Mirror - Vol. 35, No. 25 - April 28, 2010

              FREE I Take one THE Q^MIRROR
Week of April 28, 2010 | Vol. 35, iss. 25
fairfieldmirror.com •
The Independent Student Newspaper
of Fairfield University
The Reflection of Fairfield
Students 'Dig'The Buried Life
BY GABRIELLA TUTINO
STAFF WRITER
What do you want to do before you
die? Have you ever thought about it?
Made a list and actually set out to com-plete
it?
This is the main goal of the cast
of 'The Buried Life,' the selected FUSA
speaker this past Tuesday. At 8:30 p.m.,
the LLBCC was crowded with students,
eagerly waiting for the Canadian foursome
to appear.
For those who may not know, 'The
Buried Life' is an MTV show about four
friends—Dave Lingwood, Ben Nemtin,
and Duncan and Jonnie Penn—trying to
complete their bucket lists. 'What do you
want to do before you die?' is the ques-tion
that drives these four to attempt to
achieve the impossible. But the show does
not just focus on the projects they want
to complete—for every item crossed off
their list, the Canadian foursome helps a
stranger fulfill his or her dream.
The attractive four introduced them-selves
to Fairfield, and proceeded to give
background information on "The Buried
Life.' TBL started way back in 2006; they
talked about how they all felt as though
something was missing from their lives,
and how they then came up with a list of
everything they wanted to do.
"In a world with no boundaries,
what would we want to do? We'd go on
Saturday Night Live, we'd be on the cover
of Rolling Stone, we'd pay off our parent's
mortgages... We don't want to wait until
we're tired to do what we want to do,"
explained Ben Nemtin. "So we had the list,
and now we needed a name." The title "The
Buried Life' comes from a poem by Mat-thew
Arnold that Jonnie had come across
in an English class.
"This poem speaks exactly to the
feeling we had been talking about—this
feeling that your day to day life becomes
so cumbersome, that it actually buries the
life that you want to live, and everybody's
got this desire to live their buried life.
And the poem was called "The Buried Life,'
Nemtin continued.
They continued to talk about their
travels and the effort they put into com-pleting
their lists. The foursome rented
an RV, pulled out a phonebook and called
companies, explaining their mission
and what they wanted to do. Most places
agreed. Together, they have completed
such tasks as singing the national anthem
at a sports game, riding a bull (Dave
Lingwood's idea), and playing basketball
with President Obama. "We didn't have
any money.We wanted to see how much
could be accomplished, to prove to our-
THE BURIED LIFE I PAGE 6
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Students fill the Lower Level BCC when MTV's 'Buried Life' Cast came to campus
2010 MAAC Champions!
Fairfield Women's Tennis win
2010 MAAC Championship.
SEE PAGE 20
Did You Know...
60% of male college students
"indicated some likelihood of raping
or using force in certain circumstances"
Ofthe college women who are
raped
-only 25% describe it as rape
-only 10% report the rape
LEARN MORE ON PAGE 4
Abandoned Children
NEWS ANALYSIS
Alumnus Doug Perlitz has been accused of sexual abuse in Haiti. Is he a hero
and victim of unfounded accuations or is.he a sexual predator?
BY CHRIS SIMMONS
MANAGING EDITOR
When Fairfield graduate Doug Perlitz first went to Haiti in
1991, it was one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemi-sphere.
This country with a rich heritage, second only to the Unit-ed
States as an independent nation in the newworld and the first
free black nation, had fallen into a cycle of poverty and turmoil.
show the children are lying.
"In the little town Cap-Haitian of a poor country, Project'
Pierre TOussaint was a source of great opportunities," Sibert
told The Mirror in an e-mail. "Perlitz maintained a network of
people who were willing and able to carry out his order no mat-ter
what the price. They included: local authorities, policemen,
hotel, resorts, and restaurant beach owners.
The kids' well-being was the least of their concern. People
with Catholic Church connection did have a bearing on the case
in the negative way."
Here is an update on the case.
ONLINE:
Read the full story at www.
fairfieldmirror.com with ex-panded
information as well as
the role of the University and
Perlitz's supporters
Paul Kendrick/The Mirror
The streets of Cap-Haitien, Haiti in Jan. 2010.
The allegations against Perlitz, a 1992 Fairfield graduate
and later commencement speaker, over sex abuse involving
homeless boys in the Haitian town of Cap-Haitien have only
added to the problems.
Perlitz is currently housed in the Wyatt Federal Detention
Center in Rhode Island awaiting his Oct. 2010 trial while his ac-cusers
are now back on the streets, begging, facing threats and
guilt over exposing the alleged abuse.
Cyrus Sibert, a Haitian journalist and talk show host who
first broke the story in 2007, said that there is a big campaign to
THE BEGINNINGS
Perlitz founded a school, Project Pierre
Toussaint, in 1997 with a grant from the
Order of Malta, a Catholic organization. Then
two years later in 1999, the Haiti Fund, an
organization led by former Fairfield Campus
Ministry Director Fr. Paul Carrier, along with
many Fairfield employees and wealthy Catho-lics
from Fairfield County, was formed to oversee fund-raising
and operations.
Perlitz was indicted by a Bridgeport grand jury in Sept.
2009 and on April 21,2010, a second superseding indictment re-turned
more counts and specifics on the alleged abuse. He now
faces a total of 24 counts relating to travel to engage in illicit sex
with 18 boys enrolled in his program.
FR. PAUL CARRIER'S ROLE
The new indictment highlights the role of Carrier, referred
to only as a "religious leader" who befriended Perlitz during his
time at Fairfield and frequently met and talked with Perlitz in
Haiti and elsewhere. Perlitz's travel to Haiti was frequently paid
for on Carrier's credit card and Perlitz also lived with Carrier for
short periods of time in Connecticut.
The indictment also says that Perlitz used his relationship
with Carrier and influential Board members to conceal his sex
abuse by barring investigators hired by the Board entrance to his
room and by flying to Haiti to remove two computers and other
items from a safe in Perlitz's room.
Carrier and other Board members have not been indicted
on any charges.
PERLITZ'S COMPUTER
Amotion by the government trying to prevent the release of
Perlitz pending his Mai attached "Exhibit A," which stated that after
a very preliminary investigation by an Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement agent, Perlitz's computerwas found to
contain "numerous (over 100+) image files depicting
nude blackmales. i. Many ofthese files depicted
younger-looking black males engaged in graphic
homosexualactivity(e.g. oralandanal sex.)" alongwith
links toWeb sites such aswww.islandboys.com, www.
spankteenboys.com, forum.afriboyz.com andwww.
nudeafricanboys.com.
THE CHILDREN V. PERLITZ
The removal ofPerlitz caused a schism in the Board. Alarge
group of Board members and donors supporting Perlitz split,
leaving the organization with few fund-raising capabilities and
dwindling supplies. The school was forced to close; something
that the children feared would happen if they spoke out. The
government has alleged that Perlitz would often withhold ben-efits
to children who refused to sleep with him and lavish those
who did with gifts, such as cash, clothing and electronics. He
took the children to restaurants where he bought them meals
and alcohol before encouraging them to spend the night in his
bedroom. Those who didn't: he threatened to kick back out onto
the streets.
"The school closing is a punishment," said Sibert. "Their
PERLITZ I PAGE 5
INDEX
Opinion* Page 7
Arts & Entertainment • Page 11
Coffee Break • Page 15
Sports • Page 24
INSIDE THIS WEEK
"JACK'S LAST CALL"
SEE PAGE 8.
W#* VIOLENT
VISION FOR A SEXY
SHAKESPEARE
SEE PAGE 11.
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