Mirror - Vol. 19, No. 06 - October 27, 1994

              The
FairfieldMRR®R Volume 19, No.6 Thursday, October 27, 1994 Happy Halloween!
Jessica Nutley
Campus Life Editor
Sarah Devine
Staff Writer
The rash of recent
biased graffiti on campus
continued last week when a
message scrawled in pencil was
found at 1:43 a.m Thursday,
October 20 in a third floor
bathroom stall of Gonzaga Hall.
The message read as follows:
"Fuck unity minorities.
The White Race is superior. I
think we should hang all Blacks,
Chinks and Spies. Let's unite and
form a new generation of KKK.
To all my white brothers and
sisters, let's take over what was
once ours. Minorities just cause
problems and we don't need them.
All Blacks should go to Africa,
all Chinks should go to Hell and
all Spies should get on their
banana boats and go back to their
island. If by 10:30 [it was unclear
whether it was 10:30 a.m. or 10/
30/94] all minorities don't leave
F.U., me and my fellow Brothers
will start killing and raping
Shall we overcome?
minority Bitches." The message
was signed "The KKK" and was
followed by several swastikas.
The reaction of the
Fairfield community to this
incident was primarily outrage and
disgust that an individual or
individuals would write such a
statement.
"I think it's disgusting,"
said Maria Varano '96. "I
definitely think that college is
meant to be a period of your life
when you become more open-minded.
Everyone has to work
together to solve this."
"Personally I think it's
horrible and disgusting. I pray to
God that it isn't anybody in this
hall with that attitude trying to
bring everyone else down. As a
staff we are trying to build a
community. Everything that we
have been working toward since
September was destroyed in a
matter of minutes early Thursday
morning," said Ann Marriott '96,
Resident Assistant on Gonzaga 1.
Almost immediately,
students, faculty and
administration swung into action
on Thursday to bring the
community together to discuss
what had happened. An
emergency AHANAmeeting was
held Thursday afternoon to discuss
the message written. The
Academic Vice Council voted
Thursday to have professors
suspend their syllabus temporarily
to talk with the students about the
incident. The residents ofGonzaga
met Thursday night to hear what
had happened and what was to be
done about it.
"Any sort of
discrimination or comments like
this are unacceptable for a
community," Greg Golub,
Gonzaga Residence Hall
Coordinator, said. Plans were
discussed to provide neon
posterboard to residents of
Gonzaga to hang in their window
as a sign of unity, but has not of
yet been implemented.
On Friday, the entire
Fairfield community was formally
notified of the incident. Both
Father Kelley and FUSA President
Chris Pilkerton distributed letters
expressing their anger and dismay
that this had happened. Father
Kelley asked anyone with
information to call the anonymous
hotline that was set up especially
in response to the graffiti.
"Remember - doing justice
requires risk...and silence
perpetuates the evil." He also
encouraged everyone to sign a
pledge affirming their belief in
diversity and to wear the pin
which says "Fairfield Together!",
to publicly display tolerance.
Chris Pilkerton revealed
the exact content of the biased
message in his letter. He then
went on to state, "Someone has
posed a threat to the place you
consider home. Now is the time
to show support. This is not a
question of marches or letters; it
is a fact of caring, love and the
livelihood of Fairfield University
that you enjoy daily."
A Unity Rally began at
12:30 p.m. Friday on the upper
patio ofthe Campus Center. There
were approximately 1,000 people
at the rally. Ally Weiss "95 was
(Continued on page 3)
Fairfield inaugurates Judaic Studies program
Dr. Ellen Umansky installed as Bennett Chair
Caitlin Whelan
News Editor
Fairfield University
celebrated the inauguration of a
new program in Judaic Studies on
October 18. The convocation was
marked by conferring an honorary
doctor of laws degree to Dr.
Hanoch Gutfreund, president of
Hebrew University, and featured
the inaugural lecture by Dr. Ellen
Umansky, the Carl and Dorothy
Bennett Professor of Judaic
Studies.
The Bennett
professorship at Fairfield was
created by a gift of $ 1.5 million to
Fairfield University by Carl and
Dorothy Bennett of Greenwich,
and their three children.
The convocation began
with Father Aloysius P. Kelley,
S.J., introducing the Bennett
family and acknowledging their
contribution to Fairfield, which
allows for students to have further
opportunity to learn about the
Jewish faith and culture.
Pr. Kelley joins Dr. Hanoch Gutfreund and Carl and Dorothy Bennett at the convocation of the Judaic
Studies program at Fairfield. A donation from the Bennetts made funding for the program possible. Photo:PR
The need for the program
was based on the recognition that
"Catholic and Protestant students
had no real understanding of
Jewish faith, culture, and
heritage," Kelley said. "Through
the Judaic Studies program at
Fairfield, we are able to present
Judaism as an entity unto itself."
Dr. Patricia Behre,
Assistant Professor ofHistory and
a graduate of Hebrew University,
read the citation conferring an
honorary doctor of laws degree to
Dr. Hanoch Gutfreund. Gutfreund
was honored for serving the Jewish
people by preserving and
expanding the cultural, spiritual,
and intellectual heritage of
Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
"We are experiencing a
disconnection ofpeople from their
culture and heritage," Gutfreund
said. " We must recognize the
diversity of mankind. For this
purpose is the establishment of
this program so significant and so
important."
The formal installation
of Dr. Ellen Umanksy as the Carl
and Dorothy Bennett Chair in
Judaic Studies followed Dr.
Gutfreund's speech.
Dr. Umanksy declared
the day "a momentous occasion
for those of the Fairfield and
Bridgeport communities and those
of the Fairfield community."
Dr. Umansky is a
graduate of Wellesley College,
Yale University Divinity School,
and Columbia University where
she was awarded a President's
Scholarship.
She has taught at
Princeton University, has been a
visiting professor at Vassar and
Haverford Colleges, and comes
to Fairfield from the Graduate
Faculty at Emory University in
Georgia. Umansky is the author
of four books and more than one
hundred articles and papers on
the subject of modern Jewish
History.
"The inclusion of
Judaic Studies as part of the
Fairfield curriculum enables
students to learn about Judaism
as Jews themselves understand
Judaism to be," Umansky said,
"Drawing on and shaping with
you my own understanding of
scripture reflects much of what I
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Trick-or-treat
at the
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Is Fairfield
haunted?
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Community
speaks out
against racism
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Steven Wright
at the Quick
Center
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