Mirror - Vol. 16, No. 11 - November 21, 1991

              The
FairfieldMRRORV Volume 16, No. 11 Thursday, November 21, 1991 The Image of Fairfield
Campus Community Remembers
Slain Jesuits of El Salvador
Emily Okenquist
News Editor
Last Saturday, November 16,
marked the second anniversary of
the slaying of the six Jesuit priests,
their cook, and her daughter in El
Salvador.
To honor these martyrs and
increase awareness of the tragedy
in the campus community, a series
of events has been planned for this
week with the theme of "El Salva-dor
- No to Death! No to War! No
to Injustice!"
The commemoration is
sponsored by the Latin American
Caribbean Studies Program, the
Faith, Peace, and Justice Program,
and Campus Ministry.
"There is an effort on Jesuit
campuses across the world to
rememberthese martyrs," said Cor-neliaDinnean,
director ofthe Faith,
Peace, and Justice Program.
"This situation is still not
resolved. Justice has not yet been
done."
"The El Salvador Martyrs
Memorial Mass" was held last
Friday at the Egan Chapel of Su
Ignatuis Loyola, followed by a
procession to the Chapel Plaza with
the crosses of those murdered,
which were placed outside the
Chapel.
"The Mass was very moving
and well received," said Fr. Paul
Carrier, S.J., University Chaplin.
"Ten Jesuits attended, and there
were many students, and members
of the faculty, administration, and
These nine crosses outside the Chapel honor the slain Jesuits and
the thousands of others killed in El Salvador, photo: Chris Herstine
staff."
Eight of the nine crosses
represent those who were killed.
The other cross bears the number
"70,000," symbolizing the thou-sands
of citizens killed throughout
the years.
This evening at 8 p.m. in
Gonzaga Auditorium, Rev. Char-les
L. Currie, S.J. will give a lec-ture
entitled, "The Jesuits in El
Salvador: Tragedy and Promise."
A procession to the Chapel Plaza
for a Candlelight Vigil and a cele-bration
of the liturgy by Rev.
Michael Boughton, S.J., rector of
the Jesuit community, will follow,
concluding this Second Anniver-sary
Observation.
Fr. Currie is one of the three
United States Jesuits who traveled
to El Salvador in September of
1991 to attend the trial of the nine
soldiers accused of the murders
which took place in November of
1989.
Subsequent to these murders,
Fr. Currie was appointed special
assistant to the president of Geor-getown
University to coordinate
the university's response to the
tragedy. While in this position, Fr.
Currie organized educational pro-grams
at the university, partici-pated
in the Congressional re-sponse,
and has kept in touch with
individuals and groups in El Sal-vador.
Fr. Currie currently serves
on the Boards of Trustees of St.
Joseph's Univeristy, the Univer-sity
of Scranton, and St. Peter's
College, and he also chairs the
Board of Directors of the Jesuit
Volunteer Corps.
"We were very lucky to get
him," said Dinnean. "He has an
extraordinary ability to talk to us."
According to Fr. Carrier,
during the Candlelight Prayer Vigil
after the lecture, the nine crosses
will be removed and replaced by
nine roses, in recognition of four
other women killed in El Salvador.
Their death will be commemorated
with the movie "Roses in Decem-ber"
on November 25 and a special
Mass on December 1.
"So seldom in such a short
span of history do we have the
making of so many martyrs," said
Dinnean, mentioning Oscar Rom-ero,
another Jesuit who was mur-dered
in 1980 and the four church-women,
in addition to the Jesuits
who were killed.
"These people are the "brain
power" behind rebuilding society,"
Dinnean added.
The eight martyrs murdered
at the Universidad Centroamerica
in San Salvador, El Salvador on
November 16, 1989 were Ignacio
Ellacuria, S.J., Amando Lopez
Quintana, S.J., Ignacio Martin
Baro, S.J., Juan Ramon Moreno
Pardo, S.J., Segundo Montes
Mozo, S.J., Joaquin Lopez y Lopez,
S.J., Elba Julia Ramos, and Celina
Maricet Ramos.
Bell Suggests Fund to Save
Dinnean fs Position
Christina Hennessy
Editor-in-Chief
The administration's decision to terminate the position of Cor-nelia
Dinnean, Director of the Faith, Peace and Justice Program, effec-tive
at the end of this year, has sparked criticism and protest among a
variety of individuals, such as Derrick Bell, Jr., last week's Visiting
Black Scholar, student groups and faculty. Bell has offered to front the
first $1,000 if a fund is set up to save the position and the office.
