H1N1 Vaccines - Original Article #2

H1N1 injectable vaccines and nasal spray vaccines were made available to all students at Fairfield University free of charge on Friday, as outlined in a university message, almost two weeks after other universities received vaccine supplies.

The university message sent out to all students on Friday stated that “healthy individuals through age 24 years old” could receive the LAIV nasal spray vaccine, while individuals “64 years old or less with underlying medical conditions” could receive the injectable vaccine.

Vaccine Availability Varies

The initial limited availability of vaccines became even more frustrating for many students when they heard about other universities making the vaccine more widely available.

Fairfield University, which “was approved to receive and distribute H1N1 vaccine to members of the University community who fall within the approved target populations,” according to the university message, was more than two weeks behind other Connecticut schools not only in vaccine distribution, but even in communicating the imminent availability of the vaccines.

No information was provided to students or other University community members explaining when the vaccines would be made available. Health Center administrators did not respond to three calls and an e-mail made asking for information.

Last week, Loyola University in New Orleans held a series of clinics that offered free H1N1 vaccines to all students. Fordham University is holding clinics this week offering both H1N1 and season flu vaccines to its students as well. Loyola College in Maryland has made the H1N1 vaccine more readily available, according to Jennifer Monahan, a sophomore enrolled in the college.

“Last Monday and Tuesday, they offered the vaccine to any student from 18 to 24, with a student ID,” Monahan said. Loyola College is also taking some severe steps in order to prevent the spread of swine flu.

“There are certain apartment-style dorms reserved strictly for the people who have swine, and live too far away to go home,” Monahan said. The Health Center also instated a rule where face masks were to be worn at all times.
Even other colleges in the state of Connecticut had H1N1 vaccine clinics for their students before Fairfield. UConn announced that any healthy student age 24 and younger, in addition to the higher-priority groups, will be eligible to register for a vaccine. The University of Hartford also held two clinics recently, providing vaccines to 750 students and promising to hold more clinics once they receive more vaccines. Yale University offered vaccines to healthy students between the ages of 18-24 through clinics requiring registration, in order to account for all vaccines distributed.

Fairfield student Chelsea Pabon ’12 was frustrated by the lack of vaccines on campus. “They definitely should [have more vaccines available], especially on campus; people are dropping like flies, and it’s affecting their schoolwork,” she said. “I walk around with my own [hand sanitizer] now, the sprayer [sanitzer dispensers] are always empty.”

Delayed Reaction

This recent supply is the second that Fairfield has received since the first release of the vaccines. The first supply of H1N1 vaccines arrived in the Fairfield University Health Center a few weeks ago, but with very strict distribution guidelines making the vaccines unavailable to the majority of students and faculty.

“Everyone should be able to be immunized. If someone’s really scared [about contracting the flu], they should be able to, not be restricted by campus,” said student Jessica Soyer ’13.

Despite the three reported cases of swine flu and the 60 cases of flu-like symptoms so far, Fairfield University was initially very selective in its distribution of the vaccine. As outlined in a preliminary university message sent to all students and faculty, the health center was issuing vaccines only to individuals with serious medical conditions.

Students and faculty who were in good health, without underlying conditions, “are NOT eligible to be vaccinated with this initial limited supply,” the preliminary message outlined. Some of the qualifying health conditions included asthma, diabetes, blood disorders, and weakened immune systems.

Students Debate Usefulness of Vaccine

Though vaccines are now available at Fairfield, not all students will be lining up to be vaccinated.

“I feel like they shouldn’t [vaccinate students] – half the time vaccines don’t even work,” said Daniel Malone ’13. “All this rush increases the scare for people. Getting vaccinated isn’t really worth it.”

Freshman Peter Lyons agrees that the vaccines are not the best solution to the growing problem.

“I think people should not get the vaccine. People have a better chance of getting the virus when you bring it into contact with them.”

“I don’t want the vaccine,” said Sam Goodnow ’13. “I take other precautions.”

Such precautions, such as rigorous hand-washing, use of hand sanitizers, and covering your mouth when you cough, are all important “proactive steps to minimize exposure to the flu and other illnesses,” the health center message noted.

Some students question the safety of the vaccine. Because the vaccine was produced so quickly to meet national demands, many worry that it has not been through the same precautionary examinations as the regular seasonal flu vaccine or others like it. As Carolina Arias ’12 noted, she will not be getting a vaccine because, “It hasn’t been tested enough to know the long term effects.”

