The fight into mainstream culture

How American society began to appreciate the art of tattooing

Deviant. Unattractive. Criminal.

All words that have been associated with tattoos.

For a long time, tattoos have come with a bad reputation within American culture. Tattoos have been looked down on. Tattoos have been portrayed negatively. These negative perspectives about displays of body ink created a stigma around tattoos and the people that have them.

Dave Sevilla, a tattoo artist at Black Hatchet Tattoo Co. in Wallingford, Connecticut, has always seen the artistic side of tattoos, which America has struggled with for decades. America’s story mirrors his: tattoos were once not accepted as art, but that ideology has changed.

Sevilla’s uncle and cousin introduced him to art and tattoos. He drew in high school, but was too shy to promote himself.

“I never showed anybody my art,” he said.

Sevilla said he knew he wanted to be a tattoo artist right out of high school. He started working at Dunkin’ Donuts to fund his apprenticeship. His apprenticeships were at Imperial Tattoo in West Haven and Elm City Ink in New Haven, which are now closed.

Dave Sevilla, at his tattoo station in the "Black Hatchet Burrow." Photo courtesy of Black Hatchet Tattoo Co. — Dave Sevilla, at his tattoo station in the “Black Hatchet Burrow.” Photo courtesy of Black Hatchet Tattoo Co.

Sevilla started his professional tattoo career on his 18th birthday.

When he started tattooing, Sevilla’s family told him to stop.

“That gave me more drive,” he said.

Sevilla comes from a very Christian family that thought he should not be getting tattoos, nevermind giving them to others, he said.

This perception toward tattoos dates back to the 1950’s. In the 1950’s, less than 1% of Americans ages 25-40 were tattooed, according to a 2010 study. This low number is due in part to the stigmas around tattoos at that time.

Tattoos were often associated with gangs and criminals, rather than art. Looking back to ancient Greece, criminals and slaves were involuntarily tattooed as a form of punishment, according to a study written in part by Gretchen Larsen, of Durham University.

The Greeks also saw their neighbors, the Thracians, using tattoos as a marker of status.

Criminals in ancient Greece later began tattooing themselves voluntarily as a way to document their criminal careers. Similarly, sailors also started to tattoo themselves to document their travels. They used tattoos as a way to differentiate their lives from everyday society, according to Larsen’s study.

Sevilla’s strength in tattooing is lettering and text, based on his years of studying those artistic disciplines. But as of late, he has started to step out of his comfort zone to try a different style.

“I’m doing more surrealistic stuff now,” he said.

This interest comes from his idol, Megan Jean Morris, who is known for surrealism, according to Sevilla.

Morris owned BHTC under the name Painted Souls Tattoos.

In June 2017, Morris sold Painted Souls to her apprentice Ricky Borchert. Borchert and his wife, Katrina, redesigned and rebranded Painted Souls into the modern-faced Black Hatchet Tattoo Co., located in Wallingford.

“We wanted a clean looking shop,” Borchert said. “We wanted it to be our own thing.”

The revamp of Black Hatchet mirrors the 1960’s, when tattoo shops were turning into studios, artists received formal training and the issue of sterilization was taken care of.

Borchert and Sevilla joke that Sevilla came to Black Hatchet to work with his idol, but she had already moved her career out west.

“I’m still waiting for (Megan) to show up one day,” Sevilla said to Borchert with a laugh.

Borhcert laughed back.

“Maybe one day,” he said.

Sevilla said he likes working with clients to turn their ideas into art.

“People come in with an idea and I end up convincing them to let me do it freehand,” Sevilla said.

Tyler Main's most recent tattoo is a scene from his visit to Japan, done by Dave Sevilla. Photo courtesy of Tyler Main. — Tyler Main’s most recent tattoo is a scene from his visit to Japan, done by Dave Sevilla. Photo courtesy of Tyler Main.

One of Sevilla’s recent works features a japanese scene. His client, Tyler Main, said Sevilla is a relaxed guy.

“It’s important that you can be comfortable with your artist, and he definitely created a chill environment,” Main said.

Main’s tattoo is a scene from when he and his sister visited Itsukushima, Japan.

“It’s one of my favorite places in the world,” Main said. “I love that I can look down at my arm at any time and it takes me right back there.”

Main’s tattoo also has a few Japanese characters, spelling out “daijoubu.”

“It means ‘it’s okay’ or ‘don’t worry,’” Main said. “I loved the way the characters looked when I was learning Japanese, and I like the simple message.”

In fact, Japanese culture has had a large influence on tattoos becoming more mainstream.

In the mid-to-late 18th century, English tourists in Japan sparked a “craze” in Victorian England, according to tattoo historian Anna Felicity Friedman.

“King George V had two very well documented tattoos–a dragon he got in Japan and a Jerusalem cross tattoo he got in the Holy Land,” Friedman wrote in an article on her website.

The craze continued in the 19th century, when European aristocrats were frequently tattooed, according to Larsen’s study.

Some scholars say the upper class’ tattoo phase was a desperate effort to modernize the aristocracy and stay relevant in an anti-aristocratic age.

Those are Sevilla’s words about his first tattoo. His first experience with ink was with his cousin, who tattooed an Aztec god on his shoulder.

“I actually didn’t want this, I wanted a grim reaper,” Sevilla said.

He said his cousin refused the idea. Instead, he decided to give Sevilla an Aztec god, based on their Mexican roots.

“He didn’t want to send me home with a grim reaper, so we did this,” Sevilla said.

Sevilla has family portraits of his son and father that are very meaningful to him.

But he also has more lighthearted and fun tattoos, such as a character from his favorite video game, Resident Evil.

“I get shit that I like,” Sevilla said.

Sevilla said he is not the type of person who thinks every tattoo needs to have a deep meaning. This mindset took over in the 1980’s, when tattoos began to be associated with art and free thinking, rather than crime and gangs.

One scholar, Arnold Rubin, called the late 20th century the “Tattoo Renaissance.”

In the late 1980’s, only 3% of Americans ages 25-40 were tattooed, according to the 2010 study. A 2% increase over 30 years. Despite that minor change, the youth of the 1980’s shifted the perspective on tattoos entirely.

Larsen’s study describes two “major forces” that came together during the Tattoo Renaissance: ethno-history and aesthetic legitimacy.

“Tattooists began to look to indigenous cultures and their traditional tattoos for inspiration rather than to more modern North American designs,” Larsen wrote in her study.

This trend of cultural inspiration is what built up the “force” of ethno-history in the tattoo world and increased the cultural value of tattoos. The tattoo world also experienced a surge of artists who saw tattooing as a “legitimate artistic pursuit,” according to Larsen’s study.

The art world began to accept tattoo artists into their realm. This is how the “force” of aesthetic legitimacy propelled tattoos into mainstream American culture.

In the 1990s, tattooing was one of the most rapid growing service industries in the United States, according to Larsen’s study. This push can also be attributed to celebrities with tattoos.

Tattoo’s push into mainstream culture was boosted in the mid 2000s with television shows like “Miami Ink.” In the late 2000s the percentage of Americans ages 25-40 with tattoos was 40%.

Another 20 years passed, but a 37% increase, according to the 2010 study.

Tattoos now have more cultural meaning, rather than being seen as deviant markings. Tattoos are a means of self-expression and often anchor a person’s identity, according to Larsen’s study.

“All my tattoos are a reflection of me showing how much those who are present in my life mean to me,” Emily McGuire, 20, of Kent, Connecticut said. “They are a way of expressing myself, and I will continue to use them as such.”

McGuire’s dragonfly tattoo, representing her strong connection with her grandmother. Photo courtesy of Emily McGuire.

McGuire got a dragonfly tattoo when her grandmother got sick. After her grandmother passed, she got the phrase “Love you now and always, Love Gram” beneath the dragonfly in her grandmother’s handwriting.

“I added the words underneath (the dragonfly) after she passed as a reminder she is always with me,” McGuire said.

McGuire also has a tattoo on the back of her arm of her brother and mother’s fingerprints interlocking to form a heart.

“They have been my rock my whole life,” McGuire said. “(the tattoo) reminds me to keep going.”

Sevilla said people are more open-minded toward tattoos, because they see the artistic value behind them.

“Times are changing,” he said. “Tattoos are definitely more acceptable.”

Sevilla has been on both sides of the needle. Given ink, and received ink. And he says that is right where he is meant to be.

“I couldn’t see myself doing anything else,” he said.

Art or Vandalism?

Operating an aerial lift, Megan Craig stood three stories high painting salt water marshes on the upper levels of Cold Spring School, a progressive independent school on James Street in New Haven. With a projector shining the image on to the side of the building, Craig drew the images of the native plants while students gathered around to join in on the nighttime party. This was just one day out of the 6-month long project where Craig would come out and work with students to paint the building.

Megan Craig worked with the students of Cold Spring School for six months on the mural of salt water marshes.

There are many forms of art that can be found whether it is commissioned, a mural, a sculpture, a tribute or a tag, artists are just looking to express themselves or their views. With cities and local communities beginning to endorse and commission works of art throughout town, public art and graffiti battle to find a balance.

Craig was a parent of one of the students at the school and after noticing the bricked-over windows at Cold Spring School, Craig decided to reach out and suggested painting a mural on the wall. She had previously worked with an organization called CITYarts in New York, where artists work with local public schools to create public art.

“It seemed very unfortunate to have a building in that neighborhood that had this sort of fortress-prison like quality with these concrete openings,” Craig said.

The mural depicts the different types of salt marshes that are native to the area and the different types of wildlife that abide there. The fifth graders at the school also spend a large chunk of time studying the salt marshes as a part of their curriculum. Craig and the students worked on an interactive sign where all the plants and animals featured in the painting can be found. It was critical that the project was able to tie back into the curriculum for the community to get on board.

“The idea was to make a mural that could also be sort of a learning wall,” said Craig. “I think once we were able to tie the mural into the curriculum, especially the teachers were a lot more excited about it and, and it really kind of gained momentum.”

Although the school was on board with the idea of a mural, the vibe of the community was still mixed. While some people were enthusiastic about the idea of the painting others felt like the area was fine the way it was.

“I think a lot of people were very enthusiastic ” Craig said. “And were sort of like, yes, anything’s better than these concrete block windows. But there were several people who felt like the block was actually fine and it was this very quiet kind of serene facade and why mess with that? So it was a mixed kind of reaction.”

With community projects, Craig has found it vital to make sure that the members of the community feel involved in the process. This fall, Craig worked on a geometric painting on Pearl Street that led up to the Yale School of Management. In order to make the neighborhood to feel included in the design process, she made numerous designs for the community to choose from and presented them over several meetings with the neighborhood.

