Month: April 2018

Quinnipiac will wait for new president before building new dorm

By Cliff Nadel

Quinnipiac University plans to wait until new President Judy Olian assumes her role as president before Quinnipiac’s board of trustees approves a final plan and funding strategy for building the new residence hall on Quinnipiac’s York Hill campus according to the Quinnipiac administration.

On March 27, the town of Hamden’s Zoning and Planning Department approved and granted Quinnipiac University’s special permit and site plan to build a new 220-bed senior residence hall on Quinnipiac’s York Hill Campus.

According to Hamden Town Planner Daniel Kops, Quinnipiac needs to accomplish several tasks before they can obtain the necessary permits to build a new residence hall.

“The first step is to revise the plans to make any changes required by the conditions of approval,” Kops said. “Then comply with any other conditions of approval that must be addressed prior to obtaining a Zoning Permit.”  

After complying with the conditions of approval the Zoning and Planning Department can issue a zoning permit to the University. 

“Once this is done, the University must obtain a building permit from the Building Department,” Kops said. 

Kops believes because of the size and scale of a project, the whole permit process could take several weeks. 

After filing all of the necessary permits, according to Kops, the University has five years to complete the project but can request a five-year extension.  After the University’s permits are approved, it needs to obtain funding and hire a construction company before the project can start. 

According to Kops, as long as Quinnipiac revises and follows the conditions and plans of the approval, there isn’t anything from the town’s point of view that could derail the project. 

According to Quinnipiac’s Vice President of Facilities and Capital Planning Salvatore Filardi, the financial plans to build a new residence hall on York Hill won’t be finalized until new President Olian assumes her role as president of the University. 

“Now that we have the town’s approval, the University is still required to get the final plan and funding strategy approved by the Board of Trustees,” Filardi said.  “Given the timing and the cost of the project, I expect that such a decision will not be addressed until the new president takes office.” 

After the project is approved to move forward, Filardi anticipates that the new residence hall will take about 18 months of construction to complete.

“Once the projected is approved to move forward, we will have a typical schedule of construction; starting in the spring and completing in the second summer, some 18 months later with students occupying that fall,” Filardi said. 

Here are the conditions of approval that Quinnipiac has to follow in order to receive a zoning permit and be able to build a new residence hall

ALDI grand opening provides more grocery competition in Hamden

By Grace Manthey and Thamar Bailey

Where Hamden community members used to find a seasonal Halloween store, they will now find an up in coming supermarket. Aldi opened its doors for the first time on Thursday, April 12 on Dixwell Avenue, marking the company’s 26th location in Connecticut.

The first 100 customers received a golden envelope with a gift card.

Hamden resident and Quinnipiac University alumnus Paula Santagata wasn’t one of the first 100 customers. However, having been to Aldi stores in both Wallingford and East Haven, she was excited to have the store closer to home.

“The prices are very good and it’s clean and it’s a good competition,” Santagata said.

Santagata’s husband Tony also appreciated the addition of another store for competition. He said it helps keep the prices down so people can, “make a living.”

“You’ve gotta live within your means and this works for us. Nobody walks in my house hungry and leaves the same way. So these stores work and I’m happy, I’ve still got money in my pocket,” he said.  

 Aldi is involved in sustainability initiatives, so they encourage customers to bring their own bags or buy reusable bags upon checkout.

The store is open every day 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Connecticut teachers are unlikely to organize walkouts

By Sam Prevot

Students made headlines around the country for walking out and protesting for gun control in the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida school shooting. Now, teachers are protesting for better work conditions, higher wages, and fighting against budget cuts. These walkouts are becoming more and more widespread, leading to statewide school closures in some cases.

The question now is: will teachers in Connecticut walk out as well? The answer is, most likely not.

This movement began in March when West Virginia teachers went on strike and shut down every public school in the state. Those teachers’ demands included defeating the expansion of charter schools, fixing a health insurance crisis and pay raises. The teachers also wanted to stop a proposal that would eliminate seniority, meaning the state could replace older teachers with younger ones that could be paid less.

The situation in Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arizona is similar.

