Mirror - Vol. 14, No. 13 - February 08, 1990

              The
FairfieldMRRORV Volume 14, No. 13 Thursday, February 8, 1990 The Image of Fairfield
McSherry Wins Election
Record-Setting Voter Turnout At The Polls
AnnMarie Puckhaber
News Editor
Chris McSherry won the
FUSA presidential election Tues-day
by a margin of 141 votes over
his opponent Joanne Lewers.
The. election had a record-setting
voter turnout of 1,317.
McSherry received 729 votes and
Lewers 588. There were no write-in
votes.
"It's a credit to Joanne and
myself with the number of sup-porters
that showed up to vote,"
McSherry said following the elec-tion.
"It still hasn't sunk in yet
though that I'm the next presi-dent,"
he added.
"The turnout sends out the
message that kids are really inter-ested
in what's going on in their
student government and that they
believe their vote will count," said
current FUSA President, Tom
Pellegrino.
Sean Leyden, Vice President
of Student Life, called the turnout
"superb." "It's better than what
they get in the national," he said.
McSherry said that when he
takes office in April the first thing
he is going to start with is the rela-tionship
between FUSA and the
student body, a communication he
stressed throughout his campaign.
Among his first responsibili-ties,
McSherry must select his vice
presidents and the members of his
cabinet. When that is completed,
he said he wants to start working
on the budget. "It won't be easy
budgeting this year because more
money is being implemented each
year and the money must go far-ther."
McSherry said he would like
to see a change in the club appro-priations
policy enabling the clubs
to receive more money when
needed and allocate money to the
new Minority Special Interest
cabinet position.
In addition, McSherry sees a
need to update the FUSA
constitution. He said he read the
entire document before the start of
his campaign and it has not been
updated since 1987.
Leyden said the election was
a "no lose situation" and congratu-lated
both on a good campaign.
"Chris is a very capable stu-dent
and I consider him a really
great kid," Pellegrino said. "He
has a healthy attitude to take to the
position - he's intelligent, person-able,
and hard working."
Pellegrino added that McSh-erry's
first concern ''will always
be the students."
McSherry said he would like
to thank all who came out and
supported him, Joanne and her staff
for a fair campaign, and his staff,
especially Patrick Foote and the
Jogues resident advisor staff.
"It's going to be a good year
-1 can tell you right now," McSh-erry
said.
Regina A. Quick Center For
the ArtsTheater
The 750-seat theater in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is nearing completion. The
Thomas J. Walsh Gallery opens March 29 for a faculty and staff preview and March 30 for a
student preview. The gallery formally opens to the public on April 3. A formal dedication to
the Quick Center will follow at a later date. Photo: Kevin Wolfthal
Orientation
Co-Chairs Selected
Christine Doody
Staff Writer
Sophomores Brian McSherry and Dipa Mehta have been ap-pointed
Orientation Co-Chairs to lead the Class of 1992 in welcom-ing
the Freshmen Class of 1994 in September.
McSherry, a politics major from Crestwood, New York, was
among four male candidates for the position, while Mehta, also a
politcs major, from Waterbury, Connecticut competed against five
other female applicants.
According to Judicial Officier and Director of Orientation,
Jeanne DiMuzio, this year's selection process was "more competitive
and more thorough" than in the past.
The main goal of the selection process, she said, was to deter-mine
who would work best together, lead their class the best, and work
well with herself, the faculty, and the administration.
McSherry and Mehta were the "two individuals who in combi-nation
had creativity, enthusiasm, and leadership abiltiy, " DiMuzio
said. She further explained that the responsibilities as co-chair are
"time-consuming" and wanted to make sure the candidates would
maintain everything in perspective. "They need to realize that they
were a student first, orientation co-chair second."
"Both possess excellent leadership skills, creativity, a lot of self-
%. .ffi0 "l
Brain McSherry and Dipa Mehta Photo: Tom Beirne
respect and an understanding of Fairfield University and of their
class," DiMuzio said of McSherry and Mehta. "Brian is a gentle
leader, while Dipa is an enthusiastic, high energy leader."
McSherry and Mehta both say they are extremely excited about
their positions as co-chairs. McSherry said he and Mehta are "commit-ted
to the work ahead of them and are willing to put in a lot of effort
because they want to do the job."
The two are especially looking forward to working with their
class, the Class of 1992. "We want the class to pull together and wel-come
the incoming freshmen just as we were welcomed while having
fun at the same time," Mehta said.
The selection process began with an information session held on
the first day back from Christmas vacation. Each candidate continued
with a one on one.interview with the Dean of Students, Father W.
Laurence O'Neill, SJ, in addition to a two on one interview with
DiMuzio. The second interviews was "about life before Fairfield and
what led them'here," DiMuzio said.
The third portion of the procedure was a group activity for which
the candidates were divided into two groups, distributing males and
females as equally as possible. The task of the group was to produce
a time line including the five highpoints of each individual's life.
DiMuzio explained that this exercise gave her a great opportunity to
observe and candidates. They were evaluated on how well they en-couraged
others to participate in the task, as well as listening skills,
enthusiasm, personality, and who worked well together.
The final interview was given by a panel consisting of last year's
co-chairs in addition to a cross-section of the University including a
representative from the Student Health Center, Development Office,
and the University Activites Office.
As co-chairs McSherry and Mehta must select a staff, including
day-chairs, as well as designing the three days of orientation. They
will also be required to attend a weekend in July to finalize orientation
plans.
Currently, McSherry and Mehta are interviewing candidates for
the positions of day-chairs and two leaders for the new positions of co-chairs
for all student advisors. These applicants go through a similar
selection process.
"There are a lot of good people in our class who we need to come
out and help to make Orientation a success," McSherry said.