Mirror - Vol. 15, No. 15 - February 14, 1991

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FairfieldMIRRORV Volume 15, No. 15 Thursday, February 14, 1991 The Image Of Fairfield
Students Confront Committee with Campus Concerns
Debra DeShong
Staff Writer
Christina Hennessy
News Editor
The University Long Range
Planning Committee got an earful
at it's first open forum last week as
students voiced concern and sug-gestions
over such aspects of stu-dent
life as freshmen housing, al-cohol
awareness and the state of
cultural diversity on campus.
Though both days drew a
very low turnout, the student pres-entations
touched upon many dif-ferent
subjects.
- Jennifer Benson, '94, FUSA
Senate Representative, delivered
a petition signed by over 200 fresh-man
asking the committee to re-considerthe
current policy offresh-man
housing.
"The freshmen should be
given an edge in the lottery so that
they can have the experience of
living in the quad," she added.
Lou Spadaccini, '94, Senate
Representative, also asked the com-mittee
to reevaluate their policy.
"The freshman have no posi-tive
influences without interaction
with upperclassmen," he said. He
proposed that the freshmen be
given the option to either live on
freshmen or upperclassmen floors.
"I would think twice if I were
a fresman about to come here, if I
had to live at Dolan," said Denis
Klein, ajunior Resident Advisor in
Campion Hall.
iThe possibility of banning
kegs concerned senior Thomas
Smith, who told the committee to
"try education."
"This administration should
think and act proactively, not reac-tively,"
he said.
He suggested educational
awareness programs to inform
students of the dangers of alcohol,
instead of attempting to make
underage drinking vanish from
campus.
Suggestions to expand the
multicultural programs on campus
made evident the concern of sev-eral
students over the diversity on
campus.
"Fairfield is not an accurate
microcosm of society," said
LeeAnn Prete, a freshman.
"Multicultural events should
be more accessible to the student
body, for as students are exposed
to different things they become
subconsciously used to it," Prete
added.
Joren Reyes, '92, President
of the Asian Students Association,
asked for more subjects to be of-fered
for the AHANA students,
specifically through the addition
of an African-American Studies
major.
One student proposed the
addition of a multicultural history
course into the core curriculum.
Other suggestions presented
to the committee included creating
a common lounge for every resi-dence
hall, in which a television,
games and microwave, for ex-ample,
would be provided and
watched over by students on work
study.
Christine Noga, '92, an RA
in Campion, proposed the idea in
order to add to "alternative pro-gramming
over the weekend."
Committee members listen to student presentations at the open forum last Thursday.
photo: Kristin Obenchain
Athletics also received atten-tion,
as Peter Geiss, '91, FUSA
Athletic Director, proposed that
the RecPlex open earlier in the
morning and that equipment be
updated.
"We already pay for use of
the complex, we shouldn't have to
pay extra for weights, especially
athletes," said Steve Becker, a
senior, who addressed the fee added
to use the free-weight room.
Craig Haba, '91, and Geiss
agreed that the basketball court is
in desperate need of repair.
"I have seen at least six ath-letes
fall and ruin their careers on
that inadequate floor," Geiss said.
Shanna Lewis, '91, a mem-ber
of the Lady Stags, told the
committee ofinjuries the women's
team has suffered because of the
floor. In addition, she reminded
the panel that several otherMAAC
schools have improved their floors.
Several other suggestions
were brought up, such as updating
the library and computer labs, more
money for floor planning in the
Residence Halls, as well as the
RAs, the conversion of the Play-house
into a Pub and Coffee house,
meal plans for townhouse and
beach resident, and the conversion
ofAlumni Hall into a Hockey rink.
Repeatedly, Dr. Robert Step-sis,
Academic Vice President,
stated that the panel was there to
listen not to debate.
"I was very impressed with
all of the presentations and I am
happy to hear the students ideas,"
said Stepsis.
Liz McGrath, a junior stu-dent
representative, said this com-mittee
was formed because "people
like to see the school they attended
get ahead and they like to leave
their mark."
The last open forum for the
University community takes place
tonight at 7 p.m. in the Oak Room.
The committe included: Dr.