Geometric pattern that Craig painted in front of the Yale School of Management on the corner of Pearl and Lincoln Street.

New Haven communities have been working with local organizations to commission murals across the city, including the New Haven and the Cedar Hill murals.

Along the same lines, Hartford has been working on a new initiative to work with local artists called Paint the City. The project worked with the communities to pick the designs that would win the competition. Seven were chosen as the beginning of the 14 mural project that the city was hoping to see. The city had put $128,000 into the project as a part of the public-improvement initiative Hartford Decides.

As a private school, Cold Spring School was able to decide whether they wanted to commission a mural on the side of their building without having to ask for permission from state or city officials. When it comes to public property though there are rules and regulations that artists must follow.

Hartford artist Corey Pane has been commissioned to work on a lot of public and private property throughout his career and hit multiple roadblocks when it comes to getting a building approved.

“A lot of times when I’ve done stuff through the city, you have to go through the city,” Pane said. “There’s paperwork, you have to get permits, get permission from the mayor and all that stuff takes forever. So there’s been a couple of times where I almost had a wall and I’ve been really excited about it and just kind of fizzles out because the paperwork or like somebody didn’t allow permission or something.”

While commissioned work and community art projects are well received, there are still concerns about tagging, where an individual will use a symbol or series of symbols to mark their territory. On SeeClickFix, a public forum where residents can go and voice their concerns regarding numerous topics, there have been plenty of concerns about graffiti popping up around New Haven.
One user pointed out the symbol of three circles forming a triangle on numerous spots around New Haven.

“I’ve seen a surge in this type of graffiti / tagging across new haven,” SeeClickFix user Winchester-Dixwell-Community said. “I’m assuming it’s gang related. It has surged in the last two weeks so I’m wondering what’s going on. I wish the city would step in swiftly clean this type of tagging.”

Though the city has rules and regulations in place, some residents feel as though they aren’t moving fast enough to clean up the city. In response to one of the posts about graffiti a user commented advice on how to clean it up.

“I bought some graffiti removal wipes on Amazon,” Winchester-Dixwell-Community said. “They work really well. I got tired of waiting for the city to clean up the graffiti in my neighborhood (they never do). You might have to do the same.”

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While graffiti can bring life and beauty to a city, it also costs the city a lot of money to clean up. New Haven budgets approximately $30,000 a year to cleaning up paint around the city, according to the Livable City Initiative Downtown/Wooster Neighborhood specialist, Carmen Mendez.

“Unfortunately, no sooner do we clean it up before another graffiti artist thinks it’s a clean canvass for their graffiti,” Mendez said. “It is a vicious cycle that the City loses time and time again. There are more graffiti artists then there is money to clean it up.”

Graffiti goes against the anti-blight and property maintenance laws. The law states that when considering “the foundation walls of every building,” “the exterior of buildings,” “fences” and “storefronts,” have to remain free of any graffiti.

“Even if we know who the graffiti artist is, unless we catch them in the act or have a picture that ties them to the graffiti, we can do nothing,” Mendez said. “The penalties are stiff per graffiti piece, and we do prosecute. However, to get them to pay, let’s say $9-15,000.00 takes a long time, even when the judges rule in our favor.”

New Haven mural by Josh Griffin at 1050 State St.

As local neighborhoods begin to raise money for murals around town, many are left to wonder what the difference is between paid art and free art? What’s the difference between street art and graffiti? John O’Grodnick, a visual artist based out of New York City believes the difference is only found in the legality of where the art is placed.

The main difference between Street art/Murals and Graffiti is that Most of the time street art is legally and paid by the owner of the building,” O’Grodnick said. “Graffiti is almost always done illegally or without permission and that’s why it’s looked down upon.”

The moral dilemma is finding the line to draw in between expression and defamation. While art can be beautiful and liven up a city or town, can it cross a boundary? And where is that boundary?

“I never think it’s a good idea to, to paint on somebody’s property, you know, as people who are property owners who have to deal with graffiti,” said Craig. “But I do think there should be more open areas for street art where people do not have to get permits, do not have to get permission and have access to big surfaces that they can express themselves in an urban environment.”

Heaven Skate Park: Museum of Public Art, located in Hartford, allows for artists to freely paint across the grounds of the park. There are no rules or regulations regarding who can paint what or where.

“I would say just let it all happen,” said Pane. “I don’t care. Like even like little tags and stuff. If you just do other stuff and it’s like a building that it’s not really bothering you. I don’t see a problem.”

While members of the community work together to clean up graffiti or tags that they don’t feel represent their area well, there are still many works of art around town that portray the culture and life of those around them. With murals and commissioned work popping up around town like the “Greetings from New Haven” and “Welcome to Cedar Hill,” there is an acknowledgement that art, commissioned or not, does bring pride and joy into the community.

Sequel Syndrome Has Plagued the Film Industry

By Brent Costantino

The new economy of filmmaking has shifted to big business, according to David Atkins, Quinnipiac University film professor and professional screenwriter.

“Strong brand recognition equals a green light in the new economy of filmmaking. If there is strong brand recognition of a film, studios will invest in the product,” said Atkins.

Quinnipiac University film professor, David Atkins’ professional headshot.

Atkins partnered with “Hot Tub Time Machine” director Steve Pink on an independent feature film in 2017.

The partners were aiming to secure a $12 million budget in order to produce the film, which is relatively small for a feature film in comparison to the consistent $100 million-plus budgets Hollywood has produced over the years.

The two ended up in serious talks with LuckyChap Entertainment, a Los Angeles based production company that recently produced the 2018 Oscar award winning film, “I, Tonya.”

“I, Tonya’s” budget was $11 million.

After nearly securing LuckyChap Entertainment as an investor and producer for Atkin’s independent film, the production company decided to opt out of taking the risk due to the lack of the film’s brand recognition.

This was a surprise to the pair because Pink has a successful history in the industry as a director, including “Hot Tub Time Machine,” which grossed roughly $65 million globally in 2010. But in the eyes of the Hollywood studio executives, it did not matter.

This local story depicts one instance which many independent films have faced, the normality of being overlooked by production companies due to their lack of investment into original movie scripts as opposed to investing in previous well-performing and popularly-branded films in Hollywood, according to Stephen Follows, data researcher, film producer, and award winning writer whose work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and countless other major publications.

“Studios will pretty much do whatever they think will make money. So often the reasons why they don’t do x or y is because they don’t think it will make money. They may be right, they may be biased or they may have never tried it,” said Follows.

The tendency for Hollywood studios to invest in pre-existing, money making franchises, isn’t a new trend, according to Keith Kasper, former employee of MTV, and current Morris Knolls High School’s TV and film production teacher.

“From the early days of cinema with Edison to Cecil B. Demille, directors and movie houses wanted guaranteed money makers so they looked to popular books to bring in the crowds,” said Kasper.

Keith Kasper and his family attending a “Star Wars” convention at the Liberty Science Center on February 15, 2016.

Marvel Comics, for example, have had tremendous brand recognition, and the box office numbers prove the previous statement to be true. The Marvel movie franchise has produced 22 films, which have grossed approximately $18 billion globally. Marvel has profited more than any other movie franchise in the history of cinema, according to the Harvard Business Review. The “Star Wars” franchise trails behind the Marvel universe with an estimated $9 billion worldwide gross.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, critically acclaimed film director, Martin Scorsese, wrote about the Marvel trend, and discussed changes that he has seen in the movie industry since he was a young filmmaker.

“I was asked a question about Marvel movies. I answered it. I said that I’ve tried to watch a few of them and that they’re not for me, that they seem to me to be closer to theme parks than they are to movies as I’ve known and loved them throughout my life, and that in the end, I don’t think they’re cinema,” wrote Scorsese.

In relation to the grouping of different film genres throughout Hollywood, Atkins related the current business model to a garden.

“Like any type of garden, there should be multiple plants. If Marvel movies represent one type of flower, there needs to be flowers representing other genres of film. If there is only one crop, the garden will die,” said Atkins.

Dr. Robert Thompson, Professor at the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University referenced the fact that artwork as far back as the late 1500s depicts remakes of other entertainment sources in one form or another.

“Franchises and sequels go back a very long time. Even Shakespeare implemented other sources of entertainment into his writing, and about half of Shakespeare’s original seven or eight plays were sequels or prequels to some extent,” said Thompson.

Sequels, for the most part, have remained a success in modern day cinema.

Disney Studios has consistently implemented sequels over the years, and their latest installment,“Frozen II,” proved to be a huge success at the box office.

The animated sequel had a budget of approximately $150 million, and broke domestic box office records by raking in over $130 million opening weekend, with a cumulative worldwide gross of over $920 million, according to IMDB.

“The ‘Frozen’ sequel would have broken opening weekend records if they had cats playing the piano on it. The ‘Frozen’ brand was already so powerful, not just as a film, but clothes, toys and all of the other entities that made it a huge hit,” said Thompson.

“Frozen” was more than a brand, it was a representation of a generation’s childhood, ultimately granting its inevitable success amongst the youth, according to Thompson.

Independent films have trouble receiving recognition from a globalized audience due to their lack of brand-recognition, ultimately preventing studios from investing in the projects altogether, according to Atkins.

“It is not guaranteed that an independent film will get recognition. Studios need the dollars, it’s not about the art of cinema. Production companies do better making fewer films with higher budgets because they perform better globally,” said Atkins.

Universal Pictures granted a $250 million budget for the eighth installment of the “Fast & Furious” franchise, and the film ended up grossing over $1.2 billion globally, according to IMDB.

“Cars appeal to a global audience, and films like ‘The Shape of Water’ still don’t make as much money as a ‘Fast & Furious’ even when they win Academy Awards. For any film to win an academy award is a needle in a haystack. Studios would rather invest their money in higher profiting films,” said Atkins.

“The Shape of Water” won four Oscars in 2018 including Best Motion Picture of the Year, and cumulated $195 million at the box office globally, according to IMDB.

Thompson pointed out the business obligations that studio executives have with regards to green lighting investments into films which will be guaranteed money-makers for the company’s bottom line.

“Imagine if you are an executive at a studio and your future depends on growing the company’s bottom line, I would consider giving ‘Fast & Furious’ the green light as well because it makes substantially more money than most films,” said Thompson. “A studio is going to put more of their investments into a sure thing, such as popular franchises.”

Hollywood studios have seen increased revenue due to a globalized business model, but their profits comes with a price to pay, according to Atkins.

“I do believe that there is definitely a lot of talent and originality that has gone missing due to the global profitization of the film industry,” said Atkins.

Jim Johnson, SAG-AFTRA member, and professional TV and film actor, recently starred opposite Al Pacino in HBO’s “Paterno.” He has seen the shift of originality within the film industry move from big production companies to student and independent filmmakers.

