Mirror - Vol. 12, No. 20 - March 03, 1988

              The
Fairfield
Volume 12, No. 20MRRORV Our Second Decade Thursday, March 3, 1988 The Image of Fairfield
Black Lecture
Series
Continues
Dennis Heffern
Staff Writer'
Dr. O. O. Dipeolu, a world-renown
authority on food produc-tion
and distribution, will speak on
"The World Food Crisis: Analysis
of the African Angle," March 16,
at 8 pm. in the School of Nursing
Auditorium. Dr. Dipeolu's lecture
is part of the University's Visiting
Black Scholars program. While on
campus. Dr. Dipeolu will also
meet with various faculty and stu-dent
groups. He is scheduled to
visit Dr. Donald Ross* biology
class in Nutrition and Metabolism.
In his talk, Dr. Dipeolu will
analyze how the social-cultural
beliefs within Africa and Asia
control both the production and
distribution of livestock. He will
also discuss what roles the United
States and Europe can play in help-ing
to redeem the situation. In a
recent interview he commented:
"Though millions of dollars have
been poured into Africa to lessen
the hunger situation, it has yet to
scratch the surface. We must first
understand how certain tribes and
subcultures within a country ulti-mately
determine who gets fed. It
is these beliefs we need to tackle
before we can move forward."
The Visiting Black Schol-ars
program began in 1986 as part
of the University's commitment to
"serve the wider community by
educating its students to be so-cially
aware and morally respon-sible
persons." Each scholar
spends two days on campus to
share their expertise in several
settings: in classroom lectures, in
formal meetings with faculty and
students, and in formal lectures
presented to the public.
Assistant Academic Vice
President Francis T. Hannafey
commented: "Dr. Dipeolu is an
expert on food production and
distribution, and along with his
background as a scientist, we can
expect an informative lecture on
this very important international
issue." As a student at Fairfield
University, it is often easy to be-come
ignorant of this seemingly
"distant" issue. Dr. Dipeolu's lec-ture
can only help to open our ears
and eyes a little wider to an issue
that deserves much attention and
action.
Homeless Problem Addressed
Greg Curley
Staff Writer
On Thursday, February 25,
Alpha Sigma Nu and the Faith,
Peace and Justice Coalition pre-sented
a lecture program featuring
Rosemary Haughton and Nancy
Schwoyer, two of the founders of
Welspring House, a shelter for
homeless families in Massa-chusettes.
The lecture, titled Crisis
U.S.A., was part of a series of
events at Fairfield promoting Feb-ruary
as Homelessness Awareness
Month.
Haughton opened the lec-ture
with an explanation about
Welspring House. It was founded
in 1981 as a shelter for the poor,
and since then, a growing number
of homeless families have come to
the house. The management saw
how quickly the problem of home-lessness
was spreading, and
Haughton demonstrated this with
Massachusettes state figures, stat-ing
that in one year, "the number of
homeless families increased by 70
percent." She said the people in
the Welspring House share in
meals, chores, and many other
family activities. She then ex-plained,
"80 percent of them are
victims of incest. A lot of them
have jobs but cannot afford the
rent." She also added, "Sheltering
is not enough—housing is what is
needed. In America there is a se-vere
lack of decent, affordable
housing."
Schwoyer then explored
the reasons for this lack of hous-ing.
She claimed, "The increase in
construction costs has forced
housing to rise." She continued,
"Also, the governmental depar-ture
from the building of afford-able
housing hurts. The Reagan
administration cut spending on
housing from 32 billion to 7.5
billion." She also cited the loss of
jobs with adequate pay, and the
increase in the number of build-ings
which have turned into con-dominiums,
as factors.
She said it is important not
to blame the homeless. "If we
blame them for their homeless-ness,
we will never solve the prob-lem.
If we admit that society has
neglected providing affordable
housing, then we will make prog-ress."
Schwoyer next explained
that, "75 percent of the homeless in
this country are families. We need
to break the myth that says that
homelessness is a problem of
mostly single men who abuse alco-hol
or substances." She continued,
"this is a problem of all people —
not just immigrants and welfare
recipients. 45% of the homeless
are white, 38% are black, and 16%
are hispanic." She further stated,
"We are now seeing people who
are working and with college edu-cations
coming into the homes.
Holes have somehow gotten into
their safety nets." An example of
this stands in the fact that 16 per-cent
of Connecticut's homeless
have jobs.
Haughton explained what it
would take to defeat homeless-ness.
