Mirror - Vol. 13, No. 22 - April 13, 1989

              The
FairfieldMIRRORV Volume 13, No. 22 Our Second Decade Thursday, April 13, 1989 The Image of Fairfield
Abbott: Teacher Of The Year
AnnMarie Puckhaber
News Editor
He has an "energetic style
ofteaching" and the ability to"fuel
a genuine love and respect for his-tory,"
said students about recently
selected Teacher of the Year Dr.
William M. Abbott, Assistant
Professor of History.
Every year Alpha Sigma
Nu, the National Jesuit Honor
Society, sponsors the Teacher of
the Year Award. The award is
presented to the teacher who has
demonstrated outstanding dedica-tion
to his or her profession, to the
students, and to the development
ofthe University and the surround-ing
community. This year's re-cipient
received more than 100
nominations from the student body.
Abbott came to Fairfield,
in 1985. He holds a BA in history
from the University of California,
Berkley (1974) and a PhD in
modern history from Oxford Uni-versity,
England (1982). His spe-cialties
include Western Civiliza-tion,
the British Empire, Tudor-
Stuart Britain, and the French
Revolution and Napoleon.
While an undergraduate
at the University of California,
Abbott debated between majoring
in anthropology or history. How-ever,
he says he was inspired by an
energetic history teacher and was
"hooked." Abbott adds, "I love
history so much."
Abbott chose to teach at
the college level because he wanted
to deal with young people without
having to be a disciplinarian. As a
teacher, he says, "I feel as though I
can help." Abbott says that he has
always admired nurses and doc-tors
because ofthe giving nature of
their work. "My life is put into
something that not only helps me,
but allows me to give something,"
says Abbott.
According to Abbott, he
is making two contributions as a
teacher. The first is to the society
at large. He feels it is his job to
teach his students to think criti-cally.
One day, he says, his stu-dents
will have a lot of "clout."
They will be voting and making
other contributions to the political
society, and it is up to him to en-sure
that they "will be the best
citizens they can be."
The second contribution
Abbott believes he is making is to
the students themselves. He says
that it is hard to get through to
students, especially those not ma-joring
in history, and it is his job
"toturnthemontohistory." Abbott
does not want his students to view
their four years ofcollege as merely
a qualification for a job, but wants
them "to see it as an enrichment."
Abbott is involved in
many activities outside ofthe class-room.
He is the moderator of the
History Club, a tutor, a member of
Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society,
contributes articles to the Mirror,
and each year organizes a faculty
intramural volleyball team to play
against student teams. He says that
he enjoys getting to know students
outside ofthe academic aspect and
claims that participating in student
activities allows him "to meet a
wider range of people."
Abbott says that it is hard
to know whatthe students are think-ing
and that is why "the award is so
gratifying." He says that he was
"very surprised because there are a
lot of mighty fine teachers here at
the University." He adds that he is
"extremely grateful to the stu-dents."
The Teacher of the Year
Award will be presented to Dr.
Abbott during Senior Week at the
Senior-Faculty Brunch onMay 17.
Abbott will also be invited to be
the guest speaker at the Alpha
Sigma Nu Induction Ceremony for
the members of the Class of '90
during Parent's Weekend in Octo-ber
1989.
Dr. William Abbott Photo: Michelle Clifford
Bowering: Religious Revival In Islam
Tom Rhatigan
Assistant News Editor
As part of the Bellarmine
Lecture Series, Rev. Gerhard H.
Bowering,SJ, came to Fairfield last
Tuesday to speak on the topic of
religious revival in Islam. His dis-cussion
dealt with the develop-ment
of Islamic theology as well
as its revival and ir-ract on world
culture.
Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley,
University President, introduced
Father Bowering. "It would be
difficult to find someone who could
speak to us with more authority on
the topics of Islamic history, cul-ture,
and religion than Rev. Bow-ering,
" he began.
Fr. Bowering began his
lecture by stating that he would
like to introduce us to the under-standing
of the Islam tradition. He
started by going back to the begin-ning
of Islam, with Mohammed,
who lived from 570 to 632.
"Mohammed proclaimed to his
countrymen the same message that
other religions have received, but
the Arabs have not," he said. "Mo-hammed
had revived and trans-lated
an earlier message into Ara-bic
and, in my mind, Islam is a
religion of revival from the very
beginning."
He then spoke of how the
Koran was a universal message for
all mankind, notjust for the Arabs.
Islam, because of this, is a mis-sionary
religion. It is a religion that
ultimately wants to establish that
there is one God, who is our crea-tor
and final judge.
On speaking about Islamic
culture, Fr. Bowering said it has
spread to the East and West. "Is-lam
is not limited to the Arab world,
but it is a vast international picture
of people and languages," he con-tinued.