HBO’s “Paterno” actor, Jim Johnson’s professional headshot.

“There is still plenty of originality amongst filmmakers, but mostly in student, short and independent films. The big studios are all about the money. Whatever sells,” said Johnson.

Joe Marcello is a current senior film student attending Quinnipiac University, and he remains positive for the future of independent filmmaking. As he eyes graduation in May, 2020, he intends to be a director.

Joe Marcello directing his independent student film “Denver to Boston” at Quinnipiac University’s North Haven campus on Dec. 13, 2019. Pictured left to right: Joe Marcello (director), Matthew Allen (director of photography), Phillip Simon (Professor).

“I’m excited to jump into the industry and make my mark. I understand that a lot of studios favor big budget films, and turn their heads away from the new guy like me, but everything comes back around,” said Marcello.

Joe Marcello on set of his upcoming student film “Denver to Boston” at Quinnipiac University’s North Haven campus on Dec. 13, 2019.

Brandon Nieto graduated from Quinnipiac University’s class of 2019 with a BA in film production, and displayed a positive outlook on the future of independent film distribution.

“I think this generation has the best shot for independent filmmaking. It is still hard to break into the industry, it’ll never be easy, but there are more distribution outlets than theaters to get your film shown nowadays,” said Nieto.

Nieto went on to explain how the increasing number of streaming services will allow filmmakers to have a better shot than ever before at getting their films out there.

Atkins said that a wave of independent filmmaking is on Hollywood’s horizon because of historical trends in the industry.

“I think that we are going to see a new wave of small budget films, much like we did back in the 1970s, but these films will be distributed directly onto streaming platforms.” said Atkins. “Possibilities for the future of cinema are limitless.”

The Unsung Heroes of Collegiate Sports

By Matt Petry

Student athletes often garner attention for their 20-to-40-hour work weeks they have in season, and the juggling act they must put on between academics and athletics. But an unsung group of students suffer a similar schedule, with much less fanfare and reward.

Emma Carman, a senior at Quinnipiac, was originally intent to walk on to the Acrobatics and Tumbling team. However, a back surgery in her sophomore year of high school prevented her from remaining on the team as an athlete. But she was still passionate about the team, and was determined to contribute.

“I told the head coach, Mary Ann Powers that I still wanted to be involved with the team anyway I could be,” Carman said, “so she gave me this wonderful opportunity and I am so thankful for that.”

Emma Carman filming an Acrobatics and Tumbling meet courtesy Emma Carman

Despite no longer being a student athlete, Carman still put forward just as much effort and time commitment as she would have as a student athlete.

“I go to every single practice which is about 20 hours a week during the championship season. The championship season for our sport runs from the beginning of October until the end of the school year,” said Carman, “Our national championships are held the last weekend in April, so we are practicing 20 hours a week for almost eight months.”

On top of attending and filming all practices, Carman’s responsibilities include traveling on the road with the team to things such as film and record transactions made on the road, filming home meets, organizing packing lists and so many other little details throughout an average week. Indeed, Carman, like other managers at Quinnipiac, is truly an integral part of the team.

The importance of managers is not lost on the teams they put their hearts into, either. Coaches and players alike can go on for hours in regards to just how important their managers are. Tricia Fabbri, the coach of the women’s basketball team at Quinnipiac, was especially grateful for her group of student managers.

“They bring so much professionalism, responsibility, they carry themselves, they are a valued member of the program,” said Fabbri, “without them we are not running at a high capacity.”

Tricia Fabbri walking the sidelines courtesy Liz Flynn

She continued to rattle off the variety of different details and responsibilities she gave to her managers, from setting up the chairs and water before a game, to running drills with the clock, to minor things as simple as knowing which shoulder to go over when giving a player their water. To Fabbri, each responsibility, no matter how seemingly minor or unnecessary, is crucial to the team’s success.

“The orange slices at halftime are so important to our players,” said Fabbri, “to make sure that they are getting that real natural sugar to go out there and play that second half.”

Much like with her athletes, Fabbri expects her managers to be ready and prepared at a moment’s notice to meet each player’s individual needs, because in her mind they are a crucial part of the team.

“Players get picky in the heat of the game,” said Fabbri, “and as a valued member of the team you better get it right.”

Paige Warfel, a senior forward for the Bobcats, believes it is easy for the work that managers do to go unnoticed, but that in her and her teammates eyes, they are just as much a part of the team as the athletes are.

“They are 100 percent a part of this team, as much as any other person,” said Warfel, “you know we’re all in this together and they play a huge roll, just like we do.”

Paige Warfel running back on offense courtesy Liz Flynn

Taylor Herd, a senior guard for the Bobcats, agreed with Warfel.

“They just brighten up the team’s day,” said Herd, “because they are always with us and are also students, but they have a different perspective than we do.”

As Warfel and Herd said, managers truly are a part of the team in just about every sense imaginable. They put in similar time commitments, travel with the team, and are a crucial to how the team functions. Yet, not only is their work often overlooked, there is no record of any of it at all.

The sad reality is that unlike with student athletes, there is no basis or standard for what a manager’s workload should typically be, and how they should be compensated. The only national resource they have, the National Association of Collegiate Basketball Managers, could not be reached for comment and has no information available.

Of the schools reached out to regarding stats on their managers or others, not one school could offer a single nugget of information.

Every school which was reached out to was unable to find one piece of data that could serve to represent the hours of work their managers had put into their programs. Only the Athletic Compliance Officer at the University of New Hampshire had an idea of where such stats might exist, and that was also a dead end. Mike Stefanelli, a former four-year manager for the UNH men’s basketball team, had some answers.

Much like other managers, Stefanelli recalled 20-to-40-hour work weeks, filled with the same various responsibilities and travel obligations as his colleagues. Yet for all his contributions to the team, he was only rewarded with spring internship credit in his junior and senior years. Yet to Stefanelli this was not an issue.

“I did this because I managed teams for four years in high school,” said Stefanelli, “and I realized that it was something I loved, something I had a passion for.”

Stefanelli was able to manage the time commitment of being the for UNH for the entirety of his four years at UNH, but not all students can meet the demands of the job for their full enrollment. Between academic demands and extracurricular demands, some managers have to make the decision to leave the team for the sake of their futures. Even with thousands of dollars on the line.

Francesca DePalo, now a Senior at Quinnipiac, came to the school in large part due to the hockey program and the opportunity to be a manager. She signed a contract with the team, treating her as a volunteer year one, and 1,000 dollars towards her tuition in the second year, with that number increasing by 1,000 each following year. DePalo loved being a manager, doing many of the same duties and responsibilities as Carman, but realized her senior year that she had to make a choice between her position and her future.

“My grades were slipping as I went into my senior year, and I realized that I needed to make a choice for my future,” said Depalo, “so I stepped down from being a manager to focus more on my career and my other responsibilities.”

Those responsibilities included her position as the President of the Quinnipiac’s Association of Women in Sports Media and her role as manager, as well as being a full-time student. Since stepping down from her position, DePalo has seen her grades rise once more, and has felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. But despite having to leave her post as manager, Depalo only had fond memories of her time with the teams.

“Being able to be a part of the program and seeing the behind the scenes was so cool, and I made so many connections,” said DePalo, “plus I learned a lot of time management skills, so I definitely wouldn’t change a think about my time as manager.”

So yes, it is an issue that a job with this many responsibilities is not tracked and regulated to a greater extent, and it does leave open the door for exploitation down the line. But that is not the story of most collegiate managers. Warfel may have put it best when describing college managers, even if she singled out her sport specifically.

Francesca Depalo at a Quinnipiac Athletics event courtesy Francesca DePalo

“They do this strictly because they love basketball and love being here,” said Warfel, “and I have a lot of respect for them for that.”

Quinnipiac athletics: through the lens of a Bobcat

Photo by: Jordan Wolff (Quinnipiac has two Bobcat statues, this one is located on the York Hill Campus outside of the People’s United Center) — Photo by: **Jordan Wolff** (Quinnipiac has two Bobcat statues, this one is located on the York Hill Campus outside of the People’s United Center)

The NCAA has 347 Division I schools, and Quinnipiac University is one of them. Quinnipiac started out in the NCAA’s second highest conference known as Division II and has faculty and coaches who can describe what the transition process was like.

One of those members is Senior Associate Athletic Director Bill Mecca. For the last 41 years, Mecca has served as an assistant men’s basketball coach (1978-91), head tennis coach, assistant director of athletics and head men’s basketball coach (five seasons).

The one thing that’s resonated with Mecca is Quinnipiac’s increase in population.

“Back In 1978, Quinnipiac had probably around 1100-1200 students and if you could spell Quinnipiac back in the day, then I probably gave you an academic scholarship,” Mecca said. “In terms of where we were academically, we weren’t even close to where we are now.”

Canva By: Jordan Wolff Photos Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics: Quinnipiac Athletics five coaches who’ve been a part of the University for over 20 years. Four of them had no previous affiliation with Quinnipiac, except for Dave Clarke who graduated with a Master’s Degree in 2010. — **Canva By: Jordan Wolff**

**Photos Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics:** Quinnipiac Athletics five coaches who’ve been a part of the University for over 20 years. Four of them had no previous affiliation with Quinnipiac, except for Dave Clarke who graduated with a Master’s Degree in 2010.

In 2019, Quinnipiac has 21 Division I athletic programs, five coaches who have 20-year tenures, and a staff of 38 members. It has a soccer, field hockey and lacrosse complex built in 2017 and a rugby team that plays on campus. The York Hill campus has a re-named People’s United Center (from TD Bank) dedicated to hockey and basketball.

**Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics: Athletic Director Greg Amodio is speaking at the inaugural reception of the new Soccer, Field Hockey and Lacrosse complex opened in the fall of 2017.**

The gradual transition started in the mid-1990s.

In 1995, Quinnipiac programs were in Division II athletics. The school was known as Quinnipiac College, and the mascot was the Braves.

Quinnipiac College took a chance, as they hired Fairfield Stags alum Tricia Fabbri as their first full-time female head coach.

Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics: Tricia Fabbri, then Patricia Sacca was hired from Fairfield University in 1995. She was inducted to the Fairfield University Hall of Fame in 1998. — **Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics:** Tricia Fabbri, then Patricia Sacca was hired from Fairfield University in 1995. She was inducted to the Fairfield University Hall of Fame in 1998.

“It was different back then because there were very few full-time coaches and administrators that made up the athletics department,” Fabbri said. “It was small, but I was really excited to put a program together because I was the first full-time female coach hired.”

