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FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY IRROR Volume 22 Number 14 The Image of Fairfield Thursday, February 20, 1997 Van Sertima discusses Africans' role in ancient Americas Maura Parsons Staff Writer Many Americans identify ChristopherColumbus as the first person to discover the Ameri-cas. Yet, Black History scholar and anthropologist Ivan Van Sertima and his colleagues en-countered new evidence that sug-gests that Africans made contact with the "new world" long be-fore Columbus. If this new theory is widely embraced, his-tory may be greatly changed. Van Sertima, a professor at Rutgers and a native of South Africa, presented a lecture in the Oak Room on Thursday evening based upon his controversial book entitled, They Came Be-fore Columbus. The department of Multicultural Relations spon-sored this lecture as part of the university's celebration ofBlack History Month. Van Sertima discovered vari-ous forms of evidence to sup-port his theory. According to him, Christopher Columbus was the first person to identify Afri-cans in the New World when he landed in the Americas. He pointed to other retrieved docu-ments that suggest that other European explorers also wit-nessed Africans that resided in the Americas. Besides these documents, Van Sertima discussed various African archaeological evidence discovered in the Americas. This evidence includes African skulls and scripts found in the Virgin Islands, jewelry, headdresses and spears found throughout the Americas that Van Sertima as-serts could only have come from Africa. Van Sertima believes that much of this physical evi-dence predates the time of Columbus's journey to the New World. "I never will say that Afri- Beach Road parking still an issue for students Todd Chiaramida Staff Writer Parking for Fairfield Univer-sity students who live on Fairfield Beach Road between Reef Road and Rowland Road has not been easy lately. This is because of the concern voiced by the Fairfield Beach Road As-sociation for pedestrian safety. According to Bill Hurley, Fairfield Town engineer, Fairfield Beach Road needs to be widened another two feet from the present 30 feet to handle parking and traffic. The ques-tion of pedestrian safety is also being considered. Ed Gleason, one offive Fairfield Police Com-missioners, has proposed a walk-way for joggers, rollerbladers and pedestrians. This would re-quire a five-foot wide walkway plus another five feet of grass as a buffer zone from the street. The town owns approxi-mately 10 feet of property on either side of Fairfield Beach road, which allows enough room to build the proposed walkway and widen the street to accom-modate parking and traffic. However, questions still remain to be answered. Will the Fairfield Beach Road Association, now that it has voiced concern over the safety ofpedestrians, be will-ing to give up town land, which they have landscaped, for the safety of the pedestrians? Will students and summer residents have to give up these parking spaces permanently, in favor of the walkway so that members of the Fairfield Beach Road Asso-ciation can keep town land? cans found American Civiliza-tion. I've pointed to the fact that they made contact with America before Columbus," said Van Sertima. Van Sertima's theory has not been without its share of contro-versy. Various scholars attacked Van Sertima's theory and ques-tioned the validity ofhis research. He was accused by some of de-veloping this theory "just to make Africans feel better." Critics have also charged Van Sertima with considering the Af-rican race superior to others be-cause of his claims. Van Sertima responded that his "discoveries have nothing to do with superi-ority and inferiority." Van Sertima stated that his-tory is continuously being redis-covered. He urged the audience and his critics to keep an open mind about his theory and sup-porting evidence. After his lec-ture concluded, he presented a slide show featuring some of the artifacts that he believes support his claim that Africans came to the Americas before Columbus. New facility to augment athletic program Kate Meehan Staff Writer The rapidly growing athletic program at Fairfield University is due to advance further within the next year. A $4.7 million addition to the Athletic Center is scheduled to begin this March and may be completed as soon as December. This major project is aimed at enhancing the University's athletic facilities as a whole, allowing sports related activities to run more efficiently. The renovated Athletic Cen-ter will include a large locker room on the first floor to accom-modate the football team and an equally impressive locker room for men's and women's basket-ball on the second floor. It will also feature a practice facility as well as a4,700 square foot weight training center. In addition, the Athletic Center will also house an administrative and coaching office as well as a