 Chris Simmons/The Mirror
Paul Kendrick battled the sweltering heat last Wednesday as he stood at his alma mater's entrance, offering pamphlets to cars arriving on campus. His intent is to raise money and awareness to aid the victims of the Douglas Perlitz sex scandal in Haiti, something he feels Fairfield is ignoring.
Perlitz, an alumnus of Fairfield and 2002 recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree, as well as commencement speaker has been arrested for and pled guilty to having sex with eight underage boys.
Since the arrest, the school has been shut down and Kendrick believes that Fairfield has abandoned the victims left behind. "Do I not feed a man at my door because he may trip on my stairs on the way out and sue me?" said Kendrick, an allusion to the University's actions in Haiti out of possible bad media attention.
He is asking for two dollars per day for the 20 boys abused at Project Pierre Toussaint, an amount that has not been met by Fairfield. In an email titled, "A Visible Presence," Kendrick asked President von Arx to join him "in the blistering heat" Wednesday at the edge of campus to help spread awareness. The money would cover the ration of food for the boys that day, rice and beans.
Von Arx was not present nor did he respond, none of the other administrators on the email list joined Kendrick either. According to The Connecticut Post, Fairfield spokesmen Nancy Habetz, who was also sent the "Visible Presence," email said, "This is the first day of class for the fall semester, and the University community's responsibility is to focus on opening day activities and the students' educational experience."
She continued, "The University continues to work with the Haiti Fund Board and others to find ways to reopen the facilities in Cap-Haitian and help support the children who have been affected by this tragic situation."
Rama Sudhaker, Fairfield University's Vice President of Marketing and Communications, said to "The Connecticut Post" on Friday, "The discussions are ongoing, I wish I could tell you they have borne fruit but that's not the case at this point."
She said the school is looking for a more permanent solution, and they continue to work with the Haiti Fund which served as "Perlitz's funding arm," to find groups that could assist in reopening the school.
Accompanying Kendrick on Wednesday was Louis Elneus, a Haitian native who runs a nonprofit, providing textbooks. Elneus told The Connecticut Post that regardless of the ties that the University has to the program, they legally may not have an obligation to help the victims. "But there is a moral obligation here," he said.
It was the first time the gentlemen met face to face after much e-mail and telephone correspondence, said Kendrick, "He does great work, I really want to spend more time with him." Elneus works with 19 schools in Gonaives, often the refuge for people of Port-au-Prince.
Kendrick has also tried to reach out to the Alumni Association through email. He alerts the members that, "FU Alumni Director, Janet Canepa refuses to publish our pleas for help, or, for that matter, any news about the abuse of children by Perlitz, in the alumni newsletter." He encourages the recipients to forward the email in order to spread awareness.
Project Pierre Toussaint has many ties to the University, including the head of campus ministry, Rev. Paul Carrier who was suddenly and without much explanation removed, and is no longer involved in public ministry. Carrier served on the Board of Directors as well as spearheaded funds for the school. His exact whereabouts today are thought to be somewhere in Fairfield County.
"The school has now been closed for 18 months, when they told Carrier to remove himself from the Haiti fund that was April 2008, you don't have to read between the lines to know that the provincial and von Arx were trying to get away from this thing," he said.
According to Kendrick, when he first approached the Vice President of Administrative and Student Affairs, Mark Reed, in 2008 about Perlitz being fired and getting information out about what was going on in Haiti to the Fairfield community, "they all put the shutters up." He continued to say, "Reed tried to disparage me to members of The Mirror."
Also on the administrative side Kendrick reports that von Arx has "done nothing." He also notes that Habetz was a big fan of Perlitz, and like others was in denial. "In all of her press releases she kept saying 'young men' these were children, minors."
He adds, "Why doesn't the president of the university want to do something? Where is the faculty? Where are the alumni saying 'are you kidding me?'" In regards to Fairfield awarding Perlitz in the past for his 'humanitarian' work, "We paraded him around, and then as soon as we get some scandalous news, we all run, we all take off."
Kendrick did not go out looking for trouble, he met Perlitz in April of 2003, through a volunteer trip and someone mentioned there was a Fairfield alumni working, from there they were introduced.
The two had lunch and met a few times, he was shown the school and Kendrick was drawn to it. "How could I help?" he remembers asking, yet Perlitz and Father Carrier weren't interested. "Father Carrier is an odd guy."
As far as the fundraising efforts are progressing among the Fairfield community aside from the administration, Kendrick remains disappointed. Among the twenty or so alumni reached who are either prominent members, or members of alumni clubs, "the only one who responded said, 'unsubscribe,'" he said.
Kendrick has asked von Arx to treat these children the same way that Fairfield Prep students would be treated if they were abused. "You'd give them professional counseling and in a way, this is our counseling," he said regarding providing them with $2 a day. In the meantime, Perlitz sits in a Rhode Island prison, awaiting his December 21st sentencing. ____________________
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