Canva by: Jordan Wolff The men’s programs remained the same throughout the history of Quinnipiac Athletics. The number women’s programs increased significantly, adding Indoor Track, Outdoor Track, Ice Hockey, Rugby, and Acrobatics and Tumbling. — **Canva by: Jordan Wolff**

The men’s programs remained the same throughout the history of Quinnipiac Athletics. The number women’s programs increased significantly, adding Indoor Track, Outdoor Track, Ice Hockey, Rugby, and Acrobatics and Tumbling.

In Fabbri’s first season, the Braves went 2-23 overall, 1-15 in conference and 1-13 at home. The Braves were also in the Northeast Conference (NEC) in which Fabbri details how difficult it was to navigate.

“The level when I initially started was not as competitive as it needed to be at that time,” Fabbri said. “I didn’t get out and start recruiting and we had a lot of ground to make-up, and not a lot of time to do it. There was a lot of catch-up to be done to get competitive in terms of resources from Division II to Division I to get in place.”

Besides the competitiveness, Mecca explained that Quinnipiac athletics didn’t have much exposure in Division II athletics.

Courtesy of Quinnipiac Chronicle: Mecca currently provides color commentary for Quinnipiac Athletics, along with hosting an annual Golf tournament named after him. — **Courtesy of Quinnipiac Chronicle:** Mecca currently provides color commentary for Quinnipiac Athletics, along with hosting an annual Golf tournament named after him.

“Division II is one of those places in college athletics, where in my opinion you’re in no man’s land.” Mecca said. “My philosophy is either go Division III, where you’re focusing on the wellness of the athletes and the student-body. Or, go Division I where there is a commitment to go to the next-level.”

Division II was a place where Quinnipiac could still offer scholarships to athletes, but weren’t funded enough to be in the NCAA’s highest conference.

A part of going to that next level was Jack McDonald. McDonald was hired as the new athletic director in August of 1995, and had a chance to sit down with former Quinnipiac president John Lahey. In that discussion, McDonald was very candid on what direction the college needed to take.

“He thought that Quinnipiac’s academic reputation was national Division I-caliber and he’d like the athletic department to catch up to the academic reputation of the school,” McDonald said. “I thought that Quinnipiac would be a great Division I school.

Maybe not the upper echelon of Division I schools, but at the time there was about 321 Division I schools and Quinnipiac would easily fit among those group of schools.”

The men’s and women’s tennis teams each made their mark in 1996-97 (last year in Division II). The men’s team finished 18-1, and went 9-0 in conference play. They were inducted into Quinnipiac’s Hall of Fame in 2014.

The women’s team went 16-2 and also went 9-0 in conference play. They were also inducted into Quinnipiac’s Hall of Fame in 2014.

In 1998, Quinnipiac declared its intent for Division I athletics. McDonald still had some groundwork in front of him. He first had to see which conference Quinnipiac could start in.

McDonald said how Quinnipiac put out multiple applications, but it was ultimately accepted into the Northeast Conference. Another step was trying to elevate the Men’s Ice Hockey Program.

In 1998, McDonald founded a whole new league called the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hockey League. The MAAC was the men’s ice hockey team’s first Division I hockey conference and it included AIC, Army, Bentley University, Canisius College, UCONN, Fairfield University, Holy Cross, Iona College, Mercyhurst University and Sacred Heart University. The Braves went 22-4-2 in its first season in the MAAC and lost in the semi-finals to Canisius College 5-2.

More change was upon the college two years later.

Part Two: Change the Game

In 2000, Quinnipiac changed its name from Quinnipiac College to Quinnipiac University. Quinnipiac expanded its programs and were now able to grant master’s degrees. Fabbri felt it was time not just for athletics, but for the entire community.

“I thought it was appropriate,” Fabbri said. “Lahey and his administration were growing the graduate programs here, so it was a very paralleled move to keep step in time that we are now broadening what we have to offer our students with moving from college to university.”

Some programs saw immediate results. The 2000 women’s soccer team went 13-6-1 and won the NEC tournament, while the Quinnipiac field hockey team went 12-8 overall and 10-2 in the NEC. Both programs respectively made the Quinnipiac hall of fame in 2010 and 2012. The Quinnipiac Hall of Fame is a place where the University honors there most impactful members, clubs, and athletic programs.

The men’s ice hockey program continued its rise in 2001, as they went 20-13-5. They went 15-6 in the MAAC and defeated Mercyhurst 6-4 in the MAAC title game to advance to its first ever NCAA tournament. They were also inducted into the Quinnipiac Hall of Fame in 2012.

McDonald also started to do some broadcasting duties for the Braves, and discussed how putting hockey games on TV affected the process.

“We wanted people to turn on NESN looking for a Bruins game and they’d see Quinnipiac playing UConn or Fairfield,” McDonald said. “Television was a great way of getting exposure for hockey in Boston and basketball in New York.”

Quinnipiac decided to adjust its mascot two years later. In 2002, they officially changed its mascot from the Braves to the Bobcats.

According to USHCO, this was a suggested move from Lahey as he noticed that Colgate University changed its name from Red Raiders to Raiders.

Quinnipiac Vice President of Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell, stated that, “Quinnipiac’s women’s teams were offended by the use of the Lady Braves moniker, and graphic representations-logos and mascots-were similarly burdened,” the release said. “The institution, out of concern for these sensitivities, had stopped using human representations of Native Americans years ago.”

According to a Quinnipiac Chronicle article by Viktoria Sundqvist, the university’s main factor of choosing Bobcats was due to how common they are in the New England area.

Fabbri remembers how important this adjustment was for the future of the university.

“I think that was a little bit to go with the sign of the times of being politically correct in what was happening in the landscape of college athletics,” Fabbri said. “It really fueled a conversation with Lahey and McDonald. I had nothing to do with making the decision, but I was happy with the move of going from Braves to Bobcats.

The athletics department was also going through transition as they hired Northeastern alum Mike Medina in 2004 as Assistant Athletic Director for intramurals.

**Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics:** Medina graduated with a journalism degree from Northeastern University and currently serves as Quinnipiac’s Director of Fitness and Recreation.

Hockey and basketball didn’t have an arena to play in and programs were still participating in the NEC. Programs were able to wear whatever uniform they desired, but Medina shared how that’s no longer the case.

“One of the things we’ve seen is how the Bobcat has evolved,” Medina said. “We’ve had a rebrand of some of the athletic marks, in particular with the Adidas contract that has started. Prior to that contract, all of our teams wore whatever uniforms they wanted. We’ve seen the consistency of the Bobcat stay, but we’ve seen these tweaks that’ve enhanced the image of the university.”

Part Three: blueprint for success

In 2006, the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team was admitted into the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. A year later, approximately $52 Million was spent to design and open the TD Bank Sports Center on Quinnipiac’s York Hill campus.

**Photo by Jordan Wolff: This was named the TD Bank Sports Center until September of 2017, as TD Bank’s sponsorship came to an end in favor of People’s United Bank.**

Prior to that, Mecca revealed how the hockey team practiced at 11 p.m. on Sundays in East Haven. They had an opportunity to join the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference because Vermont decided to switch to the Hockey East conference. Mecca also shared how the university reacted when ECAC representatives came to visit the campus.

“We had put on emphasis on the fact that whatever we were going to do for the men, we would also do for the women,” Mecca said. “They brought bulldozers there and parked it on the side of the road. As they were driving people by in the car to show them where we we’re going to build this state-of-the-art facility, there was this bulldozer that wouldn’t start. It was on the side of the hill, signaling that we were ready to go,”

In 2009, Quinnipiac added a women’s rugby team. They won back-to-back-to-back national championships in their 10-year history.

The rugby team won its first and the inaugural varsity championship in 2015, defeating Army West Point 24-19. Quinnipiac Assistant Director for Athletic communications Nick Solari was a junior journalism major at the time, and remembers how special it was seeing it in person.

“Coach (Becky) Carlson has done a great job with that group,” Solari said. “It wasn’t your typical show up to the game and report on what you see. For the longest time, everyone associated men’s ice hockey as the team going to the national championship. They went to two frozen fours when I was a student there. Simultaneously, women’s rugby was competing for national championships too.”

**Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics:** Solari attended Quinnipiac from 2012-16, along with covering sporting events for the Quinnipiac Chronicle.

How does everything stand today? The Bobcats saw 21 conference championships and 33 NCAA championship appearances in McDonald’s tenure.

Each program elevated to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 2013, with the field hockey team joining the Big East conference that includes the #1 UConn Huskies in 2016.

**Courtesy of Quinnipiac Chronicle (Photo by Anna Brundage): The Quinnipiac 2012-13 Hockey team’s reaction after loss to Yale**

The men’s ice hockey team made it to the Frozen Four in 2013. Quinnipiac scored 1:49 into the game and added two more goals in the first period, to make it a 3-0 lead. They held on by a final of 4-1 to advance to its only NCAA championship game.

They faced their in state rival Yale Bulldogs, and were tied 0-0 entering the second period. Yale’s Christian Bourbonais scored with four seconds left in the period to make it a 1-0 game. Yale scored three unanswered goals to win by a final score of 4-0.

The women’s basketball program has won 52 straight conference games and had a memorable run in 2017. They advanced to its first NCAA tournament, where they upset the #5 Marquette 68-65 in the first round. They faced #4 Miami in the round of 32, and won 85-78 to make it to the Sweet 16.

The Quinnipiac baseball team had a historic 2019 season. They faced Fairfield in the MAAC championships and it went to extra innings tied at five. In the bottom of the 13th, junior infielder Evan Vulgamore scored on a wild pitch to send Quinnipiac to its second ever NCAA tournament.

The Bobcats traveled to Greenville, North Carolina to face the #10 East Carolina Pirates. Quinnipiac got out to a 2-0 lead with a homerun from Vulgamore. East Carolina stormed back to make it a 3-3 game, but the Bobcats senior outfielder Liam Scafariello hit a go-ahead two-run homerun to make it a 5-3 game. Quinnipiac held on to win its first ever NCAA tournament game.

The numbers show that success has come with athletic expansion, McDonald still wants athletics to continue its aggressive nature.

“One of my mottos is even if you’re on the right track, if you just stand there you’ll get run over,” McDonald said. “Whenever you’re winning games or having success, you never stop thinking ahead. You can never stop advancing yourself in any phase of life, not just athletics. It’s important to keep moving forward.”

Diversity at a predominantly white university

At a university that bears an indigenous name, you would expect a campus celebration for Indigenous People’s Day. At Quinnipiac University, this was not the case. There was nothing on or around campus that acknowledged the day according to Mohegan tribe member and Quinnipiac University student, Kiara Tanta-Quidgeon.

For the small population of indigenous students who attend the university, the lack of Native voices on campus is enough to feel excluded.