multimedia recruiting center for prospective athletes. The improvements also in-clude an academic study center focused on assisting athletes scholastically: The 22,000 square foot study area will not only provide varsity athletes with a quiet atmosphere in which to study but will also provide stu-dents with both reference materi-als and tutorial stations for one-on- one tutoring. The expansion of the Athletic Center will affect both the Recre-ational Complex and Alumni Hall in that it will leave a larger amount of free space in both buildings. Gene Doris, Director of Athlet-ics, explained that these vacan-cies will be filled with more equipment to better accommo-date the students. Doris said, "The basement of Alumni Hall will contain a new free weight multipurpose area." This facil-ity, while still in the design stage, will consist of a 1,000 square foot area for free weights. The area in the Recreational Complex that now accommo-dates many offices is to become a multipurpose facility which will include a cardiovascular area complete with treadmills and bikes. Doris explained that the ex-pansion to the Athletic Center will greatly benefit athletes and the University as a whole. The addition will not only enable the athletic community to house all related offices in one central building, but will also allow ath-letes to utilize more accessible resources while the University enjoys a much larger facility with more equipment. Inside This Wedc fr Sexual assault is a growing issue p. 5 rr JJ TheOJ verdict debated p. 8 Clint Eastwood's new movie p.12 ^ ^ Hockey Team scores two big wins p.15
Object Description
Title | Mirror - Vol. 22, No. 14 - February 20, 1997 |
Date | February 20 1997 |
Description | [PLEASE NOTE: the academic year 1996-1997 is for reasons unknown broken up into two separate volumes but contains continuous chronoligical issue numbers. January 30th is that last issue of Volume 21; the rest of the academic year continues with Volume 22. The following academic year (1997-1998) continues with Volume 23. We have not altered these dates in any way as the indexing was not affected.] The Mirror (sometimes called the Fairfield Mirror) is the official student newspaper of Fairfield University, and is published weekly during the academic year (September - May). It runs from 1977 - the present; current issues are available online. |
Notes | A timeline for Fairfield University student newspapers is as follows: The Tentative, Nov. 7, 1947 - Dec. 19, 1947; The Fulcrum, Jan. 9, 1948 - May 20, 1949; The Stag, Sept. 23, 1949 - May 6, 1970; The University Voice, Oct. 1, 1970 - May 11, 1977; The Fairfield Free Press & Review, Sept. 10, 1970 - Apr. 24, 1975; The Fairfield Mirror, Sept. 22, 1977 - present. |
Type of Document | Newspaper |
Original Format | Newsprint; color; ill.; 11.5 x 17 in. |
Digital Specifications | These images exist as archived TIFFs, JPEGs and one or more PDF versions for general use. Digitized by Creekside Digital through the LYRASIS group. |
Publisher | Fairfield University |
Place of Publication | Fairfield, Conn. |
Source | Fairfield University Archives and Special Collections |
Copyright Information | Fairfield University reserves all rights to this resource which is provided here for educational and/or non-commercial purposes only. |
Identifier | MIR19970220 |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
SearchData | FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY IRROR Volume 22 Number 14 The Image of Fairfield Thursday, February 20, 1997 Van Sertima discusses Africans' role in ancient Americas Maura Parsons Staff Writer Many Americans identify ChristopherColumbus as the first person to discover the Ameri-cas. Yet, Black History scholar and anthropologist Ivan Van Sertima and his colleagues en-countered new evidence that sug-gests that Africans made contact with the "new world" long be-fore Columbus. If this new theory is widely embraced, his-tory may be greatly changed. Van Sertima, a professor at Rutgers and a native of South Africa, presented a lecture in the Oak Room on Thursday evening based upon his controversial book entitled, They Came Be-fore Columbus. The department of Multicultural Relations spon-sored this lecture as part of the university's celebration ofBlack History Month. Van Sertima discovered vari-ous forms of evidence to sup-port his theory. According to him, Christopher Columbus was the first person to identify Afri-cans in the New World when he landed in the Americas. He pointed to other retrieved docu-ments that suggest that other European explorers also wit-nessed Africans that resided in the Americas. Besides these documents, Van Sertima discussed various African archaeological evidence discovered in the Americas. This evidence includes African skulls and scripts found in the Virgin Islands, jewelry, headdresses and spears found throughout the Americas that Van Sertima as-serts could only have come from Africa. Van