Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 03 - September 20, 2007

              WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 20,2007
Vol. 33, Iss. 3-24 pages
FREE - Take One
MI he IRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Men's soccer gets the ball rolling at home opener
INSIDE:
EDITORIAL:
KICKING AND
SCREAMING FOR
FAIRFIELD MEN'S
SOCCER
p. 8
SENIOR BAILEY
LEADING MEN'S
SOCCER TO NEW
LEVEL
P. 24
WHO SAYS
FAIRFIELD DOESN'T
PLAY FOOTBALL?
p. 24
Kickin' it to the man: Matthew Uy '11 contributes to Stags' victory against Yale in front of an 800+ crowd on Saturday night.
Student background
checks come into question
Sex offenders slipping by
BY RACHEL FEYRE
Extracurriculars? Check. Strong
academic record? Check. Criminal or
legal record? Check.
Last year, the University of
Georgia cross-referenced a local sex
offender list with its student body and
found matches. Those who were con-victed
denied their criminal history
on their applications and, with little
background check, were accepted
into the university.
The individuals were then sus-pended
because they lied on their
application, rather than because of
their histories.
Trusting that everything on the
application is truthful has led to seri-ous
consequences.
"They won't trust them on their
SAT scores, but they will trust them
on their crime history," said S. Daniel
Carter, senior vice president of secu-rity
at the University of Georgia in the
school's newspaper last year.
Before being accepted at Fairfield
University, an application must be
completed with the prospective
students' criminal history declared.
According to Karen Pellegrino, direc-tor
for admissions, Fairfield uses the
Common Application, which "asks
students to answer two questions
— one concerning a disciplinary
violation in school and the other
concerning a conviction for a misde-meanor,
felony or other crime."
The University trusts the pro-spective
students' "yes" or "no" re-sponse
as truthful as to whether or not
they have ever been convicted.
If the student.answers "no,"
the search has ended, but if "yes" is
the response, then an explanation is
required.
"The student signs the appli-cation,
certifying that all of the
information presented is factually
true and honestly presented," said
Pellegrino.
If it is discovered that a student
was dishonest on his or her applica-tion,
the prospective student's admis-sion
may be revoked, she said.
To prevent such dishonesty,
Fairfield recently sent out an e-mail
to the community reporting the pro-cedures
for sexual harassment and
discrimination.
In the event that there is a sexual
harrassment incident at Fairfield,
psychological services and other
programs such as Rape Agression
Defense are made available to the
student body as tools to deal with and
prevent sexual harassment cases.
"We maintain on our Web site
a link to the State of Connecticut's
registered sex offender list. No
one system is fool-proof, but these
systems ... provide a range of
interventions to help us provide
as safe a campus environment as
is possible," said Tom Pellegrino,
associate vice president and dean
of students.
There are Web sites, such
as MissingKids.com and Regis-teredOffendersList.
org, that list all
registered sex offenders in the nation.
Additional tools can be made avail-able
to universities and colleges for
a small fee.
Tom Vitlo '09 said he supports
the idea of universities putting
more effort into cross-referencing
applications.
"I think that the University cross
referencing students is within legal
parameters," Vitlo said. "However,
what happens when they find offend-ers?
Target them? It's illegal."
Living and learning
BY TOM CLEARY
Across the country, universities such as Cor-nell,
Princeton and West Virginia are looking to
mix social and academic life by creating residential
colleges.
At Fairfield, the Ignatian Residential College has
been a successful experiment of living and learning
and University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx would
like to expand the program throughout the campus,
making it a "hallmark" of the University, according
to his strategic plan.
This could mean faculty and students coexisting
in dorms on campus in the future.
"What I have in mind is much more using the
model of the Ignatian Residential College as a liv-ing/
learning community which has been so successful
for us here at Fairfield," von Arx told The Mirror in
February.
"I want to see how we can extend this to more of
our students," he said.
Combining academic activity with a community
setting, where students and faculty interact in a way
that creates a unique relationship, is the main purpose
behind the residential colleges.
The Ignatian Residential College, located in
Loyola Hall, uses a mentoring program that consists
of faculty, alumni and friends of the University.
The mentors help the students living in Loyola
grow academically, socially and spiritually.
Von Arx would like to bring the mentoring
program to a new level through his strategic plan.
In order to accomodate the expansion of the resi-dential
college program, more dorms would need
to be built.
Ross Brann, a professor at Cornell, fives in the Cook
House, the residential college at the University.
He has an apartment in the building and provides
activities for students who live along with him in the
SEE "FACULTY" ON P. 6