“The only regret I have is I wish I had more time. I was far behind in money. I was far behind in days. While everyone was announcing their candidacy in January, I was still teaching school, and I had no idea this was coming.”
Salman Hamid’s classroom at Wintergreen School.
For Wintergreen Social Studies teacher Salman Hamid, running for mayor was a pipe dream. Hamid is someone who stays active in his community by doing charity work and maintaining his position on the cleaning green commission, so all he wanted was to see Hamden be the best it could be.
“I ran because I love my community, and I want the best for it,” Hamid said. “Mayor Leng and I had different visions of doing that but we both shared that ideal.”
A Hamden resident since childhood, Hamid grew up loving his town. He saw the opportunity to run for mayor as a way of continuing to grow his community.
“I just wanted to see the town that raised me become the best version of itself. I thought I had some good ideas in which to do that,” Hamid said.
Hamid’s Social Studies class’ schedule.
His efforts, however, came up short as Mayor Curtis Leng was re-elected for his second term for the town of Hamden with 74 percent of the vote on November 7.
“At first, it was a bit of a shocker. Then you realize it’s fine, it was an uphill battle from day one no matter what,” Hamid said. “People tend to forget that everyone had started across Connecticut in January, and I had started in late July. So, here’s a guy who walked off the street running on a very unpopular ticket, because, unfortunately, people associate a Republican with being a Trump supporter.”
“By the time I was relaxing over the summer, my opponent already had $40,000 in the bank, and I was still relaxing. So I was completely behind the 8 ball. So of course I knew I was the underdog, but I played to win. I was aggressive as I possibly could be.”
After the results came out, Hamid mentioned he did speak with his opponent afterward.
“We talked briefly on election night. I congratulated him on a good run…on a well run campaign,” Hamid said. “I do plan on being actively involved in community events, and I’m sure I’ll see him there. And at the end of the day, we both live in town as we had spoken of, and we had different visions, but we both want the town to do well in our own ways.”
Hamid reflected on his campaign for a while, reiterating his only regret being his slow start. When asked about what was next for him, Hamid discussed his current job and the possibility of a future in politics.
Salman Hamid, left, greets voters on election day.
“I love my job, It’s a great school and I have great colleagues to work with. Good kids, you know, and, like I said, I wouldn’t trade teaching for the world. I do enjoy it a lot,” Hamid said. “But no matter what I do next, I was told do not stop. Because people who were politically and non politically affiliated said I did very, very well given everything that went against me. You also have to understand there were no republicans running in districts one through eight. They went unopposed. So no one was out there either promoting my name, and I was still able to get that many votes.”
Through his Campaign, Hamid gained recognition and opportunities in ways he would have never expected. He is keeping his promise to work with the “Gimme Shelter” foundation that gives shelter to homeless pets. He has been asked to join the League of Women Voters to help assist groups of women who traditionally have not voted to participate.
“A lot of people from South-East Asia and muslim-affiliated women voted for the first time in their lives this past election, which was impressive.”
Hamid also continues to work with various elderly homes. He has even had a few businesses grab his attention.
“When I was campaigning, I had a lot of interesting opportunities – I won’t say the names yet – that I could venture into part-time because people liked how I spoke. They felt I was confident,” Hamid said. “So, some opportunities came up that I might be interested in doing while I’m still teaching. I’m actually really good at sales, but my passion is teaching.”
Considering everything that Hamid went up against, I asked him what his thoughts are about a potential future run at Mayor again. Of course preparedness was the key to any possibility of that.
“It’s going to be top secret until I know what’s going on with the playing field,” Hamid said. “I’ve learned how to become a political animal and so I’ll sit and watch and observe the environment, the culture, what’s going on, the economics and I’ll make a calculated decision come January 2019. So, I guess, hold tight onto your seats and wait for the ride and we’ll see come that time.”
In 2017 alone, there has been more than 320,000 crashes in the state of Connecticut, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository.
Both police and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) are trying to crack down on unsafe drivers.
“I think drivers should be more careful because they are not only impacting their lives but other people’s lives as well,” Afsha Kasam, a senior public relations major, said. Kasam was involved in a three car accident in Cheshire earlier this year and suspects one of the drivers was distracted by their phone.
Screenshot from Connecticut Crash Data Repository
Reckless driving and distracted driving can indeed have severe consequences. Statistics from the Connecticut Crash Data Repository show that of the 320,000 crashes in Connecticut this year, 254 were fatal. In 2016, there 268 fatal crashes, in 2015 there were 246 and in 2014 there 248.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has 2015 Distracted Driving distracted-affected crash data which states that: 10% of fatal crashes, 15% of injury crashes, and 14% of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes were distraction-affected (for 2015),” Judd Everhart, Connecticut Department of Transportation Director of Communications said.
