Mirror - Vol. 13, No. 18 - March 23, 1989

              The
Fairfield
Volume 13, No. 18MRRORV Our Second Decade Thursday, March 23, 1989 "The King is dead - long live the Queen"
Cardboard City Replicates
Plight Of The Homeless
AnnMarie Puckhaber
News Editor
Between 2 and 3 million
Americans are homeless today.
According to the United Way's
1988 report, tenants are being
evicted from their dwellings, rental
prices are skyrocketing, and home-ownership
is declining for the first
time since World War n.
Homelessness is a grow-ing
problem in the United States.
A group of students here at Fair-field
recognized this fact and con-structed
the Cardboard City to
remind their fellow students ofthe
plight of the homeless. The 36
hour homeless vigil was held from
Sunday afternoon to Monday eve-ning,
and the students slept out-side,
rapped in blankets inside of
cardboard boxes, in 30 degree
weather. The students werejoined
by Fr. Paul Holland, SJ.
The purpose of the Card-board
City, according to Michael
Boucher, was to "raise education
and awareness levels of the ex-treme
contrasts that exist between
the poor and the wealthy." He said
that the students' actions do not
end after the 36 hours, but that the
Cardbopard City is part of an
"ongoing effort to get students
involved in programs such as soup
kitchens and shelters."
Scott Arnold said that
"our campus is like a bubble where
everyone is protected. The real
workd exists three miles beyond
our campus in Bridgeport." He
feels that if the Cardboard City
made people slightly more aware
of what life is really like, then it
was successful.
Beth Terreri described the
cold she felt from being outside for
just one night. She said that the
cold "came from within" and that
Sunday night "was nothing com-pared
to what it can be like." Tracy
Ryan added that none of the stu-dents
were trying to be "martyrs,"
but that "people have to become
more aware." She said, "I can't
imagine people really living in
cardboard boxes."
The leading factors con-tributing
to homelessness are lack
of affordable housing, poverty,
unemployment, federal cutbacks
in income programs, mental ill-ness,
substance abuse, family
crises, and natural disasters.
A United Way' s report of
the homeless population in Bridge-port
showed that the number of
homeless families, especially those
headed by single women, is in-creasing.
In addition, 20% of the
5,535 people who were sheltered
in 1987 were children and approxi-mately
20% of the homeless were
employed in 1987.
Due to the cutbacks in
social spending, it is becoming
more and more difficult to respond
to the needs of the homeless.
Evidence ofthis lies in Bridgeport.
The Fairfield students
who represented this problem
through the Cardboard City inor-der
to raise awareness received
recognition from Channel 3,8, and
30, as well as from several news-papers.
"You can't really recre-ate
the situation," however, said
Jeane Lindsay. "We can't feel that
sense of desperation or loneliness.
Wecan't imagine whatpeople must
go through. It is impossible to
understand."
Father O'Neil Issues Appeal To Beach Residents
James Gooding
Staff Writer
In a letter distributed on
March 13th to all Fairfield Univer-sity
students living in the beach
area, Fr. W. Lawrence 0'Neil,SJ,
Dean of Students, issued a positive
appeal for students to take the re-sponsibility
of being considerate
to full-time Fairfield beach resi-dents.
Fr. O'Neil's published re-quest
comes at a time when tension
betweentownspeople and Fairfield
University students is quite intense.
One method which residents feel
will more effectively deal with
problems such as over-crowded
parties and vandalism has been the
Fairfield Police Commission's
approval of funding for extra pa-trols
on Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday nights.
According to an article
appearing in the Bridgeport Post
Telegram on March 9th, the esti-mated
cost for these increased
patrols is about $300.00. One full-time
resident felt that the increased
police presence will reduce the
number of problems.
In another article from the
Fairfield Citizen News from March
8th, it is noted that many town
residents feel the University is
responsible for the problems and
that "they should take greater
control over students living off-campus."
.
The significance of Fr.
O'Neil's lettef should be clearly
stressed here with regard to the
aforementioned issue. In the letter
Fr. O'Neil stated, "from what we
understand the authorities are plan-ning
to continue to protect the rights
of the residents from unruly and
insensitive behavior. We are told
that arrests will continue to be made
when valid complaints are issued."
The Dean of Students con-tinued
in advising strongly against
parties where more than one
hundred people would be present.
