Mirror - Vol. 26, No. 20 - April 05, 2001

              GO-GO GADGET
Virginia Coalition the highlight of
a recent performance at Wetlands
Page 16
AN INQUISITION
20 Questions returns with an
interview withJustin Zelek ^*fl
Page9 i
*)
The
Fairfield
Aprils, 2001
ALL BETZ ARE
By Alii Moonan
STAFF WRITER
MIRROR
&£&
University
Volume 26, Number 20
At a Senate meeting on Sunday,
Senate President Amanda Betz told fel-low
senators she had resigned from the
presidential race because of a possible
internship opportunity.
"I was offered a potential internship
opportunity. Because of personal rea-sons
I have decided to withdraw my can-didacy
for FUSA president," she told her
peers.
Only a few hours later, Betz re-tracted
this statement in an interview
with The Mirror. In her interview, Betz
offered the true reason she was not con-tinuing
her candidacy for FUSA presi-dent
-her GPA. In the constitution she
co-authored, it stated that to run for an
executive position in FUSA, one must
have a 2.3 to run. Betz admitted to not
having the 2.3 needed to run but said she
was in no danger of failing, and her
grades were low fall semester of her
freshman year. "I am in no danger of
failing," she said. "My grades have gone
up consistently each semester. Unfortu-nately,
I messed up first semester fresh-man
year."
Betz knew before she decided to run
her grades did not meet standards and
met with the Associate Academic Vice
President Mary Frances Malone, who
told her she was in good academic stand-ing.
Malone wrote a letter for Betz al-lowing
her to keep her position as sen-ate
president and to stand for re-election.
In a detailed timeline of events, Betz
told The Mirror she submitted her peti-tion
for candidacy well before the dead-line
of Monday, March 26. Because she
did not receive any calls about her
grades, she started campaigning at mid-night
on Monday night, the time the
Election Commission allowed all can-didates
to
start cam-paigning.
"Before
checking
anyone's
GPA, they [the
Election Com-mission]
gave
everyone permis-sion
to start cam-paigning
at mid-night
that night,"
Betz said.
Twenty-three
hours after the cam-paigning
began, Ed
Hertwig '02, election
commissioner, called
Betz and told her that her
GPA did not meet the 2,3
standards. "He was in
forrned by Mike Reimer
[Director of Student Activi-ties
and advisor to FUSA] to
inform me that my GPA was not up to
par," Betz said. Betz stated that although
Hertwig mil T ;; ■ ___
fcl£Ctto^6
vf0&
&$&-
o**v *&£.
was not in-formed
of
her actual
GPA, an ad-ministrator
discussed
her tran-script
with a
fellow stu-dent.
"My
personal
records
have been
discussed
with other
students," <
she said. "Mike Reimer should have
been the one to call me up."
Betz then met with the Election
ELECTION COVERAGE
* Profiles ofthe top FUSA
positioncandidates-p. 3
* Debatecoverage-p. 3
*AmandaBetz speaks out- p. 10
* SeanHayes tackles the "real" issues
ofthis election- p. 13
BEACH BATTLE
POSTPONED UNTIL
APRIL 16
iisieu as uie ueienuant in the case, lor
B> Frank Washkueh the April 2 hearing
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR Four Lantern Point student-resi-den
is have also filed a motion, which
n Dnugeponsuperiort,ourtJustice was granted by Skolick, to become an
breathed new life into hopes for another interested party in the lawsuit. Fair-year
ending Clam Jam. continuing the field University Student Association
courtroom battle to April 16. President Kev in Haves. Grea Morris,
Superior Court Justice David W. Greg Perzan and Jennifer LaFlavers are
Skolnick ruled that the all..nicy lor the now listed as eodelendants in the case.
group of year-round residents. Joel Z. "We did this in hopes of saving
(ireen, had to notify all property owners Clam Jam as a Fairfield tradition,"
and residents on Lantern Point as his rea- Hayes said in a letter to The Mirror.
son for delaying the case, according to "In the mean time. 1 will be going
I he Connecticut Post. Green had only ahead with the planning of Clam Jam
noufied the Lantern Poinl Association. '01 even thouah its fate is uncertain."
Com-mission,
and she
said the Election Commission
did not feel it should be their decision.
According to Betz, they were pushed to
make a decision, and her candidacy was
**ii?''|B|*PMg*g^^ revoked.
Betz
then ap-pealed
to the
Student
Court,
headed by
Chief Justice
Tim Healy
'01. She was
granted an
injunction to
participate in
the debate
the next day,
and was
-■■-■■i-i----«irii-ii^^ scheduled a
hearing immediately following the de-bate.
Betz said she was only given a half-hour
to read the petition and was only
given a half-hour to prepare.
Healy said that Betz wanted the
hearing to be held as soon as possible.
"At Amanda's request, the meeting was
held on Friday afternoon, as soon as pos-sible,"
said Healy. He also said that Betz
handed her defense in to the court past
the deadline, which was the reason she
did not receive her petition before the
hearing. "If I had received the packet
like I asked [midnight on Thursday
night], she would have gotten her packet
first thing in the morning," Healy said.
Betz told The Mirror her trial be-fore
the Student Court was "not an un-biased
group." She said she knew many
of the justices who stood before her, and
only one was allowed to abstain, because
this justice felt he was too close to Betz
to make an unbiased decision. Betz also
commented on the courtroom procedure,
saying, "A lot of it was unfair and unjust ■
to be courtroom procedure. There was
no formal
courtroom procedure." She
told The Mirror her opening and clos-ing
statements were interrupted by ques-tions
from the justices, and although she
said under oath her GPA was not up to
par, Healy asked for a copy of her tran-script
anyway.
"I did not offer my transcript be^
cause I felt my rights had already been
violated in the past week," she said. "I
was not asking the court to change the
laws," Betz said of the trial. "I was
merely asking them to interpret the con-stitution
and decide whether I could con-tinue
my role as a candidate." The jus-tices
decided unanimously that Betz did
not have a 2.3 GPA, and she was told
she would have to resign from the race.
When questioned about his court-room
procedure, Healy said the Student
Court models their procedures after the
Fairfield University Judicial process and
the United States Supreme Court. "In
the Supreme Court, justices will inter-rupt
as they so choose," Healy said. As
for requesting Betz's transcript, Healy
said, "The burden of proof of her GPA
rested upon her that she could get her
GPA up in time to run, which is why we
asked her for her transcript."
Healy stated that any justice is al-lowed
to abstain from any hearing, and
can choose to do so up to the delibera-tion
time. "All otherjustices on court felt
they could make an unbiased decision.
If others wanted to abstain they could,"
said Healy.
Betz said she did not tell anybody
about the procedure, yet "I hadn't been
out of court for two hours and already
people were asking me if it was true that
I wasn't allowed to run because of
grades." She admitted to telling her boy-friend,
campaign manager and her
family ofthe events, but she stressed that
she talked about this to no one else. "My
question is - if I hadn't spoken of this to
anyone, how could they find out?" she
said.
See "BETZ" on p. 5