Classes to be held on Cabrini Day

by Karin Letcher a&e editor

In a change from all previous Cabrini Days, this Cabrini Day is being treated as a regular class day. Faculty may choose to cancel classes so students can attend the day's activities.

According to Nancy Gardner, assistant to the Provost/ Academic Dean, the decision to hold classes on Cabrini Day was passed on to her by former Provost/Academic Dean Thomas Boeke, in conjunction with discussions held in last year's Cabrini Day committee meetings. Boeke informed her that Cabrini Day needed to count as a class day in order to meet the Department of Education's Carnegie Commission requirements of 2,250 minutes per semester for a three credit class. In addition, Boeke also reasoned that so few students were attending Cabrini Day events that the decision was made to keep it as a class day to encourage faculty to build the events into their curriculum.

Faculty were informed about the change in the format of Cabrini Day a little over a week ago via voice mail and a memo from the college president, Dr. Antoinette Iadarola. According to Gardner, the delay of communication to faculty may be attributed to confusion caused by Boeke's resignation and the fact that only three members from last year's Cabrini Day committee-vice president of student development Robert Bonfiglio, campus minister John DiMucci and alumni director Martha Dale-were members of this year's committee.

"It is my hope that in the future there will be less confusion and faculty will be able to incorporate Cabrini Day events into their syllabi as it is my understanding that future Cabrini Days will also be regular class days," Gardner said.

According to the communications department chair, Dr. Jerome Zurek, he as well as other faculty members he spoke with were surprised by the decision to treat Cabrini Day as a regular class day.

Zurek attended every meeting of last year's Cabrini Day committee and does not recall the issue of holding classes on Cabrini day being discussed.

"Faculty as a whole and/or the academic council should have been given the opportunity to discuss the issue before it was decided upon," Zurek said.

Zurek, along with former campus minister Bernadette Anello and director of athletics John Dzilc, started Cabrini Day about eight or nine years ago. The initial goal of Cabrini Day, according to Zurek. was to make it the most important day of the year, next to graduation, in which the spirit of Mother Cabrini and Cabrini college were examined and celebrated.

Zurek feels that the trend for Cabrini Day has gotten less and less important every year and that there is a need to rethink the original goals of Cabrini Day.

"Cabrini Day does not seem to be working. It's understandable that now it has become an optional day," Zurek said.

Conduct."

Bonfiglio said if a group of people that were "identifiable as part of the Cabrini community" caused public disturbances, the school would certainly take action.

Since Vtllanova's shuttle has only been suspended for three weekends, Stack said it is too soon to say if the disturbances have stopped. He said the shuttle will be re-evaluated at the end of the fall semester.

Coffeehouse lending hand; teen center in the works

by Nick Levandusky layoutand design editor

The loneliness of the Red Cloud Coffeehouse has prompted an exploration of a new idea.

Recently, Neal Newman, theater director, met with three teenagers to discuss the possibilities of turning the Red Cloud Coffeehouse into a teen center.

"It's so perfect for what they need," Newman said after an hourlong meeting he held with the young people in the coffeehouse.

Newman recalls hearing them use the words "gloomy" and "darkness" to describe the coffeehouse.

They were not meant, however, as degrading words toward the coffeehouse, but rather as compliments.

The original style of coffeehouses from the 1950s were meant to be a bit eerie. This would help the audience "keep their mind focused," Newman said, since there was not too much else to look at in the cof- feehouse.

While on the stage, people would be either reading poetry or performing some kind of skit or even perhaps performing some kind of musical entertainment These are the same actions that the teenagers would be performing in the coffeehouse, and they are the same actions that occur now in the coffeehouse.

Currently, the coffeehouse is used for the Don Guanella school, the poetry vortex and the occasional plays that occur throughout the school year.

"Allowing others to use the coffeehouse would promote the community service aspect of the college," Newman said. "It's the purpose of the Catholic College."

So far, a monetary amount has not been set for the use of the coffeehouse. Newman does expect to have some sort of donation, though, from Radnor Township for this possible union.