"They all share a common
Muslim brotherhood and con-sciousness."
During the Middle Ages,
Islam was one of the most domi-nant
religions. Due to Western
influence, as well as internal prob-lems
ofeducation and thought, they
have recently become much
weaker.
Fr. Bowering gave two
options as to how to solve their
problems. The fundamentalist
option says that the earlier period
of Islam was truly ideal and good,
and all problems would be solved
by establishing that type of society
once again. The modelists believe
in a realistic appreciation, where
they must establish a new condi-tion
of Western influence, includ-ing
thoughts and technology.
Fr. Bowering then gave
three characteristics of Islamic
revival. The first was a more theo-logical
option, which meant the
development of Islamic theology,
where there is a deep inner sense of
discipline to God.
The second development
was the theory ofmysticism, which
dealt with the eternity ofthe world,
the immortality of the soul, and
God's knowledge of the universe.
The last assumption was for
an ontological basis for mystic ex-periences.
This stresses the one-ness
of God and the implication
that Mohammed is the final mes-sanger.
"In professing God as one,
a Muslim recognizes himself as a
true worshipper ofGod, and also to
identify himself as a Muslim,"
stated Fr. Bowering.
Pr. Bowering's extensive
knowledge of Islamic religious
thought holds special interest to-day
with the controversy surround-ing
the Ayatollah Khomeini and
Salman Rushdie's novel The Sa-tanic
Verses.
On speaking about the
Ayatollah, Fr. Bowering said,
"Khomeini sees his leadership as a
revival ofMohammed's own lead-ership
and he wanted to engulf all
of the Muslim world."
As far as The Satanic
Verses, FT. Bowering said the novel
has been a deep challange to the Is-lamic
people. It deals with a topic
and setting that was not too com-fortable
for the people and it
brought out the tensions held in by
them. "Rushdie touched a raw
nerve of Islam," claimed Fr. Bow-ering.
He also touched on the topic
ofIslam's reputation for terrorism.
He said that Islam is seen as a cruel
and nasty religion. Although there
are problems, he said, Islamic
people are hospitable and beauti-ful
people and that all of us must
become more tolerant.
Father Bowering is a pro-fessor
of the history of Islamic
religion at Yale University and his
lecture was presented as part of the
Fairfield University Bellarmine
Lecture Series by Distinguished
Jesuit Scholars.
Students
Volunteer
For Hunger
Clean-Up
Christine Doody
Staff Writer
It is estimated that 20
million United States citizens are
hungry at least some period ofeach
month. Since the Food Bank of
Fairfield County was organized in
1984, the number of meals distrib-uted
to needy individuals has in-creased
from 123,000 to 500,000
per year. In our region, a sizable
number of children are homeless.
Of the 326 persons who stayed in
family shelters in 1987, 209 or
64.1 % were children.
Hunger and homeless-ness
facts are disturbing and some-times
frightening, especially when
they refer to our own state or even
our own county. However, their
purpose is to make society aware
of the persisting problems of hun-ger
and homelessness and to plea
for their help and attention
Several students at Fair-field
University have realized that
they can make a contribution to the
fight against hunger and home-lessness.
Therefore, on Saturday,
April 15, students will participate
in their first annual Hunger Clean-
Up.
Hunger Clean-Up, spon-sored
by The National Student
Campaign Against Hunger, is in
its fifth year nationwide and the
largest student run community
service event in the nation. Volun-teers
donate their time to clean,
paint, and repair local commuinrty
sites while raising money through
sponsors to benefit several proj-ects
locally, nationally, and inter-nationally.
On the local level a per-centage
of the money raised will
bequeath The Food Bank of Fair-field
County Inc.; nationally, part
will be used to support educational
programs of the National Student
Campaign Against Hunger; and
internationally it will assist in
funding a self-help water well
project in Shoa, Ethiopia.
Matt Hart and Jen
Spalatin, both members ofthe class
of '92, are the co-chairs of the
Clean-Up for Fairfield University.
They, in conjunction with the Faith,
Peace and Justice Office, have been
working hard to make Fairfield's
first Hunger Clean-Up a success
by recruiting volunteers and secur-ing
local worksites. The day will
begin at 12:30 PM by bussing the
volunteers to designated worksites
where they will work for three
hours. At 4 PM the students will
return to Fairfield and have a pic-nic
to celebrate the University's
first involvement in the Clean-Up.
According to Spalatin,
"sign-ups are going very well
considering it is the first year that
Fairfield is participationg in the
Clean-Up." However, more vol-unteers
are always welcome. Both
students and faculty are encour-aged
to participate by working or
sponsoring a working.
Students can sign up in
the Campus Center lobby to work
at the Clean-Up or to sponsor stu-dents
who are working.