Mirror - Vol. 03, No. 07 - September 20, 1979

              Food Poisoning
Strikes Summer Program
Macke worker, Andy McGowen. The rash of salmonella this summer had
its origin in Macke kitchens. A specific source has yet to be determined.
(Photo by Colin Kelleher)
By Lauretta LaCaSale
Macke Food Service, which pro-vides
meals for on-campus students
was confronted with, legitimate food
poisoning complaints when approx-imately
45 people contracted sal-monella
over the summer.
According to Mr. Fitzpatrick,
Director of the Campus Center, the
first known incident of salmonella oc-curred
during the week of July 16th
when an Open Court Publishers
workshop group rented the universi-ty's
facilities. A woman who was run-ning
the workshop reported that five
of the attendees were complaining of
stomach cramps. Throughout the
summer, the infirmary is only avail-able
to youth groups and therefore
did not provide services to outside
educational groups. For this reason,
the woman was a.dvised to call Dr.
Santella, the university physician. Dr
santella was away, so she was refer-red
to another physician on call who
prescribed on over-the-counter an-tacid.
On Friday of that week, Sandra
Ross, a Graduate Resident Advisor
became ill. She had experienced
previous stomach problems and was
admitted to the hospital for some
tests. Macke became concerned
when a few nuns expressed similar
discomforts. At this time, Mr Krell
who is the Associate Dean for Stu-dent
Development contacted Dr.
Santella. They initially thought the
cause of the problem might be the
milk machines in the faculty dining
room, and they decided to contact
the milk company in Bridgeport. As
Sandra Ross was being released
from the hospital, her own doctor
diagnosed the cause of her discom-fort
as salmonella.
Soon afterward, the Town Health
Department called university repre-sentatives
to notify them that a per-son
from New York who had attend-ed
the group workshop had been
diagnosed as having salmonella.
Because the individual was from
New York, the problem became the
concern of the N.Y. State Health
Department, who notified the Con-necticut
State and Town Health
Depatments. Macke was now con-cerned
with determinining where the
salmonella had been contracted-.
Salmonella is a form of food poison-ing
which can be contracted through
poultry, eggs, or human fecies. Ac-cording
to a health department of-ficial,
approximately 70% to 75% of
poultry in the uncooked stage has
salmonella.
The next week, the university
received a call from the Connecticut
State Health Department who re-ported
that a girl from the Connec-
THE
FAIRFIELD Volume 3, No. 7, September 20, 1979
FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY, FAIRFIELD, CONN. 064.JO MIRRORIncorporated 1977
ticut Girls Sports Camp had
salmonella. The Health Department
then required all Macke employees
to have stool tests to determine
whether there might to a carrier in
Macke. The results determined that
one food handler had salmonella and
a few days later a manager who is no
longer employed by Macke also had
salmonella
The Open Education Workshop
ended on a Friday and the following
Monday, a person eating at the
snack bar was diagnosed as having
salmonella also. This indicated that
the disease wasn't just limited to the
main dining room. The State Health
Department then sent over 500 sur-veys
to individual people who attend-ed
summer programs such as Up-ward
Bound, IBM, and athletic
camps. From the 500 surveys ap-proximately
40 people replied stating
they had the symptoms of food
poisoning. The Health Department is
still waiting for other surveys to ar-rive.
According to Mr. Fitzpatrick, the
Health department gave Macke a
rating of 96% out of 100%. Macke is
now taking various precautions in an
attempt to eliminate a recurrence.
Macke, according to Mr. Fitzpatrick,
realized just how careful they have to
be. They have purchased a different
pot sink to give an extra rinse for the
pots. They also rented a steam jetty
to clean the dishware and they have
placed an order for one of their own.
New ice dispensers are in the pro-cess
of being purchased in an effort
to improve sanitary conditions.
Macke is supposed to be checked
four times a year by the town health
department on a general basis. Mr.
Schimph, Dean of Students, is in the
process of hiring a food consultant to
keep a closer check on health codes.
As to the cause of the salmonella, so
far- they can only conjecture what
brought it on. Mr. Fitzpatrick did say,
though, "If there was ever a safe
time to eat Macke food, it's now
because they are taking every possi-ble
precaution."
FUSA Updates
Teacher Evaluations
By Janet O'Connor
The system of evaluating pro-fessors
at Fairfield has been revised
by this year's FUSA Administrative
Director, Mike Navarro. A small
group of students will now be paid to
distribute the questionaires. Pro-fessors
will choose what time their
classes will receive the evaluation
form. If FUSA attains 90% of the
distributed forms, the results will be
published in a booklet available to
the entire university community.
Mike Navarro, stressed that he has a
new philosophy for the evaluations.