Kentucky teachers are walking out in protest of pension overhauls and are demanding better funding and working conditions. Arizona teachers are participating in “non-disruptive walk-in demonstrations” this week.

Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma signed a bill to provide $50 million more in funding for schools, increased teacher salaries and pay raises for support staff. However, this wasn’t enough to meet the teachers’ demands, and their walk out went on as planned. The teachers want the funding to improve conditions such as replacing decades old textbooks that are beginning to fall apart.

Teachers in Oklahoma are some of the lowest paid in the country, with kindergarten teachers making an average salary of $40,370 per year. Elementary school teachers in Arizona and West Virginia make an average of $42,730 and $45,520 respectively. Kentucky comes in a bit higher with an average salary of $52,420.



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(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

On the other hand, Connecticut teachers are some of the highest paid in the country. An elementary school teacher makes an average salary of $76,740. The only state that pays teachers more is New York. There is the factor of cost of living, as it is higher in states like Connecticut and New York than in the Southern states.

According to USNews, Connecticut ranks 14th overall in education nationally, but ranks fifth nationally in PreK-12 education.

Professor Mordechai Gordon of the Quinnipiac School of Education says his students may not even be aware of these walkouts. However, the faculty are aware and according to Gordon, the professors at QU are very sympathetic to what the teachers in these states are going through.

“The school supplies were in very bad condition and teachers sometimes had to draw on their on personal funds to get supplies for their classes,” Gordon said. “And just in general the way teachers are treated in those states is very reprehensible. Our teacher candidates are hopefully going to go into situations where it’s much better.”

The QU School of Education works with many schools in the area and conditions there are “considerably better” according to Gordon. Teachers are getting raises, and are generally being treated better.

“We’re glad that they’re organized and were able to, at least in West Virginia, get some things changed in the right direction,” Gordon said.

There are currently no reports of walkouts or strikes for Connecticut teachers.

Teri Alves, a second grade teacher in Orange, Connecticut, does not expect teachers in her district to organize a walkout. She says she rarely spends much money out of pocket for classroom supplies and the district and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) help meet her needs.

The PTA for Alves’ school gives teachers money to spend every summer, which is enough to get her through the school year. Her school also bought her a new classroom library this year when she made the switch from fourth to second grade.

Alves was surprised by the working conditions of other teachers around the country.

“When I saw some of the things on the news like those books falling apart, I’m like well I have some of those in my closet because they weren’t cleaned out from the other teachers, but I wouldn’t ever think of using them,” Alves said. “So if that’s what people really have to use as their teaching materials, that’s pretty sad. I’ve never had that experience at all.”

Alves’ school provides laptops for students, and she has a SmartBoard in her classroom. She also says there is little to complain about when it comes to her pension and healthcare plans. A former teacher in her district is now the president of the Connecticut Education Association union, and Alves says the union is strong when negotiating things like salaries and other work conditions in the teachers’ contract.

So when it comes to the question of Connecticut teachers striking in the future, Alves is confident in her response.

“No, not at all. I don’t see it happening.”

Quinnipiac approves virtual office hours policy

By Thamar Bailey

Starting this fall Quinnipiac professors will be able to hold office hours not in person, but through their screens.

According to media studies professor and Faculty Senate Chair Lisa Burns, a recent policy change will allow faculty members to hold office hours either in person, virtually or both. Professors will be able to hold virtual office hours via online communication platforms like Skype, Zoom or email. It’s really about “whatever best meets their students’ needs,” Burns said.

The amended policy will also allow for faculty to shift their office hours throughout the semester if needed.

“For example, a professor may not need to hold office hours during the first week of the semester,” Burns said. “But they might add extra office hours the week before an exam or a major project.”

The original policy called for each faculty member to hold at least one hour of office hours for each three credit course taught each semester. For a three credit course a professor would need to hold 15 office hours throughout the course of the semester.

Furthermore, office hours needed to be posted and remain on file within the faculty members’ school or college office, according to Annalisa Zinn, vice president for academic innovation and effectiveness.

