Mirror - Vol. 04, No. 06 -September 25, 1980

              Townhouse Construction Next In Store?
by Mary Kay Wysockl
In response to the multifaceted
housing dilemma, Fairfield Univer-sity
has applied for a $2.7 million
federal loan. If approved, the loan
would be used for the construc-tion
of fifty two-story townhouses
located in the northeast corner of
the university, off North Benson
Road, according to Dr. John
Barone, Provost of Fairfield Uni-versity.
The tentative blueprints are a
composite of similar projects con-structed
by other colleges and uni-versities.
Each townhouse, in a
side-by-side duplex fashion, would
have a kitchen, living room, and
dining area on the first floor and
two bedrooms plus a bath on the
second floor. With two students
per unit, the project would have an
estimated housing capacity of 200
students. A few of the units would
be adjusted for handicapped stu-dents
by having all the rooms on
one floor.
The townhouse project would
attempt to emulate the total living
experience of the beach by being a
self-contained community. The
topographical study sets the pro-ject
away from the main campus
(past Julie Hall) and plans a private
entrance from North Benson Road
so that it would not be necessary
to go through the university to get
to the townhouses.
With the construction of
Canisius II just underway, the uni-versity
is not anxious to begin an-other
building project, but the
housing situation must be dealt
with before it becomes unmana-geable.
Dr. Barone sees the town
house idea as having the twofold
purpose of opening up more
rooms in the existing dorms on
campus for underclassmen and
providing an alternative to beach
housing for the upperclassmen.
Short term, the tension at the
beach seems to have been re-lieved
with the formation of the
Student Beach Association.
However, in light of the hassles
with landlords, non-student
residents, and high rents, the
university feels it would be in the
students best interests to provide
an alternative to beach housing.
Although plans seem to have
been finalized the entire project is
contingent on approval of the fed-eral
loan. Without the federal loan,
for which interest rates are 3-3.5
percent, the university cannot af-ford
to build because even tax ex-empt
bonds, which at 5.5 percent
were used to finance the rec-reational
complex, are up to 9.25
percent. Approval of the loan will
not occur before the end of Oc-tober.
In discussing the chances for
approval of the loan, Dr. Barone
emphasized the fact that funds are
low and with the ever-climbing in-terest
rates and common housina
squeeze many colleges and uni-versities
would be vying for fed-eral
assistance via low interest
loans.
However, Dr. Barone also ex-plained
that the loans now fall
under the jurisdiction of the de-partment
of Education rather than
HUD. In this bureaucratic shuffle
of responsibility the.application
deadline moved up and many in-stitutions
may have felt there was
not sufficient time to develop
plans and meet the deadline.
THE
FAIRFIELD Volume 4, No. 6, September 25, 1980
FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY, FAIRFIELD, CONN. 06430 MIRROR ^^ Incorporated 1977
University Council Outlaws
BYOB For Sadie Hawkins
by Matt Lyons
At the May 6 meeting of the Uni-versity
Council, the last before the
summer break, Vice President of
Student Services William Schimpf
presented a three part plan for the
regulation of parties, dances, and
the consumption of alcohol at the
university. Atlhough it included no
drastic reforms, certain existing
regulations were clarified or aug-mented.
Fart Two was "the most detail-ed
and important." The first sec-tion
stated the following toward
the extensions of floor parties
beyond normal closing times. In
brief: The floors above and below
the party must approve the ex-tension
by a % majority of a
quorum of 80%, at least 48 hours
beforehand. The vote is carried on-ly
with the consent of the Resi-dent
Advisors. These articles
passed unanimously after some
debate.
The second section of Part Two
concerned BYOB functions at the
Campus Center and Gym. It read
in short that tickets will be sold
only in advance, and only to
couples. Also, it suggested semi-formal
attire.
Mr. Fitzpatrick, Director of the
Campus Center, expressed his
concern over the lack of curbs on
drinking and the lack of University
control at a BYOB function. He
proposed that Harvest 1980 and
Dogwood 1981 remain BYOB, but
that Sadie Hawkins 1980 be run on
a liquor permit.
Mike Bentivegna, student repre-sentative
to the University Coun-cil,
cautioned the committee that
a cash bar creates long lines that
encroach the dance floor, and add-ed
a semi-formal function does
not encourage drinking as much
as a casual one. It was then agreed
that Sadie Hawkins be run on a
permit as a trial to be evaluated by
Student Services.
Part Three of Schimpf's pro-posal
read that impromptu parties
will be limited to one per residen-ce
unit on any Friday or Saturday
night. The term "residence unit"
here enables each wing of a dorm
such as Northwest to have its
own. The Council voted to adopt
this part unanimously.
Parking Expansion Completed
by Lauretta LoCasale
Fairfield University parking fa-cilities
have been increased by the
additional completed lot behind
Canisius Hall. The lot has been
designated as a commuter facility,
for the use of students and facul-ty.
The remaining lots on campus
are available to students ac-cording
to specific areas.
The university traffic and park-ing
pamphlets are available and
explain the regulations in detail.
According to Security Supervi-sors,
Mary McCollough and Todd
Palazza, "If everyone read the
pamphlet and parked in the as-signed
areas there would be more
♦nan enough room."