“At home, we are all united by our history and our passion for our people,” Tanta-Quidgeon said. “We are all intertwined by not only our ancestry and our blood, but by the love of our land and our culture. This is not something that I have at Quinnipiac, but it is something that I want for current and future indigenous students and will fight for until it is achieved.”

“I always felt that by coming here I was losing a huge part of myself.” — Kiara Tanta-Quidgeon

Tanta-Quidgeon, a sophomore biology major, was raised in Connecticut by a single mother and her indigenous heritage played a huge role in her life. Growing up, she lived near the Mohegan reservation in Montville, Connecticut and would attend the celebrations called powwows and sometimes even danced in them. When she decided on where to go to college, it was a tough decision for her.

“I came here because I wanted to be close to home but I always felt that by coming here I was losing a huge part of myself,” Tanta-Quidgeon said. “I wanted QU to be a place I could call home, but a huge part of what I’ve always known as home was missing. There was a significant lack of inclusion for indigenous students and an absence of indigenous voice in the Quinnipiac community.”

This year, Quinnipiac University was ranked the Princeton Review’s No. 1 university for little race/class interaction.

Quinnipiac University, with a 73 percent white student demographic, has a low enrollment of Native American students and other minority groups despite its indigenous name. According to the 2016 IPEDS Data Feedback Report, 0.1 percent of students enrolled in the university identified as Native American.This number translates to 14 Native American students enrolled in a university of about 10,000 students.

The low number of enrolled indigenous students has led students to start questioning the lack of diversity on campus.

“We are predominantly a white, settler-colonists institute that uses a name with little to no credit given to the people and the history of this place,” Tanta-Quidgeon said. “If they didn’t care about the history of their own how were they to care about mine?”

Tanta-Quidgeon explained that a lack of inclusion looks like it does now: an overwhelming majority of the population being Caucasian.

“A lack of inclusion is a lack of diversity and a lack of celebration of differences,” she said. “Our groups and organizations do an amazing job of implementing minority voices in the community and celebrating their cultures and differences, and that is what I want for indigenous students.”

Before this year, Tanta-Quidgeon said she only knew two other indigenous students on campus. And both of them were her cousins. She said that she only met a few more Native students this year so the number is still small.

Despite the low number of indigenous students enrolled, there is no place for these students to gather and celebrate their heritage.

“There is no place I felt totally comfortable sharing the most important parts of myself and no place where I could find students to bond to and unite with like I did with the tribal members back home,” she said. “I mean there wasn’t even a place on the QU website where you could even learn or see that Quinnipiac University is on the land of a Native American tribe and uses their name.”

While the university has added a more extensive about page to its website, there is no mention of the Quinnipiac tribe and that the university resides on Native land.

Students gather in the student center for the Teach-In on Indigeneity and Quinnipiac to listen to professor of philosophy, Anat Biletzki, speak about colonization in the Middle East. Photo by Hannah Tebo.

This lack of education about the land the university resides on and the name it holds has been a growing issue in the community which has led to new inclusivity programs like the Teach-In on Indigeneity to start taking place.

This Teach-In took place in the student center on Nov. 19 and addressed a wide range of issues. Professors from areas of history, philosophy and law lectured about indigeneity throughout history to educate those who attended about the history before settlers came and to show the detrimental impact of colonialism on the Native people. Around 77 students swiped in at the Teach-In according to Executive Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, Sean Duffy.

Of the multiple professors and lecturers that spoke, two indigenous students stood in front of peers and faculty to discuss what it was like to be an indigenous student at Quinnipiac. Tanta-Quidgeon was one of them.

Tanta-Quidgeon discussed her heritage and upbringing, but described one of the most difficult parts of being a indigenous student on campus was the lack of clubs and organizations that brought Native students together. She said that through these new initiatives at Quinnipiac University there’s more awareness and they are starting to create student-led groups for indigenous students.

“I do have a good number of friends at school however, I am always excited when I come across another student who is Native American,” senior psychology major and Mohegan tribe member, Kristina Jacobs said. “It is a really good feeling to have people who understand your culture and way of life and to share something with someone that is so close to your heart.”

Tanta-Quidgeon speaking at the Teach-In to students and faculty about what it’s like to be an indigenous student at a predominantly white university. Photo by Hannah Tebo.

Lala Forrest, a first year medical student at Quinnipiac University, was the second indigenous student to stand in front of students and faculty to discuss the barriers of being a Native American student.

Originally from the Pit River tribe in California, Forrest spent the first year of her life on the reservation with her single mother. She moved off the reservation as a toddler because her mother wanted to provide her with opportunities and resources that weren’t available on the reservation.

For her, college was only ever an option, not something she had to do.

In high school, she found a program that helped first-generation Native American students apply to college. She spent four years at University of California San Diego before applying to medical school. She discussed at the Teach-In the low enrollment of Native students to medical schools and revealed that in 2018 out of 30,000 Native college students, four applied to medical school and zero got in.

“This is a call for medical schools to increase their representation of Native Americans in medicine,” Forrest said. “And this is important because Native students want to go back and help their communities, they want to help people who are suffering disproportionately in nearly every health category.”

Forrest then discussed a “pipeline project” the University of Minnesota has for indigenous students to help them prepare for medical school. They start preparing these students in middle school and provide support for these students all the way until they get to medical school. She explained that Minnesota showed support of Native students with 13 percent of the faculty at the school being indigenous and having Native faculty members on the admissions committee.

She wrapped it all back around to being an indigenous student at Quinnipiac and the purpose of the new events being introduced to the community.

“Our purpose is to foster a campus-wide conversation on indigenous identities, histories and culture,” Forrest said. “The goal I think of this initiative is to work towards social justice, equity and inclusivity for indigenous people and how we need to be bearing an indigenous name and residing on indigenous lands be culturally responsiveness but also responsible with that.”

The school is also working with an organization called the Akomawt Educational Initiative, a group that travels around east coast schools, connecting colleges with indigenous communities.

“These are the types of things we would like to change, the structure at the university,” Chris Newell, Passamaquoddy tribe member and one of the leaders of the Akomawt Educational Initiative said. “One that is welcoming to all people.”

Three members circulated through speaking at the podium. They talked about indigenous people today and how they are still fighting for rights. They discussed the Standing Rock protests, the importance of accepting different forms of knowledge as credible and what Quinnipiac can do to keep this type of inclusive conversation alive on campus.

They also visited campus on Dec. 2 and professors at the university were able to individually meet with the team to discuss how to create curricula that is more inclusive of Native histories, culture and knowledge.

“Being a native student at a predominately white school can be difficult, especially when some of our experiences are so different,” senior psychology major and Mohegan tribe member Lauren Jacobs said. “I think that Quinnipiac should advocate and try to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day and just create more awareness and more information regarding native culture. Further, I think that Quinnipiac should make it more known that Quinnipiac is named after a tribe.”

So why has the university waited until 2019 to start this type of conversation?

According to Duffy, past presidents prioritized establishing the university.

1950 Chronicle article reporting on the changing of JCC to “Quinnipiac College.” Courtsey of Bob Young, QU Libraries.

“There were bits and drabs [of events] over the years,” Duffy said. “The focus was really on bringing on what had been the Junior College of Commerce and limp through the ‘70s and ‘80s that way to its next level. Since then the student population has almost doubled in size and there had been a lot of programmatic growth and development that we were really focusing on as an institution.”

And the university has grown a lot since it first opened its doors in 1929.

Quinnipiac University was originally founded in 1929 under the name “The Connecticut College of Commerce” according to Duffy. At the time, the college only offered two year degrees but in 1950 the institution admitted the first four-year class.

Then in January of 1950, the college changed its name to “Quinnipiac College” after the students and faculty voted between four different names which were Nathan Hale, Ronan, Quinnipiac College and the College of Arts and Commerce, according to Duffy.

According to the 1951 Quinnipiac General Catalogue, the school’s comprehensive source of departamental, college and university-wide information, the school was originally named after the Quinnipiac plantations but according to Duffy the university was named after the Algonquin tribe that were named “Quinnipiac” which translates to “long water people.” When the tribe sold the land to white colonists, the settlers named the land Quinnipiac before changing it to New Haven according to honorary story teller for the Quinnipiac and adjunct professor at the university, Dorothy Howell.

But it is still unclear who the Quinnipiac were.

According to Howell, there isn’t much known about the tribe before white settlers came to the New Haven area. The tribe was small and in 1668 when settlers came to the land, the tribe sold the land to colonists who reserved a small piece for the Natives which is now looked at as one of the first Native American reservations in the United States according to Howell.

The tribe today is fragmented. According to Howell, many of the members have been adopted into the tribe just as she was. Howell believes current members have much to add to the university that could begin to establish new traditions just like Quinnipiac Weekend was once an integral part of the community.

In the early 1950s, the university celebrated its first ever ‘Quinnipiac Weekend’ during the first weekend of May. According to the General Catalogue, this was a celebration of the founding of the university.

“The weekend was originally meant to celebrate Quinnipiac’s heritage and give the students a few days to celebrate being part of this community,” Duffy said.

The university held a variety of events for students including shows, a picnic at Holiday Hill in Cheshire and a prom at night according to one 1967 issue of the Chronicle. However, there was no celebration or mention of the indigenous people and land the school is named after. The weekend was more focused on celebrating the founding of the university rather than the name.

The university officially stopped sponsoring Quinnipiac weekend festivities after a student was killed in 2007 walking across Whitney Avenue according to a 2016 Chronicle article.

In that same year, the famous ‘Legend of the Bobcat’ was integrated into the community to connect the university’s mascot, name and students to the school and keep the sense of community alive. But it’s a story created by students at the school rather than a legend from the Quinnipiac tribe.

“For one thing, we really ought to replace the bogus legends with stories from the actual Quinnipiac history we can discover,” Howell said.

According to Newell there is a legend behind the Sleeping Giant that is told by the tribe and the community should adopt that version instead.

“Indigenizing Quinnipiac means tying it to the land,” he said. “Maybe not tying it to a student-created legend because with what we’ve seen with legends that were created and the way the internet is, they become fact to some people.”

In 2001, the university decided to change the mascot of the school from the Braves to the Bobcats. After a recommendation by former university president, John Lahey, the institution abandoned the usage of a stereotypical Native American chief and transitioned to a more culturally appropriate mascot.

The university still has work to do according to Howell, but she thinks these new programs are a good start.

“In brief, the one thing we owe the land we occupy, whether in honor of the Quinnipiacs or as an obligation we should all be accepting, is respect,” Howell said. “How we express that respect will be up to the QU community. The decisions are beyond you and me, but one day of lectures, one month dedicated to Native Americans, one pow-wow, one year of indigenous programs are no more than a start.”

