cabrini college, radnor, pa 19087
f riday, april 27, 1990
.
Xavier Hall dorm damage accounted by Carlo Iacono Although still occuring at a high rate, vandalism in Xavier Hall has stabilized after the implementation of special interest housing last fall. The 1989 resident life experiment of rewarding non-vandalizing residents with spots on residential boulevard, and congregating vandals in Xavier Hall has caused the total of overall unattributed campus vandalism to shrink by 50 percent. According to the monthly damage report compiled by the physical plant office, total campus damage has reached $16,542 this year. But that report documents total damage done to the campus, which is not necessarily total resident vandalism damage. Michael Caranfa, chief physical plant officer, said, "Our list is a compilation of abnormal wear and tear to the campus grounds and buildings. It is not a vandalism report.'' According to John Doyle, director of resident life, damage is billed to the individual responsible based on a list compiled by physical plant. If no individual is found, the bill is footed by the room where the damage occurred. If a common area is destroyed without accountability, then the quad in
vol. xxxvi, no. 22
Students angered over Easter break thefts by Melissa Landsmann
reform. This reform would also be in close proximity to freshman, who have a natural propensity to vandalize, and thus keep their vandalism in check. Dwight Walters, a senior who resides in Xavier due to his high vandalism rate last year, said, "We (male seniors who live in Xavier) are examples of what happens when you do damage. Thus we create an atmosphere of peer pressure that tells freshman not to do stupid things. That works more than fining. ''There were no upperclassmen in this building to say stop." Sophomore Xavier resident Bill Keenan said, "I definitely see more respect for this building this year. Freshman will vandalize anywhere, but I don't see them climbing out of windows this year." On an individual level, damage costs have decreased among returning Xavier residents. ''The money out of my pocket will be less this year," Keenan said. "I'll say it will go from a total of $200 last year to no more than $50 this year." Caranfa said, "I don't see excessive damage this year. The numbers are more concentrated (to Xavier) this year, but Xavier in particular is no worse.''
Xavieror the hall in other donns is billed
Resident life believes therehas been a lot
and, if necessary, then the building. '' Accountability is up, and in fact some individuals are turning themselves in," Tyrone Carr, assistant director of resident life, said. The numbers of incidents that involve vandalism are hard to define. The resident life office knows better this year who is vandalizing and so the cost to non-vandalizing residents has decreased. Doyle believes that 50 percent of the vandalism is attributed. Doyle said, ''The number of overall vandalism has to be lower this year because the amount in the houses is down." The numbers Doyle spoke about are the ones of this year's male residences, including Xavier. The average amount of damage per resident in the male residence of house one last year was $100, house four totaled $48.21, Counsel Hall registered $60, and the south floors of Xavier pulled in at $14 and $48 respectively. This year's male totals have deflated to about $1 apiece for house three and seven, and between $25-45 for each floor ofXavier. Counsel Hall, which is now a female hall, as no unattributed damage. According to Doyle, college vandalism nationwide is a gender- related problem concerning males and usually mixed with alcohol. The special interest program for males worked. But the real key to experiment was the assumption that having chronic offenders in the same place would lead to
of changes in their department to curb residential vandalism. Their accountability has raised questions, according to resident
life. ''What in fact may look like more vandalism is really more accountable vandalism," Doyle said, "50 incidents were reported three years ago, now there are over 400 reported." According to Doyle and Caranfa, vandalism at Cabrini compares well with other institutions of its size. ''It is the high accountability part that is uncommon to other institutions,'' Doyle said. Carr said, ''Other institutions just boot people out. We have a difficult time here trying to kick people out, but we have tried.'' Doy le said, "We have had more removals in the past two years for vandalism and discipline than in the 30 years before.'' A small percentage of people, about 30 individuals, are doing the vandalizing, according to Doyle. •'Only one-tenth of the resident population is doing the damage, and people are still focusing on the negative,'' Doyle said. "This image problem may perpetuate more vandalism from non-offenders who feel they are not being recognized for the lower damage totals. "Vandalism is bad and we still have to attack it. A lot of this is about pinpointing people." Caranfa feels this accountability should more Xavier on 4
Over $3,400 worthof valuables were stolensometimeduringEaster breakfrom two rooms in House 5. The victims involvedarequestionningwhetherthe matter was handled effectively by the administratioo. KristinKroll,senior,andBarb Wilson, junior, discoveredthe burglary of their roomonApril16around7:00p.rn. Kroll's jewelry, camera equipment, and a Penn State Sweatshirt were stolen totaling $2,250. Wilson's camera and a Sony Walkman with a total value of $120 were also missing. A stereo system valued at $800 was stolen from senior Hillary Hoch. Heather Schwarz, senior, is also missing a television valued at $300. The women who were robbed did not feel that they had adequate support from administration. When the burglary was discovered, resident life was notified. The women were told to call the police and resident life would call campus security. It is campus policy to leave the decision of notifying the police to the students. with crimes such as burglary. Director of Resident Life John Doyle andTyroneCarr, assistant director of resident life, went down to the house to offer infonnation to the police and victims. llley remained there for about 20 minutes. llley did not stay throughout police questionning.
