Mirror - Vol. 33, No. 05 - October 04, 2007

              WEEK OF OCTOBER 4,2007
Vol. 33, Iss. 5-24 pages
FREE - Take One MlRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Beach arrests: Numbers vary, officials see improvement
BY KATE MCGANN
The phrase "Fairfield seniors at the
beach" is typically synonymous with
trouble. But, a month after this year's class
of students took up residency at the beach,
things are going fairly well.
According to Fairfield Police Sgt.
Michael Gagner, the statistics on the
number of documented incidents in the
tagged vicinity known as the "beach area"
is lower this year compared to the previous
two years.
Gagner, who is on duty during the
night shift between 12 a.m. and 8 a.m.,
reported 21 tickets issued for noise com-plaints
between Sept. 1 and Sept. 24,
compared to 30 during the same period in
2006, 29 in 2005 and 28 in 2004.
In the first three weeks of September,
the Fairfield Police Department issued
a total of 89 tickets in the beach area to
both students and non-students. Some of
the most common offenses are as follows:
38 tickets issued for town ordinance viola-tions
(such as possession of alcohol in a
public place), eight for creating a public
disturbance and eight for possession of
alcohol by minors, according to Gagner.
Conversely, the numbers for the same
period in 2006 were almost the opposite,
with 18 tickets issued for town ordinance,
four for possession of alcohol by minors,
and 27 for creating a public disturbance.
"The numbers seem to show an increase
in alcohol violations, and perhaps there is
some confusion about the law — 'No one,
regardless of age, can possess alcohol in a
public place (street, sidewalk, beach, etc.).'
Anew law extends the alcohol ban to minors
on private property," he said.
Rafael Barbieri '08 can attest to that,
SEE "BEACH " ON P. 5
Eliasoph brings
headliners to
Fairfield
BY DENISE LIGRECI
Thirteen years ago, Philip Elia-soph,
director of the art history pro-gram
at Fairfield, was driving back
from a New York City YMCA around
midnight when the concept of the
Open VISIONS Forum hit him.
The 92nd Street Y is a renowned
community and cultural center in
Manhattan that schedules debates*
discussions and lectures to encourage
an exchange of ideas about art, culture
and political opinion.
However, the time-consuming
and expensive commute into Man-hattan
deters many Fairfield County
residents from taking advantage of
this resource. Between gas money,
parking garages, tickets and dinner
beforehand, the night can quickly
become expensive.
Eliasoph, who has been teaching
at Fairfield for 32 years, recognized
that the University has an outstanding
faculty and community that would
be receptive to hearing about critical
issues of our day.
He proceeded to draw up the road
map for initializing the program and
presented it to the administration. He
received a lot of support from Aca-demic
Vice President Orin Grossman,
who ensured the implementation of
the proposal.
Eliasoph also collaborated with
his friends at The Connecticut Forum,
which was founded in 1992. The fo-rum
hosts a wide range of speakers in
a discussion setting, a model for the
SEE "KICKING " ON P. 6
Pirated at the beach: Students report stolen property
BY JESS MITCHELL
*
./
%
/
««*
o
o
0o
Security gate
The Bunny, where the
possible suspect was spotted
The Koolhouse, where the
robbery occured
Fence along The Turtle,
alleged exit route of suspect
Photo illustrations by Katie McCarthy
The day before Brian Erickson's
first day of school this year, he joked
around with his parents about his sister
taking his laptop lock. He said to them,
"Well, I hope my laptop gets stolen."
On Tuesday, Sept. 25, Erickson
'08 left his Lantern Point residence, the
Koolhouse, to attend class and go to
Stop & Shop - a normal afternoon.
However, at 2:50 p.m., when he
returned home, he realized his laptop,
external hard drive and iPod had been
stolen from his room.
"I thought someone was playing
a joke on me," said Erickson. He soon
realized his housemate. Blane Cordes
08 was also missing his laptop.
The incident was reported im-mediately
to the Fairfield Police and is
currently under investigation, but there
are no leads, according to Fairfield
Police Capt. Gary MacNamara.
Cordes was the last person to
leave the house that day, while an-other
housemate, Rob Zwillich '08,
was asleep in his bedroom.
"The guy got so lucky; [Brian]
was at the supermarket, Rob was tak-ing
a nap," said Cordes. "I got home
at 2:25 p.m. I missed him by like 20
minutes."
Since the front door and lock are
old, Erickson said the door must be
pulled tightly in order for it to lock.
"Either the front door didn't click
all the way or the backdoor was open,
but that is highly unlikely," he said.
"[The Point] is such an easy target,
anyone can see the empty parking lots
and few people are around."
Erickson had left his instant mes-senger
account active when he went
to class; a friend from home kept their
SEE "WITNESSES " ON P. 7
Students without influence on tuition decisions
BY JOE CARRETTA
When colonists felt like they were
being charged an unfair amount of money
without representation in their governing
body, a revolution occurred and a new
country was formed.
At Fairfield, a Stag-inspired uprising
may soon be justified as the 4,008 under-graduates
watch helplessly as tuition rates
continue to rise.
The tuition rate is determined by
the University's board of trustees, which
is comprised of 39 members including
alumni, reverends and former employees of
prominent national companies. This year,
the University instituted a $1,890 increase
on tuition and a $450 increase in room and
board costs.
"Our Board of Trustees maintains legal
and fiduciary responsibility of the Univer-sity.
They establish institutional objectives
and priorities," said professor Irene Mul-vey,
secretary of the general faculty.
"At many universities, there are stu-dent
representatives on the Board of Trust-ees;
I am not aware of any such student
representation at Fairfield," said Mulvey.
The Nova Scotia
Public Interest Re-search
Group, which
is currently looking
into this matter, is
referring to the ris-ing
tuition costs for
students as "taxation
without representa-tion."
Spokesman
for the organization
Chris Arsenault said in a Canadian Press
article, "Tuitions have doubled over the
past 15 years. This makes students the main
WILLIAMS
financiers of universities."
The Fairfield University Student As-sociation
(FUSA) is charged with the duty
of becoming a liaison between students
and the administration that governs them.
According to the organization's Web site,
"FUSA is responsible for representing and
advocating student opinions, issues, needs
and concerns."
"FUSA appoints one candidate as the
student representative to the University
Budget Committee. Junior Kevin Love was
SEE " LACK" ON P. 5