Alabama football. Duke basketball. Quinnipiac hockey. These are just a few big-time programs in the country that take a lot of money to run. College athletics is bigger than ever these days thanks to things like television, social media and the advertising that you see almost everywhere you look. But where does this money come from to run such an operation? The answer may lie in the university’s tuition bill that the students pay.

What people call in college athletics call this is student fees and they vary from institution to institution. It also varies on many different things like the size of the school, the number of teams playing for the school and the level the teams compete at in the NCAA.

For instance, James Madison has a football team at its school and the team has seen great success recently. JMU is in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of Division I college football, unlike the power five conferences that are in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

Factors like these lead to varying levels of student fees, but not for James Madison who has the highest student fees in the country. About 77% of the total JMU athletic budget in 2017 came from student fees according to the College Athletics Financial Information (CAFI) Database.

Other schools might not have to take as many student fees as other schools due to other sources of revenue. For the Big Ten, the conference has its own television network that puts money in the pockets of its member universities.

The Big Ten was the first power five conferences to start its own television network and other conferences followed suit and started their own. These conference networks now account for millions of dollars that are made each year in college athletics.

It is also interesting to point out that only four out of the 12 total Big Ten teams use student fees as revenue. The schools are Rutgers, Illinois, Iowa, and Maryland. This could be because the revenue from media rights and conference distributions for the entire conference is north of half a billion dollars.

But not every school has football. College athletics departments fall into one of three categories: FBS and FCS if the school has a football team and Division I – no football (NFS). And the data shows that student fees at these schools are higher than fees at schools that have football.

Football is the most popular sport in the country and it attracts that most eyes so, in theory, it stands to make the most money. This rings true for the Big Ten and the money those schools get with their media rights. So, the schools without football struggle to see money like that.

Also, most schools without football are smaller schools that have smaller budgets than what you might find in the Big Ten.

When it comes to college sports and where the money comes from to operate the athletic departments, you might not need to look any further than the bill the students have to pay to attend the school because they might be also helping foot the bill for their school’s athletic teams.

Athletes and Academics

By Sean Patten

The life of a student-athlete includes early practice, sore legs and long trips to games. Academics do not seem like a priority to the naked eye but to athletes like Taylor Herd, a senior guard for Quinnipiac’s women’s basketball team and Jack Zimmerman, a junior guard at Connecticut College, academics are very important.

“We drive up to the arena, get our ankles taped by 9:30 a.m. and are on the court for stretch by 10 a.m. Practice starts at 10:15 a.m. and runs until 12:30 p.m. Herd said. “We lift with our strength and conditioning coach, Coach B, on most Thursdays and then I have 10 minutes of media.”

(Graphic by Sean Patten)

“Wake up at 8 a.m. every day, class till 9:15 p.m., then depending on the day, we either do weight training and conditioning or have a live practice, Zimmerman said. “After practice, I head right back to class for five hours straight, when you are an athlete you learn to eat while you can.”

Every day is different for each athlete. It depends on how their schedule goes, what their major is and the difficulty of the classes they take. Herd, a journalism major, has to work in classes like her capstone class, which requires her to be in class from 2 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. every Thursday. There is little to no free time for athletes. They must take advantage of the time they have off to relax and to be a regular college student.

Zimmerman said that’s easier said than done.

“When I have time to myself I start to panic, worrying that I forgot to do something because I am not used to having so much free time. I guess it helps you be more efficient,” Zimmerman said.

(Picture by www.theday.com)
Right after class, Zimmerman and Herd hit the gym and workout. The defending MAAC champions take no days off. Many students do not understand the pressure athletes are under, having to be at every practice, at every game and still be able to perform in the classroom. For the men’s and women’s teams it depends on the coach. A consistent work ethic and playing a sport takes a toll on one’s body, particularly for Zimmerman.

“Usually when I get home my body is lifeless, but as an athlete one most power through. Getting cramps while studying is normal for me,” Zimmerman said. “Our coach runs us hard but it is to prepare us for the season and the competition we will face.”

(Picture by Sean Patten)

Despite all of the work these athletes put in, they still feel as if they get no respect in the classroom.

“Some professors have this stigma against athletes that we don’t focus as well in the classroom, we want to get out of doing work, or are entitled to good grades,” Herd said. “In reality, we’re trying our best! We have a lot of responsibilities as athletes, on and off the court, and some athletes struggle to balance it all. There’s also the mental challenges that athletes face that carry into the classroom.”

(Picture by https://gobobcats.com/)

But associate professor at Quinnipiac University Molly Yanity disagrees.

“I have had many athletes in classes and, in almost every circumstance, enjoyed them more than non-athlete students,” Yanity said. “Students who play at the Division I level typically have good time management skills and are committed to every aspect of being an athlete, which includes doing well in school. Generally, they come to class more regularly, they get assignments in on time and are more committed.”

Associate professor at Quinnipiac Richard Hanley said he hasn’t heard student-athletes complain in his classes.

“That said, I have had no issues with student-athletes in my classes. I haven’t heard of faculty unfairly singling out student-athletes on academic performance issues,” Hanley said. “I don’t see how any faculty member looks down on any student-athletes or otherwise. As the NCAA faculty representative, I would hear about that and I simply don’t get any complaints.”

According to athletenetwork.com, most college athletes face the same stereotype about getting a helping hand. So, if someone assisted a student-athlete in completing an assignment or if the athlete was caught cheating, there would be academic consequences, potentially a suspension from the team.

(Picture by http://www.davidsonian.com/)

Thomas Colicchio is one of the managers on the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team who travels and spends a lot of time with the team. That said, he knows the squad very well.

“They work hard on and off the court no doubt about it. When they are not on the court traveling or playing in a game, they are either in the library like a normal student or in class trying to better themselves as human beings,” Colicchio said. “Most of them realize that a very small percentage of college athletes go pro, but they all believe they have the skills to go pro in something else.”

Being a student comes before being an athlete for a reason, and athletes realize its significance. According to NCAA.com, less than 2% of college athletes end up going pro in their given sport. It does not matter how much they love the sport because they realize they might not be good enough to play sports for a living.

(Graphic by https://datasocietydecisionmakingsp2018.wordpress.com/)

It seems as if Herd has become accustomed to the life of a student-athlete.

Herd said: “My stress from academics throughout a semester depends on what classes I’m taking and how many. Strategically, I have been taking 12 credits per semester to lighten my load during the season, then I take 3-6 credits in the summer when I’m on campus for workouts.”

Classmates appear to be less forgiving than professors.

“However, this semester, I am in 16 credits and have my senior classes to complete. So completing my capstone project was challenging for me considering it was so work-intensive. It’s all about studying on the bus instead of napping or watching Netflix, getting up an hour early before an 8 a.m. class to finish an assignment. You learn to take advantage of every break you have between classes and practice.”

HQ press surveyed 28 Quinnipiac students asking if they believe that student-athletes are given unfair advantages in the classroom. Almost 80% of the students answered yes. Quinnipiac students indicated that student-athletes are given unfair resources in the classroom.

Zimmerman seemed bothered that students believe athletes are treated better in the classroom and on campus.

“I’m hurt that students believe we are treated better. That’s just the way college athletics goes,” Zimmerman said. “I love playing basketball and do not care what my peers think. I do my own work and have earned not been given anything in college.”

Even with the scrutiny from her fellow classmates, Herd wouldn’t change being a student-athlete.

“I do not regret being a student-athlete,” Herd said, “I love competing, I love being fit, and I love being a part of a team.”

“The places I’ve visited with my team and the things we’ve accomplished as a program are irreplaceable – I’m a part of history,” Herd said. “The lessons basketball has taught me have bettered my life and I see the carry-over into the work field. I’ve mastered time management as a skill, and basketball has made me a confident individual. That confidence carries into my everyday life.”

(Graph by Sean Patten)

NCAA Announces Plan for New Policy Change for Student-Athletes

By Jake Ziegler

Alabama’s all-American quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is one of the biggest names in college sports not only because of the reputable football program he plays for, but also because of his extraordinary talent on the field. College athletes, such as Tagovailoa, have collectively put on a show for spectators nationwide in their respective sports. According to CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson, the University of Alabama’s football department alone accounted for $108.2 million in revenue and $45.9 million in profit.

Suppose Tagovailoa has an incredible season and contributes to winning a national championship title for the school. As a result, he wants to make money off selling his jersey since he’s a champion that served one of the most important positions on a football team for a successful school. At the same time, many advertisers, such as Gatorade, want to use Tagovailoa’s image and likeness in its next commercial about a new sports drink product. All of these offers scream dollar signs in the back of Tagovailoa’s head.

Despite that, Tagovailoa couldn’t take advantage of any of these money-making opportunities without violating any National Collegiate Athletic Association policy for student-athletes. No matter the team, division, program, sport or accomplishments attached to their name, no college athlete was permitted to make any sort of profit through participating in college sports. But, by the same token, several entities earn millions of dollars off this industry, including the universities, coaches and the NCAA. The student-athletes themselves have never received any portion of that revenue, and they still don’t. However, all college athletes, especially ones like Tagovailoa, have been provided a potential game-changer by the NCAA.

The NCAA’s Board of Governors voted unanimously to permit college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness on Oct. 29. This announcement arrives less than one month after the state of California passed SB 206, signed into law by governor Gavin Newsom, which contained similar terms and conditions for their college athletes.

According to NCAA.org, the NCAA’s Board of Governors is charged with ensuring that each division operates consistently with the basic purposes, fundamental policies and general principles of the Association.

According to the NCAA’s press release, Ohio State University President and Chair of Board Michael Drake said the NCAA instructed all three divisions to begin making revisions with this new change into account. In addition, the NCAA expects these divisions to have their new rules come into effect immediately, but no later than January 2021.

“We must embrace change to provide the best possible experience for college athletes,” Drake said in the release.

Comprehensive recommendations for this policy change influenced the NCAA Board of Governors Federal and State Legislation Working Group. This group is comprised of presidents, commissioners, athletics directors, administrators and student-athletes.

The NCAA, however, is mandating that this policy change must be enforced in a “manner consistent with the collegiate model.” The governing body also reminds the college sports world of some principles and guidelines that student-athletes still must adhere to. These include: “student-athletes are not considered university employees, they cannot receive compensation for participating in athletics and that there’s a clear distinction between collegiate and professional opportunities.”

NCAA President Mark Emmert justifies this decision while emphasizing the fact that its fundamental belief in amateurism will still be implemented in college sports.

