Mirror - Vol. 27, No. 04 - October 04, 2001

              EYEWITNESS
ne student's account of his
time at ground zero
Page 3
ANEWDAY
New England Day hits
Fairfield University again
Page 9
Fairfield MIRROR University
Number
by Kelly Rooney
STAFF WRITER
Ignorance. Insecurity. Injustice.
Outrage.
These are the answers to the ques-tion
that served as the basis for the
Fairfield University's Taking A Stand
Against Hatred Forum as given by the
opening panelist History Professor
Walter Petry.
This Inter Residence Hall Govern-ment,
Center for Multicultural Relations
andAHANAsponsored event took place
Tuesday night in the School of Nursing
Auditorium.
Panelists included three Fairfield
professors, two Bridgeport community
religious group leaders, the Director of
Campus Security and a Fairfield student.
Each addressed their ideas about the
events that have occurred since Sept. 11.
Rather than point fingers at other
countries, Petry, urged the audience to
consider American policy. "What about
all the terrorist things we do, but in a less
dramatized way?"
Politics Professor Marcy Patton
spoke next about the people of Middle
Eastern descent or people who appear
to be from that background in America
and how Sept. 11 has impacted their
lives. Patton has been in contact with
other professors throughout the country
and they have all observed reactions di-rected
towards innocent attacks on
Middle Eastern looking people.
"People's reactions tend to be dispropor-tionate
instead of understanding and tol-erant."
Professor Gita Rajan, director of
Asian Studies, addressed the audience on
two planes. The first as an Indian Ameri-can
and second as a professor of Cul-tural
Studies. She urged the audience to
"look at the geography of the world and
see what countries border other countries
and get to know how policies are played
out in different areas."
The next to address the audience
was Todd Pelazza, director of Security
who assured the audience that Security
reacted to the events in two ways: "First
to protect the entire community as well
as the campus buildings and secondly the
safety of the international students on
campus. There have been no reported
incidences of hate crimes on campus."
Judy Clough, a representative from
the Bridgeport Building Initiative, a
group which help support diversity
throughout the area, gave her best ad-vice
for the prevention of hate acts.
"People need to pen their eyes and see
each other as humans," she said.
Raymond Choo-Wing '03 gave the
student perspective as well as a Muslim
American perspective. He feared retali-ation
on him and his family because he
is a Muslim.
Iman Nasif Mohammed, the Iman
for the Muslim Center in Bridgeport,
believes the incident opened the ties
among religious groups as many "priests,
rabbi's, and preachers have spoke out
saying that this is not an act of Islam."
Sasha Hutchings '02, an audience
member, addressed an important point,
that education is the key to preventing
hatred. "My concern is for people who
don't get the proper education. Is there
something we can do within the class-room
to ensure people get the right in-formation?"
Professor Patton responded to this
inquiry saying that teach-ins would be a
good forum for the distribution of infor-mation.
Providing the University a voice
Two students runforRepresentative TownMeeting
by Lisa Zaccagnino
STAFF WRITER
Have you ever been to Burlington,
VT? Majestic views of Lake Champlain
and the Green and Adirondack Moun-tains
surround you as you stroll down
Church Street Marketplace lined with
shops and sidewalk cafes.
More than being a great city,
Burlington is a great college town.
Burlington and the students of the Uni-versity
of Vermont are aware of their
reciprocal relationship, knowing one
would not survive without the other.
Now, have you ever been to
Fairfield, CT?
This November, two Fairfield Uni-versity
students hope to change the way
students view the town of Fairfield and
more importantly, the way the town of
Fairfield views the students.
Neil Carey, '03, (R) and Julia
Lundy, '04, (D) are both running for
Representative Town Meeting (RTM), a
governing body which meets monthly to
vote on a variety of issues brought forth
by the Board of Selectman and members
of the RTM of Fairfield. Past matters
have included town budgets, school re-pairs
and examining the possibility of
banning cigarette vending machines.
"As a Fairfield student, I am able to
proyidf.a.Voice for a student body that
has hadtfieir fair share of issues with the
Town of Fairfield," said Carey. "We as
students cannot let our voices go silent."
The Representative Town Meeting
is comprised of five representatives per
See "VOTE" on p. 6
September 30 Bishop Lori paid a visit to Fairfield University as part of a
rescheduled mass, moved due to the events of September 11.
See story "ORDINARY MASS? NO WAY" on p. 4