Last week, Connecticut State Police implemented increased security patrols for the Thanksgiving holiday week beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 22 and ending on Sunday, Nov. 26. Troopers patrolled highways and roads throughout the state and focused on drunk driving as well as aggressive drivers.
During this time frame, there were 524 accidents investigated. Seventy of them involved injuries and two of them were fatal. One of the fatal crashes happened in Cromwell on Interstate-91 northbound. Fifty-year-old Michael Rogers veered off the highway into the right shoulder and hit some trees. He was pronounced dead on scene.
As police were responding to the crash in Cromwell, a drunk driver struck a parked police cruiser.
Connecticut State Police tweet photos of police cruiser hit by drunk driver
The other fatal crash during this enforcement period took place in Killingly. Twenty-six-year-old Hope Butler traveled left off the Providence Pike and struck a tree. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Over the course of the Thanksgiving holiday enforcement period, there were 1,010 speeding violations, 363 seatbelt violations, 51 drunken driving violations.
Numbers from the Connecticut Crash Repository Data show that most crashes in Connecticut this year occurred on Interstate-95 and Interstate-84. More than 16,000 crashes on Interstate-84 and more than 12,000 on Interstate-84.
Most crashes occur between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Fridays.
Screenshot from Connecticut Crash Data Repository
“Defensive driving is something that most drivers have learned and is a vital tactic for being aware of potential dangers on the road – including distracted drivers,” Everhart said. “For those who consider using their phones, eat while driving, check their GPS for directions, it is important to rethink those actions and get into the mindset of driving without distraction.”
The Connecticut DOT Office of Highway Safety has been implementing aggressive yearly safe driving campaigns that consists of high visibility enforcement, public outreach and education campaigns and educational programming for high schools and young drivers.
August is National Distracted Driving month and during that month, Hamden Police relaunched the “U Text, U Drive, U Pay” campaign in which police cracked down on distracted driving. This campaign included partnerships with 51 police agencies in 2016.
“At the Highway Safety Office, Distracted Driving is one of many challenges that we work to address and it is a top priority. People go to work here at Highway Safety with the goal to save and protect lives on our roads from death or injury,” Everhart said. “We partner with all levels of law enforcement agencies, universities, schools, and the media to get this message out in all forms including education, enforcement, and greater public awareness.”
While police in Connecticut have conducted enforcement periods and distracted driving campaigns, the number of crashes within the state is still high and some are questioning whether law enforcement officials are doing enough to ensure people’s safety.
Faith Watkins is an employee at the Modell’s sporting goods store located on Dixwell Avenue. Watkins has just started working there and has really enjoyed her time. It has only been a total of 3 weeks but she feels she is at the right place.
With the combination of her passion for sports and wanting to give back to her community, Watkins wanted to help out while things are bound to get hectic with the holiday season shopping.
“ I like it here, I am very interested in sports and that’s why I applied for this job and this is my second job,” Watkins said. “However, I also applied here to do the holiday time and also I know they needed the extra help.”
The store is seeking business and during the holiday part of the year with everyone looking to buy great gifts for each other, sports gear will always be something that is needed and Modell’s will be expecting people to walk through its doors.
“Business has been really good” Watkins said. “It’s very busy. The Hamden Plaza is a busy area so we tend to see a lot of business. Especially around the holiday time with having very good sales around the store will be expecting it to be very busy in here.”
What makes Watkins happy is seeing that people are happier getting the things they need. That is why she loves when the store has things on sale because it makes things easier for the people.
“It’s great place and we definitely look forward to seeing a lot of people for the holidays and making our customers satisfied with prices that could help them,” Watkins said.
Jennifer Fontaine has been working at Bob’s Stores located Dixwell Avenue for 10 years. She is currently the supervisor at the store and really loves her position. She looks at Bob’s Stores as not just a place of work, but a place of learning.
“I have been here ever since high school, so it’s been a long time and I have learned so much here and this place has really given me a lot,” Fontaine said. “I learned how to work and communicate with other people something I was not the best at when I was younger.”
It was recently that the store had a lot of people come in for the Black Friday deals and is one of the store’s busiest days of the year.
“It is just expected at this point and is no surprise to me by now,” Fontaine said. “We know how well to plan for this and things ran very smoothly at the store.”
The holiday season is here and from what she knows from the past and being there for so long, she expects the store to be “epic.”
“It is going to be epic in here and that’s just the way it’s been, but we’ll do well like we always do.”
Parking and shuttles. These are some of the things that unite Quinnipiac students. Even international students. Yes, even parking. You would think that someone who traveled thousands of miles from home would not be as concerned with where they can park their car as a freshman. Most don’t because they are focused on one thing, the American experience.
