Mirror - Vol. 23, No. 14 - February 12, 1998

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FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY
MIRROR
Volume 23 Number 14 The Image of Fairfield Thursday, February 12, 1998
Students react to messages of
hate in the residence halls
Maura Parsons
News Editor
The biased words writ-ten
have been erased, but the
meaning behind those words
will not be forgotten, according
to many outraged students at
the university.
Two separate incidents
of biased graffiti were reported
in the residence halls within a
week of each other. During the
past week, many students have
questioned if racism has been
adequately addressed by the ad-ministration
and students at the
university.
Racial slurs directed
towards an African-American
student were discovered on Jan.
28 on the walls of the Campion
elevator. As a result, the eleva-tor
has been shut down for the
remainder of the semester.
Six days later, on Feb.
3, racial and homophobic slurs
were found beside the rooms of
two students in Kostka Hall.
The individual(s) responsible
for the biased incidents have
not been apprehended.
"The person(s) involved
should be punished to the fullest
extent," Bianca Alicea '99, presi-dent
of SALSA, the Spanish and
Latino American Student Associa-tion.
"They should be expelled by
the university."
In an open letter to the
members of the university com-munity,
William Schimpf, vice-president
of student services, said
that these acts of discrimination
are unacceptable and cannot be
tolerated at the university.
"Individuals who believe
that it is acceptable to label a per-son
with vitriolic slurs have no
place within the Fairfield Univer-sity
community," Schimpf said.
"The hurt and damage to members
of the community and to their
friends and relatives cannot be al-lowed
to continue."
"Not enough is being
done to diversify the student popu-lation,"
said Nadia Papalia '98.
"The administration has failed, in
my eyes, to promote a diversified
community."
Continued on pg. 4
Blasts of racism
from the past
Maura Parsons
News Editor
Racist, sexist and homophobic graffiti was found
throughout Regis Hall on Sept. 25,1994. The perpetrator used
markers and defamed the walls and the elevator of the resi-dence
hall. As a result of this incident, the Regis elevator was
banned for the rest of the year. The identity of the perpetrator
was later determined and the male student left the university.
Nearly a month later, a letter with harsh Klu Klux
Klan sentiments was discovered in a bathroom stall in Gonzaga
Hall. The graphic note, scrawled in pencil on Oct. 27, 1994,
attacked African-Americans, Asian Americans and Latin
Americans. The note called for the rape and murder of
minority women on campus. The FBI was brought into
investigate this incident.
In response to these biased incidents in 1994, the
university held a unity rally, a unity march took place, and
students and faculty came together to discuss racism and
multiculturalism in various forums. Concerned students and
administration came together to form the multi-cultural task
force shortly after these incidents in 1994.
Fairfield cleans-up top national prize
Kristen Sullivan
A & E Editor
"We're excited to
make the Hunger Cleanup even
bigger and better than ever,"
Scott Middlemiss '98, co-chair
for the tenth annual volunteer
work-a-thon.
Middlemiss and last
year's chairpersons, Kierstin
Barrett '97 and Kelly McManus
'97, received the Gold Medal
Award for Overall Excellence
for the University' s involvement
in last year's cleanup.
Father Aloysius P.
Kelly, S.J. presented
Middlemiss, Barrett, and
McManus with the award dur-ing
halftime at Sunday's Stags
men's basketball game. Fans in
Alumni Hall viewed a clip,
which aired on MSG, proclaim-ing
the succcess of the cleanup
and the efforts of the chairper-
Fr. Kelley presents the Hunger Cleanup award to Scott Midlemiss
'98, Kiersten Barrett '97 and Kelly McManus '97.
sons.
The Great Hunger
Cleanup is a one day work-a-thon
in which students, faculty, and oth-ers,
volunteer at various worksites
performing service tasks such as
painting, raking, and clean-ing.
Four hundred stu-dents
volunteered last year to
improve the community and
raised $5000 towards the
fight against hunger.
In 1996, the Hunger
Cleanup received the silver
medal for overall excellence,
following the 1995 perfor-mance
as gold medal winners,
as they beat out 181 other col-leges
nationwide.
Half of the money re-ceived
for the Hunger Cleanup
is donated to benefit the poor
and hungry in the local area,
and the rest of the money is
donated to the National Stu-dent
Campaign Against Hun-ger
and Homelessness which
is a national, nonprofit organi-zation
which distributes the
funds to international projects
that fight starvation.
This year's Hunger
Cleanup will be held Saturday
March 28, from 9 a.m. to 1
p.m. For more information,
contact Scott Middlemiss at
ext. 6285.
Inside this
week
Mirror poll
results are in
Find out how you feel
about us. p.4
V-Day
History, hearts, and a
whole lot more! see p. 5
Going to the
Gold
One student's Olympic
experience , see p. 7
Racial slurs
invade resi-dence
halls
RA comments on
recent incidents,
seep. 9
Multicultural
groups respond
to racism
Leaders ofAHANA
speak out, see p. 9
Revisit a classic
love story
Cozy up to"When
Harry Met Sally, "see
Check out the
Chemical Bros.
a recent concert is
reviewed, see p. 13
Dive into a
profile on
Eric Mundt
See p. 15