She said, "The real solutions
are only going to come out of our
imaginations. We have to find
new ways to build more low cost
housing." She added that "snob
zoning," where low-cost projects
are kept out of better neighbor-hoods,
must be combated. "Hous-ing
must be in good communities
with access to public transporta-tion."
Schwoyer concluded the
presentation by disagreeing with
people who label helping the
homeless as "charity." She said,
"It is really justice, and it is a big
step to admit this. We live in an
unjust society and that is why
homelessness is happening. Our
cheap luxuries are built upon the
suffering of others. She ended by
stating that, "We have a commit-ment
to see that everyone has a
share in the prosperity of our na-tion."
Julie Hall Lease Questioned
Robert Johansen
Staff Writer
Attheend of the 1988-1989
school year, the lease for Julie Hall
will expire. Since 1970, Fairfield
University has leased three floors
of the hall for single occupancy
rooms for students. The decision ,
which has been handed over to a
leasing compny in New York,
should be decided by the end of the
semester.
Julie Hall, located outside the
northern border of the University
campus, is a convent owned by the
Sisters of Notre Dame. It also
houses 59 students and one house-master.
Under the current five year
lease, the University has occu-pancy
of the hall for each academic
school yearstarting two weeks
before the start of classes until one
day after commencement. Ac-cording
to Mr. Richard Rossi,
Director of Student Residences,
the University is "responsible for
maintenance. We must return Ju-lie
Hall to the same condition in
which we received it."
Although not University prop-erty,
Julie Hall is patrolled by
Security. The cost of renting the
hall is equivalent to what it would
cost the University to maintain a
dormitory.
According to Mr. William
Schimpf, Vice-President for Stu-dent
Services, it is "important to
have Julie Hall for housing. The
University could survive without
single housing but then it would be
without as much happiness" be-cause
many student prefer to live
alone. Julie Hall is the only provi-sion
available for students who
desire single housing.
Mr. Schimpf said that the
University has given thought to
building single-bousing dormito-ries,
but that it would not be cost
efficient. He stated that "there are
fewer people to the same amount
ofroom because a single is not half
the size of a double."
Because building costs are
so high, it is much more efficient to
build twin occupancy housing.
Even though the lifestyles of the
students may sometimes conflict
with that of the nuns, neither Mr.
Rossi nor Mr. Schimpfforesee any
reason why the lease should not be
renewed. Polls have not been
taken concerning the need for a
single housing, however it is made
evident by the students who have
elected to live there. While the two
women's floors have some va-cancy,
the men's floor is com-pletely
filled. While most dorms
have a two year turnaround, Julie
hall does not. Instead, the students
elect to remain in their dorm, be-yond
the traditional two years
other dorm residents remain.
The attachment of those
students to Julie Hall is evident in
their friendships with the nuns
who live there, and also by the
amount of damage. Julie Hall
consistently has less damage and
fewer false fire alarms than any
other dorm.
Julie Hall Photo: Whitehouse
Highlights
A Skunked House?
page 4
Date Rape
page 7
Lady Stags Highlighted
page 12
Blood Drive
Suzanne Smith
Staff Writer
In the state of Connecticut, the
Red Cross receives an average of
800 pints of blood a day/ The
blood is shipped to Farmingfon,
where it is tested and stored. It is
then distributed throughout the
state by mobile units twenty-four
hours a day. Fairfield's response
to the need for blood in Connecti-cut
is to hold a blood drive.
This semester's blood drive,
held on February 24 and 25, was
sponsored by Circle K and the
Student Nursing Association. Co-chairmen
were Kelly Conslick and
Doreen Bibeau.
The Red Cross provided the
equipment and staff and many
Fairfield students volunteered to
work this event. Posters, balloons,
and announcements were placed
all over campus to publicize the
blood drive. Only 303 pints of
blood were received. This is short
of their 350 pint goal.
Mrs. Mary Blair, a Red Cross
volunteer, said "The Red Cross is
always in need of blood. We are
near a state of emergency." When
asked about the sudden decrease in
donors, she stated "The myth that
you can catch AIDS from giving
blood."
The process of giving blood
was set up in a very systematic
way. First, the donor filled out a
personal information card. Next, a
volunteer took information about
their past history. After donating,
students had to recooperate, and
were provided with refreshments.
One student donor said that he
"felt good about giving and would
do it again, because it is for a good
cause."
Next year, to encurage more
donors to give blood, free book-marks
and bumper stickers will be
given away and a raffle will be
held. Circle K and the Student
Nursing Association hopes for a
larger turnout at the next blood
drive.