Mirror - Vol. 14, No. 16 - March 01, 1990

              The
FairfieldMRRORV Volume 14, No. 16 Thursday, March 1, 1990 The Image of Fairfield
Faculty Welfare Committee Disputes Contract
Lynn Ann Casey
Editor-in-Chief
The Faculty Welfare Commit-tee,
with the help of attorney Alan
Neigher, has been working with
key members ofthe administration
to settle recent disputes over issues
such as contract status, salaries,
and compensation.
"The University had never
accepted the idea that we had a
legally enforcible contract," said
Mariann Regan, Secretary of the
FWC. "Now, with the help of Mr.
Neigher, the specific language, the
legalese, of the contract is being
worked out."
"The Salary Committee is the
negotiating committee for the fac-ulty,"
said Kevin Cassidy, FWC
Chairman. Negotiations between
the faculty and administration have
been going on since December.
According to the FWC News-letter,
Volume 1, Number 6, the
session of February 22 was the
most important one to date. The
newsletter states: "It will deter-mine
whether the non-economic
issues are to be readily disposed of,
or whether the administtration will
make a serious problem out of
them. The ball is in their court and
the faculty team has made this clear
to them."
The Salary Committee of the
faculty is composed of faculty,
members Ray Poincelot (Chair),
Philip Lane, Frederick Mis, Frank
Rice, and Cassidy. The negotiat-ing
committee for the administra-tion
consists of William Lucas,
Vice President for Finance (Chair),
Fairfield Beefs Up
Campus Security
AnnMarie Puckhaber
News Editor
A new security system will
be installed in all of the residence
halls by next fall in order to limit
entry into the buildings to those
that live there and their invited
guests.
A Safety Security Commit-tee
has recently been formed on
campus to determine what the best
system will be and how it will be
implemented. The committee is
comprised of Patricia Christiano,
Assistant Director of Student Resi-dences,
Rebecca Clement, Direc-tor
ofTelecommunications, Glenn
Griffin, Head of Security, resi-dent
Jesuits, members of the
IRHG, and resident advisors.
"We're taking a pro-active
role," Christiano said. "It's a very
positive thing we're doing. It
didn't come out of anything hap-pening,"
she added.
"It's a very good step in the
right direction," said Todd
Pelazzo, Assistant Director of
Security. He said that most col-leges
have some type of security
system, while Fairfield presently
has nothing other than the lock-ing
of fire doors.
The committee is currently
considering a card and telephone
door entry system. Students will
be issued a security card with a
bar code that will give them ac-cess
to the residence halls. Card
readers will be placed at the heavy
traffic entrances of the buildings
and when students place their
cards into the unit the door will
open.
Also at the entrance will be
a secuirty panel hooked up to ei-ther
student telephones or an inter-com
system. Operating on three
digit codes, visitors will punch in
the code of the student they wish
to see, that person's telephone
will ring, and he or she can decide
if they want to let the visitor into
the building. If so, the student
presses the number nine on the
telephone and the entrance of the
residence hall will open.
"This will give students the
opportunity to turn away a person
they don't want in the building
and deter potential problems," said
Clement.
According to John MacKeil,
Sales Representative from Elec-tronic
Security and Control Sys-tems,
this system is popular in
condominiums and "ideal for
dormitories."
"Sixty percent of all crime
is committed by students, so you'll
be reducing, but not eliminating
crime on campus," MacKeil said.
"We want to make students
more aware of security and it's
for their benefit obviously that
we 're doing this," Christiano said.
"It shouldn't take a tragic
incident to occur to get an in-crease
in security," Pelazzo said.
"Security is the entire University
community's responsibility.
Pelazzo added, however,
that in order for the system to
work the cooperation of the stu-continued
on page 3
William Schimpf, Vice President
Student Services, Robert Stepsis,
Academic Vice President, and
Steven Jakab, Assistant Provost.
"It is the faculty who are
charged with the academic goals
of the University. They are most
concerned with the academic sec-tor,"
said Cassidy.
"One of our purposes is to get
the salaries high enough to attract
good faculty members," said Re-gan.
According to a comparison of
salary equivalents between Fair-field
faculty and faculty at public
schools in Fairfield published by
the FWC, "Fairfield University
faculty salaries are, in general,
significantly lower than the equiva-lent
salaries for teachers in the
public school districts of Fairfield
Country."
