Grateful Dead
Leonard Nimoy Opinion
Vine
Leonard Nemoy shows that acceptance is a universal value. Page 5
The Grateful Dead are to be the topic at the American Studies Conference.
Stag Spirit Sports
An in-depth look at Fairfield’s dance team, cheer team, and pep band. Page 16
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THE MIRROR Independent student newspaper
Week of March 18, 2015
@FairfieldMirror
Follow us! FairfieldMirror.com
Vol. 40, Iss. 19
Theoharis uncovers the truth about Rosa Parks By Catherine Veschi News Editor As a commemoration of both Black History Month and Women’s History Month, Fairfield University welcomed the author of “The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks,” Dr. Jeanne Theoharis, a distinguished professor of political science at CUNY Brooklyn, as a guest speaker. In her lecture, which took place on Wed., March 4 in the Aloysius P. Kelley Center Presentation Room, Theoharis discussed the major points of the life of Rosa Parks that she wrote about in her biography of the famous civil rights activist. For Theoharis, the initial purpose of her lecture was “to give people a scope of her life history of her rebellion and political activities.” Theoharis emphasized that what students are taught about Parks in their elementary years is not necessarily the full story, challenging students to ask “why do we get the stories we get?” and “why did you learn it the way you learned it?” She explained that most students associate Parks primarily with her famous refusal to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, but that there is more to Parks than just that. After acknowledging this, Theoharis gave students a more detailed biography of Parks’ life in her lecture, including insight into the other monumental events in her life aside from the notorious bus incident, such as her lesser-known ejec-
tions from buses and establishing the Civil Rights Voting Act of 1965. For Dr. Elizabeth Hohl, visiting assistant professor of history, this lecture was “an opportunity to learn from the scholar who’s immersed herself in the sources, so she’s telling a story that still resonates.” Hohl added that Parks’ view that “young people are the future” makes this discussion all the more
The story of Rosa Parks shows us ways to be active and struggle today. It gives us tools for what to do today. -Jeanne Theoharis Professor of Political Science at CUNY Brooklyn
pertinent for college students, citing this as one of the major reasons she encouraged her students to attend Theoharis’ lecture. Despite the fact that Rosa Parks’ fight for civil rights happened more than 50 years ago, according to Theoharis, her push for social justice is still relevant today. “Racial and social inequalities are still with us,” Theoharis said, referencing the recent Ferguson trial. “The story of Rosa Parks shows us ways to be active and struggle today. It gives us tools for what to do today,” Theoharis hoped that through her lecture, students were able to
grasp the “perseverance and persistence” Parks showed in her civil rights activism, and her “ability to see an injustice and both believe no matter how small or big the thing is, to keep doing it over and over, and that it’s not going to work at first.” Hohl agreed that the fact that Parks “pursued social justice when she was a young woman and there was no hope of succeeding, and that she really committed herself ” and vowed to “not quit until there’s social justice everywhere,” makes her a viable role model and someone “worth emulating.” For Julia Aparicio ‘16, Parks’ “civil activism is still very much relevant today,” noting causes such as “gaps in education, opportunity and achievement in our nation’s school systems.” Aparicio added that “looking to Parks for inspiration, we know that we need to be courageous and persistent in our attempt to tackle such social injustices- these gaps will not be closed overnight.” According to Theoharis, her inspiration for writing “The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks” came from her discovering that “there’s no serious biography about her. There’s a gazillion children’s books, young adult books, school books, but there’s not a serious, foot-noted biography.” For this reason, Theoharis wanted to pay Parks homage with a more substantial biography that doesn’t display her as “a children’s book hero,” like the other biogra-
Britta Gunneson/The Mirror Dr. Jeanne Theoharis (above) presented in the Kelley Center and gave a deeper Rosa Parks story than people are usually taught in their elementary years.
phies. Hohl felt that the lecture was a success, saying “we had to add extra chairs, which was wonderful, and the questions were terrific on the part of the students.” Julia Aparicio agreed, saying Theoharis did a good job in “building off of well-accepted notions of Parks’ life galvanizing a year long
bus boycott, bringing Dr. Martin Luther King to fame, and launching the Civil Rights Voting Act of 1965to debunk many of the common myths that still surround her life and legacy.” She added that Theoharis’ speech was truly “an eye-opening experience,” for her.
Management Club launches StudentLeader app By Patrick Kiernan Editor-in-Chief
Contributed Photo The StudentLeader app is available on the App Store with the above logo.
After about two years of trials and tribulations, Fairfield University’s Management Club has finally launched its own app called StudentLeader. The focus of this app is to provide students who are put in positions of leadership on campus with tips and tricks on how to succeed. “We wanted [it] to be a Fairfield University app and we wanted to craft our own real estate in cyberspace,” said management professor Lisa Mainiero, Ph.D. “The whole idea behind this is to give back. This isn’t about making money or being profitable, it’s about giving back to our leaders on campus.” Mainiero, the adviser of Fairfield’s Management Club, came up with the idea two years ago while on sabbatical. When returning to campus, she presented the idea to her students who were very excited at the idea of an app for student leaders on campus. She cites a
need to create pedagogy for millennials. Millennials don’t necessarily want to read lengthy pieces of text, but rather quick information because of the new Internet era. Aside from assisting those students with tips on how to be a good leader, Mainiero hopes that the app can serve as a way to give back to student leaders in the form of scholarships, grants, or some sort of prize. According to Mainiero, this is the reason that the app is priced at $1.99 on the App Store. “What we want to do is create a social enterprise within the business, because we believe in giving back, and want to make sure that if this ever becomes profitable that we are able to give scholarships to student leaders on campus or student grants,” said Mainiero. StudentLeader was initially launched on the App Store on February 26, but is not yet available on Google Play.
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