Vaccine Safety Reinforced

Yet despite such fears, the Centers for Disease Control maintain that the vaccine is just as safe as a regular seasonal flu vaccine. Their website explains, “We expect the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine to have a similar safety profile as seasonal flu vaccines, which have a very good safety track record.” The vaccines have been tested and are expected to be pivotal in helping to prevent H1N1 flu from being an even greater concern.

The site goes on to say that even though fears and possible side effects do exist, “Vaccination is the best way to prevent influenza infection and its complications.”

FUSA Budget - Original Story #1

The current fiscal year has had serious consequences on the budget at Fairfield University, resulting in financial aid cuts, a loss of campus resources, and the firings of 31 university staff and faculty members.

While the money saved as a result of these cuts was allocated to a variety of areas, students became alarmed upon hearing that a significant portion of the money was given to FUSA, the Fairfield University Student Association. In fact, FUSA received almost $300,000 this year – more funding than in previous years.

In a press release from June 2009, President Jeffrey von Arx, S.J. told the university community, “It will be a difficult time for all of us as we will be asked to do more with less, but these budget reductions are essential given the extraordinary economic times in which we find ourselves.”

In light of such budgetary concerns, many students questioned the sudden increase in funding for a single organization on campus. This increase was due to an overall rise in tuition fees – specifically, an increase in the student activities fee from $85 to $95 per student. With an expected 3,125 students each paying this fee, FUSA received a substantial amount of funding with which to design programs and events for the semester.

David Axelrod, the Secretary of the Treasury of FUSA, explained in an interview the process behind the creation of the FUSA budget and the importance of communication among university community members.

“The total budget for FUSA is divided among the various branches of the association,” he said. “The numbers are all based on the budgets and how the budgets were used from previous years – that’s how we determine if the FUSA branches need more or less money [than previous years].” After a series of editing, redrafting, and approval, the budget is finally approved after about a month of work, says Axelrod.

“The budget isn’t just made,” he reminded university members. “It’s made, revised, approved by student senate, checked again, and finally approved by higher administrators.”

Axelrod noted that the increase in FUSA funding was necessary in order to improve the quality of the student activities offered on campus. Rather than having many individual events, FUSA is working to combine smaller activities into larger, more entertaining events in an effort to make student activities “bigger, better and more exciting.”

“Everything we do attracts a different audience,” Axelrod said. “At one event, if we hold 3 activities…each of those activities is going to attract different people,” which will make the events even more popular, he said.

“We’ve had awesome attendance at all of our events [so far this year],” Axelrod noted. “The last Late Night at the Stag had over 500 people there.”

Now the question becomes whether the allocation of such funds to FUSA was rightfully done – should the money have been put towards other uses, such as scholarships or staff employment? Although areas of university life have suffered as a result of budget cuts across campus, attendance and enthusiasm has increased at many events, as a result of the added perks financed by the additional funds. The increase in school spirit and student involvement is a goal of the budget committee and they maintain student programming as a large focus of their negotiations, said Axelrod.

But do students feel it is a good use of university funds? After all, FUSA is responsible for planning activities that students are excited to attend.

Although they were not consulted directly over the budget concerns, students are torn over proper allocation for the funding. While some agree with its distribution, others believe it would be better spent in other areas of the university.

Alexandra Foreman, a sophomore at Fairfield, appreciates FUSA and the organization’s efforts to promote activities on campus, but also understands the need for funding in other realms of campus.

“I think they should keep some of the money with FUSA, but not necessarily all of it,” she said. “Some people go to the events and enjoy them, but other students ignore them, which is one strong reason the money should go to other things.”

“I have been to very few FUSA-sponsored events, and I personally would much rather see it go to something that would be more practical, like small scholarships or books for students,” said sophomore Rachael Purri.

Courtney Monaghan, another sophomore, has similar ideas. She does not believe that the turnout is as outstanding as Axelrod said it has been.

“I believe the money possibly should be allocated elsewhere, or that they should put the money towards programming that people are actually going to go to,” she said. “Maybe if they did a campus wide survey and asked students what events they would attend they would get better turnout at their events and spending would be worthwhile.”

While budget negotiations are contentious at any school in any given fiscal year, the 2009-2010 academic year has been exceptionally challenging. But were the budget committee’s financial distribution decisions successful? It is not necessarily definitive at this point in the beginning of the school year, but will quickly become evident as the year continues.

Sophomore Erika Gjestby provided a unique perspective on the situation.

