the Stag-
Her and Campus Center." Due to the higher
drinking age, FUSA must sponsor top non-alcoholic
entertainment in order to attract
underage students. The increase in the fee
would enable FUSA to introduce more new
programs on campus on the weekends and
during the week.
FUSA would also like to sponsor
more educational programs such as leader-ship
programs and lectures. To have another
lecture like the William F. Buckley lecture
would cost about $10,000, and as Ritchie
explains, "We have the man power but we
don't have the money." The additional
money would provide for two programs of
this caliber instead of just one.
Another problem FUSA encountered
this year was with the club allocations. The
clubs requested $25,000 and FUSA only
\had $15,000 to give to them. FUSA man-aged
to raise another $5,000 for the clubs but
Carroll says, "We are starting to feel a
crunch with monies." With the additional
funds the clubs could take on bigger activi-ties.
The student activities fee has not
been increased in six years. During the i
1981 -82 school year the fee was raised from
$30 to $35. In that time, however, the
tuition has gone up about 42%. Also,
Fairfield's activities fee is below the aver-age.
A survey conducted among the 28 Jes-uit
schools shows the average fee to be $64.
the University of San Francisco's fee is $80
and Holy Cross' fee is $110.
The proposal needs the approval of
James Fitzpatrick, Assistant Dean of Uni-versity
Activities, and William Schimpf,
Vice President of Student Services, before it
can go to the Board of Trustees for final
approval. Schimpf says that he recognizes
the fact that the cost of living has increased
as well as the price of the University and
programming. However, he says the prob-lem
that he will look at is the fee's "impacts
on the cost of education". He also said he is
going to look at where the money from the
activities fee has gone in the past, not at what
the additional money would be used for.
"Whether it will be approved or not I don't
know," says Schimpf, but it will receive
"serious consideration."
Ritchie says that the proposal to raise
the activities fee is the "biggest goal" of
FUSA this year. He feels that the increase
would "make a big difference in student
life." If the proposal is approved it will
provide FUSA with another $20,000. With
this money it can sponsor more events that
will in turn generate more income.
If Fitzpatrick and Schimpf approve
the proposal it will go to the Board of Trus-tees
on Friday on their recommendation.
The Board sets all fees after reviewing the
information collected by the University
administartion. If the proposal is approved it
will be effective for the 1988-89 school
year.
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