Mirror - Vol. 14, No. 14 - February 15, 1990

              The
FairfieldMRRORV Volume 14, No. 14 Thursday, February 15, 1990 The Image of Fairfield
Vandals Strike Canisius Hall
Tom Beirne
Staff Writer
Vandals struck Canisius
Hall last week, spray painting the
side ofthe building with the phrase
"Housing Sucks."
The incident was phoned in
to security early Wednesday, Feb-ruary?.
University officials specu-late
that the vandalism was a reac-tion
to the new housing lottery
since it was discovered afterjunior
group lottery numbers were posted
on Tuesday.
Vincent P. Brennan, Head
of the Security Department, said
the graffiti "gains no useful pur-pose.
It's damage plain and
simple." The University is alleg-edly
seeking outside help to re-move
the paint, but that procedure
is extremely costly, according to
Brennan. "It'snoteasytoremove,"
he said. The Security Department
is conducting an investigation into
this matter, headed by its Assistant
Director, Glen Griffin.
Frederick Cotter, Director
of Physical Plant, estimates that
repair of the building "could cost
thousands." The side of Canisius
where the vandalsim occured con-
Hi Mi -.WHBl
The phrase "Housing Sucks" was spray painted on the side of Canisius Hall last week, vandalism assumed
to be linked to the new housing lottery. Photo: Tom Beirne
tains some of the most intricate
and beautiful pieces of sculpture
on campus. That corner of the
building, which is dedicated to the
fine arts, is made of limestone, a
very porous stone which is ex-tremely
difficult to clean.
Cotter said he is looking
towards an upstate company that
specializes in removing graffiti
from various surfaces. "Canisius
has been a landmark since day
one," he said. Cotter said he hopes
that the whole surface does not
need to be sand blasted because it
could permanently marr the entire
surface and take away from its
beauty.
Richard Rossi, Director of
Student Residences, said he was
"disappointed with this malicious
act." Rossi said he thinks the
vandalism is in reaction to the
recent housing lottery. "I can
understand their feelings, but it
doesn't make it reasonable to
damage such a beautiful section of
the building," he said.
"People are more sensitive
today," Cotter said. He said that is
why acts such as this are infre-quent.
"I'd rather see them write to
the editor or opinion page," Bren-nan
said.
The Security Department requests
that if anyone has any information
concerning the graffiti to please
conta'ct Griffin at ext. 2558.
Student Services Bans Males From TH 134
Females Allegedly Quieter Neighbors For Fr. Kelley
AnnMarie Puckhaber
News Editor
University officials have
blocked off townhouse 134 from
males, claiming that females would
make quieter neighbors for Father
Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., Univer-sity
President, who resides next
door.
"Due to his (Fr. Kelley's)
Schedule, we wanted to arrange for
jnore peace and quiet," said Rich-ird
Rossi, Director of Student
Residences.
Rossi announced several
weeKS ago at the senior townhouse
lbttery that the unit would only be
open to women. A senior group of
men wanted to live in that section
oftownhouses, but townhouse 134
was the only unit available and
they were told they could not have
it.
"Lots of people are very
protective of me," Fr. Kelley said.
"They (Student Services) feel the
odds are more likely to have more
quiet if women live next door and
not men," he said.
Greg Curley, a member of
the group that wanted townhouse
134, called the administration's
decision unfair. "If they're going
to block off one unit from guys
they should block offone unit from
girls in the same block," he said.
Curly said he and his friends
asked the women who got
townhouse 133 to switch to 134,
but they refused.
"We were all surprised when
we found out," said senior Kevin
Stevens, who presently lives in
townhouse 134. He said that he
and his housemates think the deci-sion
is a reflection on them.
However, Fr. Kelley said he
has had no problems with his pres-ent
male neighbors. "They're very
good neighbors," he said.
Fr. Kelley explained that the
first year the unit opened, mem-bers
of the band Broken Bottles
lived next door to him. He said the
noise did not bother him, but it did
bother several neighboring students
and complaints were made. "I
have the ability to fall asleep eas-ily,"
Fr. Kelley said.