America is the end all be all for those who live outside the country. If you can make it here, you have made it in life. Many want to go but very few actually make it here. Due to the political, economic, military and cultural clout America wields over the rest of the world, most of the narrative surrounding the country revolves around the American dream and American heroism. On top of that, American pop culture is more or less world culture. Movies like “Pitch Perfect,” TV shows such as “How I Met Your Mother” and “Friends,” inform the opinion of many people in other countries on what American life is like.
“You know how in shows like ‘Friends’ or ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ they live in an apartment that’s really pretty?” asked Nhung An, a Quinnipiac junior from Vietnam. “I wanted those things, and I liked that people looked different and not the same, like in Vietnam.”
There are 1,043,839 international students enrolled in American schools. Here at Quinnipiac, international students make up 3 percent of the Quinnipiac student body. According to Abbie O’Neil, specialist for student engagement, there are between 200-250 international students at Quinnipiac during any given semester.
There are different types of international students. There are those who are studying abroad for a semester, those who are new to studying in the US, and those who went to high school in America and are now in university. Before they arrived, some of their biggest fears had to do with making friends, finding food they liked, not fitting in, gun laws, being able to communicate and actually getting into the country.
“My biggest fear was a new environment,” explained Jiseok Hyun, a senior from South Korea. Hyun first came to America with his mother in 2008.
“I’m just restarting my life here. I didn’t have anything when my mum and I came here,” he said, “we only came with a backpack… I was just afraid of whatever was going to be in front of me.”
Once they get here, international students face a different reality. There is an even stronger language barrier than what some expected. There is culture shock to food, social cues and everyday things that they never dealt with in their country. On top of that, if they are a person of color, they face the added pressure of racial stereotypes, ignorance and microaggressions that are never really talked about outside of the context of slavery, the Civil Rights Movement and social media. If most American students don’t know the scope of under-representation and discrimination that students of color have historically faced, many international students are even more unaware of the history of America.
On February 2017, the Hechinger Report published, ‘Explaining America’s segregated history to international students and staying the course,’ by Daniel Gifford, a term assistant professor at George Mason University. In the article, he mentions “college students who have been brought up in the American education system at least have a baseline understanding of segregation and the myth of ‘separate but equal’ from which to begin that conversation.”
“I’d have wanted to know a little bit about the social life here and the culture,” explained Warren Webb, a computer information systems major from Jamaica. “I didn’t really take that too much into consideration because I was thinking, ‘I’m just going to school.’”
On top of learning new cultural cues and historical contexts, international students are susceptible to discrimination. In a 2005 study that examined the international student experience of racism and discrimination, Jenny Lee, a professor of educational policy studies and practice at the University of Arizona, established a new term for the discrimination international students face: neo-racism. The term refers to a form of racism that justifies discrimination on the basis of cultural difference or national origin rather than by physical characteristics alone and appeals to “natural” tendencies to preserve group cultural identity.
“Almost everything is racial. Even when it’s not, it kind of is,” said Priceless Wilkie. “I’m used to the first thing people seeing about me is that I’m either female or my first identity being Nigerian. When I came to America, that wasn’t it. As soon as you leave the airport, the first identity suddenly becomes black, and it affects the way people relate to you.”
Wilkie is a senior diagnostic imaging major, she lives both in the UK and Nigeria. According to her, she had probably faced microaggressions and racism before but not as overtly as in America. One incident that stands out in her mind was the summer before her junior year at Quinnipiac when she was taking extra courses. She was living with a girl who said she spoke ‘good English’ for an African when they first met. She would also leave the room or make faces when Wilkie was cooking. At first, Wilkie thought she was simply imagining a bias toward her or a problem but it all came to a head when she made the typical college student meal: pasta and sauce.
Before and after she cooks, Wilkie likes to clean the stove. She distinctly remembers cleaning the stove on that day. Her roommate came back and asked her to clean the stove because there was “red stuff” on it and Wilkie was the only one who ate “red stuff.” The “red stuff” was the result of a mess a different roommate had made. Since they were allegedly clearing the air, the girl mentioned to Wilkie that she did not like the smell of cut-up onions in the pantry. Wilkie tried to explain to her that she had grown up putting onions in the pantry. She responded with, “I know you’re not from here, but around here, in America, we put our onions in the fridge.”
“I remember going to my room and actually having a panic attack because this was the first time that someone had been so visibly racist to me,” Wilkie said.
It is likely that many international students have faced similar problems but simply don’t know where or who to go to after such incidents. Schools offer international student orientation, but it is jam-packed into two days and they touch on everything from visa information to getting accustomed to life on campus. Even Helen Dong, a sophomore from China who went to high school in America, has faced moments of discrimination, but she points out that she would know where to go while other international students may not know or want to go and report and or talk about the incident. The Department of Cultural and Global Engagement tries to let as many students as possible know that they are a resource for them, but there are always some that fall through the cracks. It has various programs and ways of reaching out to international students to let them know they are not alone during times of difficulty.
