Mirror - Vol. 24, No. 13 - February 19, 1999

              Volume 24 Number 13 The Image of Fairfield Friday, February 19, 1999
Students bring diversity to campus
By Matt Thompson
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Three Fairfield University stu-dents
have organized a diversity confer-ence
for area high school and college stu-dents
tomorrow, February 20.
Seniors Michael Franz, a poli-tics
major who serves on the Fairfield
RTM; Patrick Johnson, a nursing major
who has worked in the University's
Health Promotion Center in Bridgeport;
and Brian Mello a politics major who is
the Student Association's vice president
of multicultural relations, gained support
from several university departments to
make the conference possible.
All three students have traveled
abroad and believe their experience im-mersed
in another culture was invaluable.
Johnson, from a small Mass. town with
little diversity, says that the time he spent
in Tijuana with the Campus Ministry's
Mission Volunteer Program enlightened
him. "It's unbelievable how strong com-munity
was down there," said Johnson.
"Awareness is one thing; experience is
even greater."
Franz and Mello traveled to
Northern Ireland, with TEAM (Together
Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism)
last year taking part in a cultural immer-sion
program. Franz said that his own life
was enriched by his experiences abroad.
"Too often, people, because of their di-versity,
are exploited. It's important to
get at the root of why and how that hap-pens,"
he added.
According to Franz, the univer-from
12 presentations in four different time
slots. These presentations will include panel
discussions, lectures, and musical poetry
demonstrations all dealing with the issue of
diversity.
Emmy and Tony nominated play-wright
Ntozake Shange will be presenting
an audience interactive performance.
Through her poetry and plays, Shange pro-motes
the understanding of diversity by ex-
-"Ibo often, people, because of their
diversity, are exploited. It's important to
get at the root ofwhy and how that
happens."
- Michael Franz, '99
sity decided to stop having a diversity con-ference,
and realizing the importance of
such an event, these three seniors decided
to "pick up the ball."
The conference will be held in
the Campus Center Oak Room from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. and both students and com-munity
members are welcome to attend.
Those in attendance will be able to choose
posing people to different cultures. She has
performed at many colleges throughout the
country and according to Franz, she is a "per-fect
fit" for Saturday's conference.
Groups from 15 different colleges
and high schools will be in attendance to-morrow,
acting as both presenters and audi-ence
members. Students from NYU will
present a panel on "Segregation on College
Campuses," and Mount Holyoke stu-dents
will present, "White Racism:
How White America Responds to Ra-cial
Issues."
Johnson says that it's impor-tant
that "students of Fairfield cam-pus
come and see what other people
on other campuses are doing to see
what's working and what's not."
Fairfield University students
will also be running workshops at the
conference. Along with other stu-dents,
Lisa Whitman from the
Fairfield Honors Program will ad-dress
Fairfield students directly with
her workshop on how the student
body here at Fairfield has responded
to the issue of diversity. Another stu-dent,
Brant Berndlmaier, will present
a discussion on how to overcome be-ing
a victim of oppression and exploi-tation.
The Fairfield University
Mosiac, a group of students from vi-sual
and performing arts, is present-ing
both poetry and performances on
diversity. Professor Brian Torff, pro-gram
director forjazz at Fairfield, will
present a lunch time demonstration on
Continued on pg. 4
Grossman fills in for Wall as acting academic vp
Press Release
Dr. Robert E. Wall, academic
vice president at Fairfield since 1992, will
take a long-term disability for medical
reasons, effective immediately, according
to Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., univer-sity
president. Dr. Orin Grossman will
serve as acting academic vice president
while continuing to serve as the dean of
the College of Arts and Sciences.
A search committee is being
formed to find a successor to Dr. Wall.
Dr. Margaret Deignan, dean of the Gradu-ate
School of Education and Applied Pro-fessions,
will chair the committee, ac-cording
to Fr. Kelley.
"Robert Wall has made a signifi-cant
contribution to the intellectual life
at Fairfield University," Fr. Kelley said.
"We are grateful for the advances that have
been made in the academic division un-der
his leadership." Fr. Kelley cited the
introduction of cluster courses and the
core diversity requirement, an expanded
honors program, the establishment of a Phi
Beta Kappa chapter on campus, a com-prehensive
admissions marketing effort
and the development of several new
bachelor's and master's degree programs
as important initiatives during Dr. Wall's
tenure.
"On a personal note, it has been
a pleasure to work closely with Robert
Wall, whose keen intellect, lively sense of
humor, and passion for history have en-riched
administrative and faculty meet-ings,"
said Fr. Kelley. "With the rest of
the Fairfield University community, I of-fer
my prayerful sup
port to him and his
family as he takes this
time to focus his en-ergies
on dealing with
the cancer that has so
weakened him physi-cally."
Dr. Wall
joined Fairfield in
March 1992 from
Gannon University,
where he served as
vice rpresident for aca- D~r. R„ o.bert. E„. W...al„l
demic affairs. He previously was acting
vice president and provost for Rutherford
campus at Fairleigh Dickinson University
and provost of the Faculty ofArts and Sci-ences
at Concordia University in
Montreal. He also taught at Duke Uni-versity
and Michigan.
photo: Mirror archives
Fr. Kelley expressed his grati-tude
to Dr. Grossman "for taking on a
difficult assignment. I have complete
confidence in his ability to do the job."
Inside this edition...
New SOB
location
discussed,
see p. 2
Y2K problem
rapidly
approaches,
see p. 6
Apathy for
Fairfield's
resources,
see p. 8
Oscar
nominations
announced,
see p. 11
MAAC
swimming
championship,
see p. 15