"What's the difference be-tween
girls living there or guys,"
Stevens asked. "Ifhe's (Fr. Kelley)
going to live here that's part of the
experience."
"We're all offended that this
school would do something like
that - be that prejudiced about
guys," Stevens added.
Fr. Kelley said he did not
understand why students would be
upset by the decision. "I'm always
puzzled why anyone would like to
live next to me," he said.
Fr. Kelley has lived in the
townhouses since they opened.
"One of the important things Fair-field
has which sets it apart from
even other Jesuit schools is the
large number of Jesuits who live
among students."
When the townhouses
opened, Fr. Kelley said he felt there
should be a Jesuit present there.
Prior to the building of the
townhouses, Fr. Kelley lived in the
Jesuit community, although he did
live in a residence hall during his
time at Georgetown University.
The only problem with liv-ing
among students that Fr. Kelley
said he had was that he is not
present as much as he would like to
be because of his travelling. "My
time schedule is very different from
the students'," he said.
Fr. Kelley said he likes the
idea of townhouse living for stu-dents.
He said it is a good "transi-tion"
for students as they graduate
and get jobs.
He also added that students
get to know people in a different
way. "You're much more depend-ent
on eachother than in the dorms
and that's a good thing," he said.
Women will be living in
townhouse 134 next year and they
chose the unit on their own, Rossi
said.
Rossi added that if the unit
was the only one left and there was
a male group, the unit would have
been given to them. "We were just
trying to guide women into that
unit," he said.
The sign outside of townhouse 135 reserves Fr. Aloysius P. Kelley's
parking space. Photo: Dan Wall
Mandatory
Freshman
Workshops
To Start In
The Fall
Christina Hennessy
Staff Writer
As part of the new Freshman
Program next year, mandatory
freshman workshops will be of-fered
by Student Services to di-rectly
deal with the special prob-lems
that affect students during
their first year.
The program is still in its
planning stages and the format of
these weekly to bi-weekly semi-nars
is yet to be confirmed. Large
lectures, small floor discussion ses-sions,
and other possible formal
seminars are being considered.
Some topics of discussion may
include involvement to the Uni-versity
and Jesuit tradition, human
sexuality, racial diversity, racial
stereotyping, and wellness in both
physical and mental health.
"The hope is that the subjects
will be of interest and generate
enthusiasm for discussion. The
theories talked about in the work-shops
may apply to the things the
freshmen deal with from day-to-day,
said William Schimpf, Vice
President ofStudent Services. "We
want to deal with the real problems
that real students experience," he
added.
Chris McSherry, recently
elected FUSA President and resi-dent
advisor on Jogues II, an all
freshmen floor, said he sees the ad-vantages
of the workshops. "At
first I was skeptical that they would
work, but these are excellent is-sues
that will be faced by freshmen
in their first year and by making
students directly deal with them,
they'll be better prepared for their
future at Fairfield."
"I can't imagine it being
anything but a great success," said
Fr. Aloysius P. Kelley, SJ, Univer-sity
President.
The curriculum will remain
the same for the new students and
freshmen will not be segregated
from the other classes in their daily
courses. In addition, the students
will not receive any grades or credit
for the workshops.
Information is being sent to
the incoming freshmen students
informing them of the changes,
Schimpf said.
"Ultimately, we hope to get
the freshmen to look into some
critical issues which will help them
make some rational judgments on
life, academics, intrapersonal rela-tionships,
and other areas that will
help them here and after they've
graduated," Schimpf said.
Response to the new manda-tory
discussions is generally posi-tive,
according to Schimpf, al-though
he conceded the fact that
making them mandatory "may
cause a resistance."
"Freshmen will see very
quickly that it is a good thing and
very helpful," Fr. Kelley said. "It's
becoming popular in colleges
across the country," he added.
"If the workshop wasn't
madatory people would want to
participate. I do think it would
help for the first year, though,"
said Jim Cronin '93.
This year, some of the resi-ccntinued
on page 3