Sertima believes that much of this physical evi-dence predates the time of Columbus's journey to the New World. "I never will say that Afri- Beach Road parking still an issue for students Todd Chiaramida Staff Writer Parking for Fairfield Univer-sity students who live on Fairfield Beach Road between Reef Road and Rowland Road has not been easy lately. This is because of the concern voiced by the Fairfield Beach Road As-sociation for pedestrian safety. According to Bill Hurley, Fairfield Town engineer, Fairfield Beach Road needs to be widened another two feet from the present 30 feet to handle parking and traffic. The ques-tion of pedestrian safety is also being considered. Ed Gleason, one offive Fairfield Police Com-missioners, has proposed a walk-way for joggers, rollerbladers and pedestrians. This would re-quire a five-foot wide walkway plus another five feet of grass as a buffer zone from the street. The town owns approxi-mately 10 feet of property on either side of Fairfield Beach road, which allows enough room to build the proposed walkway and widen the street to accom-modate parking and traffic. However, questions still remain to be answered. Will the Fairfield Beach Road Association, now that it has voiced concern over the safety ofpedestrians, be will-ing to give up town land, which they have landscaped, for the safety of the pedestrians? Will students and summer residents have to give up these parking spaces permanently, in favor of the walkway so that members of the Fairfield Beach Road Asso-ciation can keep town land? cans found American Civiliza-tion. I've pointed to the fact that they made contact with America before Columbus," said Van Sertima. Van Sertima's theory has not been without its share of contro-versy. Various scholars attacked Van Sertima's theory and ques-tioned the validity ofhis research. He was accused by some of de-veloping this theory "just to make Africans feel better." Critics have also charged Van Sertima with considering the Af-rican race superior to others be-cause of his claims. Van Sertima responded that his "discoveries have nothing to do with superi-ority and inferiority." Van Sertima stated that his-tory is continuously being redis-covered. He urged the audience and his critics to keep an open mind about his theory and sup-porting evidence. After his lec-ture concluded, he presented a slide show featuring some of the artifacts that he believes support his claim that Africans came to the Americas before Columbus. New facility to augment athletic program Kate Meehan Staff Writer The rapidly growing athletic program at Fairfield University is due to advance further within the next year. A $4.7 million addition to the Athletic Center is scheduled to begin this March and may be completed as soon as December. This major project is aimed at enhancing the University's athletic facilities as a whole, allowing sports related activities to run more efficiently. The renovated Athletic Cen-ter will include a large locker room on the first floor to accom-modate the football team and an equally impressive locker room for men's and women's basket-ball on the second floor. It will also feature a practice facility as well as a4,700 square foot weight training center. In addition, the Athletic Center will also house an administrative and coaching office as well as a multimedia recruiting center for prospective athletes. The improvements also in-clude an academic study center focused on assisting athletes scholastically: The 22,000 square foot study area will not only provide varsity athletes with a quiet atmosphere in which to study but will also provide stu-dents with both reference materi-als and tutorial stations for one-on- one tutoring. The expansion of the Athletic Center will affect both the Recre-ational Complex and Alumni Hall in that it will leave a larger amount of free space in both buildings. Gene Doris, Director of Athlet-ics, explained that these vacan-cies will be filled with more equipment to better accommo-date the students. Doris said, "The basement of Alumni Hall will contain a new free weight multipurpose area." This facil-ity, while still in the design stage, will consist of a 1,000 square foot area for free weights. The area in the Recreational Complex that now accommo-dates many offices is to become a multipurpose facility which will include a cardiovascular area complete with treadmills and bikes. Doris explained that the ex-pansion to the Athletic Center will greatly benefit athletes and the University as a whole. The addition will not only enable the athletic community to house all related offices in one central building, but will also allow ath-letes to utilize more accessible resources while the University enjoys a much larger facility with more equipment. Inside This Wedc fr Sexual assault is a growing issue p. 5 rr JJ TheOJ verdict debated p. 8 Clint Eastwood's new movie p.12 ^ ^ Hockey Team scores two big wins p.15 |