Mirror - Vol. 13, No. 21 - April 06, 1989

              The
Fairfield
Volume 13, No. 21MRRORV Our Second Decade Thursday, April 6, 1989 "So, do you think we'll go metric?"
DiDonato Sworn In
AnnMarie Puckhaber
News Editor
The inauguration of
FUSA President Warren DiDonato
was held on Monday, April 3, in
the Bellarmine Great Hall. Di-
Donato was sworn into office by
Christopher Chiodo, Chief Justice
of the Student Court.
Following the oath, Frank
Carroll, FUSA President 1988-89,
made a toast wishing DiDonato
and his new cabinet "the best of
luck." He also took this opportu-nity
to thank his own cabinet, say-ing
that they were "a great group of
people who did a fantastic job."
Carroll then passed on the FUSA
Presidential gavel to DiDonato.
DiDonato, after quieting
the crowd with the gavel, thanked
everyone who was present at the
inauguration for their support. This
included administration, faculty,
students, family, and friends.
DiDonato feels that he is
in "a good position for next year
because ofthe work done by Frank
(Carroll) and Chris Ritchie (FUSA
President 1987-88)." He added, "I
hope to continue the fine tradition
they set for me." DiDonato is
looking forward to a "dynamite
year."
Carroll later commented
that "Warren has done an excellent
job so far." The FUSA sponsored
Air Bands on Siblings Weekend,
for example, was sold out. "I look
for big strides for FUSA," Carroll
said. "I think the foundations are
there and Warren will build on
them."
DiDonato received praise
from both last year's cabinet and
his own. Chiodo said, "I am very
excited for Warren and I think he
will do a super job."
"DiDonato is going to
do a fine job," said Ritchie. "He
has surrounded himself with a lot
ofgood people," which, according
to Ritchie, is "the key to being a
good president."
A short reception fol-lowed
the inauguration.
FUSA Cabinet 1989-90
FUSA President Warren DiDonato
VP Student Life Sean Leyden
VP Student Activities Noreen Cosgrove
VP Government Affairs Mollie O'Brien
Academics Craig Haba
Advertising Sean Looney
Arts & Lectures Kim Schlurer
Athletics Anne Ronzoni
CC Programming Greg Kortick
CC Programming Sean Flynn
Class of '90 Sean Carroll
Class of '90 Anissa Lian
Class of '91 Jill Smith
Class of '91 (Fall) Kristan Dammen
Class of '91 (Spring) Megan McCloskey
Class of '92 Shannon Barry
Correspondence Dipa Mehta
COSO Sara Kelly
Finance Eileen Casey
Graphic Design Nancy Gelston
Information Systems Cheryl Parolisi
Major Dances Janine Spinnato
Major Dances Sarah Richard
Special Events Joanne Lewers
Special Events Dave Ciampi
SEC Julie Matthei
SEC John Shalhoub
Student Services Beth Jenkins
Ticket Brigade Christine Doody
Travel & Recreation Lara Pettit
Troubleshooter Jen Spalatin
Students Organize Gay-Lesbian-Straight Coalition
James Gooding
Staff Writer
The initial meeting ofthe
proposed Fairfield University Gay-
Lesbian-Straight Coalition oc-curred
Thursday, March 30. About
twenty members from the Univer-sity
community, both students and
faculty, attended.
The principal objective of
this meeting was to discuss prob-lems
surrounding homosexuality
and how this important issue af-fects
everybody in our campus en-vironment.
The orderly atmosphere
ofthe meeting inside Canisius Hall
was overshadowed by the pres-ence
of a group of protestors call-ing
themselves Students Together
Against Gays.
The protest group as-sembled
at the front of Canisius
and awaited the meeting goers
departure. Some brandished signs
displaying their disapproval. At
one point an angry protest chant
erupted, "Stags not fags!"
In spite of the hostile
nature outside the meeting room, a
great deal was accomplished in-side.
Seniors Thomas Fay and
Peter Bolger organized the group.
They werejoined by a second year
Yale Divinity School student who
declined to have his name pub-lished.
This gentleman is actively
involved with the Yale Gay-Les-bian-
Straight Coalition whoseroots
go back to the late 1970's.
