Mirror - Vol. 15, No. 09 - November 08, 1990

              The
FairfieldMRRORV Volume 15, No. 9 Thursday, November 8, 1990 The Image Of Fairfield
University Community Pulls Tog
Help Victims of Beach House
Christina Hennessy
News Editor
An outpouring of support,
both financial and emotional, has
been provided by the University
community, especially the beach
residents, as they continue to sup-ply
shelter and the bare essentials
to the residents of the "Irish Barn",
the beach house that was destroyed
in a fire last week.
"The Fairfield University
student community, particularly
those living down at the beach,
have been unbelievable in their
support," said Erin Loughney, one
of the displaced residents.
Students try to salvage their belongings that were damaged in beach house fire last week.
Photo: Charlie Malone
Cultural Awareness Week
Puts the Spotlight
On Campus Diversity
Christina Hennessy
News Editor
In the land ofGap sweaters,
Guess jeans and J. Crew socks and
sneakers, Fairfield University's
Cultural Awareness Week gives
students the chance to discover
the uniqueness of the different
cultural groups on campus.
Various presentations and
demonstrations were held from Oc-tober
29 through November 2 in
the Campus Center Lobby high-lighting
the diversity ofthisFUSA,
UMOJA, SALSA, ASA and the
International Students'Club spon-sored
event.
"I want the non-AHANA
(African, Hispanic, Asian and Na-
Inside...
13
16
Campus Roundup
from Around the
Country
A Glimpse of Com-munism
from a Sen
ior Abroad
A Preaching for the
Pope
Review of V.C. An-drews'
Dawn
Men's and Women's
Basketball Previews
tive American) students to recog-nize
the importance of the diver-sity
of cultures other than Euro-pean
and to actually talk with Afri-can-
Americans and Latino Ameri-cans
about their own experience,"
said junior Camille Banks, Presi-dent
of UMOJA, the African
American Student Association.
The percentage of minori-ties
has increased from last year's
mark of 5.49% of the entire stu-dent
population, to a number above
6.0%.
Though final number has
yet to be established, the number
of applications of minority stu-dents
were also up this year, ac-cording
to the Office of Minority
Relations.
"Many students question
why we have this event and feel
such declarations as 'black and
proud' to be too much, or some-thing
, but if there is a lack of
teaching in black history at the
University, the event attempts to
make up for the loss," said Shan-non
Cross, a UMOJA member.
UMOJA sponsored a show-ing
of Glory, which was followed
by a discussion on the importance
of teaching non-European cultures
to all students by Vernon Bigeron
who is a full-time teacher in the
New York City public education
system.
Also, Cultural food dishes
were offered and a group performed
traditional African dance.
Other groups were given
different days to plan a program as
well. SALSA, gave out food of the
Hispanic culture and set up a dis-play
of the flags of the Spanish
countries around the lobby.
"I hope the day brings the
community together to see what
the Hispanic culture is all about,"
said Orlando Rodrigues, president
of SALSA.
"With the help of FUSA,
the group gets a chance to be very
visible and hopefully recruit people
who are interested in being a part
of or learning about the Hispanic
culture," he said.
"The food is often the lure
to make people approach the group,
look at their displays and talk to
members about that culture,"
Rodrigues added. He said he
found many students willing to
find out about the different cul-tures.
The new department of
Minority Relations/Special Inter-est
in the FUSA cabinet headed by
Charise Burt was responsible for
supporting the groups and making
sure they had everything they
needed. The money for the week
will come out of the budget for
that department.
Joren Reyes, President of
ASA, said more publicity will be
important for the next fair in the
second semester. He stated the
cultural awareness might be able
to "integrate more clubs in this
week-long celebration."
"The week is there to make
people aware that the world is made
up of many different people and it
isn't all one-dimensional," said
Reyes.
The "Irish Barn" residents
must wait until their house is liv-able
efore moving back in. The
landlord has been alerted and is
concerned for their well-being.
