FREE | Take one Week of January 25, 2012 | Vol. 37, Iss 6
The
Mirror fairfieldmirror.com
The Independent Student Newspaper of Fairfield University The Reflection of Fairfield
Off-Campus Crime Continues for Beach Residents By Maggie Andrew Contributing Writer
New semester, same old problems. Students who live at the beach are all too familiar with the reports of break-ins and thefts that accompany the return from break. The empty beach houses vacated by home-bound students were the scenes of some of the most costly burglaries last semester, with multiple televisions and printers reported as stolen over the Thanksgiving holiday. While students were not the victims of the most recent breakins, the reports will come as a disappointment to those who hoped to leave last semester’s off-campus crime trend in the past. Fairfield students were back on campus for only a matter of hours before reports surfaced about car break-ins and thefts in town. Six calls were placed to the police early Tuesday morning, according to the Fairfield Citizen Online. Three callers reported smashed car windows on Wheeler
Park Avenue and Adley Road, while $120 was taken from another unlocked car on Wheeler Road. Godfrey Road and Harvester Road residents reported footprints in the snow circling the cars in the neighborhood, adding to the mystery of these recent crimes that have gone without suspects. While the reports of crimes in town are concerning for some students, the Director of Public Safety Todd Pelazza says that the there has not been any increase in thefts or break-ins on campus. Public Safety does not patrol off-campus housing, but Pelazza says, “DPS is able and willing to meet with residents to increase their awareness of crime prevention and how to better protect themselves and their belongings.” And some beach residents may want to take note of Pelazza’s offer. Besides the burglaries that occurred over Thanksgiving, breakins with students present in the house have posed a more serious and alarming issue. A Sacred Heart student was in his beach house on Dec. 7 when two intruders tied him up and beat him, and the same
night another burglary occurred in a nearby house while the female student occupants were upstairs.
RecPlex Expansion Is A Definite Possibility By Nicoletta Richardson Contributing Writer
There are 49 cardio machines, over 8,000 pounds of free weights and about 15 pieces of strength training equipment occupying the RecPlex at Fairfield University. But those numbers may increase heavily in the near future. Currently, the school wishes to construct an 11,000 square-
foot addition to the 32-year-old Recreational Complex, adding a second floor to house even more exercise equipment and space for over 4,500 students, according to attorney John Fallon. “I actually went for the first time about a week ago and almost all the machines were taken”, said Brian Gilligan, class of 2014. “A bigger space would be great, and [one of ] the weight room[s] shouldn’t
Mikaela Tierney/The Mirror
Older machines at the RecPlex make the prospect of an addition exciting for some.
Photo Illustration by Tom McKiver/The Mirror
It has been reported that students’ cars are also being broken into at the Fairfield Beach Area.
be [a] tiny box. Once the RecPlex is redone, I feel like I will be motivated to stay on campus and go to our gym more often.” Renovations to the lobby, locker rooms, cardio-fitness workout area and weight rooms would take place, in addition to an increase in security appearance. There is also a plan to build a new jogging track along the perimeter of the field house. At this time, the two fitness centers on campus are the Quick Recreation Complex and the Walsh Athletic Center, the latter of which is strictly for athletes participating in Fairfield University sports. When asked to compare the Athletic Center with the RecPlex, field hockey member Shealyn Testa ‘14 mentioned the few times she has actually been to the RecPlex. “The RecPlex does have more activities to utilize, such as the racquetball and more variety of machines,” she said. However, she added, “the interior and equipment seem a little outdated, and it seems very tightly put together”, citing the small place as a source of discomfort when working out at the RecPlex. The Walsh Athletic Center was built in 1995 and had renovations done in 1998, adding an academic center for the varsity athletes, weight and fitness rooms, a practice basketball court and athletic offices. The RecPlex was built in 1979. The last time renovations took place remains unknown. A committee that includes
RecPlex | page 3
The car break-ins reported last Tuesday occurred five miles from the Reef Road location of last
semester’s most violent break-in
Beach| page 3
The Internet Will Remain Uncensored Virtual Protests to Internet Censorship Bills Cause Indefinite Postponement in Senate
By Martin O’Sullivan News Editor Notice: this article has been found in violation of H.R. 3261, SOPA. and therefore access has been denied. Had the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) been passed, messages like these would be replacing your frequented Internet destinations for streaming, downloading and viewing. Although SOPA has since been scrapped, the senate version of this bill, S. 968 PIPA, is still in the process of being voted upon, though temporarily postponed. These highly debated bills would essentially allow the government to shut down access to web sites that contained pirated content without a traditional trial, according to the Huffington Post. “The fact of the matter is that the backers of SOPA and PIPA really have no idea what they are talking about,” said Sara Pollack ‘13. “They have the inclination that these bills will protect intellectual American property, create more American jobs, and put an end to ‘rogue’ sites, but it’s just another example of the abuse of government power.” So how did SOPA fizzle out? And why has PIPA been indefinitely postponed? According to a written state-
ment by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the stalling of this legislation is “in light of recent of events.” Specifically? On January 18, 2012, online organizations in opposition to SOPA and PIPA staged a virtual protest by “blacking out” their websites, communicating what they thought to be the level of
“It’s just another example of the abuse of government power.” -Sara Pollack ‘13 restriction to which SOPA would entitle the government. On blackout day, Wikipedia’s sole accessible page in its English division read, “For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet.” Over 115,000 websites participated in the blackout, either completely blocking access to content or simply hinting towards opposition through illustration, according to the New York Times. Notable websites included
SOPA | page 5