Mirror - Vol. 16, No. 15 - February 6, 1992

              The
FairfieldMRRORV Volume 16, No. 15 Thursday, February 6, 1992 The Image of Fairfield
Shannon Takes FUSA Election
Christina Hennessy
Editor-in-Chief
Steve Shannon nosed out
opponent Jennifer Paventi in last
Tuesday's FUSA Presidential elec-tions,
posting a victory in a close
race that also brought out a record
number of voters.
More than 50% of the stu-dent
body, 1515 in all, came out to
vote for the two candidates. The
number beats the record set in 1990
when 1,317 students visited the
polls for the presidential elections.
The Elections Committee
chose not to realize the election
results.
"This was a great race in
that the student body really be-came
involved," said Shannon.
"The fact that four people came
out to run for president and that
more than half of the student body
came out to vote serves as a reflec-tion
of how FUSA is becoming
more powerful."
"I was really pleased to see
the amount of people come out to
vote as it indicates that not only the
people running for president care
about student government, but that
the student body cares about who
is president," said Brian Hayes,
current FUSA president.
All the candidates ran on
very varied platforms during the
three-week campaign and brought
many issues out for debate and
discussion among the student body.
Shannon plans to begin work on
the groundwork for some of his
proposals.
"I want to meet with Sen-ate
and start to build unity between
the branches ofFUSA," said Shan-non.
"I want to work at giving
Senate more power, as they are,
like myself, a direct reflection of
the student body."
Shannon will also take this
time to research and go over the
many areas of FUSA. Specifi-cally,
he would like to begin to
research on the history of the Fair-field
University Beach Associa-
|] tion (FUBA), in order to
|| get into the works his de-sire
to build up the organi-zation
with both structural
and financial support.
"I plan on taking
this time to evaluate cabi-net
and look towards the
selection of my vice-presi-dents,"
said Shannon.
The campaigns of
the two presidential candi-dates
not only brought out
diverse issues, but they
were oriented towards spe-cifics
groups, which led to
a close race.
"These two people had two
very distinct goals they were tar-geting,"
said Jeanne DiMuzio,
Assistant Director of University
Activities who assisted the Elec-tion
Committee with the tally of
the votes.
"Neither of the candidates
assumed victory or defeat, as they
worked to target specific areas,
and the close race showed how
strategic their campaigns were,"
she added. "This second time
around also showed a real kindred
spirit between the two and as such
it was a very sensitive campaign."
The elections were run and
organized by the Elections Com-mittee
which consisted of Stacey
Irwin, '93, Election Committee
Chairperson; Ed Hardiman '92,
FUSA Cabinet representative; Jodi
Ross, '95, Senate Representative;
DuMuzio and Judy Fargo, gradu-ate
assistant.
"The structure of the cam-paigns
showed both dedication that
both of the candidates had for the
student body and FUSA," said
Irwin. "I think that the turnout, the
issues presented and the campaigns
showed the impact that FUSA has
developed in the previous years."
"Both Jen and Steve did an
excellent job in the campaign, as
they both brought experience and
ran a clean campaign based on
strong platforms," said Rob Miani,
'92, FUSA executive vice-presi-dent.
"Steve will do an excellent
job, as he is very dedicated as can
be seen with his experience in
programming this year. He is a
true leader and has the respect of
his peers."
Those involved with the
campaign hoped that all candidates
remained active in FUSA.
The current FUSA leaders
will remain in office until April,
upon which time Shannon will be
inaugurated to office. His cabinet
will be selected and approved by
the Senate before the end of the
school year.
Outstanding Seniors Nominated for
All-USA Academic Team
Carrie Brown
Staff Writer
John P. Tedesco, Jr., and
Patricia A. Hunt, both seniors at
Fairfield University, have been-nominated
for a position on the
All-USA Academic Team.
The final selections are
made by USA Today to honor out-standing
students who have
achieved academic success while
in college.
Tedesco, a finance and
accounting major from New City,
NY, hopes for a carrer in upper
level management in finance at a
bank or a Financial Services
Company.
With a 3.87 grade point
average out of a possible 4.0,
Tedesco is a member of Alpha
Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Soci-ety
for students with outstanding
records in academics, leadership,
and community services.