Other dissenting voices have offered various opinions and solu-tions
to stop the termination of the position and to possibly reverse the
decision. Such proposals include setting up a fund, as suggested by Bell,
and vocally opposing the administration so that the decision is reversed.
"Cornelia Dinnean had the most contact with Derrick Bell, more
than anyone else, as she directs the Visiting Black Scholars program,"
said Dr. Lucy Katz, Associate Professor of Business Law, " and he
(continued to p. 3)
Bell Advocates for
Racial Justice
Derrick Bell Jody Mcmullen
Jo Docimo
Staff Writer
Dr. Derrick A. Bell, Jr., one
of the country's leading scholars
specializing in civil rights law,
lectured last Thursday on "And
We Are Not Saved: The Elusive
Quest for Racial Justice," as part of
the Visiting Black Scholar Series.
In April of 1990, Bell re-quested
a leave of absence without
pay from Harvard University to
protest the lack of tenured women
of color on the law faculty. Bell is
presently a visiting professor at the
New York University Law School.
"It is increasingly difficult
but also important to acknowledge
that racism is here to stay," Bell
said. "Society needs to redefine
the goals of racial equality."
Bell criticized President
George Bush's nomination of
Judge Clarence Thomas to the
United States Supreme Court.
"Bush used race to stick the
Court with conservatives," he said.
"The appointment was a morality
play. He was chosen because ofhis
conservative views, not his profes-sional
skill as a judge."
In Bell's view, this action
on the part of Bush proved even
more strongly that the white
American society takes advantage
ofcolored people for its own direct
gain. He also said, "Blacks are
used as pawns in deciding political
and social issues."
Bell said that prior to the
Civil War, whites competed against
slaves for work on the farm lands.
After the war, whites settled for
segregation, not equality.
According to Bell, society
is presently experiencing the
"Caucasian Commitment," which
represents the white members of
society who acknowledge the ra-cial
problems, but maintain their
feelings of priority over blacks for
political, social, or economic op-portunities.
"White society has endured
its own difficulties, but it vents its
frustrations on blacks," he said.
Bell believes that whites
society holds an unspoken, unwrit-ten,
yet none the less powerful and
accepted privilege over the black
society. The right to remain supe-rior
to blacks is recognized and
accepted by society and the gov-ernment.
This right takes prece-dence
in conflicts occurring at the
(continued on p. 3)
University
Neighbor
Files Claim
To Appeal
Subdivision
Laura Coffey
Staff Writer
On Wednesday, November
6, a neighbor of Fairfield Univer-sity
filed a notice of intent to ap-peal
the Town Planning and Zon-ing
Commission's approval of the
13 acre subdivision of the Dolan
Campus.
One day later, the Univer-sity
filed their own appeal directed
at the conditions the panel attached
to the approval which was passed
on October 22.
The neighbor, Candace
Paige, a resident ofHanford Drive,
claims that the subdivision will
substantially reduce the value of
her property and adversely impact
the environment.
Paige also contends that the
Zoning Commission violated their
regulation of cul-de-sacs by ap-proving
the subdivision.
The regulation states that
streets not scheduled to be ex-panded
in the future can provide
access to no more than ten building
lots.
The University's appeal is
directed at the zoning conditions
attached to the approval.
The conditions state that a
developer who builds on the North
Benson Road property must pro-vide
a 20-foot visual screen be-tween
the lots and nearby home-owners.
Developers must also agree
to install underground utilities and
to submit a landscaping plan to the
commission that notes the number
of trees to be cut down and where
they stand.
In addition, trees and shrubs
must be planted on the turnaround
which abuts the campus in order to
prevent people from cutting
through the property to get out to
North Benson Road.
The University states in its
court papers that the conditions are
"capricious, illegal, and beyond
the scope ofthe Subdivision Regu-lations
of the town of Fairfield."
John F. Fallon, attorney for
the University, said, "I've never
seen conditions established for any
other subdivision."
Zoners went beyond their
authority by "imposing conditions
on the subdivision that are not
specifically reinforced in their
regulations," said Fallon. "The
conditions are illegal."
The appeal the University
made asks the court to find the
Zoning Commission's conditions
"unlawful, unenforceable, null, and
void."
Fallon stated that the cases
will appear on an administrative
appeals list within 60 to 90 days.
He expects hearings to take place
on this matter in approximately six
to nine months.