“As a national governing body, the NCAA is uniquely positioned to modify its rules to ensure fairness and a level playing field for student-athletes,” Emmert said in the NCAA’s press release. “The board’s action today creates a path to enhance opportunities for student-athletes while ensuring they compete against students and not professionals.”

With this in mind, if this policy was in effect during that hypothetical Alabama championship run, Tagovailoa would likely be able to pocket money from selling his jersey to consumers and engaging in commercial offers from advertisers wanting to use his name, image and likeness.

This issue of college athletes profiting from their name, image and likeness first came to light in the U.S. justice system during the antitrust class action lawsuit called O’Bannon v. NCAA. Former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon filed this lawsuit on behalf of all Division I men’s basketball and football programs against the NCAA, challenging the use of images of its former student-athletes for commercial purposes. O’Bannon’s primary argument is that upon graduation, student-athletes should be entitled to financial compensation for the NCAA’s commercial use of their image. This is because, if not, it would violate the terms and conditions of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. However, the NCAA’s response said that amateurism and its principles are upheld and maintained in these cases.

This case came about after O’Bannon saw his likeness from the 1995 UCLA championship team used in the Electronic Arts Sports video game titled NCAA Basketball 09 without his permission. The game featured an unnamed UCLA player that matched several of O’Bannon’s playing characteristics, including his power forward position, height, weight, bald head, skin tone, No. 31 jersey and left-handed shot.

District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled in favor of O’Bannon, holding that the NCAA’s policies and rules “operate as an unreasonable restraint of trade” and in fact violates antitrust law. She ordered that schools should be allowed to offer full cost-of-attendance scholarships to athletes, covering cost-of-living expenses that were not currently part of NCAA scholarships. Wilken also ruled that college be permitted to place as much as $5,000 into a trust for each athlete per year of eligibility. The NCAA subsequently appealed the ruling, arguing that Wilken did not properly consider NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma. In that case, the NCAA was denied control of college football television rights, but the court also stated: “To preserve the character and quality of the ‘product,’ athletes must not be paid.”

Tony Miller teaches sports management and exercise science courses and is the lifeguard manager and pool supervisor for Bob Jones University’s aquatics facility. He also serves as an assistant coach and director of basketball operations for the school’s men’s basketball team.

Professor at Bob Jones University Tony Miller thinks this case is going to be the foundation of what created all this controversy.

“Even though (O’Bannon) wasn’t the first to have this happen to him, this will be the case that California legislation have an influence on how we view this issue now,” Miller said.

The U.S. Sports Academy Doctoral candidate also played EA Sports video games in his childhood, and like O’Bannon, would easily identify all the players.

“I would know who was each player based on their height and weight even though none of the players’ jerseys didn’t have name plates on the back,” Miller said. “I would upload players’ last names from memory cards onto the game and insert them on the players’ jerseys.”

Miller also doesn’t think the NCAA had any good intentions behind making this announcement, and that the timing of such was inevitable.

“The NCAA wasn’t going to do anything unless they felt pressured by other forces,” Miller said. “They would probably continue with the traditional amateurism model if the California law didn’t come to light.”

From the athlete side of this, senior forward from Quinnipiac men’s soccer Eamon Whelan says he plays a sport that’s not a big money-maker, though he likes the change.

Eamon Whelan was the unanimous Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference player of the year in 2018, scoring 12 goals during that campaign.

“Coaches and colleges are making a lot of money and I think the athletes deserve a lot of it because they’re a huge reason for that,” Whelan said.

Senior midfielder from Quinnipiac women’s lacrosse Victoria Bobinski concurs with Whelan, as she believes lacrosse doesn’t have a lot of money either. However, she also thinks there needs to be a lot of rules behind the policy.

“There should be a percentage limit of what athletes can make because there can be a huge gap between a top-tier university versus a small school that gets no recognition,” Bobinski said. “I think there needs to be a level playing field, especially when it comes to the differences between men’s and women’s sports.”

Victoria Bobinski was named a part of the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic Team. She has an identical twin sister named Ashley.

From the coaching standpoint, University of Connecticut women’s ice hockey head coach Chris Mackenzie is in the neutral zone when it comes to his stance on the policy.

“I’m not for it, but I’m not against it, either,” Mackenzie said. I’m very interested in seeing where the NCAA goes with it because this topic has certainly warranted attention.”

Mackenzie pointed out that UConn likely has 10 or less athletes that will be affected by this policy because he believes only basketball and football stars at top schools will take advantage of this rule. Whelan and Bobinski voiced similar thoughts, as well.

Chris MacKenzie is in his seventh season in charge of the UConn women

However, Mackenzie has formulated a unique, creative way for women’s hockey players to make money off their name, image and likeness off the ice.

“I think student-athletes going back home and creating a hockey school for themselves is something they can profit from,” Mackenzie said. “You can train, have a camp and make money all at the same time.”

On the other hand, Quinnipiac women’s soccer head coach Dave Clarke says his viewpoint is “three-fold” coming from a former college athlete, coach and outsider. However, he thinks the NCAA’s mission might become jeopardized.

In 19 seasons as the women’s soccer head coach, Dave Clarke has a 170-168-37 overall record, which features a 151-153-35 mark while at Quinnipiac.

“I understand why it’s in place, but I also think that we have to maintain the integrity of Division I athletics and having players going to school to prioritize their education,” Clarke said.

Quinnipiac sports economics professor Donn Johnson has been in favor of this change for a long time.

“The amateurism model has been there for over 100 years, and I think that’s starting to change,” Johnson said.

Johnson supports letting the economic factors play their role, even in college sports.

“I think the market forces and politicians are finally telling the NCAA to address this,” Johnson said. “At this point, they knew they were stuck.”

Donn Johnson currently teaches Principles of Macroeconomics, Intermediate and Sports Economics at Quinnipiac University.

He also thinks the NCAA is corrupt and unethical all along for not allowing college athletes to profit off themselves.

“From a moral standpoint, you’re taking revenue they generate and keeping it for yourself and others for your own salaries,” Johnson said. “They should get paid for the value they create.”

Associate professor of sports management at the Ohio State University David Ridpath notes the hypocrisy the NCAA has showed in the sense that it gives off the impression that “the world would end” if college athletes could profit off their own brand. And now, they’re “singing a different tune.”

“The NCAA would have never been progressive enough or unselfish enough to make this change on their own,” Ridpath said.

David Ridpath has several practical experiences working in intercollegiate athletics and higher education. He is often cited in major media as an expert on college sports matters.

Ridpath believes the NCAA uses terms like amateurism and collegiate model to accomplish a certain agenda.

“The current model cannot sustain and things like amateurism and collegiate model do not exist and are terms of art used to restrict basic rights,” Ridpath said.

Ridpath also mentioned the NCAA has a hidden agenda they’re pursuing based on three falsely promoted myths.

“The NCAA is based on academic integrity, amateurism and competitive equity,” Ridpath said. “Overall, none of these exist and are used to perpetuate public relations so others can get rich.”

Despite these NCAA criticisms, Ridpath says its core value should reflect Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch’s famous line: “You first deal with the athletes rights—everything else is an adjustment.”

That said, he and many others like where the NCAA is headed.

“It’s a big, needed step, but there are many questions still to be answered,” Ridpath said.

And the public is expecting those questions to be answered on or before January 2021. Topics that should be answered by the NCAA include any cap limit, what’s permissible to profit from, its effect on the athlete recruiting process, the athletic contracts’ conditions and any major differences between sport, sex and division level. At this point, coaches, athletes, fans, administrators and the rest of the college sports world eagerly await to see what transpires from here.

NCAA timeline representing significant events behind amateurism and college athletes’ ability to profit off themselves.

The Fight for Morality: Quinnipiac’s Efforts to Strike Down Hate

By Brooke Reilly

“Hate crimes in the U.S. have increased, so I wouldn’t be surprised if college campuses were acting as a microcosm of the greater U.S.,” said Quinnipiac University Student Government Association President Austin Calvo.

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Calvo is a senior at Quinnipiac University, where he is studying political science. He is openly gay and was the victim of multiple hate crimes at Quinnipiac while he was running for SGA positions. These crimes emotionally hurt him.

“Freshman year it kinda sucked because I was just a little freshman,” Calvo said. “I didn’t really have my place at Quinnipiac yet and all those kinds of things, so it just kind of like hurt and made me realize how much people still suck.”

The first crime against Calvo took place in the spring of 2017 when he was running for sophomore class president. Calvo had three running mates who were also running for class SGA positions. The four students hung up posters around campus to campaign prior to elections. At the height of campaign season, Calvo received a call from one of his running mates telling him that someone vandalized one of their posters and to come by her room to see it.

“I went by her room, and I saw what was written on it,” Calvo said. “It was just like penises, like defacing it and something written about me, like me being gay, like a word bubble coming out of my mouth.”

Calvo then spoke with a resident assistant (RA) about this issue. The RA brought this to the attention of the residence hall director, and they filed a report within student affairs.

The second incident occurred in April 2019 while Calvo was running for SGA president.

“I was running for an executive board position, so I had posters up all over both campuses,” Calvo said. “It was in Irma (residence hall), I believe, there was a poster that I had to face. Someone wrote something about me, just like a slur about me being gay or something.”

Although it was similar to the situation Calvo went through two years earlier, he felt differently than he did as a first-year student.

“The one (hate crime) that happened last year (hurt) a little bit less so just because I was like, I’m very confident,” Calvo said. “I’m very sure of myself, and I love myself, and I love who I am. I was like, whatever, someone can hate me. It doesn’t affect me. Who cares?”

Calvo is confident about who he is, but if this were to happen to someone else, he isn’t sure that person would have the same response.

“People of marginalized populations spend their entire lives trying to love themselves for who they are, and then all it takes is one thing like that to tear down years of confidence building,” Calvo said.

When crimes that occur on college campuses are reported, specific steps are taken when investigating and filing reports.

According to clerycenter.org, “the Clery Act is a consumer protection law that aims to provide transparency around campus crime policy and statistics.”

The Clery Act requires every college and university across the country to release an annual security and fire safety report by Oct. 1 of each year. This is called the Clery report and includes a record of all reported crimes that occurred between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of the year prior. This document is required to be made available to the public. Quinnipiac’s 2019 Clery report was released on Sept. 23, 2019.

Karoline Keith, Quinnipiac University Clery Compliance Officer

When the crime was first committed, Calvo was busy campaigning for president, so he did not report it right away. At the beginning of this semester, he decided that he should report it; however, he did not go through student affairs this time. Calvo reported the incident directly to the Quinnipiac University Clery Compliance Officer Karoline Keith.