While the quantity of office hours hasn’t changed, revisions were made to “accomodate and balance the needs of students, variability in the types of courses (on campus vs. online), the needs of faculty, scheduling, space opportunities and constraints for both students and faculty,” Zinn said.

Zinn said she believes faculty will have a positive reaction to the policy change, “as indicated by how it was well-received by the Faculty Senate.”

 

 

 

 

 

SGA announces executive board results after grievance investigation

By Thamar Bailey

The Quinnipiac University Student Government Association announced the complete 2018-2019 executive board Monday, four days after initially announcing grievances were filed resulting in an investigation that halted the announcement of the SGA president, vice president and vice president of finance.

In an email addressed to the Quinnipiac community, SGA Vice President for Public Relations Victoria Johnson said the grievances filed on election day were based on allegations of potential voter influence. In the consequent investigation SGA found the grievances unjustified.

“The combination of the grievance process, appeal proceedings, and an in-depth investigation of actual votes cast has now allowed the Election Committee to verify mathematically, without question, that the outcome of each position under review could not have been impacted by any potential influence,” Johnson said.

It’s still unclear who filed the grievances, though Johnson said the grievances can be filed anonymously.

The recently announced executive board positions are as follows:

President: Ryan Hicks

Vice President: Luke Ahearn

VP of Finance: John Khillah

  

Sexual assault awareness month programming pushing for change

By Grace Manthey

April is sexual assault awareness month. With the rise of the #MeToo movement and the number of high profile people accused of sexual misconduct, experts at Quinnipiac University feel a shift in awareness.



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“(The faculty) have talked about feeling like there is a little bit of a wave and a push toward addressing and talking about these issues and acknowledging them and trying to change culture,” Courtney McKenna, the director of student affairs at QU, said.

But according to women’s studies professor Melissa Kaplan, the push is not enough.

“Women aren’t equal yet,” Kaplan said. “When women will feel equal is when women no longer fear rape.”

As the director of student affairs, McKenna sees herself as the overseer of the “care team,” which helps students who have concerns including those related to rape and sexual assault. She also organizes the online prevention programs students take at the beginning of their freshman year as well as all the sexual assault events on campus.

She said her trick to juggling so many responsibilities is to not go it alone.

“The goal is to find students and organizations and offices and programs on campus who are equally as interested in the topic and engage those folks to do the programs,” McKenna said. “Do events to bring awareness in the ways that make sense to their members.”

However, according to Kaplan, those events have a narrow audience and they are largely optional.

“When you make things that are optional you’re most likely going to be speaking to students who have been survivors or victims or know somebody who has,” Kaplans said. “Predominantly it’s only going to be students, or students that are told to go because of the courses that they are taking.”

McKenna agrees.

She said many classes in the college of arts and sciences like health science, psychology and sociology have higher participation in sexual assault awareness events. But more recently she has tried to expand that audience.

“I think some of the ways we need to move forward is looking at like, the school of business,” McKenna said. “Statistically it’s the school that has the most amount of men so we (need to) look statistically at those who may need to make sure they are aware of expectations, policies, how they can play a role to shift culture.”

The role of men in sexual assault awareness and feminism is something that Kaplan teaches in her women’s studies classes. She also feels like it’s not always talked about in the right way.

“Even the structure of consent is problematic because it is positioning women as kind of the gatekeeper, and puts the responsibility on women to say no. Rather than putting the responsibility on men to read women,” Kaplan said.  

From McKenna’s point of view the issue of consent is one of the biggest issues surrounding sexual assault because many students coming to college don’t have any education about it before they move in.

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“We have have sex ed, but we don’t have consensual sex ed. We don’t have ‘how do you talk about what you want from a partner’ and ‘how do you know when you should engage in activities and when you shouldn’t’ and ‘what is a healthy dating relationship?’” she said.

One way the student affairs office can get information about the knowledge and behaviors of the incoming freshmen is through the AlcoholEdu and Haven programs. These are short online courses required by all students at the beginning of their freshman year.    

“We have good data that shows even if some folks are just clicking through it and think its stupid that there is an increase in knowledge from before someone takes it and after someone takes it,” McKenna said. “We get good static data about each incoming class.”

