Mirror - Vol. 28, No. 13 - December 12, 2002

              BEST WORST
OF FAIRFIELD 2002
It's back and better than
Eight pages of the good, the bad and the ugly.
Available now where you pick up The Mirror.
Fairfield
December 12, 2002 - Vol. 28, Iss. 13 MiRROR University
Celebrating 25 Years of Publication
Professor takes activist role in human rights
BY EILEEN ARNOLD
Upon walking into psychol-ogy
professor Betsy Gardner's of-fice,
you instantly get a sense of
peace, unity and serenity. Pictures
of the New Hampshire
mountainside where Gardner has
hiked dot the interior of the im-maculate
office.
But the office hides a number
of items that you wouldn't expect,
such as a drawer Gardner has la-beled
"justice." This drawer holds
the details of the many causes led
by this activist professor. She went
on a hunger strike in 1999 to pro-test
the conditions under which the
Fairfield janitorial staff was work-ing
at the time; in November she
went with Fairfield students on a
trip to Georgia to protest The
School of Americas; and last
month, she also protested Bishop
Lori's coming to campus at a time
when the bishop was ordering par-ishes
to read statements in opposi-tion
to gay marriage.
Linda Davidow, '05, went on
the Georgia trip and is just one of
many students influenced by
Gardner's activism. "She makes
everyone feel like they're impor-tant,"
Davidow said.
For all the passion that accom-panied
Gardner throughout her
life, activism was not a major com-ponent
of her life until she reached
Fairfield. "I wouldn't have be-come
an activist...had I not been
at Fairfield. It's because I'm here
that I am," Gardner explained. "It
was experiences that I had here,
experiences like the Urban Plunge,
Mission Volunteer, and others that
opened me up to see more."
One of the events that pro-pelled
her into activism was the
event of Matthew Shepard's beat-contributed
photo
Teaching activism: Crosses and flags hang on a fence during a protest of the School of the Americas.
Professor Betsy Gardner participated in this protest along with students from Fairfield.
ing and subsequent death solely
because he was gay. She attended
a vigil simply to support a friend
who had organized it, but there she
realized that, "You have to stand
up and put your body behind some-thing
that you believe and just be-ing
there in solidarity with all those
other people felt really right."
Now Gardner says she is a
firm believer in "putting your body
where your mouth is." She has
been on more than one trip to
SEE "GARDNER" ON P. 4
Spring concert
band still
not chosen
BY ZACK FINLEY
The first semester is coming
to a close, and FUSA is feverishly
working to book an act for a spring
concert amid rumors about pos-sible
bands visiting Fairfield.
Student body president Karen
Donoghue, '03 said that FUSA
placed a $75,000 bid for the Dave
Matthews Band that was not ac-cepted,
and that plans are currently
underway to bring another concert
to campus.
According to Donoghue and
Vice President of Programming
Joni Saunders '03, Matthews was
accepting bids at any price from
the start, but in the end would not
accept any less than $125,000 be-cause
of the high number of bids.
"We should have a band
signed by the time we go home for
break," Donoghue said.
Bands being discussed for a
spring concert currently include
big name acts like Counting
Crows, Jimmy Eat World and the
Goo Goo Dolls—for which FUSA
would charge students to attend—
and smaller bands, like O.A.R.,
which would be free of charge.
"I would love to see O.A.R.
come here again," said John
Doney, '04. "They should keep the
spring concerts outdoors because
having them in Alumni Hall makes
the band sound like crap."
The process for finding a band
is extensive. FUSA looks to the
help of Clear Channel Entertain-ment,
who aids FUSA in choosing
SEE "FUSA" ON P. 5
Security ride-along uneventful, but educational
BY LAURA PFEIFER
It's Friday or Saturday night,
and Fairfield Students are pre-gaming
before they follow the Pide
Piper of Partying to the townhouse
hotspot of the night. In their own
way, Fairfield Security is pre-gam-ing,
too.
To find the answer to why se-curity
seems to always be around
when you're trying to hide some-thing
in your backpack, I decided
to take part in the Student Ride
Along Program.
10:03 p.m.: I began my night
as a security officer, as we, Officer
Ritchie and I, cruised a regulatory
20 mph around campus. I spotted
a few students braving the 20-de-gree
weather, but nothing about
their behavior warranted security
action. I learned that there are 13
sets of keys to all the buildings on
campus.
10:15 p.m.: We pulled into the
Apartment Complex parking lot.
There was a Volvo parked in the
Fire Zone with hazards flashing.
A ticket was issued and the student
was called to prevent possible tow-ing.
10:35 p.m.: We had some fun
as the radar gun was broken out
and we tracked the speeds on cam-pus.
It's amazing how much
slower people will go when they
see a security car. However, don't
bother; security has seen you be-fore
you've seen them.
10:45 p.m.: Two male stu-dents
were stopped after one had
a suspicious looking bulge in his
pants. No laughing please; it
turned out to be an inebriated stu-dent
whojust put a silver cup down
his pants. They were let off with a
warning.
10:50 p.m.: Now, as it was
cold outside on Nov. 23, there were
relatively low amounts of campus
activity. As a result, I was able to
talk with security to try to find out
why security takes certain actions.
Did you know that security
will not automatically issue speed-ing
tickets for going 2 mph over
the campus imposed 20 mph speed
limit?
And contrary to popular be-lief,
all the confiscated alcohol is
not used at the security Christmas
party. The beer is sold to the
SEE "SECURITY" ON P. 5