Mirror - Vol. 02, No. 15 - December 13, 1978

              President Addresses Open
Legislature Meeting
By Pat Kelly
"The new Recreation Center will
be completed by Jan. 21, or I will be
hiding", declared President Thomas
Fitzgerald, S.J. at the open Student
Legislature meeting Dec. 6. The
Center will be open on an eighty hour
per week basis with two full shifts of
workers. Twelve-month member-ships
at $200. per member will be of-fered
to alumni, and will be limited to
100 to prevent overcrowding. The
same membership has been offered
to faculty and administration for
$125. per person, with spouses pay-ing,
$60. and no children permitted
during the school year. In response
to feedback from faculty and ad-ministration
opposed to the fee,
Father Fitzgerald stated, "The finan-cial
burden should be shared by all
users."
The Center will not be open to
residents of the town of Fairfield.
Father Fitzgerald explained, "If the
town of Fairfield wants a Recreation
Center, the town should pay for a
Recreation Center." However,
students attending Fairfield Prep
may use the Center for a $60. annual
fee. Guests of students, alumni and
other members will be welcome for a
$3. daily fee; and local students will
be offered a summer membership
for a amall fee. The six tennis courts
will be completed by spring, if con-struction
continues as planned.
Drainage problems, which have
delayed completion of the courts
should be remedied soon.
Also discussed at the meeting was
the possibility of hiring a new food
company when Macke's contract
terminates in April. "Although I don't
normally deal with Macke directly, if
serious complaints continue, my ad-ministrative
personnel.will meet with
Macke, and the possibility of another
food company is not out of the ques-tion",
commented Father Fitzgerald.
He urged students to become active-ly
involved and keep him posted.
Asked about the highlights of his
presidency, he replied that Sept. 21,
1977, the date the Trustees and Plan-ning
Committee approved the sign-ing
of a construction company, was
one of the focal points of his career
at Fairfield.
Responding to the recent surge of
vandalism that has plaqued the
University, Father Fitzgerald state,
"This occurrence of senseless ac-tions
we're witnessing is caused by a
small group of seriously distrubed
people." In the future, more drastic
measures will be taken to apprehend
those responsible for the vandalism.
He stated that the Financial
Center will be completed by Sept.
'79, and will consist of 64 double
rooms. The Center will be managed
by a professional staff from a local
firm, and plans for conferences will
be set into the Center's schedule.
Commenting on further plans for
the University, Father Fitzgerald said
that a classroom building next to
Canisus would be extremely
desirable, as it would eliminate the
need for .the Xavier classroom
space, and would also provide more
faculty office space. Funding for
enlarging the Fine Arts Department
was another desire he expressed for
the future. However, due to the new
construction, Fairfield is presently in
debt, so these plans could not
become a reality unti some distant
future date. It was noted that the
lease for Julie Hall will expire in '81.
Renegotiation of another lease is be-ing
discussed, as the University
'■ luuY *1 HfliiP'1
\ ****** w .Q\W<IM* ' ^H m§)&&4 -., ***&? *.- %
1 Wt twit*sWSSW1 ;r>>»!!«•,> ^| [V 1
George Schietinger introduces the concept of class government to the
legislature at the Open meeting last week. His proposals were defeated
after a rousing debate.
foresees the use of Julie Hall for at
least the next 10 years.
Vinnie O'Brien, President of
F.U.S.A., presented reports of cur-rent
social events, including $100.
profit from the Stag-Her Oak Room,
and approximately $500. profit from
Smorgasbord and Disco Night.
Research on a LegaL Aid Society
was done, and th.e benefits of such a
society were discussed. Results of
the Ad Hoc Committee's review of
(Photo by Bob Torello)
the F.U.S.A. cabinet were revealed,
and the majority of the cabinet
members were reviewed favorably.
Concluding the meeting was the
introduction of two bills proposing
the broadening of the student
government with a class structure.
The proposals, introduced by George
Schietinger, sparked a debate which
lasted for a half hour. Both were
defeated by a narrow margin.
THE
FAIRFIELD Volume 2, No. 15, December 13,1978
FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY, FAIRFIELD, CONN. 06430 MIRRORIncorporated 1977
Account
No.
14900
149200
149300
149400
149500
ACCOUNT BALANCES
as of 12/6/78
Appropriations (19.14)
Government Operations 1363.17
Student Services 2207.92
Student Entertainment Commission . . . 2480.80
Lecture and Arts .3571.50
Total—(from original $30,000 fall
semester allotment:) 9604.25
NOTE—These balances do not reflect the receipts and expenses from the
Nov. 30 Smorgasbord and the Dec. 2 Night Club Night.
Dorm Damage Up
Alcohol Linked
O'Brien Reports
F.U.S.A. Finances
By Tucker Forman
As the semester draws to a close,
the financial picture for the SEC con-tinues
to get brighter. According to
FUSA President Vinnie O'Brien
"Fiancially things look really good
right now for the SEC."
A brief overview concerning the
state of affairs was presented by
O'Brien last Thursday night during
the open legislature meeting in the
Oakroom. "Our most recent
endeavor, the Teplitz lecture, broke
even. Besides that, we have profited
from our four most recent activities-namely
Harvest, the Stovall Brown
Blues Band's appearance in the
Oakroom, the Smorgasbord, and
Night Club Night."
"We are having minor problems
with appropriations with a few clubs
on campus, but budget revisions are
being scheduled to correct this
discrepancy."
FUSA Treasurer Denise
D'Agostino was available to further
highlight the encouraging news.
"After the Hall and Oates disaster in
September, we have really
straightened ourselves out and our
current records proves it. Out of our
last five activities, we have profited
on four and broken even once."