In essence, he has constructively
pleaded to the students sensibili-ties
and betterjudgment. If further
unfavorable instance occur, the
townspeople will be taking addi-tional
action. It is the interest ofthe
University to maintain minimal
involvement with resident-student
matters. Fr. O'Neil excalimed, "We
continued page 2
Casey Elected Editor-in-Chief
AnnMarie Puckhaber
News Editor
Lynn Ann Casey was
elected Editor-in-Chief of the
Mirror on.Monday, March 20,
by the editorial board and staff.
Casey , a junior from Montvale,
NJ, is an English major with a
double concentration and a soci-ology
minor.
Casey has worked her
way up through the ranks and
brings to thejob a great deal ofex-perience.
Beginning as a staff
writer, Casey has served as assis-tant
news editor, news editor, and
assistant editor.
Joe DeVito, the current
editor in chief, is confident that
Casey will do an "excellent job."
He commented that "Lynn has
been invaluable this year. She
helped us iron out a lot of the
rough spots and I'm sure she'll be
able to propel the Mirror into the
1990's."
When asked after the
election what she plans to do first,
Casey jokingly responded, "I'm
going to Disney World." on a
more serious note, she said she
plans to continue the many
changes and improvements that
DeVito has implemented this past
year. Casey said that "Joe has been
a great editor and is leaving things
in good shape."
One of Casey's main
objectives is to "develop a good
working relationship with students,
faculty, and administration alike."
Through improved communica-tion,
Casey hopes to open the
Mirror to new ideas and opinions.
She also hopes to get a greater
number of people involved in the
paper.
Casey in now accepting
applications for all other editorial
positions and encourages every-one
to apply. Applications are
available in the Mirror office and
are due Monday, March 27. Casey
and the new editorial board will
take over after the March 30 issue.
Lynn Ann Casey Photo: Rich Nunziante
Campus
Feminists
Boycott
Domino ?s
CPS-Angered by the head
of the Domino's Pizza chain's
$60,000 donation to radical anti-abortion
group, some campus
women's groups want to convince
college students around the coun-try
to stop buying from Domino's.
"This is an issue students
can focus on, one where they can
be effective. What's more impor-tant
than pizza?" asked Sally Pack-ard
of Goucher College's (Md.)
Women's Issue Group.
The effect so far on Dom-ino's,
which considers the campus
market as one of its most impor-tant,
according to company public
relations directorRonHingst, can't
be measured.
The groups, led by NOW,
are aiming to hurt Tom Monaghan,
who built Domino's into a giant
500-store franchise operation.
Monaghan has used his fortune to
buy the Detroit Tigers, amass a
huge collection of houses and fur-niture
designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright, and, especially in recent
years, agitate against abortion.
Most recently, he gave
$50,000 to Operation Rescue, a
militant anti-abortion group that is
best known for harassing women
as they try to enter abortion clinics.
Domino's Farms, the pizza chain's
parent firm, also donated $10,000
to the group.
"We're protesting the gift
to this specific group," said Con-necticut
College senior Stephanie
Muller ofPOWER (People Organ-ized
for Women's Rights). "Then-tactics
are particularly radical and
obstructive to women's groups."
Founded by fundamentalist
Randall Terry, 29, Operation Res-cue
"is definitely the most ram-bunctious
group on this side," said
Rachel MacNair of Feminists For
Life of America, a Kansas City,
Mo., based Right to Life group.
Operation Rescue spokes-woman
Barb Magarra was grateful
for the gift, but said group mem-bers
didn't need it to continue "to
put their bodies on the line to inter-vene
in stopping the premeditated
murder ofpreborn children and the
exploitation ofAmerican women."
While Magarra agreed col-legians
might be disturbed by the
group's tactics, she comparedthem
"to those used by Martin Luther
King and Ghandi. The pro-death
people are in a rage because our
tactics are effective."
And while some students
may boycott Domino's, Magarra
said others are "taking semesters
off to dedicate their time to rescu-ing.
All college students in Amer-ica
are not left liberal feminist
socialists."
Theboycott itselfhas started
slowly since NOW proposed it in
early March. However, Danalyn
Recer, NOW coordinator, said
Domino's gets" an enormous share
of the campus market. We could
see an immediate effect."
At Connecticut College
feminist groups were among the
first to act on the boycott,. Muller
commented that "We don't want
to hurt the individual franchises.
We want to pressure the parent
company."