David Danahar, Dean of Arts and
Sciences; Dr. Doris Lippman,
Faculty-Nursing; Dr. Harold Hack-ney,
Faculty-Graduate Education;
Liz McGrath, '92; Brian Hayes,
'92; William Schimpf; Dr. Robert
Stepsis; Dr. John Barone, Univer-sity
Provost; Dr. Laurence Miners,
Faculty-Arts and Sciences; George
Diffley, Vice President of Univer-sity
Advancement; William Lucas,
Vice President ofFinance; and Rev.
Paul Carrier, S.J.
Irwin and Shannon Selected Orientation '91 Co-Chairs
Christina Hennessy
News Editor
Stacey Irwin and Steve Shan-non
gear up to lead the junior class
in Orientation '91, as both sopho-mores
step into the role of Co-
Chair for the event.
Irwin, of Beverly, Ma., and
Shannon, of Western Spring, 111.,
both political science majors,
competed with a field of thirteen
applicants who all submitted ap-plications
and interviewed before
a student panel.
"The candidates were all
excellent this year, with really
qualified candidates going for the
position of Co-Chair," said Fran
Koerting, Judicial Officer and
Director of Orientation.
The process was simplified
this year with the addition of
summer orientation, breaking
down to one interview with a stu-dent
panel.
Students Draft Townhouse
Keg Policy Proposal
AnnMarie Puckhaber
Editor-in-Chief
A student committee comprised of members of FUSA, FUTA,
and IRHG have completed an initial proposal to submit to the admini-stration
on the townhouse keg policy.
The committee was formed last week after the administration
warned students that kegs would be banned in the townhouses unless
they came up with an alternative solution for controlling alcohol
abuse on campus and the serving of minors.
Matt Gallagher, FUTA president, plans to present the proposal
to William P. Schimpf, vice president of Student Services, by the end
of this week or early next week.
The committee has not yet released copies of the proposal, but
has stated that the proposal will establish some form of monitoring
system for drinking in the townhouses.
"We're pleased with the concern we've received by students on
this issue," said John Tedesco, Senate president. "We were also glad
to see the response in the townhouses in light of Fr. O'Neil's letter
(concerning serving minors) and we are sure that any policy that we
come up with will be supported by the students."
If Schimpf agrees to consider the prososal, the committee will
then forward copies of it to the members of the Unversity Council.
"The students had a good
sense for what was needed for the
program and they really felt that
Steve and Stacey would be the best
combination for the job," said
Koerting.
The committee looked for the
skill and the experiencethat each
candidate brought to the job.
"Stacey is very dynamic,
energetic and bubbly with strong
organization and detail skills, while
Steve is very easygoing, laidback
and has a lot of organization skills,
but is very strong in interpersonal
skills," said Koerting.
"I didn't know who I was up
against, but I went into the inter-view
with an open attitude because
I wanted to help out with Orienta-tion
any way I could," said Irwin.
"I had such a great orienta-tion
that I wanted to show the fresh-men
what a great place Fairfield is,
and I especially wanted to give
them the warm welcome I re-ceived,"
she added.
Both are ready to begin work
on bringing the Class of '93 to-gether
for the summer and fall
orientations.
"Orientation is such a healthy
program in that it brings the whole
junior class together and the whole
goal is to help the freshmen to
make a smooth transition into the
University," said Shannon.
"I want to offer the great time
and the warm welcome I had re-ceived
to the incoming freshman
class," he added.
The two must now work with
Koerting to pick their staff, which
will consist of ten Committee
Chairs.
The executive structure no
longer utilizes the Day-Chairs for
the event.
"I am more comfortable with
a less cumbersome hierarchy, so
the leadership is based more on
events and less by day," said
Koerting.
The Committee Chairs will
still choose sub-chairs for the vari-ous
events, however.
The Co-Chairs and Commit-tee
Chairs will journey to Fairfield
in June to stay for the two shifts of
freshmen to participate in the sum-mer
Orientation. In addition, they
will all participate in a work week-end
to get ready for the traditional
fall orientation.
A new aspect this year is the
addition of the Freshman Facilita-tors
who will work with their group
closely during the orientation pro-gram.
"I would like more interac-tion
between freshman and their
Freshman Facilitator, as well as
the other freshman facilitator
groups so that they have increased
interaction with other kids in the
class," said Irwin.
The Co-Chairs will be plan-ning
the schedule in the next few
weeks, coming up with the theme,
the events for the day and the re-quirements
for staffing.
"Basically, the program is
service work, which is what Fair-field
and the Jesuit ideal stands
for," said Shannon.