“I think that FUSA events are good and we definitely should put enough money into them to make them worthwhile,” she said. “But we also need to be able to share the money as much as possible among different areas of campus life and program funding, particularly in the economic times that we’re facing,” she added. Poignantly noting a crucial element of the budget decisions that others may have simply overlooked, she said, “If students can’t even afford to come here, they wouldn’t be here for the programs anyway – you can’t have programs if you don’t even have students.”

It would appear that students themselves would be important individuals to consult in this situation, yet only two student representatives speak for the more than 3,000 undergraduate students at Fairfield. This is the first time the budget committee had two student representatives – last year, there was only one. However, Axelrod mentioned that a significant goal for both himself and for the larger budget committee this year is “open communication.”

The budget committee was expanded this year to include other university community members, such as graduate students and faculty members from various departments.

“They want to be able to better communicate what’s going on,” Axelrod explained. “Having more people from various departments with different perspectives…allows them to better communicate out what the committee is talking about.”

Axelrod welcomes comments about the FUSA budget.

“If you have an idea, if you feel that there’s something you need people to hear about, let me know,” Axelrod said, encouraging students to e-mail or call him, or even stop by the office to discuss concerns. “I’m wide open to opinions, everything can always be better – nothing’s ever perfect.”

Connecticut Post Ed. Meeting - Deadline Article

As the sun was setting over the Bridgeport skyline to mark the end of the Tuesday business day, the real work was just beginning for the editorial board of the Connecticut Post.

At the second of two daily meetings, the top editors of each section met in a small conference room with their important story ideas and a strong will to get them placed on the front page. Led by editor Tom Baden, the afternoon editorial meeting focused on placing stories and photographs throughout the first few pages of the paper. Editors debated the space necessary for each article, and decided which stories would be shifted to the online component of the paper. In the morning meeting, the editors focus instead on reviewing the day’s paper, critiquing the positive and negative aspects, and preparing for which articles, quotes, and photographs will be needed for the next day’s issue.

While each page is 120 inches long, advertisements are placed before the articles and photos, limiting the space available. Debate over placement is essential – the most important news must be on the front page, capturing the reader’s attention and immediately relaying the most crucial facts of the day.

The Connecticut Post has a unique association with other Connecticut newspapers that are owned by the same overarching company – Hearst communications. All of the Hearst newspapers, including the Post, Greenwich Time and The Advocate, share content, especially local sports and important headline news stories.

On Tuesday, a number of such top stories crowded the minds of the editors. A lengthy court battle over the release of crucial documents involved in the Bridgeport diocese sexual abuse scandal had finally drawn to an end, culminating in the revealing of the documents to the public. A final ruling in a reverse discrimination case aimed at Bridgeport firefighters. The official swearing in of new City Council and Board of Education members for the city. President Obama’s announcement of an increased number of soldiers set to deploy overseas.

Yet the seemingly overwhelming decision of which stories to feature on the front page did not appear to faze the editors. Instead, they calmly discussed the components of each story, the importance of each topic included in each article, and the locality of the topics.

“We’re a local newspaper,” editor Tom Baden said, explaining that The Connecticut Post aimed to feature important local stories more prominently than national ones. Remembering this point helps the editors make their front page decisions, in addition to considering the overall impact of each article.

Experience in the news industry has given the editors insight into the essential aspects of reporting and delivering the news. Even the most challenging parts of delivering the news are important, and can make or break the story. Jim Shay, the weekend editor and the assistant managing editor in the mornings, understands the uncomfortable position in which a reporter is placed when asking for quotes or interviews following an upsetting event. Yet he also knows the impact a good quote in an article about such an event can have, as the reporter “want[s] to bring life to the story”.

“You get on the phone and make the call – you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “You’ve got to ask those questions.”

Even after the afternoon editorial meeting, the editorial board still has a great deal of work to do for the evening – the paper doesn’t go to bed until 1:20 a.m., the latest deadline of all of the Connecticut Hearst-owned papers. Editors are always aware and prepared to change layouts and priorities at any moment as news can break at any time before deadline, forcing editors to reevaluate the importance and timeliness of the paper’s current stories. The paper that lands on front porches and newsstands every morning is a combined effort of a number of individuals working in harmony despite ever-increasing deadline pressure.

Holiday Shuttle Service - Deadline Article

Fairfield University Student Association is celebrating the holidays differently this year – giving the gift of savings to students by offering a shuttle service as an alternative to paying for cab rides to transportation home for break.