"The highlight of October-Harvest
Weekend-resulted in a $1400 profit
and really started getting us back on
the track." Next, the Stovall Blues
Band's performance in the Oakroom
in mid-November realized $100 profit
for the SEC. In late November, the
SEC sponsored a smorgasbord
which attracted approximately 150
people. The only expenses incurred
were $75 payable to WVOF for music
and few miscellaneous expenses
dealing with preparation of uncooked
foods. The $3 per person rate
resulted in $450 gross receipts, so
our overall profit should amount to
approximately $300-350.
"Finally, early December's disco
extravaganza, Night Club Night, was
sold out and very successful. Cur-rently,
we have approximately $1800
in gross receipts and we are expec-ting
some $1200 in expenses.
However, the expense figure could
fluctuate a bit since we over-ordered
mixers. But this will not pose a pro-blem
since the mixers can be sold to
other groups for their events.
D'Agostino credited Jim Hoefner
with Night Club Night's success.
Hoefner stated "Night Club Night,
was one of the first Oakrooms to
ever make money. Things really went
well even though it was not learned
that an increase in the price for
drinks had occured until 4p.m. Thurs-day
afternoon before the dance. Stu-dent
Services also susggested that
the price for beer be increased from
50 to 75 cents a bottle. However, this
action was protested and the beers
Continued on Page 2
By Tony Tarnell
For the ten week period ending
November 10th, completed work
orders for resident hall damage have
totaled $5027.84, a 351 percent in-crease
over last year's November
10th quote of $1430.59. For the six
week period ending October 15th,
Associate Dean of Students Henry
W. Krell, detailed that reports of inci-dent
by the resident advisors have in-creased
253 percent from 47 reports
for the period ending October, 15,
1977 to 119 cases reported for this
year's period. Krell also noted that
there has been a 9 percent increase
in alcohol related incidents from 51
percent of last year's 47, to 60 per-cent
of this years 119.
"The students who are doing the
damage on the campus have an
overall lack of respect for the proper-ty
of both the University and the
other Fairfield students," detailed
Phyllis Rogge, Director of Student
Residences. She continued that "the
students obviously feel that it is their
right rather than their privilege to live
in the resident halls, showing the ob
vious disrespect the students
possess for the University."
With the figures for the semester
dorm damage printed in Jast week's
Mirror, many students feel that the
increase over last year is not soley
representative of the increase in
dorm vandalism, but also shows an
increase in maintenance costs. In a
recent survey of 80 students, twenty
from each class, 18 of the 20
freshman interviewed, (all quad
students) feel that the figure quoted
by the Mirror are reflective of high
maintenance costs, 12 of the 20
sophomores feel that the increase is
due to increased maintenance costs,
and the remaining 8 feel it is just an
outright increase in vandalism. 13 of
the 20 juniors feel that the increase
in dorm damage cost is fully reflec-tive
of an increased rate of van-dalism,
7 felt it due to an increase in
maintenance cost. All 20 seniors
commented that the increase was
reflective of the increase in van-dalism.
Ms. Rogge detailed that last sum-mer,
she received 150 letters from
parents requesting more information
regarding their sons' and daughters'
dorm damage charge. Ms. Rogge on
this request sent the parents itemiz-ed
lists of the building, corridor, and
individual damage, if any. Ms Rogge
reported that "of the original 150
complaints, less than 20 parents
continued their investigation of the
charges."
"I would hate to give a prospective
student a tour of the campus on a
Monday morning," detailed Ms.
Rogge. She continued to note that
the increase in student vandalism to
the dorms and the campus leave the
quad in shambles after a weekend,
and that it is the job of maintenance
to get the dorms patched back up as
quickly as possible.
"What we must ask ourselves is,
what percent of our friends get drunk
on the weekends at Fairfield?"
detailed William Schimpf, Vice Presi-dent
of Student Services. Schimpf
continued to note that at least 50
percent of the student body get in-toxicated
on the weekend, and that
this high percentage is high above
the societal norm.
Four R.A.'s Resign Posts
More Expected To Follow
By Robert J. Schumm
Four Resident Advisors have
resigned their positions, with more
expected to follow their lead, accor-ding
to Phyllis Rogge, Director of Stu-dent
Housing. Their resignations, will
become effective for the second
semester.
Three of the four, Larry Loiello,
Mamie Bittner and Cathy Boland are
second year R.A.'s who expressed a
desire to "finish their senior year
while in residence at the beach. Bob
Cunningham cited personal reasons
for his resignation.
"Of the four, it was not student
behavior which caused them to
resign. I feel though, that any more
resignations will be due to student
behavior vs. their physical and men-tal
health," explained Ms. Rogge.
"Resident Advisors have a one
year contract. We hope that this
does not set a trend, however, we
have let these four out of their con-tracts,"
continued Ms. Rogge.
"We are into some really over stu-dent
behavior. Every student is sup-posed
to have a respect of others
rights, or at least this is what is
printed in almost every handbook the
school puts out. I think this is stated
but is not an actuality on this cam-pus."
"Damages are up across the
board. If you look at the statistics,
you will find that the number of in-cidents
has really gone up, not the
maintainence costs, as some have
claimed,," Ms Rogge said.
More resident Advisors are ex-pected
to resign this week, in the
wake of increasing vandalism and
dorm damage. One RA explained
that he felt the resignations were due
to "a combination of the students
and Student Services."
When asked if Student Services
will have to take a "get tough" at-titude,
Ms. Rogge remarked, "I hate
to say get tough. The important thing
is consistancy. I feel that this years
R.A.s are real consistant, and that
the students know the policies of Stu-dent
Services because of this."
"I think what we are doing is trying
to approach the students on an adult
level. We have told the students what
is expected of them. It is just lack of
adult responsible behavior." explain-ed
Ms. Rogge.
Replacements for the resigning
R.A.s will soon be decided upon .