Community service The goal of Jesuit education is
homines pro aliis, "men and women for others". As a result, Fairfield students are involved in many
community service opportunities. Fairfield was among 119 colleges in the United States named to the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement in 2008. The university was named to the 2009 and 2010 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the
Learn and Serve America Program of the
Corporation for National and Community Service. The Annual Hunger Clean Up is a one-day service-a-thon where the university community works at 40-plus local agency sites throughout Fairfield County and to raise money for local and national hunger and
homelessness causes. The Fairfield chapter of Colleges Against Cancer hosts an annual
Relay for Life for the
American Cancer Society, an overnight event designed to spread awareness of cancer prevention, treatments and cures, celebrate
cancer survivors and raise money for
cancer research. The Adrienne Kirby Family Literacy Project, recognized as a model program by the
Corporation for National and Community Service, involves about 175 Fairfield student-volunteers a year in providing individual tutoring to preschool children at the Action for Bridgeport Community Development's
Early Learning/Head Start Program. Internationally, 'Ignatian Solidarity Corps volunteers annually participate in two-week international service trips during their spring and winter breaks traveling to
Ecuador, Mexico, Jamaica,
Belize and
Haiti. In 2004, Mikaela Conley '06 and Aamina Awan '07 founded The Afghan Children's Project to raise awareness and funds for children who have suffered the effects of war, violence, and poverty in
Afghanistan. Both were interviewed on
CNN Daybreak in August 2005 for their work in funding the building of a
water well for Aloudine, a small village outside
Kabul. And in 2008, nine Fairfield students, inspired by 2006
Nobel Peace Prize recipient
Muhammad Yunus and the
Grameen Bank, started Sustainable Equity for Women, a
micro-lending project designed to raise and invest money in small businesses run by women in
developing countries in conjunction with
Kiva Microfunds.
Fairfield University Student Association The Fairfield University Student Association (FUSA) is the official student association for full-time undergraduate students and is the largest student organization on campus. The association exists to represent student issues and concerns to the faculty and administration and to sponsor a multitude of student programs and activities. All full-time undergraduate students are members. The association is organized into three branches – legislative, executive, and the judiciary (FUSA Court). The legislative branch consists of the Student Senate, comprising 20 elected representatives (5 from each undergraduate class year). The executive branch is headed by the popularly elected President of FUSA, who serves as the official spokesperson for undergraduate students in addition to administering the student association on a daily basis. In 2002, Karen Donoghue '03 became the first woman elected President of FUSA. The FUSA President is assisted by a popularly elected vice president, elected class officers, and a number of other appointed officers, including the Director of Programming, the Director of the Club Operations and Student Organisations(COSO), the Director of Marketing & Public Relations, the Director of the Treasury, and the Director of Diversity and Inclusion. The judicial branch, known as the FUSA Court, facilitates elections, serves as a hearing body in appeals, as well as performing the judicial functions required for the student association.
Student activism A central tenet of a Jesuit education is the promotion of the values of peace and
social justice. In 1988, 1989 and 1990, the Coalition for a Better World constructed "Cardboard City" and held a 36-hour vigil, and again in 2008, the Students for Social Justice constructed "Homeless Village" and hosted the "
Oxfam Hunger Banquet" to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless in the United States. In 1999, students staged an 11-hour sit-in at the home of the university president and later a
hunger strike to protest a contracting company used by the university that the students said was anti-union and paid janitors poorly. Each year, the Students for Social Justice travel to
Columbus, Georgia for the annual
School of the Americas Watch protest at a combat training school for Latin American soldiers now known as the
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The date of the protest marks the anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests, their maid, and her daughter in
El Salvador at the hands of soldiers trained at the School of the Americas. And in 2008, Fairfield for Peace NOW created "Hope Trail", a pathway of flags around campus symbolizing the cost in life and casualties from the
Iraq War, and
A Cry For Peace, a play written and performed with Theatre Fairfield demonstrating the toll of the
Iraq War on the families of soldiers back in the United States.
Student media • StagsTV – The Student Television Station of Fairfield University •
The Mirror – The Independent Student Newspaper of Fairfield University •
WVOF – The Voice of Fairfield University ==Athletics==