Mirror - Vol. 18, No. 09 - December 09, 1993

              The
FairfieldMIRR®R Volume 18, No. 9 Thursday, December 9, 1993 The Image of Fairfield
Fairfield Community Welcomes
AIDS Memorial Quilt
Jennifer Luongo
News Editor
A year ofplanning, along
with the dedication of the AIDS
Memorial Quilt Committee, the
more than 150 volunteers and
countless others, was finally
realized on November 30 when
the Fairfield community
welcomed the AIDS Memorial
Quilt to campus. "Patches of
Memories...Threads ofHope," the
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial
Quilt display, was unfolded in a
very moving ceremony in the Oak
Room.
The ceremony followed
a candlelight procession in which
hundreds of supporters walked
from the Egan Chapel of St.
Ignatius Loyola to the Oak Room,
where members ofthe community
read the names of persons who
have died of AIDS.
Volunteers, dressed in all
in white and wearing the redAIDS
ribbons, slowly unfolded each 12'
Students unfold AIDS Memorial Quilt photo: K. Guterl
by 12' grouping of panels along
the OakRoom floor as others read
the names of the approximately
four hundred panels displayed, a
spotlight passed along the panels
that hung from the walls and
Murray Farber, Director ofPublic
Relations, who was one of the
readers, felt that the Quilt was
very effective in raising people's
awareness about the disease.
He said, "One of the
names I read was someone named
Murray. It brought home to me
how we have to do something
about AIDS. I felt very proud of
the students who organized this
because it was such a dramatic
moment as well as an important
one.
Erica French '95, the
Chairperson of the AIDS
Memorial Quilt Committee, was
movedby the effort and dedication
of the volunteers. "I appreciate
the help more than anyone could
imagine." Since the display,
which lasted through December
2, French has received
overwhelming positive feedback
from students, including
numerous notes of thanks. "It
had a eye opening impact on
Fairfield. That meant the world
to me," she added.
During the Quilt' s three
days at Fairfield, 2500 people
walked through the display.
Fairfield will he donating $5000
to the McKinney Foundation
and to the "Bread and Roses"
program.
This money has come
from thenumerousdonation bins,
as well as funds that were left
from the project's budget.
Dr. Kim Bridgford,
Professor of English, who read
her poem "AIDS Quilt" at the
opening ceremony said, "This is
an important time at Fairfield for
people to unite with one of the
most important causes of our
time."
New Orientation Co-Chairs Bring Hope For
Jeff Preston
Staff Writer
Program's Improvement
In the past, Freshmen
Orientation consisted of a care-package
that contained a
complimentary tube of Colgate,
Noxema shave cream and a few
other amenities, thoughtlessly
stuffed into a tiny shower bucket.
Along with these toiletries one
would also find a tissue-thin t-shirt
with some corny saying on it
like, "Up, Up, and Away The
Sky's The Limit."
Mark Reed and Laura
Parese (both '96) were recently
chosen as the co-chairs for the
next installment of Freshmen
Orientation. With their arrival,
comes hope for a continuing
upgrade in Orientation's
effectiveness.
The Freshmen
Orientation program continues to
evolve, and is becoming more
and more useful to incoming
freshmen. It has grown into more
than just a care-package and a
slogan of hope for a successful
college career. The program now
includes meetings in the summer
months before Freshmen arrival
and more facilitator involvement.
Laura gave an overview
ofthe main goal ofthe Orientation
!WSWWSBB!*5
Reed and Parese will head Orientation '94. photo: K. Guterl
program. "It is there to help the
Freshmen adapt to the college
experience and ease into their life
at Fairfield. For many of these
students, Orientation will be the
first time they've ever been away
from home." This summer the
Orientation committee will be
there to try to make the Freshmen
transition a smooth one, as they
get ready for the long haul come
September.
In its final version, the
Orientation committee will consist
of seven to nine members. Laura
and Mark are now in the midst of
interviewing for the spaces that
need to be filled, for the
Committee's completion. Since
the final list of Committee
members is still being compiled,
many of the particulars of the
upcoming program haven't been
worked out as of yet. However,
Mark was able to discuss the new
ideas that he and Laura will be
bringing to the program with the
help ofFran Koerting .Director of
Programs for New Students and
Rich Pereira, Co-Chair of
Orientation last year.
"In the past, Freshmen
Facilitators were not involved in
the very early stages of program
development. Now, they will be
involved in the planning process
in addition to implementation of
the program, he said.
Fran Koerting
elaborated on Mark's idea of
giving the Facilitators a new level
of involvement. "By merging the
Facilitators more closely with the
Orientation process, they will
assume a role that makes them
more thanjust group leaders. They
will be key contributors in the
planning and carrying out of the
entire program—from start to
finish," she said.
As a rationale for
choosing Mark Reed as Co-Chair,
Fran Koerting cited Mark's
experience. He was a Freshmen
Facilitator last year, and feels that
his experience will help make this
year's program the best ever. His
experience, coupled with strong
leadership skills, qualified him
for the position. As for the
selection of Laura Parese, Fran
pointed out that she has strong
leadership qualities as well. She
also made it evident that Laura,
with her new ideas and
enthusiasm, makes the co-chair
position complete. Fran
commented that, "Together, Mark
and Laura possess a nice balance
of fresh ideas and attitudes."
The programming for
Orientation will be completed
some time in January. With Fran,
Mark and Laura heading the
operation, Fairfield hopes to
continue its progress in dealing
with incoming students.
Jeanne White
Brings Ryan's
Legacy To
Fairfield
Karen LoCurto
Assistant News Editor
The FUSA Lecture
Series presented Jeanne White:
the Legacy of Ryan White on
Tuesday, November 16, in
Gonzaga Auditorium. Jeanne
White, Ryan White's mother,
travels throughout the United
States sharing the story of her son
with others. She explained the
core of her message as, "the Ryan
White story is the best way to
learn about the disease and make
it real to a lot of people." The
lecture was a preview to AIDS
Awareness Day, December 1, in
conjunction with the AIDS
Memorial Quilt being displayed
in the Campus Center Oak Room
throughout the week.
Jeanne White declared
her AIDS involvement as
"therapy—especially with
mothers of the hemophiliac
community." She also believes
that "people still think it is
everybody else's problem until it
affects them." Ryan, was
diagnosed a hemophiliac at a very
young age. He never received
transfusions, however contracted
the HIV virus from infected blood
clotting products. If the products
had been treated, the HIV virus
would have been killed.
Jeanne White said when
she found out "all I knew about it
was that it was fatal—I didn't
know the discrimination we would
face—I didn't know not to tell the
public." Here, she was referring
to the town in which they lived:
Kokomo, Indiana which refused
to allow Ryan to go to school. In
August of 1985 they took their
case to court. Throughout
everything she said "Ryan coped
well with AIDS—he had
compassion for the people who
lacked education about the
disease."
Ryan White did his best
to fight the disease and make more
people aware of what AIDS is
about. He befriended many
celebrities whohelped him during
his life and are still involved in
their part of the Ryan White
Foundation.
The Ryan White
Foundation is a national
organization to be used as a source
ofinformation in educating people
continued on p.4
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