“We try and reach out when natural disasters happen to students to let them know that if they need something [we’re here],” O’Neill explained, “We catch a few that way – by reaching out at certain times of the year – and we get students that come in that are experiencing one thing or another. But, I try and catch it if the student doesn’t come to us.”
But, is it enough?
International students are on the fence about it. Some feel as though they are doing as much as they can while others feel the department and the school can do more and do better. The complaints against Quinnipiac range from simply not putting enough effort on programs such as Global Living to not doing enough to prepare international students for the outside world. As graduation draws near for students like Wilkie, she feels that the school can provide more information sessions and advice for students who want to work in the US by putting them in touch with companies that are willing to sponsor visas. This issue was one that came up during the recent campus climate survey Quinnpiac students took during the 2016-2017 academic year.
“I know the people in DCGE try to, they really try,” An said. “The rest of the school, though, is not really trying. For me, a lot of my friends have left the school and they were all international students. They come here, but they don’t want to stay so I think [the school] can do something about that.”
Following the results of the racial climate study, Provost Mark Thompson sat down with a portion of international students to find out their thoughts and what they would like from him. Most of their requests were similar to those of domestic students but catered to the needs of international students. For instance, if an international student went to high school here and got a car during their time, they would either have to sell the car or find a parking garage and pay exorbitant fees to keep the car there for their freshman year. Students would also like an option similar to the shuttles that transport students home for Thanksgiving. When an international student is preparing for their arrival and does not have transportation to the school, they are offered a shuttle ride from JFK in New York to Quinnipiac. Some international students would like that as an option for the rest of their time here and not only for when they first arrive here.
“They sell you dreams to come here. They make it seem like it’s this huge community of international students like it’s an established community, and then you get here and as soon as orientation is done…that’s it,” said Wilkie.
Courtesy IIE
Like other minority groups on campus, international students would like to see themselves represented in the faculty and material taught in their classes. International students not only add to the diversity on campus, but also contribute significantly to the economics of the school: In the 2015-2016 academic year, international students contributed $10.9 million to Quinnipiac. This effect is not only evident in the school but also in the state and the nation as a whole. A NAFSA: Association of International Educators study found that in 2015-2016 international students contributed $32.8 billion and 400,000 jobs to the US economy. In Connecticut, there were 13,564 international students and they contributed $518.3 million.
For a number of international students, their concern is not how much they contribute in terms of diversity and economy. It’s about the recent election of President Trump and the changes he will bring to visa requirements for international students.
It’s not easy getting a visa to come to America and even when you do get the visa, there is the fear that you can easily get kicked out or be denied entry. When Nhung An first came to America as a 16-year-old, her biggest fear was whether she would be let into the country. Even for those who are already here and are getting ready to graduate, they must think of whether they will be able to find a company that is willing to sponsor their stay in America once they are out of school.
“[The current political climate] is not really friendly to international students because of the H1B stuff,” explained Xinyu Xu, a senior from China. “I remember when I went to the career fair… the first rejection they gave me is they don’t sponsor for H1B.”
Some issues are far beyond the scope of Quinnipiac and the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement. For instance, the recent visa bans the Trump administration has been trying to put into effect and this past October both the United States and Turkey mutually decided to suspend visa services between the two countries. There is only so much that the school can do and for now, they will be focusing their efforts on dealing with parking, housing for all students and the issues brought up during the campus climate survey.
“They sell you dreams of equality and when you get here…there’s no equality. They sell you dreams that everyone who gets here makes it,” Wilkie said, before laughing and adding, “When you get here you realize not everyone who gets here makes it. They sell you this thing that all figures are equal, that as long as you put in the work, you’re going to get it. That’s not true.”
The holiday shopping season is in full swing with millions of people expected to participate in Cyber Monday.
According to the National Retail Federation, 69 percent of Americans – 164 million – planned on shopping during Thanksgiving weekend. About 78 million of those people plan on shopping on Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday has been increasing in popularity in recent years. According to Adobe Analytics, it is expected to have the highest growth in revenue (16.5 percent since 2014) of the five-day major shopping weekend including Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Super Sunday and Cyber Monday. It is also predicted to have the highest revenue of the entire weekend with $6.6 billion. The day with the second highest revenue is Black Friday with $5 billion.
Cyber Monday, and the rest of the weekend’s popularity, stems from discounts and traditions. According to the NRF, 66 percent of Americans say they shop during this weekend because of the deals while 26 percent say they shop because they consider it a tradition.
For those who shop because of the deals, Cyber Monday has great discounts on toys. According to Adobe, the average discount for toys will be 19.1 percent. Meanwhile, Black Friday has better discounts on televisions, tablets, jewelry and appliances and Thanksgiving’s best deals are on computers, sporting goods, apparel and video games.