The shuttle, a bus that ran either from the Barone Campus Center to the Bridgeport train station, the Bridgeport ferry, and the Bridgeport bus station, or to LaGuardia or JFK Airports in New York, transported a number of students to their rides home on Tuesday. The new option was provided by the efforts of FUSA and the Student Senate. In the past, students who did not have cars on campus or parents who could pick them up from campus have paid cab drivers to take them from campus to the train station, bus station, or New York City airport. Cab fares just to the Bridgeport train station can cost up to $20, especially considering the local taxi service, Fairfield Cab. The exclusive cab of Fairfield University’s campus, Fairfield Cab is known for disrespecting students, charging them higher fees than normal, and even taking longer routes than necessary on occasion in order to raise fares.

“I take the ferry from Bridgeport to get home for break, and I take a cab to get to the ferry because as a sophomore I’m not allowed to have a car on campus,” said Ali Foreman ’12. “Once when I took a Fairfield cab to get to the ferry, the driver took me through a series of back roads and stoplights instead of taking the normal highway and ended up costing me almost ten extra dollars.”

The shuttle provided many students with an alternative to such costs, providing transportation to any student free of charge. Many students were appreciative of the new option, and utilized the shuttle to the airport, or to get to their trains, buses, or ferries home.

“Fairfield isn’t a stop on the Amtrak or bus line, so having a way to get to those stops in Bridgeport is really important,” said Gabriella Tutino ’12. “I’m really glad they gave students the opportunity to get there for free.”

But the shuttle wasn’t without shortcomings – the schedule didn’t accommodate every students’ travel plans, and the service only ran on the Tuesday before break.

“I left on Monday, so I didn’t even have the chance to use the shuttle,” said Becca Patricks ’12. “I still had to pay for a cab to get to the train station.”

Many students were frustrated after being unable to use the shuttle because they simply had not known about the option soon enough. Some students try to save money on tickets by making their reservations months in advance, and many train and bus services make it challenging to change a reservation.

“I didn’t know about the shuttle when I made my travel plans, because they didn’t let us know until recently,” Courney Monaghan ‘12 said. “Because I didn’t know about the shuttle option, I bought my train tickets for the morning, which is before the shuttle even starts running. I still had to pay for a cab.”

The shuttle to the airport ran on an even more limited schedule than the shuttle to Bridgeport stations. As a result, some students were stuck waiting at the airport for extra time in order to assure that they didn’t miss their flights or cut their timing too close.

Despite the problems with the new shuttle program, it still benefited many students.

“Normally I don’t know what else to do other than to pay for a cab – my friends don’t have cars, I can’t have a car, and there’s no other cab service nearby,” said Foreman. “I usually don’t have any other options, but the new shuttle made it really easy. I took the shuttle right to the ferry without having to pay anything - it was great!”

David Plouffe - Deadline Article

Obama’s decision to not “follow the old playbook” during the 2008 elections, campaign manager David Plouffe said Wednesday night at Fairfield University, was arguably his best decision from the entire campaign.

Plouffe’s strategy of creating his own approach to campaigning for Obama was likely the reason behind Obama’s current presidency. Rather than using tactics proven to be successful in previous campaigns, Plouffe formulated his own ideas to employ in the race. In his speech last night, Plouffe said, “We were seen as an extremely strategic campaign.” This image was realistic and appropriate, he acknowledges.

“We took risks,” he said. “But they worked out, so they don’t seem like risks anymore.”

Though the campaign “risks” have slowly since disappeared from the minds of the voters and politicians, their effects have been significant. The campaign did a variety of aspects of their race differently than their competitors, Plouffe noted, including their use of technology, their targeting of various voter groups, and their ability to become media figures for their individuality in campaigning techniques.

“We knew where we were heading… [and] had a clear sense of our strategy,” he said. But Plouffe also noted that “we weren’t cut from the same cloth” as the other campaigns. He noted that the entire concept of ignoring older, more conventional campaign tactics in favor of newer and bolder plans had a great potential of failure.

Unlike their competitors, the Obama campaign focused on increasing support and outreach in unconventional ways. Plouffe explained that recent technological advances across the country allowed the Obama campaign to reach out to new groups of voters that were usually ignored or underappreciated by other campaigns.

Obama’s internet website generated a great deal of publicity when its online monetary donation feature became one of the most successful in history.

The Obama campaign raised $750 million over the course of the presidential race. $500 million of that money was contributed solely online by a variety of donors, and the majority of the people who contributed money also dedicated their time and energy to the campaign as well.