As stated in Quinnipiac’s Clery report, the Clery Compliance Officer must work with the Department of Public Safety, local and state law enforcement, Office of Human Resources, Office of Residential Life, Office of Student Affairs, Division of Athletics, the Title IX coordinator, the deans, the Office of Cultural and Global Engagement and other campus security authorities to track any crimes that take place throughout the year. This is tracked in all areas where students live in Quinnipiac housing. This includes the Mount Carmel campus, the York Hill campus, the North Haven campus, when students travel to conferences or games paid for by the university and students who are studying abroad at places that partner with Quinnipiac.

“Things reported to me this year, in 2019, will be reflected in the 2020 annual security report,” Keith said. “It’s always a year behind.”

According to page 52 of Quinnipiac’s Clery report, “there are four categories of offenses that are required by law for statistical documentation within this report.” These include: criminal offenses, such as murder, sex offenses and other identified serious crimes; VAWA offenses (Violence Against Women Act), such as domestic violence, dating violence and stalking offenses; arrest and referrals for disciplinary action and hate crimes.

Calvo’s incidents are both considered hate crimes on the basis of sexuality, so they fall under the category of offense. Both incidents will appear in the log for the 2020 Clery report reflecting crimes that were reported in 2019. Although the first incident occurred in 2017, it was not reported to Keith until last month along with the incident from April 2019. It is too late to go back and change the statistics from the 2017 Clery Report.

“The Clery statistics reflect numbers on the time they were reported, not the time they occurred,” Keith said. “If something is reported to me this year that occurred last year or two years ago, it would show up in the statistics for the next annual security report that reflects those that year.”

Although all reported crimes are said to be cited in the Clery report, some may not appear in the annual report for various reasons, including people not coming forward with crimes or miscommunications between offices.

“I’d like to think that if they’ve (students) reported it (a crime) to a campus security authority or to one of my campus partners that that statistic would definitely be reflected in these statistics,” Keith said. “But, I do know that whether they want to talk about it is entirely up to whether or not they want to.”

In 2018, the majority of crimes reported took place on the Mount Carmel campus. Very few crimes occurred on the York Hill campus, and no crimes were reported on the North Haven campus.

Over the course of the last three years, the numbers indicated for each crime have fluctuated back and forth. Some noteworthy numbers include rapes, burglary, drug law violation arrests, and hate crimes.

Clery report statistics comparing the number of recorded rapes, drug law violations arrests, burglaries and hate crimes in 2016, 2017 and 2018

In this case, the increase in hate crimes on campus is noteworthy. There were two incidents reported in 2016, one in 2017 and five in 2018.

“There’s a lot going on with our society and our culture and our Supreme Court and the media in those areas,” Keith said. “You start to look at what’s going on outside of the university because we’re just a subculture right of that.”

E-mail sent to all residential students by Quinnipiac University Director of Residential Life Mark DeVilbiss on Nov. 4, 2019.

The university continues to see an increase in hate crimes across campus. On Nov. 4, Director of Residential Life Mark DeVilbiss sent an e-mail to all residential students addressing “recent incidents involving the alleged use of derogatory and racist language by Quinnipiac students.”

“The university prohibits bias and discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, ability, national origin, age, gender identity, gender expression, sex, sexual orientation or veteran status,” DeVilbiss said in the e-mail.

DeVilbiss said that he has seen bias related incidents through the use of derogatory and racial terms throughout his time with the university over the last three years.

“That happens sometimes both in person, sometimes it has been in the form of a social media post or graffiti occasionally or vandalism of some kind,” DeVilbiss said. “We don’t have a ton of incidents, but we have some, and we address those.”

During RA training sessions, a topic that is heavily stressed is identity.

“Last August, a keynote speaker (came), we had time to break out into small groups to discuss,” DeVilbiss said. “We want to make sure that our staffs are educated about the many different types of identity and whether that’s racial, gender identity, abilities, all of that, we talk about that.”

The RAs are trained on how to respond to information that they learn as well. They are told to take pictures or screenshots if it is on social media and collect details. This allows the Office of Residential Life to follow up appropriately once an incident is reported.They are also taught how to respond sensitively by using inclusive language and providing comfort.

“We seek always to support the people who are involved,” DeVilbiss said. “It can be challenging to support because being the subject or discriminated against in that way is a very traumatic experience for students and can be very emotional.”

DeVilbiss encouraged students to fill out an incident report form if they are aware of any hateful behaviors occurring on campus.

“We file incident reports, Residential Life incident reports, for all incidents that involve bias and discrimination,” DeVilbiss said. “Then those are reviewed by our Student Conduct Office in consultation with our Clery Officer, who would then include that data in the annual Clery report.”

The Hamden Police Department works closely with the Department of Public Safety when it comes to crimes on campus. Between Jan. 1, 2019 and Oct. 1, 2019, Hamden police responded to calls on the Mount Carmel campus on 339 occasions, and they responded to the York Hill campus 75 times. Most of these were general patrols because the university hires the department to do nightly patrols. The majority of the other reasons that they came to campus were for motor vehicle accidents, intoxicated persons and general medical calls.

Case incident reports for the Mount Carmel campus (left) and York Hill campus (right)

“Even when they don’t hire us, the area car is going to go over there and patrol it (campus) normally and also take complaints there,” said Sgt. Anthony Diaz of the Hamden Police Department. “If it’s a serious call for whatever reason, they’ll send two cars in addition to a supervisor.”

Timely warning e-mail from Quinnipiac University Chief of Public Safety Edgar Rodriguez

On Nov. 13, Chief of the Department of Public Safety Edgar Rodriguez notified the Quinnipiac community about a student who reported being sexually assaulted just outside of campus. The notification came via email as a timely warning to comply with the Clery Act. The student reported that the incident occurred at the intersection between New Road and Mount Carmel Avenue.

In a situation like this, the Hamden Police Department has to step in to assist with the investigation.

“The special victims unit, they’re going to investigate that type of crime,” Diaz said. “It’s not going to be like a patrolman function or an officer who was hired there just for patrolling factors. He might do the initial investigation, but we’re going to call in the detective division and let those guys who specialize in that stuff handle that case.”

Hamden Police have not found the men accused of the assault, so Quinnipiac’s Title IX office can’t do much to help since its job is to help remedy hostile situations. But sometimes, even if the accused is known, Title IX offices don’t always help. That was the case at DePaul University in Chicago earlier this year.

Student reporters wondered why DePaul’s Title IX office wasn’t represented at sexual assault awareness month events in April. Ella Lee and Emma Oxnevad are editors for The DePaulia, which is the university’s student-run newspaper. Upon noticing this, they decided to take matters into their own hands and investigate.

The DePaulia, DePaul University’s student-run newspaper

They began by going to more sexual assault awareness events and speaking with groups on campus who were directly involved with these events. They then sent out a survey to the student body by posting in class group Facebook pages asking about students experiences with the Title IX office. Students were allowed to remain anonymous if they chose to because of the sensitivity of the topic.

“We did have one instance of a student who gave her name and was willing to be quoted under a fake name, who said that she had an encounter with the office where she was assaulted at a campus event,” Oxnevad said. “She was told by whoever she was in contact with within that office (Title IX) that they had spoken to the person she had accused prior to meeting with her, and that given that she had been drinking at this event, or that she had admitted to drinking, that they couldn’t believe her story.”

The only response that the Title IX office gave the student was that she should go to counseling for alcoholism. This alarmed Lee and Oxnevad because it proved to them that things were not being handled properly within the Title IX office.

They published the student’s story, but they could not get in contact with the Title IX coordinator or get a statement from the university. They sent multiple messages but never received a response. After several weeks went by, the DePaulia’s faculty advisor told the student journalists that they needed to get something from the coordinator because it was only showing one side to the story.

They decided to go to the Title IX office to ask to speak with the Title IX coordinator in person. When they got there, a student worker was at the front desk. They explained what they were inquiring, and the worker set up an appointment for them to meet with the coordinator.

The following day, their advisor was sent an email from the dean of the School of Communications who received word that Lee and Oxnevad had faked being assaulted to get an interview. The students both said this was completely incorrect and there must have been miscommunication along the way.

“There was talk about there maybe having to be a student trial, but then obviously, the coordinator or whoever in the Title IX office backtracked and said that it didn’t happen and that she misunderstood the situation,” Lee said.

The students had finally received permission to interview Jessica Landis, who was the Title IX coordinator at the time and released her response to their original story. After the story was published, Landis left the university in the middle of her contract. The students did not know if she was fired or if she quit, but they believe that it had to do with the story they wrote.

At the beginning of the fall 2019 semester, DePaul hired a new director of gender equity. This role was previously known as the Title IX coordinator. Lee and Oxnevad sat down to interview Ann Skiffington on Nov. 11, who was hired for this position, to learn more about the Title IX office and what her role is.

Lee and Oxnevad said that the most important thing that they learned is that Title IX officers must remain objective and cannot support any students in their cases. They felt that a lot of students were not aware of that.

“The Title IX office could be mishandling cases, but also, they’re not there to be a shoulder to cry on,” Lee said.

The student journalists said that they believe that there is still more to the story about issues within the university’s Title IX office.

When asked her opinion on the Title IX issues at DePaul University, Quinnipiac University Title IX Coordinator Catlin Wells said, “I cannot speak to the specifics of the DePaul case. I can tell you, however, that Quinnipiac University takes seriously all allegations of discrimination. Students have a right under the federal law, and under university policies, to file a complaint of discrimination or misconduct. Additionally, students have a right to a prompt, thorough and impartial response.”

Although there are not any current issues within Quinnipiac’s Title IX office, there have been previous issues prior to when Wells began in December 2018. One of these issues included a case that went to trial in July 2019 saying that the university was “motivated to favor female students over male students in its (Title IX) disciplinary proceedings.” This was an older case from 2017.

“As a Title IX coordinator, it is my responsibility to treat everyone who comes through my door with dignity and respect and to give all students an opportunity to be heard,” Wells said.

The result has meant more work for Wells and her office, but students know they have a safe place to go when they encounter a hostile environment.

“I train on every single policy,” Wells said. “I have found that as I have trained the institution more, we’ve seen an uptick in reporting overall realistically because people know where to go if something happens. When people know who to tell, they’re more likely to share that information.”

That information can lead to courageous students.

“The spirit of Clery is intended to give guidance to prospective students and students that are going here to whether or not they would want to come here and how the university in general is, what kind of crimes are occurring here,” Keith said. “I think the next question, the Clery report, the annual security report, is embedded with what we’re doing to protect our students and what we’re doing in the area of being proactive rather than reactive.”

Calvo has another idea that he believes can help, which is having conversations about hate crimes and their impact on students.

“Being gay is just part of my identity, but it’s not who I am,” Calvo said. “I think that just kind of having dialogue and conversations can really work to reduce hate crimes.”