According to the females,
the fire was caused by an exposed
light fixture in the closet of the
upper bedroom.
That bedroom received the
most damage and the student liv-ing
there lost all of her posses-sions.
"The Fairfield Fire Depart-ment
couldn't have been nicer,"
said Loughney."The firemen were
never condescending and they
didn't treat us like little kids."
"We are really unsettled
right now and are looking for
places to live," said Carolyn Duff.
"However, we didn't at any time
ever feel there wasn't some house
who wouldn't take us or that we'd
be left out in the cold."
The females were offered
on-campus housing by student
services, but decided to stay down
at the beach so they wouldn't have
to break up.
"We've been together since
freshman year, and I think it would
ther to
Fire
be really upsetting if we were
separated," said Duff.
In addition, Seller's pro-vided
the residents with meal tick-ets
and the bookstore gave them
the books they had lost.
Many students contributed
money and the residents of the
beach house "the Fishbowl" or-ganized
a fund for the students.
Students living at "the Zoo" housed
the women until another could be
found.
Other houses, such as the
Duplex, Touch of Grey, Insanity,
On the Rocks and the Dying Iguana,
also chipped in with making din-ners
or providing places to stay.
The members of
Townhouses 127 and 142 provided
a place for the students to leave
some of their belongings.
FUSA senior class repre-sentatives,
Jill Smith and Steve
Doherty were instrumental in get-ting
contributions for the girls and
Doherty arranged for meal tickets.
"Everybody says their is no
school unity, but their wasn't any
questions asked and everybody
pulled together and pitched in,"
said Loughney.
Town Seeks University
Funding For Police
AnnMarie Puckhaber
Editor-in-Chief
' Fairfield's First Selectwoman Jackie Durrell has requested that
the University pay for the extra police patrols that have been added to
the beach area.
"Due to the considerable overtime on the police from Thursday to
Saturday, I asked the University if it would contribute to the patrols
since it does not pay for any services (because it is a non-profit
organization)," Durrell said.
Fr. Aloysius P. Kelley, University president, has refused to
provide funding for the police because the Town will receive $1
million dollars this year from the State through the PILOT (Payment
in Lieu of Taxes) Program for having the University located here.
The PILOT Program was established to make up for the tax loss
a town suffers for having a university, hospital, or other tax exempt
organization located in it.
"It's a very fine program," Fr. Kelley said. "While we are non-profit
and a major advantage to the Town, we do require services that
would otherwise be financed through taxes." The PILOT Program
makes up for this loss, he said.
Fr. Kelley said the PILOT Program was designed to cover the
expenses of the Town such as police patrols and there is no reason for
the University to pay any extra cost.
However, Durrell said the money received from the State must go
into the general budget which pays to run the town. "I can't designate
that money for certain use," she said. The Town of Fairfield has a
budget of $96 million.
"We have put extra people down there (in the beach area) because
of the activity and it has caused an increase in overtime," said Fairfield
Police Chief William Mockalis. "We have trouble getting people to
take overtime and it is a burden."
Fr. Kelley said the University has already contributed to the Town
and the beach situation in a number of ways. For example, he said, the
University has increased on-campus housing do to the Town's desire
to reduce the number of student rentals "This was done at an extreme
cost to the University."
In addition, Fr. Kelley said the University has a tremendous
financial impact on the Town with student, faculty, and parent spend-ing.
"The economic impact is enormous," he said.
Fr. Kelley also said that the amount of money the Town receives
from the State will be increased next year do to the University's new
facilities - the Regina A. Quick Center, Dolan Campus, and The Egan
Chapel.
Durrell said she was not disappointed with Fr. Kelley's answer to
her request, but that she is not ready to give up.
"It is a valid and acceptable answer but it doesn't mean I will not
keep asking," Durrell said. "Like everything else in life, you don't get
what you ask for the first time around."