Mirror - Vol. 22, No. 19 - April 24, 1997

              FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY IRROR
Volume 22 Number 19 The Image of Fairfield Thursday, April 24, 1997
Sharpton encourages students to
confront racial injustice
JoAnn Gometz
News Editor
Shortly after 7 p.m. lastMon-day,
a well-known figure ap-proached
the podium set before
an audience full of students,
faculty and community mem-bers
in Fairfield University's
Barone Campus Center Oak
Room. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a
prominent worker in the move-ment
for racial justice, was
greeted with unanimous ap-plause
as he made his way to
the front of the room.
With University security
guards posted at each of the
entrances, a Fairfield police of-ficer
on one side of the room,
and private bodyguards seated
strategically near the podium,
Christopher Deis '97 introduced
Sharpton. Deis presented
Sharpton as a man unafraid to
direct attention towards people
that are routinely ignored, es-pecially
in a country, "in the
midst of a love affair with Tiger
Woods, and ready to deify Jackie
Robinson."
Sharpton began his lecture
by referring to the ongoing de-bate
on the Fairfield campus
about the prudence of inviting
"controversial" speakers to ad-dress
the student body. He said
that those people inviting the
speakers, and those who would
prefer not to host particular
people, "must believe that stu-dents
are smart enough to weigh
and make their own decisions."
In response to the concern
that he is a participant in events,
rather than an analyst of race
relations, Sharpton said, "Why
would you want to discuss what
I did with an analyst when you
can discuss it with me? I was
there. I know what happened."
Sharpton explained that he is
not concerned with being con-sidered
controversial, which he
believes to be a semantic desig-nation.
Instead, he said that he is
Award recipients
announced
Karen Ardizzone
Contributing Writer
The Fairfield University
Alumni Association honored
seven seniors for their leader-ship,
community service and
commitment to the Jesuit ideal
at its annual Student Awards
Dinner on April 22.
The highest honor bestowed
by the Association, the St.
Ignatius Loyola Medal, was
awarded to Missy Conroy, a
member of the graduating class
who maximized opportunities
for intellectual, emotional and
social growth throughout her four
years at Fairfield University.
Conroy strives for excellence
academically, emotionally and
spiritually both inside and out-side
of the classroom. She is
currently a memberofthree pres-tigious
honor societies: Alpha
Sigma Nu, Phi Beta Kappa and
Phi Alpha Theta. She is a mem-ber
of the Glee Club, Chamber
Singers, and Sine Nomine.
Continued on page 4
more concerned with telling
people what is happening. Part
of that involves telling Ameri-cans
that the gap between blacks
and whites in the U.S. is similar
to that at the end of the last
century.
Sharpton said that in 1863,
Lincoln signed the Emancipa-tion
Proclamation. By the late
1880s, there were two black
members of the U.S. Senate and
nearly thirty black members of
the U.S. House of Representa-tives.
There was also a signifi-cant
increase in the amount of
violent resistance to race unity
following these events. Finally,
the U.S. Supreme Court case,
Plessy v. Ferguson, capped the
political mobilization of blacks.
Similarly, the passage of the
Civil Rights Actfollowed 1963's
March on Washington, where
the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., delivered his "I Have A
Dream" speech. The numbers of
blacks in Congress in the late
1980s were similar to those of
Continued on page 4
Fairfield adopts
new logo
Todd Chiaramida
Copy Editor
Fairfield University Presi-dent,
the Rev. Aloysius P.
Kelley, S.J., presented the first
University logo at an unveiling
ceremony on Thursday, April
17, in the Barone Campus Cen-ter.
The ceremony celebrated the
outstanding achievements ofthe
Fairfield University community
during the last year.
Kelley commended the
School of Business for its recent
AACSB accreditation; the four
recipients of Fulbright Scholar-ships;
and the men's basketball
team on their accomplishments.
Fairfield University, an aca-demic
community of approxi-mately
2,500 undergraduate stu-dents
and 175 faculty members,
is sometimes called "one of the
best kept secrets in New En-gland,"
because of its academic
standards and exceptional fac-ulty.
Besides Fairfield's subur-ban
location, the University is
considered by many to be an
attractive place for higher edu-cation
because of its close prox-imity
to New York City, where
students are able to gain valu-able
experience as interns. The
logo is intended to aid in broad-casting
these qualities of the
University as Fairfield contin-ues
to grow and prepare for the
21st century.
Kelley presented a flag fea-turing
the new logo to Paul
Audley, First Selectman of
Fairfield. The flag will be placed
in the Town of Fairfield's Inde-pendence
Hall. Audley ap-plauded
Fairfield University's
work in the town, citing the
University's recently developed
program to teach town members
computer skills, and the
University's work in the Hunger
Clean Up. Audley said, "We take
great pride in Fairfield Univer-sity.
We realize that the Univer-sity
is a great supporter of the
town of Fairfield."
Kelley accepted Audley's
praise, saying, "I am grateful that
Fairfield University has always
had the acceptance of the town.
No University and town has had
better relations between admin-istrators."
FUSA President Chris
Cipriano presented t-shirts fea-turing
the new logo to Kelley and
Audley. He said, "This year has
put Fairfield University in the
spotlight. The logo is a new rea-son
to have pride in Fairfield."
The logo will replace the
Fairfield University seal on all
stationery but not on official
documents such as diplomas.
Also, the logo will be placed
around campus, including in each
of the residence halls, by the be-ginning
of next semester.
Inside
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