The National Retail Federation’s expectations for Thanksgiving weekend shopping show Cyber Monday as the second most popular day.
These deals are popular among most Americans, but they can be especially enticing to college students who do not have a lot of money.
“It’s great because I don’t have much money to spend on gifts for my family,” Julia Brown, a Quinnipiac sophomore said. “So, if I couldn’t get these kinds of deals, I wouldn’t be able to get them that much.”
The convenience of online shopping that Cyber Monday offers can also be very appealing.
“Black Friday is way too crazy for me,” Brown said. “The stores are always so nuts and crowded. It’s just so much easier for me to buy things online.”
But Black Friday is not limited to in-store shopping. Many people got their online shopping done on Friday as well.
“I’m not really shopping (on Cyber Monday) because I got all of it done on Friday,” David Rivera, a freshman, said. “I didn’t go to the mall or anything, though. I just did it all online.”
Rivera explained that the deals he sees on Black Friday and Cyber Monday are virtually the same.
“So, in that case, I’d rather just do all of the shopping before I have to come back to school,” Rivera said. “My Mondays are busy, so I don’t have much free time to shop, but I’m sure that won’t stop other students from shopping in class.”
It was a mild Thanksgiving across the Northeast, with temperatures in the mid-forties across the board, but what kind of weather should we be expecting over the next several months?
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the Northeast and New England will be seeing cold and snowy weather.
This prediction includes New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington D.C.
map via Farmersalmanac.com
To break it down, the Almanac has also posted weather predictions for three to four day spans through the end of January. These predictions report light snow in the beginning of December, with significant snowstorms expected in mid-December and the end of January. Unfortunately, a white Christmas isn’t looking likely this year.
Quinnipiac volleyball player Jamie Termotto is one of nearly 200,000 female collegiate student-athletes in the country today.
Termotto’s athletic career would not have been possible had she been born in the 1960s or earlier. In the 1971-72 academic year, roughly 30,000 women competed in intercollegiate athletics. Title IX changed that even though the federal legislation that created it doesn’t even mention sports.
Title IX was created to ensure that any institution that receives financial assistance from the federal government must give opportunities to all sexes. And, as the last 45 years have gone by, more and more girls have participated in high school sports, like Termotto.
When Title IX was implemented in 1972, it had nothing to do with sports. But, luckily for Termotto, there has been a correlation between the two, and she is thankful for that.
“Sports has been a huge part of my life since I was little and just having the opportunity to participate equally has been really important, too,” Termotto said. “…My grandma works for a university at home, and I started watching volleyball when I was five-years-old. She would take me to the games and just seeing strong women go out there and perform inspired me to do the same. And I have a bunch of strong women in my life that have enforced it and told me to do whatever I wanted.”
The 2016-17 academic year showed the largest one-year increase in girls participation in 16 years as 75,971 more girls participated in sports than the year prior, according to the annual high school sports participation survey conducted by the State High School Associations.
This year’s survey also showed a 1,056 percent increase in girls participation from the 1971-1972 academic year, the last academic year before Title IX became law. In that year, there were 294,015 girls participated in sports. This past academic year had 3.4 million girls participated in sports.
NFHS Executive Director Bob Gardner knows the importance that Title IX played in this increase.
“As we celebrate the 45th anniversary of Title IX this year, this report on girls participation numbers underscores the significance of that important decision in 1972,” Gardner said in a press release. “It is great to see an ever-increasing number of girls taking advantage of that opportunity to compete in high school sports.”
In that final year before Title IX, girls consisted of 7.4 percent of high school athletes. In 2016-17, they made up 42.7 percent of high school athletes.
Phillip Cunningham, who is a professor at Quinnipiac University and is the co-director of the school’s sports studies minor, says that Title IX and girls’ growing interest in sports both played a significant role in the increase in number of female high school athletes.
“I think the stigma about women and girls playing sports has largely gone away,” Cunningham said. “I know far more female athletes than ever before. I think about people I grew up with and how stigmatized it was for them to play sports. Now 20, 30 years later their children play sports with no qualms whatsoever.”
In Connecticut, where 50,350 girls played sports in 2016-17, girls made up 45.5 percent of high school athletes.
The most popular girls’ sport in Connecticut is soccer. Brian Matthews, whose daughter plays soccer for Cheshire High School, said that the United States women’s soccer team is a reason why girls get into the game.
Cheshire is a suburban, middle class town in southern Connecticut with a population of nearly 30,000. Some 89 percent of the population is white.
“You go to [the United States women’s soccer] games and it’s all young people,” Matthews said. “It’s all young people. It’s all girls that are looking up to these women. They’re huge role models, for sure. You go to a men’s game and yeah there’s some kids there and stuff, but it’s not the same atmosphere. And I think [women’s players] know it. If you watch any interviews with them, they know that they’re role models for girls that are getting into soccer.