Students with cars have been
required to register their cars with
the university. There is no cost to
register. As of September 19,
1980, 600 commuters had reg-istered
their cars. The security de-partment
has asked Bob Russo,
the university Registrar, for a total
figure on the cars that should be
registered. They found that 1,198
cars should be registered.
Security explained that new
parking information will be com-puterized
and more efficient. They
feel that everyone has been given
ample time to register and become
familiar with parking regulations.
New tickets that have been
printed up are self-explanatory. An
offender is given 72 hours to pay a
ticket. If a person wants to appeal
a ticket, an appointment with the
traffic appeals board must be
made. Violations are sent to the
accounting office every three
days. If a bill isn't paid within the
required time, an individual will be
billed to his or her home address.
Both McCollough and Palazza felt
that more tickets have been paid
as compared to tickets in the past.
The security supervisors also
stressed the importance of park-ing
in the proper areas, stating
that, "We can't put a no-parking
sign everywhere."
Karen Fernandas discusses the differences between America and Saudi
Arabia, the country she currently lives in. See story on page two.
[Photo by Kevin Kumke]
Professors Relate Cuban Trip
Illness Prompts
Brackett's Leave
by Mary Beth Dougherty
Fr. Richard Brackett, a religious
studies professor at Fairfield Uni-versity
for 20 years, has been forc-ed
to retired from the community
due to ill health. Brackett came to
Fairfield in 1960 as an associate
professor after teaching at
Cheverus High School in Portland,
Maine and Cranwell Prep in
Massachusetts.
Fr. Brackett's extensive educa-tion
began at Boston College,
where he graduated with an AB in
1947 and in 1948 earned an MA.
Brackett, a Jesuit for 38 years,
taught the courses 'Man and Sin'
and 'Marriage and the Family'
while at Fairfield.
According to Fr. Burns, Depart-ment
Chairman of Theology at the
University, Brackett had been un-dergoing
tests since the begin-ning
of the year. Notice was re-ceived
in early September that he
would not be returning to Fair-field.
Fr. James Coughlin agreed
that Brackett "needed time to re-cover
away from the pressures of
the classroom." Temporary posi-tions
have been filled by Rev.
Thornburg, Leslie Griffin, and Kim
McElaney.
by Marguerite Downing
and
. Robert Gribbon
Dr. Emilio Bejel, Associate Pro-fessor
of Modern Languages, and
Walter Petry, Assistant Professor
of History at Fairfield University
are scheduled to lecture on their
recent trip to Cuba. The lecture,
entitled "Summer in Havana: Two
Faculty Members Report on the
Cuban Revolution," is sponsored
by the Latin American and Carib-bean
Studies Program of Fairfield
University. It will be held on Wed-nesday,
October 1", in the faculty
dining room at 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Bejel, a native Cuban, came
to the United States twenty years
ago. He has visited his homeland
regularly for the past two years
with a delegation of Cuban exiles
attempting to negotiate freer
travel in and out of Cuba, the re-lease
of political prisoners, and
better relations between the
United States and Cuba. Bejel's
lecture will reflect on the reac-tions
in Cuba to the migration that
occurred during the summer mon-ths.
His personal experiences and
diplomatic insights should greatly
enhance his presentation, accord-ing
to Dr. Edward Dew, Chairman
of the Politics Department.
Mr. Petry's two week visit to
Cuba was his first. He traveled on
a Political Discovery Tour spon-sored
by "The Guardian," a New
York based radical newspaper.
The major emphasis of his dis-course
will be a history of Cuba.
Petry will also explore the effec-tiveness
of the socialist regime
and the Cuban people's attitude
toward the Regime.
Mass rallies in support of the
socialist regime highlighted Mr.
Petry's trip. These rallies occurred
in reaction to the migration of
120,000 Cubans to the United
States. It was an opportune time
for Mr. Petry to observe the mobil-ization
and the polarization of
Cuban society. Walter Petry
stated that he is very enthusiastic
about sharing his recent experi-ences
with all those who are in-terested.
Interns Encouraged
Recognizing the need to provide
opportunities to students which
are not typically available in the
traditional academic setting, the
Connecticut General Assembly
has established and appropriated
funds for an internship program to
acquaint students with both the
formal and informal phases of the
legislative process.
The Legislative Intern Program
is designed to offer students an
opportunity to study legislative
process firsthand while providing
legislators with additional staff.
The program also seeks to provide
a sound theoretical understanding
of state government by inclusion
of a strong academic component.
Qualified undergraduate and
graduate students who are attend-ing
two or four year institutions of
higher education in Connecticut
may participate in the program. In-terns
are appointed on a full-time
or part-time basis for sessions of
the Connecticut General
Assembly.
Since the academic require-ments
of sponsoring institutions
of higher education may vary,
each intern must arrange in-dividually
with his or her college
for specific academic credit to be
received for the program.
This year the deadline for return
of applications to the Legislative
Internship Committee is Novem-ber
1. Applications for the pro-gram
are available through the po-litical
science departments on
campus, or the Legislative Intern
Office, State Capitol, Hartford, Ct.
06115.