Mirror - Vol. 35, No. 17 - February 10, 2010

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The Independent Student Newspaper
of Fairfield University
The Reflection of Fairfield
Freshman Hospitalized After Weekend Assault
BY LILY NORTON
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
A University freshman is in intensive care after being
assaulted at an underage house party in Westport on Saturday
night, according to Westport police.
Peter Caty/The Mirror
Beer cans still litter the driveway of 80 Hillspolnt Rd. in Westport, where
David Keith attended a party and was assaulted.
David Keith, 18, was found on the driveway of a nearby
house unconscious with extensive injuries to the head and face
shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday morning. The temperature was
under 20 degrees when he was found.
After he was found, Emergency Medical Services from West-port
arrived and transported him to Norwalk Hospital. Keith is
from Norwalk and graduated from Fairfield Prep last year.
The Westport police were notified of a medical situation
after a medical alarm button was activated at the house at 80
Hillspoint Road, where they party took place. The party was
a house owned by the parents of another Fairfield freshman,
Brian Chung, who is also a Fairfield Prep graduate. Chung's
parents are still out of the country, according to Westport Po-lice
Captain Foti Koskinas.
A neighbor at 78 Hillspoint Ave, Skip Lane, found Keith
unconscious in his driveway at approximately 12:51 a.m.
"If David Keith was not found within a few hours, he prob-ably
would have died," said Koskinas.
Keith is in stable condition, although Westport police have
not yet been able to speak to him.
"To this point, the information we have received as to
his recovery and prognosis are positive, but his injuries were
severe," said Dean of Students Tom Pellegrino. "The University
has been in regular contact with David and his family and we
are hopeful for a speedy and fullrecovery."
The majority of the 100 party attendants, about 80 percent,
according to Koskinas, were Fairfield freshmen. "Very few from
Quinnipiac and maybe one or two from Sacred Heart," he said.
Many students were being shuttled to the party from the
University campus in order to avoid arousing suspicion.
No one has come forward with information about who
may have been in an altercation with Keith, but through evi-dence,
police are positive that injuries were from physical con-frontation,
although many attendants blamed it on a drunken
spill in the parking lot.
"We have nothing to prove that theory," said Koskinas. "It
was pretty clear that his injuries came from being hit with a
blunt object or fist."
Police say they have narrowed down "people of interest"
after interviewing "well over 35-40 people" who attended.
"We definitely have some suspects of some people due to
histories," he said.
According to police, Keith was put into a medically-induced
coma to aid in the treatment of his injuries. Koskinas
hopes that Keith may be able to identify his assailant. Keith
reportedly suffered a fractured skull, bleeding behind the eyes
and other injuries.
"We're going day by day talking to his family and doctors,"
said Koskinas.
Police were alerted to the situation by an accidental
medical alarm at Chung's home. A fire alarm had been
activated accidentally prior, but was deactivated and the
home owner reported to the fire department that the alarm
was false. Many people scattered from the party after the first
alarm. The medical emergency alarm was then activated in the
house and it could not be cancelled.
Koskinas, who supervises the patrol and detective divi-sions,
expressed frustration in dealing with the attendants of
the party, because no one has come clean or pointed to any
perpetrators.
"To go this far and dump somebody in single digit tem-peratures
in a driveway and not be cautious enough or call the
police is dumbfounding," said Koskinas. "For all these people
to have some type of involvement and not for a single person to
come up and speak, it's astonishing."
Pellegrino urges any students with information to contact
the Westport Police Department,and expressed regret that the
off-campus party was so well-attended by Fairfield students.
"This was a large gathering at a private residence with pre-sumably
many strangers in attendance and where alcohol was
served," Pellegrino said. "When you combine all those factors,
it is almost guaranteed that something bad will happen."
The University's code of conduct applies to off-campus
behavior and therefore some of the Fairfield students could
face discipline soon. Meanwhile, Westport police are continu-ing
to investigate.
"This is not something we take lightly, this doesn't happen
often in Westport," said Koskinas.
Keith, an engineering major, lives in Gonzaga Hall.
Anyone with information is encouraged to Contact Det.
Harsche of the Westport Police Department at 203-341-6080.
Peter Caty/The Mirror
Freshman David Keith was found unconscious in the driveway
of this house, two houses away from the underage party held by
another freshman.
Fairfield Finances Hurt Less by Endowment Losses
BY ANNIE ROONEY
STAFF WRITER
While many well-known
universities and colleges have suf-fered
drops in their savings account
during the 2009 fiscal year, Fairfield
maintains economic control. En-dowments
are part of the reason.
Endowments are a crucial piece
to many Ivy League and state univer-sity
financial puzzles. Economically,
2009 was the worst year since the
great depression and the number of
received endowments at many uni-versities
and colleges has decreased.
The 2009 NACUBO-Common-fund
Study of Endowments ranked
Fairfield at 225, with an endow-ment
decrease of -23.7 percent.
In comparison to Harvard's -29.8
percent decrease and Yale's -28.6
percent decrease, Fairfield holds
stronger ground. Although the Uni-versity's
amount of endowments has
decreased, Fairfield
has avoided the
larger hit because its
economic strategy.
Bill Lucas,
vice president for
finance at Fairfield,
explained endow-ments
through
three types. The
first are endow-ment
funds. These
are typically gifts,
and their principle
cannot be touched.
The second type is
quasi endowments.
These are internally-generated
funds that are used at the
University's discretion. The last type
is investments. Funds of the Uni-
William Lucas
versity are invested and potentially
grow into larger sums.
Universi-ties
typically
spend their
endowments
through a
three-year
spending
average. This
spending rule,
that 90 percent
of universi-ties
abide by,
utilizes earn-ings
based on
a three-year
average by
spending only
a small per-centage
of the earnings strategically
throughout the three-year period.
According to Lucas, this rule helps
Mirror File Photo
keep spending balanced. Many uni-versities
were hit hard with the lack
of endowments in 2008 and 2009
because their even spending routine
was not replenished.
With the even three-year
spending plan most universities
follow, how did Fairfield manage to
take a smaller hit?
Fairfield's postponements of
construction and planning have
worked to its benefit. The lack of
funds in Fairfield's bank account in
past years prevented it from spend-ing,
so its savings have added up.
Also, Fairfield's amount of endow-ments
are significantiy less than
those of Harvard or Yale and the
University is not financially depen-dent
on them.
While other institutions kept
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