At Hamden High School, there are actually more girls programs than boys programs. Hamden offers 13 teams for girls and only 11 teams for boys even though 52 percent of the student body is made up of boys.
Hamden is a town west of Cheshire, but is more urban with minorities making up roughly 32 percent of its 60,000 population.
Hamden High School Athletic Director Tom Dyer, who is in his fifth year in the position, has seen the nationwide trend come into effect in his athletics programs too.
“You see spikes generally in certain sports like girl’s lacrosse where the numbers are starting to go up,” Dyer said. “Certain sports like softball the numbers are going down. That’s not just at Hamden High, that’s across the state. Maybe in the northeast that is happening a lot. Every sport goes through its ebb and flows. You have a decreased number of kids coming out for football…We have a bunch of kids going out for track.”
Even though Dyer says that the school does its best to make sure it’s balanced, the handbook for Hamden athletics doesn’t have any mentions of Title IX.
“I…I took some of the handbook actually from other handbooks,” Dyer said. “I haven’t seen any handbooks that mention title IX. It’s no disregard to the law. It’s something I’m firmly aware of and firmly support. We just…it’s covers some already. To list everything, it could be 150 pages that book.”
But, if anyone does have any Title IX issues with Hamden athletics, Dyer wants to know about them.
“We don’t list Title IX, but if there’s issues or concerns they could most certainly come talk to me,” Dyer said. “Any parent or student-athlete could talk at any time.”
Adrian Wood is the State Title IX Coordinator for Connecticut. As the state’s Title IX coordinator, Wood assists those in local districts with the investigation of Title IX complaints and how to handle Title IX complaints. He said he doesn’t believe that it’s easy to tell if there’s a Title IX issue when it comes to sports. He also recommends that if you do have a Title IX complaint, file it to your district’s coordinator.
“There’s a variety of different things when you’re looking at sports,” Wood said. “You could be looking to determine whether or not there’s gender equity in regards to the sport offerings. For example, are you offering the same number of sports for males that you are females. You also have to look at it from the standpoint of facilities and make sure that the facilities are equitable.”
The calculation of compliance is more complicated than it seems, according to Wood.
“You have to look at all of the sport offerings to make a determination if that are an equal amount of sport offering for those individuals or those not an equal amount of sport offerings,” Wood said. “You have to look at the aggregate of the sport offerings to determine whether or not there’s some disproportionality to the types of offerings.”
Dyer is also the head coach of the varsity football team at Hamden High and that may lead to questions as to whether the team receives special treatment. But he wants to let everyone in the athletics department know he’s not giving preferential treatment, as his football team was the last team in the department to get new uniforms.
“The biggest thing is having transparency with your coaches, your student athletes and things like that and making sure that everyone has what they need,” Dyer said. “That’s the thing, if I’m sitting there as a football coach and bought everything for my football team but the girls soccer team didn’t have everything thing they needed, that’d be an issue. And we work very hard at making sure our coaches and student athletes get what they request and what they need to be successful.”
Quinnipiac University has had a troubled history with Title IX.
The Quinnipiac volleyball team was at the center of a Title IX lawsuit when the school announced it would cut the program in 2009
In 2009, the university cut its women’s volleyball team, along with the men’s golf team and the men’s indoor and outdoor track teams amid the financial downturn. The volleyball team’s head coach, Robin Sparks, and several players filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school, claiming that the school had failed to have an equal number of sports teams in proportion to the number of females on campus. The American Civil Liberties Union supported the lawsuit. The suit also asserted that the school had failed to provide equal scholarships, facilities and equipment among other elements to its female teams in relation to its male teams.
“Title IX protects a student’s university activities including athletics, academic, campus and residential life programs and all aspects of employment,” Terri Johnson, Quinnipiac’s Title IX coordinator, said in an email interview. “In athletics, this includes equitable allocation of athletic participation opportunities, scholarships and benefits.”
Johnson also listed what Title IX requires schools to provide in terms of equitable benefits to male and female athletes. This list includes equipment (supplies and uniforms), scheduling of games and practice times, transportation and travel, access to coaching and tutoring and assignment and compensation of coaches.
The list also includes equitable medical and training services, publicity and sports information, recruiting costs and support services.
After hearing testimony in the case, U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill ruled Quinnipiac violated Title IX because it sought to use competitive cheer as an instrument to move roster numbers in line with the university’s student body gender ratio.
Quinnipiac has roughly twice as many female students than male students, meaning that there must be twice as many women’s programs than men’s programs in the athletic department.
After four years of legal battles, the sides reached a settlement approved by the judge in April 2013 called the Consent Decree. The details of the settlement included an increased amount of scholarships for six women’s teams, additional coaches for women’s cross country and track and field and increased salaries for coaches of women’s teams that are no less than the median salaries of the coaches of the same sport in its conference.
