By Nathan Schmidt
Yesterday, Fairfield University geared up the student body for its fifth annual STAGiving Day with a delicious roast venison dinner in the Tully. The Student STAGiving Dinner was held in preparation for the real STAGiving Day next week, a fledgling tradition where the Fairfield community is encouraged to give back to the university. This year, however, marked the first time that the dinner centered not around steak and lobster, but around the much more patriotic food of roast deer flesh.
As always, the event was highly publicized ahead of time. The costumed mascot Lucas the Stag could be found in the Barone Campus Center handing out flyers for the Student STAGiving Dinner, this time wearing a special “savory” version of the costume without any of his fur or skin. Students received an email for the event featuring a photograph of a delicious-looking plate of venison decorated with red and white sauces that spelled out “FU” for the university. Most importantly, the event took place during the evening dinner rush whether students were interested or not.
Fairfield staff member Lyanna Borde was responsible for much of the coordination for the dinner. She addressed Fairfield students after finding a microphone that worked with the Tully’s PA system.
“I’m proud to say that all the venison for the dinner was locally sourced from Connecticut farms. Honestly, I had no idea that people even raised deer at farms, but it worked out for us! Eh? Who wants to eat some stag? Who wants to eat Fairfield-style today? Who’s with me?”
Reception among students has been generally positive. Most of the student body seems to be willing to devour any sort of cooked meat that is placed on a plate in front of them, and venison was generally agreed to be a change of pace from the usual rotating menu of the Tully. The symbolism of consuming the flesh of Fairfield’s mascot species was lost on some students and vaguely heretical-sounding to the ones who have received Communion, but somehow it seemed like a proper Jesuit approach to patriotism anyway.
That all being said, when asked about the dinner, sophomore student Stanley Charleston ‘21 commented, “Eh, it was kinda gamey.”
Buoyed by the success of the event, Fairfield University’s Stag Spirit Shop is now offering a limited-time figurine of Lucas the Stag with a large plastic fork embedded in his head.
Stagnation 