The Yale sophomore was
present to offer advice on how to
successfully get the group started.
A strong conviction of his is that
the existence of minority groups
such as this one is important to
raise concerns and serve the needs
of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual
campus community.
The underlying concern
shared and expressed by many of
the guests was that an opening of
people's minds on the topic of
homosexuality is necessary. As
written in the proposed
constitution, "the purpose shall be
to provide members ofthe Univer-sity
community an open forum to
discuss their views on lesbian and
gay issues and also to serve as a
support group for lesbian and gay
students."
A member of FUSA di-rectly
expressed his anger of
people's closemindedness towards
minority groups.
Other people from the
straight community attended the
meeting not only to show moral
encouragement, but also to edu-cate
themselves by increasing their
own self-awareness.
The moderating Yale
student spent a portion of the time
discussing the concept ofsexuality
and its importance to how humans
relate to one another.
One person discussed
how a university is a place for
openness, learning, and new ideas.
Homosexuality, to be openly dis-cussed
in a group setting at Fair-field,
is indeed a new idea. Hethen
conveyed, "the University can't
pick and choose. We must be
educated on all levels."
Another individual ex-pressed
assertively, "the support
group has a right and need to ex-ist."
Various homosexuals in
the group raised priorities and
feelings for which they wished to
receive feedback and support. One
male asked, "How canwebe proud
of the fact that we are gay (around
friends and family)?"
The Yale GLSC advisor
declared that being gay is an "issue
of pride." He feels that there are
ways they can be more than simply
just a group. A retreat is one ex-ample.
He said that in order to be
more effective, the group should
exist as a community.
Opinions were ex-changed
as to what steps group
members can take to make them-selves
known to the rest of the
campus. Submitting a bi-weekly
article to the Mirror on topics
ranging from gay and lesbian civil
rights to ADDS was one sugges-tion.
Educational workshops
are another means of training the
University community not to be
homophobic. AIDS programs in
conjuction with the Peer Counsel-ors
were specifically mentioned.
The outlook for the adop-tion
of the Gay-Lesbian-Straight
Coalition, according to those pres-ent
at the meeting, appears bright.
The constitution describes the
group's purpose, requirements,
duties, officers, and elections.
Upon approval by FUSA, the club
will become official.
Friendly Examines Ethics In American Society
Tom Rhatigan
Assistant News Editor
What would you do if your
18-year-old son came up to you
and told you he had cheated on his
SAT's and, as a result, will proba-bly
get a scholarship to a good
school? As his mother or father,
would you tell him to turn himself
in, would you do nothing and take
the scholarship, or would you let
your son use his conscience? That
was one of the ethical questions
asked in a lecture given by Fred W.
Friendly last Tuesday.
Fred Friendly is the Edward
R. Murrow Professor Emeritus of
Broadcast Journalism at the Co-lumbia
University Graduate School
of Journalism, and Director of the
Seminars in Media and Society.
This year's seminars are entitled
"Ethics in America."
The Director of the Applied
Ethics Program, Dr. Lisa Newton,
introduced Friendly. "For more
than 40 years, Fred Friendly has
been the voice of responsibility in
the communication industry," she
said. "He has never ceased to
remind us that the awesome power
of the media must be used to in-form
and stimulate the democratic
process."
Friendly began his lecture
by defining ethics as the right thing
to do. "No matter what profession
you are in, you are going to have to
determine the difference between
what you have the right to do and
the right thing to do," he said.
"Ethics, to me, is the process where
you figure out that difference."
He then proceeded to go
into the audience and ask the crowd
ethical questions. When asked
what one would do if your son
came up to you and told you he had
cheated on his SAT's, but will
probably get a good scholarship,
many people said they would do
the moral thing and tell their son to
turn himself in. Although there
were a few people who said they
would punish the boy, but not tell.
What Friendly was trying
to find out was if cheating was
ethical or not. He asked the audi-ence,
"what is so bad about cheat-ing?"
One of the responses was
"cheating denies others the chance
to succeed."
Another problem he pro-posed
to the audience dealt with
the journalist's right to inform the
public versus a person's right to
privacy. He inquired about what
you would do if you were a jour-nalist
who found out that an anti-continued
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