“These people were the campaign,” Plouffe said. He continued, saying that although technology was highly useful, “Grassroots was our message army.”

The campaign arranged for numerous media interviews and paid for a great deal of advertising, he said, but the most important part was the volunteer grassroots component of the race. The relationships between the campaign volunteers and their fellow community members allowed Obama supporters to encourage their peers to become actively involved with their country and register to vote – and vote for Obama.

Such “person-to-person relationships,” said Plouffe, were the heart of the campaign and were crucial to its success.

He noted that the grassroots aspect of the race would have been rendered useless had it not been for the recent technological advances across the country – and the Obama campaign’s ability to employ such tools to their advantage.

Now that the campaign is over, Plouffe said he is proud of his accomplishments as campaign manager. Yet he also admitted that initially he didn’t even want to be the campaign manager for Obama’s presidential race before the core advising campaign group was formed.

“I knew [Obama] was going to ask me to manage and I dreaded it,” he said. “I didn’t want to do it - I agonized over” whether or not to accept Obama’s request.. After encouragement from his wife, however, Plouffe finally accepted the position and joined the campaign team.

“It was such a joy to be a part of,” he said looking back on his time spent campaigning. “[It was] the kind of politics you idealize…we had a lot of fun.”

Not just fun, but successful as well – it was exactly one year ago on the night of Plouffe’s speech at Fairfield that Obama was announced as the 44^th president of the United States. As for the future of Obama’s presidential position, Plouffe predicted that the 2012 race will be even more drastically different than the 2008 race was. He didn’t reveal all of his plans, but did mention that the group is “thinking long term,” leaving a great deal of opportunity for a new, even more radical campaign in the future.

Campbell Brown Speaks at Open Visions (Deadline Article)

In a field dominated primarily by angry, partisan men, anchor Campbell Brown attempts to hold her own against her competition on her daily political show on CNN. Brown strives to promote bipartisan views of new reports despite the relentless intensity of ratings competition, as she explained to the audience filling the Quick Center at Fairfield University last night.

Because of the immense shifts in the appearance and delivery of news in today’s world, Campbell was quickly forced to learn the difference between realistic, essential news and biased, less important stories.

“Sometimes we live in this bubble in our studio that’s detached from the outside world,” she said. “Cable news has the attention span of a gnat. It is constant, and it is relentless.” As a result, she explained, there are some weeks of hard-hitting news stories, while others are filled with less meaningful, fluff pieces.

This dynamic creates a constant challenge for Brown. She is under pressure on a daily basis to produce high-quality, unbiased news reporting in a world full of partisan, argumentative reporting.

“I’m not partisan,” she said, “but I do know the truth when I see it.” Her CNN show, Campbell Brown, strives to provide viewers with equally represented opinions from both sides of any political issue. This approach is drastically different from those of Brown’s competition – the other political discussion shows on both cable and broadcast networks.

“I just want to stop the charade and respect the intelligence of my audience,” Brown explains. “I do think CNN is the last man standing in the world when it comes to bipartisan coverage. I do believe there is still a place for good journalism without a partisan perspective.”

Despite her dedication to fairness and truth in reporting, Brown acknowledges that a significant factor of her show is dedicated to topics other than what she would prefer to air.

“At the end of the day, it’s about ratings,” she said. “That’s how I know whether I get to keep my job or not.” Though many elements of her show focus on topics and speakers that she know will garner her positive ratings, Brown is careful not to let the competition mask the truth in politics. She noted that although it makes for better ratings, all of the arguing of talking heads on camera simply creates “noise”, preventing viewers from listening and actually comprehending the ideas presented. Her show works to eliminate the noise in exchange for more honest, open dialogues with a variety of experts, even if it means sacrificing a few ratings points.

Ever since entering the world of journalism, Brown has been optimistic. When she first began reporting, she believed that her accounts of stories would have a great impact on the political pundits of Washington, DC, in addition to important figures around the country.

Even from a young age, Campbell said, she knew she was destined to become involved in the world of politics. Not only was her family very involved in political interest and activism, but her home state of Louisiana was very expressive in many political debates. When she decided to enter the world of communications, especially television journalism, she was following her “passion – not a love of journalism as much as a love of politics.”

“I wanted to try and find a way to hold politicians accountable,” she recalled. “It seemed like a noble calling – you could affect change and hold government accountable.” Now she realizes, however, that her cause may no longer be quite so noble.

“The business has changed quite a lot,” she acknowledged. “Technology is just changing so rapidly – I don’t think [journalism] is going to look like what it looks like now in the future.”

