Mirror - Vol. 15, No. 17 - March 07, 1991

              The
FairfieldMIRRORV Volume 15, No. V Thursday, March 7, 1991 The Image Of Fairfield
University Hikes Tuition $1,100 for 1991-92
"Extraordinary Measures" Taken to Balance New Budget
AnnMarie Puckhaber
Editor-in-Chief
William J. Lucas, vice presi-dent
of Finance, announced Mon-day
that tuition and room and board
will increase 8.4 percent next year
to meet an approved 1991 -92 $61.5
million budget. The new budget
represents a $4.5 million increase
from 1990-91.
The administration, which
has been working on the budget
since October, encountered many
conflicts in this year's process that
forced them to take "rather ex-traordinary
measures" in order to
balance the budget, according to
Fr. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., Uni-versity
president.
Lucas said the rise in tuition
costs was a necessary step in the
process despite attempts to keep a
tuition hike under control.
Tuition will rise from
$11,250 to $12,350 for students
entering their senior year and from
$11,550 to $12,650 for all other
full-time undergraduates. This dif-ference
is based on a 1988 decision
to phase in a differential for stu-dents
who entered that year.
Roomand board will increase
from $5,050 to $5,350 and the
townhouses from $4,000 to $4,250.
"Fairfield is a tuition depend-ent
institution," Fr. Kelley said.
"The budget becomes not only
more complicated but more diffi-cult
every year."
In order to complete the
budget the administration had to
stipulate that no new programs
would receive funding unless it is
taken from funds that have already
been allocated to another program.
"This is the first time Fair-field
has ever taken a step of this
Registration on Track for Fall
Christina Hennessy
News Editor
The new on-line undergradu-ate
registration system debuts this
Spring as next year's students pre-pare
to go through a process which
will provide them with a complete
schedule before the last day of
classes.
"We are really very excited
about the new system, considering
it hasn't been changed in eight
years," said Robert Russo, Univer-sity
Registrar.
With course booklets ex-pected
to arrive March 21, the first
part of the streamlined process
will begin on March 25th and
continue through the 28th as full-time
undergraduates will meet with
their advisors to complete carbon-ized
forms indicating the primary
course choices.
Students will move from
major and minor down to core and
electives, listing in descending
order course choices which will be
looked over by advisors who will
sign the sheet and keep a copy,
sending this copy to the registrar's
office during the second phase
(April 2-4, minors April 5).
Students, by lottery number,
will then bring their copies to the
Registrar's office between April
8-10.
Students waiting will stay in
classrooms in which print-outs of
what courses are still available will
be posted. Groups of ten will then
be brought to the office.
Terminal operators will then
punch in the core and elective
choices which will be added to the
major and minor courses already
entered in the student's file.
Those leaving the registrar's
office without any scheduling
problems, will have a completed
schedule.
"We are grouping all the Arts
and Sciences majors into the de-partmental
registration process,
since so many arts and sciences
courses may be needed as major or
core," said Russo.
"Nursing and business ma-jors
will come in to complete their
full schedule when other students
are picking up core courses and
electives," he added.
Seniors will have priority for
each phase, followed by juniors
and sophomores. The Class of '95
will register for classes during the
two sessions of Summer Orienta-tion
'91 in June.
Currently, departments are
preparing the guidelines for the
registration within each depart-ment,
so as to inform students the
times and places of registration
during the second phase of regis-tration.
"This system is efficient and
we won't have mass confusion,"
said Russo.
Women's History Month Celebrated
Christina Hennessy
News Editor
In conjunction with the
national Women's History Month
celebration, Fairfield University
will host a variety of programs to
both highlight the achievement of
women, as well as the issues and
obstacles which still challenge
women.
Beginning in 1982,
Women's History Month, as passed
by a joint congressional resolu-tion,
recognizes the role of Ameri-can
women, "which has been con-sistently
overlooked and underval-ued,"
according to the resolution.
"It was clear by talking to
women students and faculty here
that interest was high, there just
needed to be some organization,"
said Dr. Beverly Kahn, assistant
dean of the Colleges of Arts and
Sciences.
Kahn arrived in August
from Ohio State, at which she
helped launch some programs for
Women's History Month.
The plans were pulled to-gether
quickly by a committee
comprised of female faculty and
administrators. Plans included
recruiting several student clubs and
departmental groups and organi-zations
for events, as well as the
planning of the "Women's History
Month Teach-In" for March 21 at
3p.m. in the Oak Room.
The teach-in will feature
women members of the faculty
speaking on a variety of subjects,
such as pay equity, inclusion of
women in the curriculum and per-ceptions
of women in society.
"We hope any topic or is-sue
that concerns women would
concern men as well," said Kahn.
"My hope is that this event
will become an annual celebration
to focus in on the women's achieve-ments
and concerns and should
highlight the challenges that face
women," said Kahn.