"The Fairfield County public
schools have evidently preceded
Fairfield University in their ac-knowledgement
that a higher sal-ary
level is required for a decent
living in Fairfield County," con-cludes
the publication, compiled
hy Regan.
"The quality or caliber (of the
faculty) depends on how much the
University is willing to offer," said
Cassidy. Both Cassidy and Regan
point out the cost of living in Fair-field
County. "The public schools
recognize the Fairfield County
factor, but the University is living
in the past," said Regan.
Over 80 percent of the faculty
belongs to the FWC. Of the 177
available full-time faculty, 146
belong to the FWC. "We do not
want to pressure people to join,"
said Regan.
Cassisdy says many of those
who have notjoined are on leave of
absense and are on the verge of
retirement.
Both Regan and Cassidy are hope-ful
for a hopeful for a good resolu-tion.
"The sooner, the better," said
Cassidy. When the disputes will
be resolved depends on the dy-namics
of the negotiating process,
according to Cassidy.
"We have,made more real
progress and have had more real
negotiations than we've ever had
before," said Regan.
FWC: Active and Visible
Lynn Ann Casey
Editor-in-Chief
The Faculty Welfare Committee consists of over 80 percent of the
faculty. They have been actively participarting in the committee and
the committee has taken steps to be recognized around campus.
Many of the members of the FWC have been wearing "Excel-lence
in Education" buttons. "The buttons are an external manifesta-tion
of our committment to our cause," said Marianne Regan, Secre-tary
of the FWC. Kevin Cassisy, Chairman ofthe FWC, adds that they
"support the efforts of the organization."
Another step the FWC has taken to further their cause is the
publication of an FWC Newsletter to keep the faculty posted and to
allow them to talk to each other. Each member of the FWC as well as
the administrators who are negotiating receive copies of the newslet-ter.
Copies are available in the library for any interested students, ad-ministrators,
or staff members.
Both Regan and Cassidy are in favor of student support of the
FWC. "Student support lets the administration see that the students
know what we're all about," said Cassidy.
The members of the FWC have been spending up to several hours
per day working toward the goals of the committee. But, Regan said
"We certainly want it to effect classrooms as little as possible this
semester."
"It has been more of a pleasure to go into a classroom and teach.
When I'm teaching, I don't have to worry about organizational mat-ters,"
said Cassidy.
According to Cassidy, "The administration has been more forth-coming
in reponse to faculty concerns since the formation of the
Faculty Welfare Committee."
McSherry Selects Executive
Director and Vice-Presidents
Tom Rhatigan
Assistant News Editor
Last week, Chris McSherry,
FUSA President Elect, announced
his vice-presidential appomtments.
Joanne Lewers has been appointed
Executive Director, Craig Haba,
VP of Student Life, Nancy Gel-ston,
VP of Government Affairs,
and Janine Spinnato, VP of Stu-dent
Activities.
"All four have a tremendous
amount ofexperience," said McSh-erry,
who will be sworn into office
on April 3. "They are all going to
be a major asset for the upcoming
year."
The position of Executive
Director is being brought back this
year after the former president,
Warren DiDonato, did away with
it. The role of the Executive Direc-tor
is to be the president's "right
hand person,". McSherry said.
McSherry said the position
was brought back because it is
extremely helpful to the president.
"There will be days where I can't
make a meeting and the Executive
Direcor will have to replace me,"
he said. "She is going to have to
know everything that is going on,"
he added.
McSherry said Lewers is the
best person for the position. "I was
more happy the night Joanne took
the position than when I won the
election," he said.
Lewers, an English major,
has been involved with FUSA since
freshman year. She has worked on
the Senate and served as co-chair
of the Special Events Committee.
With her new position,
Lewers said she is "going to try to
improve communication between
the three branches of FUSA, as
well as with the students."
"Part of my role will be to
make sure things will run smoothly
and that work is delegated prop-erly,
" she said. "We have a great
foundation to build on and I feel it
is going to be a great year."
Gelston, a Fine Arts major,
has worked with FUSA since her
freshman year as part of the Pub-licity
Committee. She is presently
the Director of the Graphic Design
committee.
As VP of Government Af-fairs,
Gelston will be in charge of
the overall internal aspects of
continued on page 2
Newly appointed Executive Director Joanne Lewers.
Photo: Dan Wall