The forms will now be titled,
"Teacher Self-Improvement Study"
and Navarro feels this reflects the
professional concern which must be
given this process. Navarro noted
that while the cost to FUSA will be
$500.00, the end result will be an im-proved,
professional evaluation pro-cess,
fair to both faculty and
students.
In addition to hiring a typist to han-dle
the "incredible amount" of
paperwork, FUSA will pay eleven
people to distribute forms. There
workers will be under contract and
will not be paid if they fail to meet
their entire contract obligations.
Navarro emphasized that the eleven
distributors ,were chosen on the
basis of their performance in last
year's evaluation process.
'if the FUSA staff can complete
270 of total 300 classes sampled,
they will then publish a booklet in
February detailing the results. To
facilitate understanding the results
will be converted to an easily
readable word process. The booklet
will also list any professors who
refused to be evaluated.
The evaluation forms are set to be
distributed in early October to avoid
complications with final exams and
allow time to compute the results by
November. However, Navarro stres-sed
that if his staff is unable to com-plete
the 270 (90%) evaluations no
booklet will be issued. Because an in-complete
sampling would be invalid.
Navarro stated that "the results
would be available on request, but
would not be mass-distributed."
In regard to last years evaluations,
Navarro noted that because of a
computer back log and inefficient
distribution, evaluation results were
never published. In an effort to over-come
the problems encountered last
year, the FUSA staff feels a more
professional attitude will allow them
to make significant improvements.
All the changes which Navarro
proposed for the Teacher Self-
Improvement Study are subject to
suggestions and discussion with
faculty members at their September
20th meeting.
Mike Navarro, Administrative Director of FUSA
Drinking Guidelines Detailed
Pope To Visit U.S.
N.Y., Boston On Tour
By Margaret Muller
In an effort to curtail damage to
University property that occurred as
a result of misuse of alcohol, Student
Services has revamped the drinking
guidelines.
The rules are the final product of
many different inputs and ideas. The
University Council, dorm councils,
and Student Services all had a part in
establishing these guidelines.
"We are trying to remind people
why they are here" declared Phyllis
Rogge. The following rules are
tailored to promote—not strangle
Fairfield's environment:
Dorm Councils within each hall
sanction and supervise floor and im-promptu
parties.
1) An impromptu party holds no
more than fifty guests. Approval is
needed by 4:P.M. of the weekend day
from the Dorm Council and one R.A.
2) The number attending a floor
party will be restricted to a total that
is three and one half times the
amount of boarders on that floor. The
party is limited to residents of the
hosting floor and their personal in-vitees.
It may not be advertised as an
open affair, and admission should be
collected in advance.
3) Kegs are permitted for both
types, but may be stationed in
bathrooms only at floor parties. Im-promptus
are required to contain
beer in a private room. An
unregistered keg can result in
residence expulsion!
4) Floor parties need endorsement
from the floor and council by
Wednesday of each week.
5) Impromptu gatherings end at
1:30. Floor parties require a floor
vote to be extended any later by the
Dorm Council.
6) Each party adheres to a
60-30-10 ruling: 60% of the party
budget may be used for liquor, 30%
should be spent for food, and 10% is
allocated for non-alcoholic
beverages (coffee). Grain alcohol is
forbidden.
7) The party chairman is responsi-ble
for clean-up.
Dorm Councils begin functioning
on October first. They are being tem-porarily
substituted by an interim
policy.
By Lissa Tuffin
Pope John Paul II will be arriving in
America for a week long visit on
October 1st. During this time, he will
make a tour of six major cities, begin-ning
with Boston. From Boston, the
Pope is scheduled to travel in New
York, Philadelphia, Des Moines,
Chicago, and finally Washington.
His visit to Poland in mid-June was
described by 7/me magazine as "a
carnival, a political campaign, a
crusade and an enormous Polish
wedding all in one."
A similar response to the one the
Pope received in Poland is expected
here. Perhaps it will not carry as
much emotional or political over-tones
as the trip to Poland did, but it
should be just as triumphant.
The visit to Poland was the first
time the Pope had returned to his
homeland since his installation nine
months earlier. It was also an his-toric
event in that it was the first time
any Pope had visited a communist
nation.
One of the main purposes of John
Paul's trip was to stress the fact that
the Church must be free to accomp-lish
its mission in the world. For over
30 years, the Catholic Church in
Poland has been sucessful in fighting
off attempted repression by the com-munits
party.
One of the reasons the Pope's
visits to such places as Poland and
Mexico have been successful is the
appeal he has to millions of people.
Unlike most of his predecessors,
Pope John Paul II is a dynamic man,
a man of energy and vitality. Above
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