In addition to the teach-in,
the Women's Resource Center will
present Helen Thomas, White
House Bureau Chief for United
Press International; the Latin
American Studies Coalition will
show "When the Mountains
Tremble,"; and women members
of the University's Debate Team
will present "Women Speak" in
the Stag-Her.
Updates ofthe calendar will
be posted around the campus as
new groups join the event.
Jeanne DiMuzio, assistant
director of University Activities,
is currently working on updating
the calendar and posting the calen-dars
around the campus as new
groups join the event.
Other women in the plan-ning
stages were Prof. Mariann
Regan - Arts and Sciences; Prof.
Suzanne Lyngaas - Business; Prof.
Suzanne MacAvoy - Nursing; and
Prof. Janine Bernard - Education.
"Hopefully, we'll have a
committee for the event because a
committee would be crucial for
the planning, " said DiMuzio.
"With the twentieth anni-versary
ofwomen being celebrated
at Fairfield, I hope this event grows
into a much more formal event
which becomes a tradition," she
added.
The bookstore currently is
highlighting women's history
through a book display focusing
on women writers and their per-ceptions
of society.
Coming in April the
Women's Resource Center will
sponsor the Brown Bag Luncheon
Series which will focus on such
topics as women in the church,
advertising and women and
healthcare.
The Communications Club
will host the Fairfield County
Women in Communications
"Communications Fair '91...How
to Find Your Niche in the 90's" on
April 20.
nature," Lucas said. And it was not
enough, he added.
The second step cut $340,000
from the base budget.
Lucas discussed the need for
the University to establish its pri-orities
and work on the budget
from there.
The top priorities taken
under consideration for the 1991-
92 budget were: the salary enhance-ment
plan which is a two-year plan
that began this past year; hiring/
retaining qualified faculty mem-bers;
deteriorating regional eco-nomic
conditions; declining fed-eral/
state support; computer main-frame
upgrade and academic
computer support; enhanced cam-pus-
wide security; and environ-mental/
safety regulations.
Lucas described the need for
additional federal and state sup-port
as "a major problem." The
University has pumped more
money into student aid over the
past several years, however fed-eral
and state aid has been cut, he
said.
In 1981, the overall funds
available for student aid amounted
to $7.9 million. Ofthat amount, 78
percent was provided through
federal programs and 11 percent
was provided through the Univer-sity.
This past year, $10.6 million
was available to students, but only
52 percent of that came from the
federal government and 28 percent
from the University. Figures for
1991-92 are expected to be simi-lar.
In doing the budget each year,
Fr. Kelley said there are always
two conflicting goals: to enhance
the quality of education and to try
to keep costs as low as possible.
Lucas said that the Board of
Trustees has made a commitment
to keep the tuition increases less
than what they have been in past
years. For this past year, tuition
was increased 10.5 percent.
"I think the decade of the
90's is going to be one of signifi-cant
cost management," Lucas said.
"We're going to have to make some
hard decisions and potentially
painfully.
The tuition increase also
includes the graduate and continu-ing
education programs. The tui-tion
for the Graduate School of
Education and Allied Professions
will increase from $200 per credit
hour to $225, and for graduate
students in the School of Business
from $275 to $295 per credit hour.
Tuition in the School of Continu-ing
Education was set at $225 per
credit hour.
Hennessy Appointed
Editor-in-Chief
Debra De Shong
Staff Writer
Christina Hennessy was
appointed Editor-in-ChiefofThe
Mirror by the Editorial Board
and staff Monday night.
Hennessy, a Communi-cation
Arts major from the town
of Fairfield, will assume her
duties as Editor for the issue of
March 28.
"I think the paper has defi-nitely
improved in the past four
years. Things are running
smoothly and everyone knows
their job," said Hennessy.
"AnnMarie Puckhaber has really
brought up the quality of the paper, as far as writing and design is
concerned."
Among her plans for the upcoming year is to increase student
participation on the newspaper.
"I think the paper makes a big impact on campus and people are
starting to feel this is a place they can voice their opinions," Hennessy
said.
She said she would like to see more student contributions in ev-ery
section.
"Christina is extremely qualified for the position and I'm sure
she'll do a good job," said Puckhaber, who is currently Editor-in-
Chief. Hennessy has been on The Mirror, staff for the past three
years, this past year as News Editor.
"As Editor, I knew I could always count on her to get the job
done and so I have no doubts that she will carry the newspaper to new
heights," Puckhaber said. "She is very professional and organized
and that is important for the job."
Hennessy would like to keep up the quality of the paper and
remind the community that it is student run. "It's one way we as
students can let the community know how we feel."
Hennessy served on the FUSA Senate both her freshman and
sophomore years and was a day chair for Orientation '90. She also
played on the varsity softball team for three years.
Hennessy is in the process of choosing her Editorial Board and
will have the appointments completed by the end of the week.