Mirror - Vol. 20, No. 07 - November 02, 1995

              The
FairfieldMIRR©R Volume 20, Number 7 Thursday, November 2, 1995 The Image of Fairfield
Cokie Roberts addresses Co-educational
Fairfield community anniversary marked
Jessica Nutley
Editor-in-Chief
Cokie Roberts spoke
at the Quick Center October 26
to kick of the celebration of the
25th anniversary of co-education
at Fairfield. Her
speech was entitled "Women
in the Media and Politics," a
subject Roberts is well-versed
in as a correspondent for ABC
News and National Public
Radio, as well as a writer for a
weekly column.
Upon her arrival on
campus at 4:15, Roberts spoke
to a group of approximately 40
students, faculty and
administrators. The questions-and-
answer session was
informal, with Roberts
answering questions on her start
in the business, family and
issues facing women today.
She advised anyone
who wanted to get into
journalism to"go out there and
do it" at a small newspaper or
TV station. Those interested in
politics should get involved in
acampaign oran issue. "[Issues]
have especially been the
women's way - to be issue-oriented
more than party-oriented...
Show that you are
someone who cares about the
community."
She also encouraged
women to choose both career
and family. "I think you can do
it and that it's well worth doing."
Roberts was
introduced at 8 p.m. by Janet
Canepa, associate director of
alumni relations and Rev.
Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J.,
University president. Kelley
awarded Roberts with the
Bellarmine medal. Fr. Kelley,
who had just dined with
Roberts, informed the audience
that, as a third-grader, Roberts
had bit a nun's hand. Kelley
joked that he had kept his hands
away from Roberts during
dinner. Roberts laughed and
said "I've thought about doing
it to Sam [Donaldson, her
colleague on "This Week with
David Brinkley"], too."
Roberts spoke for the
next 45 minutes on the role that
women have played in politics,
both inside the Beltway and as
citizens, and incorporated both
humorous and personal
anecdotes that kept the nearly
Cokie Roberts talks to students. Photo Courtesy : Public Relations
full house attentive.
The timeline of the
speech ran from 1920, the year
that women were given the right
to vote, until the present day. Many
laws were enacted during the
Depression that were harmful to
women because they did not use
their newly acquired power to
influence public policy. Among
these laws are that women were to
be paid 25% less than man (not
overturned until 1962) and that
any wife whose husband also
worked government would lose
her job. Overnight, 1,200 women
became unemployed.
Roberts stressed the
continuing theme of "expectation
and retrenchment as women don't
fill the expectation." In 1960s,
that started to change. Women
were becoming more educated and
were also going out into the
workplace. The Civil Rights bill
was passed in 1964, finally giving
women equal rights in the eyes of
the law. The clause about not being
able to discriminate on the basis
of sex was added in by a Virginia
judge in order to kill the bill. He
figured that "if they were crazy
enough to vote for race, that they 'd
be even crazier to vote for sex."
In 1980, the "gender
gap" emerged for the first time.
Until that time, there was no
significant difference between the
ways that men and women voted.
In the presidential election, the
polls showed that 9% more men
than women voted for Reagan.
This was seen again in the 1984
election, where 7 million more
women than men voted, but did
not elect Walter Mondale and
Geraldine Ferraro into office.
Roberts said that the gender gap
usually works in favor of
Democrats, but neither side likes
to admit it. The Republicans
lose out, while "real men don't
like Democrats." Even today,
polls show that women don't
like Newt Gingrich and men
don't like Bill Clinton.
The 1980s marked a
time when "women crossed
party and ideological lines" to
get legislation passed. Roberts
likened their efforts to the
Chinese watertorture, repeating
the mantra "Child care, child
care..."The women in Congress
(eight in the U.S. Senate and 47
in the House ofRepresentatives)
have gotten together on issues
of "deadbeat dads", Medicaid,
and mammogram insurance
coverage.
According to Roberts,
the state Legislatures are where
you can see the most change in
women's governmental roles.
Nationwide, twenty-five
percent of legislators are
women, as opposed to 1% in
1970. They too have banded
together on the "caring issues":
child care, health, education and
safety.
"They bring their own
lives' perspective and their
children's perspective to public
policy," Roberts said.
Kristen Finello
Staff Writer
As part of the year long
celebration of the 25th
anniversary of co-education at
Fairfield University, several
events for alumni and students
took place on campus this past
weekend.
During a panel
discussion entitled "Women's
Studies in the Academy: The
Women We Have Become" three
Fairfield University professors
demonstrated how work in their
disciplines has changed with
respect to women. Dr. Ellen
Umansky, Carl and Dorothy
Bennett Professor of Judiac
Studies, discussed the role of
women in Judaism and shared
some of her own work as a female
Jewish theologian. Her talk also
included a discussion of women
as rabbis and a story about the
first woman to become a rabbi.
Dr. Denice Yanni,
assistant professor of
communication, delivered her
speech on, "Constructing the
Female Consumer," in which she
touched on the role of women in
one area of mass media. The
third lecture entitled "Identity and
the Visual Image," was delivered
by Dr. Jo Yarrington, assistant
professor offine arts. Yarrington,
who began her presentation by
stating that,"My language is
actually more silent than verbal,"
showed slides of her work which
was recently shown at Brown
University in an exhibition called
"Signs of the Skin."
The panel discussion,
Avhich took place on Friday,
October 27, was sponsored by
the Women's Studies Program,
with a grant from the Fairfield
University Humanities Institute.
On Friday evening, the
Fairfield University Alumni
(Continued on page 4)
Don't forget to vote
in Council Race!
Vanessa Lops
Co-Commentary Editor
The election for Fairfield
Representative Town Meeting
representatives is this Tuesday,
November 7.
From the Fairfield
University community, students
Chris Cipriano '98 and Jim
O'Connor '98 are running for two
of the five positions. Also running
is Director of Residence Life
Henry Humphry.
The representative
position consists of a two year
term on the RTM, Fairfield
University residing in district four.
Five members make up each
district, totaling ten districts within
the town of Fairfield.
With the election close at
hand, candidates are publicizing
themselves and their platforms.
The two enthusiastic
student candidates, Cipriano and
O'Connor are running on a
platform that is pro-education and
that protects University student's
rights while fostering better
relations with the town.
"We're running to
represent the University students.
to serve as a voice for them in
town politics while creating
student programs with the town
that will foster good relations
among the two," said Cipriano.
"We also want to work
for good education programs
while keeping an eye on
spending," said O'Connor.
"Being students, we see first hand
what works and what doesn't.
We want to share this knowledge
in council decisions."
There are
approximately 900 registered
voters on campus. The district
four voting location is Jennings
Elementary School and booths
will be open from 6 a.m.-8p.m.
on Tuesday.
FUSA will provide bus
transportation, leaving from the
Campus Center between 11 and
7 p.m. Campaign volunteers will
also supply voters with dorm to
dorm transportation.
"We need students to
take an active role in the
community, and by voting on
Tuesday, they are taking the first
step in showing their support,"
said Cipriano.
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