Last night’s forum was a change from the usual Open VISIONS fare; despite the variety of audience members, viewers of the presentation said they felt she was able to connect to the audience in a way that many other speakers cannot.

“A lot of people can relate to her, and she really connected with the audience,” said Peter Caty, a junior at Fairfield University.

Sophomore Tyler Wosleger agreed. He explained, “The jokes in her speech related to everyday life and put the listeners more at ease, helping the audience to really connect to her speech.”

Brown’s presentation at Fairfield University was an informative session, yet also allowed the audience a more personal glimpse into the life of the anchor off-camera. Her candid answers during the forum portion of the presentation were spontaneous and gave her more opportunities to reveal her feelings on different political topics and media industry standards.

CT Supreme Court Holds Trial at Fairfield University (Deadline Article)

Justice was given a new venue on Wednesday when the Connecticut Supreme Court brought deliberations for two court cases, one criminal and the other civil, to Fairfield University.

At the sound of the gavel, the audience stood as the seven justices entered the stage in their flowing black robes to participate in the second of the two cases. The civil case, AllState Insurance Company vs. Stephen Palumbo, concentrated on the debate over the legitimacy of insurance coverage for Palumbo and his fiancée, Lisa Deveau.

On Jan. 31, 2002, after accidentally setting fire to the house in which Palumbo, Deveau and Deveau’s daughter lived, Palumbo filed a claim with AllState Insurance Company to pay for the damages. The damage to the house was estimated at about $60,000, according to papers released by the court.

Palumbo was given the payment by AllState, but was sued soon after by the insurance company because he was not listed on the insurance plan. Only Deveau’s name appeared on the payments for or the official description of the insurance, as she was the official owner of the home. As a result, AllState demanded that Palumbo reimburse them for the money they had paid him to cover the damages in an equitable subrogation action.

“Otherwise, [Palumbo] will be unjustly enriched,” said the counsel for AllState, explaining that the money needed to repaid immediately to fulfill AllState’s legal demands.

The first two lower courts found in favor of AllState. However, Palumbo brought the case back once again, this time to the Supreme Court, arguing that as a full-time resident in the house, an equal contributor to home expenses and without a house or home insurance of his own, he was in fact a tenant of Deveau’s. This contingency would grant him dismissal from AllState’s equitable subrogation demand.

A debate soon ensued over the use of the term “tenant” instead of “social guest” – each side argued that Palumbo was a different type of resident. Because the definitions can be bent to conform to either side’s argument, the judges had a challenging time determining which correctly applied to Palumbo. They questioned both the plaintiff and the defense about the specific interactions and expectations between Palumbo and Deveau in order to gain a better understanding about the relationship in terms of the residence.

Finally, the counsel for Palumbo offered a new suggestion to the justices, saying, “I believe his proper definition is as cohabitator.” By the end of the discussions, the court had three different definition options, each of which would end with a different consequence for Palumbo. The ruling on the case, however, will not be issued for at least a few months, as it must follow the general Supreme Court decision-making process.

The audience was able to view the arguments given by the counsels for both the plaintiff, AllState Insurance Company, and the defense, Stephen Palumbo, throughout the cases as they spoke in the makeshift courtroom constructed on the stage of the auditorium.

Immediately following each of the cases, a question-and-answer session gave students an opportunity to voice their questions to experts in the field. Attorneys Justin Clark and Daniel Klau conducted the panels, using their personal experience from serving as Supreme Court law clerks to respond to student inquiries.

According to a University press release, the Court’s visit is a part of “Supreme Court on Circuit”, a program in which the Court travels around the state to better educate community members, especially students and educators, about the justice system. The program has been in effect for over 20 years.

Matthew Sullivan, a junior at Fairfield, thought the program was worthwhile.

“It was a great opportunity to have real-life experience rather than just a textbook explanation,” he said. He went on to explain that although he is currently enrolled in a class focused on the U.S. Supreme Court, seeing the proceedings at the “Court on Circuit” provided him with a manner in which he could see the actual operation of the court, rather than just focus on the final decisions in a variety of historical cases.

Sullivan’s sentiments were echoed by other Fairfield students who attended the court sessions. Erika Gjestby, a sophomore at Fairfield University with an interest in law and politics, also appreciated the opportunity to experience courtroom proceedings firsthand.

“We were able to really get a feel for how the court actually works,” she said. “Instead of seeing just an outsider’s view, like reading about the case in a newspaper, it gave me a chance to really see under the surface.”