"We (the victims) did not feel like we had any . support from the administration," Wilson said .. '• A police report is a private matter between the police andthe student,'' Doyle said "Our policy is to make contact, offer ourselves as support systems and, ifwe are not needed, to leave.'' "I felt that there were questions that I was unable to answer but, that (resident life) could have," Wilson said. "He (Doyle) seemed to do the most he could do at that time,'' Schwarz said. '' It just upsets me very much that there is nothing the school could do-I wish they could do more." '' If they had asked us to stay we would have but, there was nothing we could do at that time,'' Doyle said. "We told the police and the women that if they had any questions or problems tQ contact us and that I would stop by later on that evening when I was doing rounds.'' According to Doyle, the resident life policy for handling a burglary is that one of the three senior staff members of · resident life will go to the location when a burglary occurs in the residencehalls. 1bat staff member will serve as a representative of the college andwill give advice to the victims and inf~on to the police about procedure. The RA files a missing articles report andit is reported to security for insurancepurposes to protect the student.
more Theftson 5
Library director makes exit by Jennifer Morrison Library Director Janet Dalberto will be leaving her position, due to personal reasons, at the end of this semester. She had previously been director of the design/architecture, art and planning library at the University of Cincinnati. In September of 1987, Dalberto came to Cabrini and was named library director. According to Dr. Mary Ann Biller, vicepresident of academic affairs and the library supervisor, Dalberto brought her devotion to the arts to Cabrini, '' She worked with faculty members in the arts especially,'' Biller said. As director, she brought attention and changes to the library. Two terminals, which handle book acquisitions, interlibrary loans and cataloging, were added. This cut down on the evening and Saturday hours that staff members worked on the programs. With the extra terminal the work can be done at any time. Also two CD-ROM terminals, three psychlit data-bases, an ERIC academic index, and an academic index readers guide
were added to the technical service department. '• Janet proposed and received a $10,000 National Endowment and a $8,200 Arcadia Foundation Grant. She also increased the materials budget $50,000," Biller said. Beside grants and additional money to the library, Dalberto has added more shelves, a card catalog cabinet and microfilm cabinets. Periodicals that are used more frequently were attached to the files, a security system was added, and outside speakers were brought onto campus. Dalberto increased the number of hours the library was open from 76 to 84 hours per week. This necessitated an increase in the number of staff members. Biller said the work study students were given more professional responsibilities, allowing them to be a bigger part of the library staff. As of yet, Dalberto has no concrete plans for the future. There is no mention of who will be the director next year; however, the position opening has been advertised nationally.
inside perspectives ...... 2, 3
Taj Mahal: Trump's
Gittens receives
news ................ 4, 5, 9
wish becomes a
award at Big Five
features .......... 6, 7, 8
reality
Banquet
sports........ 10, 11, 12
(see page 6)
(see page 12)