The lawsuit also called for $5 million in upgrades for facilities used by the school’s women’s teams. It also required that the school provide a superior practice and competition facility dedicated to the field hockey team, which opened in August 2017. Prior to the construction of the stadium, the field hockey team shared a field with the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. The university constructed a second stadium next to the field hockey facility to host men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. A second stadium was also built simultaneously next to the field hockey stadium for the men’s and women’s soccer teams and the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams.
The settlement also states that the school must build an indoor track and field facility for practice and competition events that meets the NCAA’s standards for hosting indoor meets. As of October 2017, plans for the field house have yet to be approved.
The resolution of the lawsuit saved the women’s volleyball team, which continued to play after the coach at the time filed the lawsuit.
The school’s athletic department declined to comment on the story, but released the Consent Decree and Class Notice documents, which are public records.
The Quinnipiac student population has roughly twice as many women than men, meaning that the school must have twice as many women’s teams than men’s teams. And it does, as there are 14 women’s programs and seven men’s programs.
Cunningham believes that this case shows how some schools may value men’s programs more than women’s programs.
“I think one of the things that’s happening everywhere is that there’s still an overemphasis on the success of men’s sports,” Cunningham said. “It’s not so much a problem [at Quinnipiac] but if you look at larger universities, Title IX issues always bump up, hence first against football programs. And it forces universities to mitigate those two things.”
Quinnipiac faced some more controversy in 2016 when the school’s president, John L. Lahey, distributed a letter to the university community for congratulating the men’s ice hockey team for making it to the NCAA National Championship Game, even though the team lost. When the women’s rugby team won the national championship in November 2015, Lahey was silent.
Cunningham believes that this is an example of the school failing to promote the success of the women’s teams.
“One of the chief complaints for our women athletes that I think still remains is that we don’t communicate very well what they’re doing,” Cunningham said. “There’s still that imbalance even here. So, I think as the opportunities increase here and we provide them with facilities and the like, we still need to pay them a lot more attention. We need to broadcast their success. We have really strong teams here.”
Mental health awareness was the topic of discussion this past Monday night at Mind Body Soul — the second series of the Your Voice Our Quinnipiac events.
Student government organized the event and the Student Veteran Organization (SVO), Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), and Quinnipiac’s new chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) all co-sponsored, with input from student health services as well.
“Stress relief is good for everyone, but especially right now preparing for the holidays … and preparing for finals … it can be very difficult to balance the academic goals and the personal goals,” said Kerry Patton, Director of Health and Wellness at Quinnipiac. “Managing and learning techniques on how to take care of yourself is really important.”
Patton also discussed with the audience the fact that mental illnesses are not always seen as equal to physical illnesses.
“If someone’s struggling with a certain medical diagnosis we tend to react to things a certain way, and if someone’s struggling with a psychiatric or mental [diagnosis] it seems like it’s different,” she said.
Tatyana Youssef, vice president for student experience, wanted the event to be a way to end the stigma.
“Wherever you’re at in life, mental health is real,” said Youssef. “It’s prevalent. It’s in our society. You know, in previous generations it’s always been there but it was taboo to talk about.”
But students were ready to talk about it. They got up in front of their peers and shared personal stories about their struggles.
Alex Hartman, a member of SVO and army veteran, shocked the audience with his story about his biggest failures in his life, the first being a suicide attempt.
“The first time I tried to kill myself I was 16,” he said.
Hartman described his method to hang himself, and his failed plan. He had tied a bed sheet to a ceiling fan, put it around his neck, and when he let go, the fan couldn’t hold his weight and he fell to the ground.
But it continued. Years later, in the army, Hartman made a second attempt – his “second biggest failure” as he describes it. He said the barrel of his gun was in his mouth, when his friend walked through the door and asked him to go play basketball outside.
“That was the hoop that saved my life,” Hartman said.
Jordan Atchley, president of SVO, also got up to speak.
“I found out my sister was killed in a drunk driving accident I was 12 years old,” he said. “We had just gotten off for Christmas break.”
Atchley explained that that day, he saw his parents “crumble” and he felt he had to be strong for them, so he internalized all of his pain and sadness in order to support them. But then, tragedy struck his family again.
“I was a sophomore in high school, my brother had just gotten back from Iraq, and they told us that he had liver cancer,” Atchley said. “Little did we know he had a year left to live. So when I was a junior in high school, I lost my brother.”
The two tragedies led him to engage in risky behavior, like racing motorcycles. He said he wasn’t trying to kill himself, but he didn’t think it’d be such a bad thing if it happened. Then, he joined the military, which he says taught him a lot about resilience, and allowed him to redirect his emotions towards something good.
Atchley is now studying to become a lawyer.
