Mirror - Vol. 27, No. 03 - September 27, 2001

              DAR SHE IS
Singer Dar Williams to
perform at Fairfield
Page 21
WHAT A KICK
Women's soccer 3-0 in the
MAAC so far this year
Page 23
Fairfield
September27,2001 MIRROR University
Volume 27, Number3
Hawaii Five-
LanternPointquieton traditionalLuau uueehend
by Lisa Zaccagnino
STAFF WRITER
Maybe itwas the campus-wide email from the
Dean of Students. Maybe itwas the notices on every
table in the dining hallMaybeitwasthe signs through-out
the dorms on campus. Maybe it was the sincere
pleading ofthe studentbeach residents themselves in
a full-page advertisement in last weeks Mirror. One
thing is for sure, something kept the underclassmen
off the beach on Saturday afternoon, making the ru-mor
of a"luau-type"party just that, a rumor.
The university acted quickly to squash the buzz
of the annual Luau taking place on September 23.
Freshmen Brian Ruell first heard about a party called
the "Luau"from a campus-wide email sentbyDean of
StudentsMarkReed
In the email, Reed outlined the seriousness of the
consequences facing anyone involved in the planning
or attending ofa "luau-type" event "Studentsinvolved
in inappropriate or illegal activitieswouldface serious
legal consequences in the state courts and students
foundto have sponsored or endorsed such an activity
would risk suspension or dismissal from the univer-sity."
But Reed also commendedthe students for their
response to the cancellation ofClamJamlastyearand
the efforts ofmanystudents to improve the relation-ship
betweenbeach students andthe town.
"However,"he added/'a party at the beach, such
as the one rumoredto be taking place thisweekendor
in the future will quickly and emphatically erase any
progress that has occurred" Reed said.
The university's concerns stem from a temporary
court injunction thatwas passed last year.The tempo-rary
injunction clearly prohibits the "holding, housing
See "BEACH" on p. 4
Campus Center
building up to
Columbus Day
Related Editorial: Luau latest concession by student beach residents, p. 14
by Chris Zeitz
STAFF WRITER
Slowlybut surely, the Barone CampusCenteris
coming to fruition. However, the delays have Assis-tant
Vice President of Student Services Jim
Fitzpatrick expressingdisappointment
"We're a little bit disappointed,'Titzpatrick said
"We'd hoped that the first and second floorswould
be open"
Fitzpatrick identified a principle cause for the
delay as "labor challenges" with the electricalwork-ers
but declined to elaborate on those challenges.
Thoughthe originalelectrical contractorsremain
on the job, there is a difficulty in finding enough
"dependable"workers to complete the taskon sched-ule,
said Fitzpatrick.
Also, Fitzpatricksaidthatthe strongdemandfor
construction in the surrounding area is limiting the
pool of available workers for the construction on
campus.
Despite this Fitzpatrickwas quickto emphasize
the success thatthe semi-completed campus center
has already achieved. Hestressed thatboth the caf-eteria
and the bookstore are almost completely op-erationalandthatthe
food service layoutwhere each
food station is located, has been successful at man-aging
traffic-flow duringpeakhours.
Fairfield University will receive no reimburse-mentfrom
the delays in construction from the con-tractors.
The reason being that ifsuch clauses were
in the original contract, the bids whichwould have
been returned to the University would have been
higher. Despite the delays, Fitzpatrick said fhaf'the
students haveT^een great"
Reactions amongthe sophomore class,whodine
regularly at the campus center and did so last year,
seemto share a commonopinion thatthe food qual-ityhas
improved over lastyear.
Necole Arrigo '04 commented that the campus
centerseems cleanerandthat the food service is bet-ter.
RyanAmirault'04 said thaf'the bookstore and
mailroom are a bigimprovement"
Will Kroll '04 also felt thaf'the new facility is
overall a nicer place."
Theimprovedappearance ofthe campus center
provoked GerryAbbey '04 to say thaf'my attitude
towards going there [is] more positive."
Paul Swartz '04 voiced some frustration with
the delays,whenhesaidthat"althoughwehavemore
glasswindows andfreshlypaintedwalls, the student
body has yet to see a true'eampus center.'"
Additionally, FUSA Senator Chris Walsh '04
expressed a desire to knowmore aboutthe planned
time of completion ofthe campus center.
Fitzpatrick provided a tentative timetable on
Monday.Their target as ofnow is to have the first
floor openby Columbus Dayweekend and the Stu-dent
Services staffmembers have their collective
"fingers crossed" that the diner and snack-bar will
be open for ParentsWeekend.