Mirror - Vol. 28, No. 05 - October 10, 2002

              BREAKING UP
Some teachers are now banning
cell phones while in class
Page 9
ANOTHER SETBACK
Football team takes another loss
at the hands of Marist
Page 20
Fairfield
October 10, 2002 - Vol. 28, Iss. 5 MiftROR University
Celebrating 25 Years of Publication
Fairfield rape victim speaks out
BY JESSICA HOLMBERG
The night of Sept. 13, 1997
may seem like just another night
to many, but for Andrea Pelano
'99, that night changed her for the
rest of her life.
Standing about 5*7", dressed
conservatively and with a voice not
too much louder than a whisper,
Pelano shared her traumatic rape
experience for the first time pub-licly
with the Fairfield University
freshman class on Monday night
at the Quick Center.
"I'm a little nervous," Pelano
began. "It was not too long ago
that I was sitting where you are
now, getting prepared for my four
years at Fairfield University."
Recognizing that the univer-sity
was an opportunity to meet
new people, a place to gain inde-pendence,
and a place to share life-time
friendships, Pelano remi-nisced
of hanging out at the beach
and visiting friends.
"It was the best four years of
my life, but I'm not here tonight
to share those happy memories,"
she said.
On the night of Saturday,
Sept. 13, 1997, Pelano made her
way down to her best friend's
beach house, a norm for most Uni-versity
students. Socializing with
friends, she eventually met
Mitchell Jacob.
Jacob claimed to be a good
friend of a student and connected
well with Pelano almost immedi-ately.
After kissing her, Jacob
asked her to go for a walk with
him, but Pelano declined.
"I'm a smart girl," Pelano
said. "I know to never go off with
a guy you just met."
Jacob and Pelano proceeded
SEE "SPEAKER" ON P. 8
THE MILLION DOLLAR MISTAKE
Alexis Delaney/The Mirror
Turf trouble: After portions of the sod broke apart from the surface of the new Lessing Field,
usage of the field has been discontinued while a solution can be implemented. See
"Damaged goods" on page 20 for the full story.
College a breeding ground for eating disorders
BY CARLEIGH BROWER
You are away from home for
the first time in your life. You have
to leave your friends and family
behind, deal with the pressure of
fitting in at your new school, and
the stress of tests and papers. Add
this to the irregular schedule of
sleeping and eating, the midnight
calls to Dominos with your
newfound friends, drinking, and
the fear of gaining the infamous
"freshman fifteen." Given all of
this, is it any wonder that college
campuses are breeding grounds for
eating disorders?
According to the National
Association of Anorexia Nervosa
and Associated Disorders
(ANAD), about 10 percent of col-lege
students struggle with eating
disorders, including anorexia and
bulimia. Five to seven percent of
undergraduates are diagnosed with
anorexia nervosa, and college
women comprise the highest rate
of bulimics in all segments of so-ciety.
Even more alarmingly, eat-ing
disorders have the highest
mortality rate of any other psychi-atric
illness, with at least 15 per-cent
of sufferers dying from these
disorders.
In a culture infused with im-ages
of the "perfect" woman, ob-session
over weight is rampant.
Fairfield University is certainly no
SEE "COUNSELING" ON P. 8
Despite rules,
theologians
still thrive
BY EILEEN ARNOLD
Two years ago the Vatican
tried to crack down on theologians
teaching Catholic doctrine at
American college campuses. But
the rulings have had little impact
so far at Fairfield and other Catho-lic
schools, according to professors
and school officials.
"It is generally my impression
that the overwhelming majority of
Catholic theologians have done
nothing," said Professor Paul
Lakeland of Fairfield's Religious
Studies department.
Conversely, Fr. Paul E. Car-rier,
S.J., another professor of Re-ligious
Studies said that a manda-tum
is "a way for the Church to
recognize that the university is an
important part of the mission of the
church."
In 1990, a document entitled
Ex corde Ecclesiae was published
by Pope John Paul II outlining his
plans for Catholic higher educa-tion.
American bishops acting
under Vatican direction issued a
number of rules stemming from
the above document. The most
controversial rule was the order
that all Catholic theologians teach-ing
Catholic doctrine on American
Catholic campuses must seek
church acknowledgement - for-mally
called a mandatum - that
what they are teaching is authen-tic
Catholic doctrine.
Lakeland said "the job of a
Catholic theologian is not to teach
SEE "THEOLOGIANS" ON P. 4