“One day I hope to change the laws that allowed the guy that killed my sister to be out of jail in three years,” Atchley said. “That’s the driving force behind me.”
Amanda Herbert, SVO Member and Air Force veteran, spoke about the importance of noticing lifestyle changes in yourself or those close to you, as it could be a sign of depression.
“You’ve been taking more naps. You’re just sleeping more in general but your sleep isn’t as good, so you’re sleeping more. And then you’re so tired that you need that candy bar or some kind of not really nutritious snack to get you through the next hour or the next class or the next thing,” Herbert said. “You start living in these one little hour time slots and forgetting that you have a body that you need to nourish so that your mind and everything else can follow through.”
According to Patton, student health services has seen about a 33% increase in the amount of students filling out intake forms for counseling appointments. She says the top three things students come to counseling for are anxiety, depression and relationship issues.
“I think it’s normal to feel stress every day,” Patton said. “Sometimes stress motivates us, sometimes anxiety motivates us. These are natural feelings that you’ll experience.”
Patton said the most important thing is being able to manage your stress at a healthy level so that it doesn’t overwhelm you.
“Yes you need to study a lot, you might need to prepare for a paper or an exam, but [you need] to also take that time for yourself, even if that time is ten minutes … to take care of yourself,” she said.
And while you’re taking care of yourself, don’t forget to do your part to help others too.
“Even the smallest little things that you do for other people can have a huge impact,” said Peter Chlebogiannis, president of Quinnipiac’s chapter of NAMI. “Even an extra second, an extra hello, an extra smile, an extra wave. A lot of us are going through a lot of hard stuff and the more we can be there for each other the better.”
With his announcement to retire in the spring 2018, Quinnipiac has been searching for a new president to replace long standing President John Lahey.
In light of that search I asked four Quinnipiac students three simple questions to find out what they would like to see in their new president.
Lauren McGrath, Junior
What are your thoughts on President Lahey and his leaving?
“I am not a fan of President Lahey, he has made himself completely inaccessible to the students. I think he cares more about money than his students. I am very mad with the way he went about converting the Blackbox Theatre into the Catholic Center without telling all of the faculty of CAS (College of Arts and Science), or without telling anyone really. We are supposed to be non-denominational, he clearly doesn’t care about the arts.”
What qualities are important to you for a new president?
“Honestly just someone who is more accessible. I want to feel like I’m able to talk directly to him or her if I have a concern or issue that I think they can fix. I’m not asking for much when I just want to feel like my president is someone who can be reached.”
Who do you think should be Quinnipiac’s next president?
“Mark Thompson is a way better candidate, way more qualified and way more caring. And I think he would be an excellent choice for president.”
Chris Brachlow, Senior
What are your thoughts on President Lahey and his leaving?
“I think too many people don’t recognize the fact that he brought this school from a college to a university. He gave us a reputation. He put us on the map. We went from 2,000 students to 10,000 students under his reign. When people hear Quinnipiac now, I hear people think Quinnipiac is a pretty good school. Now I think he is plateauing and it’s time for him to leave, but what I think what he has done for Quinnipiac, well, we should all be grateful.”
What qualities are important to you for a new president?
“Really simply, I think the new president just needs to care about this school and want to see it continue to grow because that’s something we’ve seen a lot in the past few years.”
Who do you think should be Quinnipiac’s next president?
“I think Mark Thompson would make a great president, but I trust the school to make the right decision.”
Emma Spagnuolo, Junior
What are your thoughts on President Lahey and his leaving?
“To me he doesn’t really represent our school. I think you could compliment him on the growth of our school, but even when you look at it, we are growing way too quickly to the point where it feels we are scrambling every school year to make sure we can house every student and fit them in classrooms.”
What qualities are important to you for a new president?
“Someone who is caring and more concerned about the students than the endowment.”
Who do you think should be Quinnipiac’s next president?
“Mark Thompson for sure, I think he represents this school better than John Lahey does already.”
Tom Conley-Wilson, Junior
What are your thoughts on President Lahey and his leaving?
“He has kind of been a non-factor overall. I don’t care that he is leaving, I am not upset about it. He seems to be more in tune with making us look good rather than being good. The change in leadership should make us a better school overall. I understand he has done some good things for this school, but what has he done recently? I don’t think you can coast off the same achievements forever if you aren’t consistently proving that you should have this job.”
What qualities are important to you for a new president?
“I just hope they show their face more around campus. I want to feel like he is a member of the school in which he is president of. I don’t want to think of them as a figure head but rather getting involved hands on at this school.”
Who do you think should be Quinnipiac’s next president?
“Mark Thompson, baby.”
As Quinnipiac continues to search for a new president they have yet to tell us the names of the candidates but have said that there are five remaining, three men and two women.
The one consistency in my conversations with students was that vice president Mark Thompson is a popular guy.
