To the Editor,
As a junior on the Fairfield Women’s Rowing team, I have grown accustomed to the lack of attention that your newspaper has paid to my particularly hard working team.
I no longer search The Mirror for mention of my team and our weekly accomplishments because I know that my search is futile.
During my three years, we have only been mentioned in the print version of The Mirror twice. Once was to say how poorly we did in the Head of The Charles Regatta in 2006. The other was an article written about our new boathouse.
This article was fairly innocuous though completely devoid of any mention of our actual racing accomplishments.
Furthermore, the grainy picture of a women’s four boat that was included in the article was from a race that Fairfield has not competed in since 2003.
I am assuming that no updated picture could be found by your staff.
If the women’s team has done something to offend The Mirror, then it is your prerogative to continue to ignore us.
We’ve dealt with it for long enough and are growing quite used to it.
We’ll simply take our 32 medals that we’ve acquired over the past three years and be on our way.
But what are your excuses for the exclusion of the men’s team? Why was there no article about its transition to varsity status this year?
I assure you that their dedication to proving themselves as Fairfield’s newest and most successful team is evident.
I must ask: Where is The Mirror’s dedication to informing the student body about landmark things such as this happening on campus?
Why not a story on how Title IX is alive and well at Fairfield and allowed for a new men’s varsity sport to be added?
Why not a story about how we are not only ignored by this paper, but also by the administration, seeing as how the women’s rowing budget was stretched to fit both the men’s and women’s team this year?
If your writers are too busy to learn about us, I will take it upon myself to educate you.
We are the Fairfield men’s and women’s rowing team. We rise before the sun, we work hard and we win races.
It is possible that we do more before 9 a.m. than most Fairfield students do the entire day.
On top of the early mornings, we have an additional practice in the afternoon in both of our seasons of competition (fall and spring).
Our spring break is a training trip that consists of three-a-days and scrimmages for its entirety.
We sacrifice more and get less recognition than any team on campus.
I am not attempting to belittle any other Fairfield team; I am just trying to assert that we deserve a little space in our school paper.
So when you see us wearing our red Fairfield rowing or black Fairfield crew jackets on a rainy day, please know that we were wearing those jackets in that miserable weather just a few hours earlier while rowing (and please note that the University did not shell out any of the $165 per jacket nor did it contribute any funds for our other apparel).
When you see us struggling to stay awake in our classes, remind yourself that we were awake hours before you even rolled over to hit your snooze button.
Lastly, when you see us walking out of our residence halls and townhouses at some ungodly hour on a Saturday morning while you are walking in, think about the fact that we are about to compete in order to make a name for Fairfield athletics. We do all of this despite your lack of support and recognition.
While I understand that traveling to our races is near impossible, I do not understand why none of your staff is willing to go on our Web site or seek one of us out in order to ask how our race went.
Are we not good enough for your ink?
Sincerely, Daria Anduzskiewicz ’09, member of the Fairfield women’s crew team
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