He is also the treasurer of
the Financial Management Asso-ciation,
a Fairfield University
Leadership Class Member, a Re-gents
Scholar, and an Italian-
American Scholar.
Tedesco served as an audit
intern at Arthur Andersen and Co.
in their Financial Services Divi-sion,
and an intern in their Market-ing
Division at the Bank of New
York.
As a volunteer, he cooked
and served at a city soup kitchen
and tutored children in the com-munity
and fellow students on
campus.
Other campus activities
include serving as president of the
Student Senate, a presidential
appointee to the University Coun-cil,
as a member of the Traffic
Advisory Board, and as captain of
intramural football and soccer
teams.
"It's quite an honor to be
recognized," Tedesco said, com-menting
on his posiiton.
"Even the nomination alone
is an honor."
Hunt, who is also a member
of Alpha Sigma Nu, resides in
Cherry Hill, NJ. She is majoring in
accounting and currently earning a
3.94 grade point average.
She has been the recipient
of several awards which have in-cluded
the Deloitte and Touche
Award in accounting, the Connecti-cut
Society of CPA's Scholarship,
and the Financial Executives Insti-tute
of Southern Connecticut
Award.
After graduation, Hunt
plans to work with Earnst and
Young, an accounting firm in Phila-delphia.
Hunt's involvement in cam-pus
programs include tutoring chil-dren
whose parents have AIDS,
volunteering at the Habitat for Hu-manity
Community Urban Effort
to build housing, and participating
in the Oxfam Fast which raises
funds internationally for needy
people.
Hunt was also a student ad-visor
for freshmen. In addition to
these campus activities, Hunt has
also led her intramural softball team
and flag football team as captain
and she is also a referee for volley-ball.
"Since I began my college
career, my outstanding intellectual
endeavor has been to become a
person for others through diverse
community involvement," Hunt
said.
"I have strived to maintain a
dynamic life beyond the classroom.
Serving the hungry at a soup
kitchen, painting rooms of a retreat
house and tutoring high school
students are some of the activities
that enabled me to contribute to
others' lives."
"I'm thrilled that my hard
work has paid off but I try to keep
everything in perspective. It's a
nice honor," she added.
Umoja
Fair Kicks
Off Black
History
Month
Laura Coffey
Staff Writer
Black History Month be-gan
last Saturday as Umoja, the
African-American Student Asso-ciation,
sponsored a festival in the
Oak Room.
More than 200 books de-signed
for children and young
people were displayed at the fair.
Visitors were able to purchase
prints, masks, andjewelry imported
from Africa and the Caribbean and
original art created by teenagers.
The bazaar also featured
ethnic food, storytelling, dancing,
singing, and cornrow braiding dem-onstrations.
Umoja will use the
profits to improve the book collec-tion
on black history in the Nyselius
Library.
"The purpose ofthe fair was
to introduce Bridgeport, Norwalk,
and other urban areas to Fairfield
University," said Camille Banks
'92, president of Umoja.
"We wanted to have an
event that let people know that the
University was interested in things
like diversity."
Umoja means "unity" in
Swahili. The aim ofthe 15 member
organization is to teach African
American culture to the general
community.
Extensive promotion went
into the planning of the event and
members were happy with the turn-out.
"I was very pleased with the
outcome," said Banks. "I feel we
were successful in letting people
know about Umoja. There was a
nice mix of people at the event
including administrators, profes-sors,
and people from the commu-nity."
Several other events have
been scheduled to take place in
February in celebration of Black
History Month. On February 25 at
7:30 p.m. in the Quick Center, the
San Francisco Mime Troupe will
perform a play entitled "I Ain't
Yo' Uncle" - the New Jack Revi-sionist
Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Nikki Giovanni, a profes-sor
of English at Virginia Poly-technic
Institute and University,
will speak on February 18 at 8:00
p.m. in the Quick Center as part of
the Fairfield University Visiting
Black Scholars Program. Giovanni
is the author if 20 volumes of
poetry.
Umoja is also working with
IRHG to get Sister Souljah, a rap
member of Public Enemy, to come
to campus toward the end of Feb-ruary.
The organization hopes to
show films in the Stag-her Inn and
have a possible discussion of inter-racial
relationships after the film.