For example, McKenna said she can find out that 30 percent of students in an incoming class are what would be considered binge drinkers before even coming to college, or that 15 percent have experienced some sort of sexual assault.  

Through the company that puts out AlcoholEdu and Haven, the student affairs office is looking to roll out smaller, ongoing courses. McKenna said they wouldn’t be the “heavy lift” one that freshmen do, but it will give the office more data about the change over time.

According to Kaplan, this is essential because “we have to put pressure on everyone to end this kind of violence and this epidemic.”

Click here for more information about sexual assault awareness campus events.

Quinnipiac gets down and dirty at its annual Big Event

By Mary Rose Bevins

Quinnipiac University students, staff and faculty gathered in the recreational center this morning for their largest event for community service, the Big Event.

Around 1600 participants and 200 teams spread out to over 100 sites throughout Connecticut and helped out in any way possible. Participants volunteered at specific locations including private residences, the Hamden Youth Center, senior living centers, and the New Haven Green.

“They will do anything the site needs them to do whether it’s walking dogs, painting or an outside clean up,” co-director Katie Wilcox-Smith said.

Wilcox-Smith said students were excited and ready to get out in the community as they started filling the recreational center at 8 a.m. for check-in. It’s an event that brings the whole Quinnipiac community together.

“It’s civic engagement and I think it’s really important to do community service and it’s a great way for the community to come together,” Wilcox-Smith added.

Participants headed out to various locations around 9:30 a.m. and provided their services until 1 p.m. One team, Quinnipiac sorority Delta Delta Delta, volunteered at the Southington Sloper YMCA and moved picnic tables and picked up garbage.

“It’s nice to help them because they need to get ready for the upcoming April break for the kids,” senior Jessica Ciccarella said.

After the participants finished, they headed back to the recreational center to close out the day. 

Updated Sunday at 6:17 p.m.

Wilcox-Smith is hoping next year is bigger and better than ever as its their 10th annual Big Event. 

Members of the Quinnipiac community taking their seats for the opening ceremony of the Big Event.

Members of the Quinnipiac community taking their seats for the opening ceremony of the Big Event.

Students prepare to span out and volunteer at the Big Event.

Students prepare to span out and volunteer at the Big Event.

QU President John Lahey speaks to students before they head out.

QU President John Lahey speaks to students before they head out.

Boomer welcomes in Bobcats to the opening ceremony of the Big Event.

Boomer welcomes in Bobcats to the opening ceremony of the Big Event.

HQ Press writer Mary Rose Bevins poses with Boomer.

HQ Press writer Mary Rose Bevins poses with Boomer.

Quinnipiac student Zurama Rodriquez gets ready to head out to volunteer. 

Quinnipiac student Zurama Rodriquez gets ready to head out to volunteer. 

Courtesy of Anna Castro

Courtesy of Anna Castro

Members of the Quinnipiac fraternity Zeta Beta Tau working on gardens in New Haven.

Members of the Quinnipiac fraternity Zeta Beta Tau working on gardens in New Haven.

Courtesy of Ryan Marcis

Courtesy of Ryan Marcis

Zeta Beta Tau brothers raking leaves in a New Haven garden.

Zeta Beta Tau brothers raking leaves in a New Haven garden.

Courtesy of Ryan Marcis

Courtesy of Ryan Marcis

More Zeta Beta Tau fraternity brothers cleaning up the grounds in a New Haven garden.

More Zeta Beta Tau fraternity brothers cleaning up the grounds in a New Haven garden.

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Click through the photos to view the slideshow of students out volunteering during the Big Event.

 

Quinnipiac students react to issues when purchasing graduation tickets

By Nicole Kessler

With 39 days left until commencement, graduating students were able to secure tickets for their loved ones on April 3 at noon. The process of receiving decent seats is known to be a competitive process and sometimes stressful, but some students in particular were not expecting all the technical difficulties that arose.

QU professors explain the implications of Cambridge Analytica incident

By Thamar Bailey

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook co-founder and CEO, will testify next week before the United States Senate following allegations of misconduct with Facebook user data.

