To the Editor:
In response to the article about Sharon Hoey and the 9/11 Memorial Scholarship, it angers me that I attend a university that regularly forgets its responsibility to students in the intangible ways. I refer to that “Jesuit spirit” they expect us to uphold, when clearly so many administrative officials do not.
This is not the first time the university has chosen to act like a business and forget that they are supposed to be humane, but it is one of the most offensive. It was disheartening to read the excuse that no one knew how much would be given by other institutions in the country etc. This should in no way influence the university’s decision to institute a scholarship and whether or not to give it to the people who need it.
The money that Hoey received from other organizations is surely not enough to replace her father, or the income that he would have brought in yearly. It is disgraceful for the university to deny her the scholarship and then give it to students with alumni ties-yes that’s right, not just all students with need, but those who are connected to Fairfield alumni. As a student who does receive financial aid and has at least as much need as the next person, I am wholly disappointed in the officials who made these decisions to deny her this scholarship and could care less whether she already has enough in the bank to pay her tuition. The qualifications should be only how someone was affected by the 9/11 attacks. From the responses I’ve heard to this story, the student voice says that how she was affected by 9/11 is enough; I think it’s about time someone started listening.
Sincerely, Caroline Conway, ’04
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