Mirror - Vol. 22, No. 13 - February 13, 1997

              FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY
IRROR
Volume 22 Number 13 The Image of Fairfield Thursday, February 13, 1997
34th FUSA Senate inaugurated
Theresa Vitello
Staff Writer
The Great Hall of Bellarmine
mansion was filled with prospec-tive
senators and their proud
guests as the Fairfield Univer-sity
Student Association Senate
was inaugurated for its 34th Ses-sion
on February 9th.
The ceremony began late but
the mingling students didn't
seem to mind. Afew sharp bangs
of the gavel and all eyes turned
to Michael Reardon, current
FUSA President, as he delivered
the welcoming speech. Reardon
informed the prospective sena-tors
that when they meet times in
their careers when they are faced
with situations that appear im-possible,
the key is, "all in how
we look at things, and seeing
them in a different light."
Reardon then introduced Father
Schad who delivered a blessing
in which he named the senators
"responsible servants of the stu-dent
body."
The floor was then handed
over to Rachel Frishman '97,
Senate President ofthe 33rd Ses-sion,
for the Outgoing Address.
Frishman began by offering her
gratitude to the many who aided
her presidential career. She then
spoke about the seriousness of
the inaugural celebration because
of the "huge responsibility" it
places upon each senator. She
informed the prospective sena-tors
that they would be "the ones
who will make the decisions
which affect the student body
and quality of life at Fairfield."
She concluded by praising the
new Senate President, Timothy
Mitchell '99, for his "dedication
and integrity," assuring her faith
in his abilities.
Christopher Tierney '97,
ChiefJustice-Student Court, then
commenced the swearing in of
officers and senators. The mem-bers
of the Executive Board for
the 34th session are: Timothy
Mitchell, President; Joseph
Giulliano, Vice-President;
Lauren Keating, Secretary; K.C.
Reynolds, Judiciary Chair;
Johannah Cantwell, University
Life Chairperson; and Shannon
Sullivan, University Develop-ment
Chairperson. The officers
formed a semi-circle before
Tierney as they recited their
oaths, vowing to be, "represen-tatives
of the students and the
university who shall serve faith-
Continued on page 4
Second-annual Snowball a success
Christine Hamel
Managing Editor
As snowflakes fell to the
ground, 350 students boarded
buses bound for the Trumbull
Marriot for the second-annual
Snowball dinner-dance. Students
were only allowed to attend the
dance if they traveled on the
buses, which departed from vari-ous
locations on campus and
from the beach.
After the popularity of last
year's event and the increase in
ticket sales this year, Fairfield
University decided to make the
dance an official, annual, semi-formal
dinner-dance.
Seated at
tables set for
ten, students
chose between a
chicken or veg-etarian
entree.
Throughout the
evening, attend-ees
danced to hits from the sev-enties
as well as today's dance
mixes.
"The second-annual Snow-ball
was another success. FUSA
plans to continue this tradition next
year," said Chris Cipriano, Vice
PresidentofStudent Activities, and
FUSA President-elect.
Snowball was co-sponsored by
FUSA, IRHG, UNITE, and the
Commuter Club.
Lecture addresses issues of human
rights
Maura Parsons
Staff Writer
On Monday evening, the De-partment
ofPhilosophy presented
a lecture by Dr. Joy Gordon of
California State University about
the philosophical debate over the
traditional concept of human
rights.
Approximately 25 people at-tended
Gordon's lecture in
Canisius Hall entitled "The Con-cept
of Human Rights and its
Politicization." Gordon began
her lecture by saying that her
interest in the topic of human
rights was augmented by her years
in Nicaragua and Cuba. While
living in these countries, she said
she routinely witnessed human
rights violations.
Gordon pointed out that the
traditional concept of human
rights emerged after World War
II when "Nazi leaders were pros-ecuted
for crimes against hu-manity."
According to Gordon,
these rights were developed only
to protect human beings from
torture and atrocity. Violations
against these basic human rights
continue to be enacted.
Also, Gordon discussed the
controversy that occurred in later
years when the definition of hu-man
rights for some was broad-ened
to not only include protec-tion
against atrocity but also eco-nomic,
political, and civil preju-dices.
"There is no mechanism
for enforcement of these human
rights, only recommendations,"
said Gordon.
The economic rights of all
people in this broader definition
of human rights include food,
shelter, and clothing. Political
rights include the right for all
adults to take part in elections
and hold office.
Gordon advocated this broader
definition of human rights and
challenged the traditional con-cept.
She pointed out, using three
different human rights theories,
that people continue to hold dif-ferent
concepts of human rights.
She discussed many other as-pects
of human rights including
the notion that human rights in
some instances increase human
suffering. As an example of this,
she pointed to the people ofCuba
who have suffered from malnu-trition
and disease because of the
US trade embargo against their
country. The U.S. enacted the
embargo because ofhuman rights
violations in Cuba. "In this case,
suffering increased in the name
of human rights," Gordon said.
The lecture concluded with a
question and answer session
where issues pertinent to human
rights were further addressed and
debated. Gordon, who holds both
a doctorate in philosophy and a
law degree, hopes to publish her
research in a upcoming law re-view.
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