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The allegations stem from ongoing speculations involving Aleksandr Kogan, a researcher from the University of Cambridge, who was willingly given access to Facebook data via a personality app he created. Ultimately, Kogan harvested data from over a million Facebook users and then gave it to Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, which was said to have used it to influence both Brexit and the 2016 United States presidential election.

Quinnipiac University assistant professor of software engineering, Stefan Christov, said that it remains unclear if Cambridge Analytica had permission to use the data and instead that it’s likely Kogan wasn’t permitted to release the data to a private company. However, Christov noted that this didn’t stop Cambridge Analytica from using it.


Graphic by Thamar Bailey

Graphic by Thamar Bailey

“Once they had the data they could run all types of algorithms to do all kinds of analysis to figure out the characteristics of a user based on what’s in their data,” Christov said. “I read that [Cambridge Analytica] had a bunch of categories and then they tried to categorise the users. And then if you have a user in this kind of category then if you show them this kind of ad you could potentially influence their political activity.”

Lisa Burns, Quinnipiac chair and associate professor of media studies, said this method is called targeted advertising. The practice is meant to target those who are most likely to support the cause or candidate, or those who are undecided but “have the potential to sway,” according to Burns.

Burns explained the method is common, though notes social media ads are a bit different.

“Radio stations and newspapers have always sold ads based on audience demographics and psychographics,” Burns said. “One of the differences is that social media sites like Facebook have so much more data on their users, especially when it comes to their personal likes and dislikes. This allows companies or campaigns to target audiences even more directly.”

It’s this element of user data combined with privacy that may create legal consequences. According to Quinnipiac assistant media studies professor Kearston Wesner, the potential legal backlash is “complicated and massive.”  

Since the story broke, various lawsuits have been filed by both users and investors ranging from privacy violations, unfair competition to securities fraud, Wesner said. Some estimate Facebook’s stock market value has decreased by $50 billion, according to Wesner.

Furthermore, in 2011 Facebook entered an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission in which Facebook said they would safeguard the privacy of its users. According to Wesner, the agreement came after the FTC filed a complaint against Facebook claiming that the company failed to disclose to users that third parties had access to their private information.

Now the FTC is suggesting that Facebook breached its 2011 agreement after the incident with  Cambridge Analytica. Wesner said that at one point Cambridge Analytica told Facebook it destroyed the user data obtained from Kogan. So the FTC is also questioning whether Facebook did a sufficient job in assuring the data was actually deleted, because it turns out it wasn’t, said Wesner.

In the wake of these questions and suggested violations, Zuckerberg agreed to testify in front of various senate committees.

“This will give Congress the opportunity to ask questions about exactly how Facebook was dealing with people’s private information,” Wesner said. “Facebook has been accused of being vague on this front for ages.”

Zuckerberg will go before Congress in a joint hearing on April 10.

Hamden representative weighs in on recreational marijuana bill

By Thamar Bailey

A recreational marijuana bill made it out of the committee stage for the first time ever. According to the Hartford Courant, the next phase of the bill calls for state agency officials to create a plan to legalize and regulate cannabis. The bill will also create substance abuse treatment, prevention, education and awareness programs, according to the Courant.

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Josh Elliott, democratic representative of the 88th District and advocate for recreational marijuana, sees this bill as a last chance after last year’s failed bill.

“Making movement on anything is really gratifying,” Elliott said. “So we had four bills this year and three of the four have died in committee. This was the last chance we had of actually moving this idea forward.”

While there are various views on the issue, Elliott is confident that this bill will force people in positions of power to take a stand on the issue.

“What I would like to see is people on record,” Elliott said. “‘Do you or do you not support it?’ because there are a lot of people up there that kind of want to play both sides of the fence and when you actually have to press the button you can’t really play both sides anymore.”

Elliott, a Quinnipiac University alum, said that his support for this bill is more than just the economic benefit.

“For me it comes back to who have these laws (been) disproportionately affecting for the past 60, 80 years? And it’s the black and brown community (and) that’s highly problematic,” Elliott said.

The completed plan for legislation is due Oct. 1, according to the Courant.