The one year anniversary of the massive tornado that struck Hamden is rapidly approaching, but a re-open date for Sleeping Giant State Park remains as ambiguous as ever.
Clean-up efforts at Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden are in full swing with the goal of getting the state park, closed to the public for nearly a year, open and ready for the summer season. Much of the progress made in the last eleven months is thanks to volunteers of the Sleeping Giant Park Association (SGPA). Just days after the devastating EF1 tornado, SPGA volunteers were on scene and working to make Sleeping Giant safe for the public. The project was a massive undertaking, with the to-do list including projects like clearing nearly 2000 toppled trees from the park’s 32 hiking trails. Thankfully, volunteers like Dr. Luis Arata were up to the challenge.
“Each downed tree was a fascinating, dangerous puzzle,” Arata said. “I remember staring at tangled blow-downs and trying to visualize the actions of the trees before I would start cutting. We had to try to predict how a tree would react and move when cut, and how to stay out of harm’s way.”
An Argentinian native, Arata came to the United States in 1968 to pursue higher education. Settling in Hamden nearly three decades ago, Arata now serves as chairperson of the department of modern languages at Quinnipiac University.
For years, whenever he needed an escape from the pressures of professional life, Arata looked no farther than across Mount Carmel Avenue to Sleeping Giant State Park. An avid runner, he’s spent countless hours exploring the park and getting well-acquainted with every twist and turn of its trails. Just months before the storm struck Arata completed the “Sleeping Giant Master Marathon,” an all-day feat that involves covering all marked trails back-to-back – a distance of nearly 28 miles. His accomplishment inspired Arata to deepen his relationship with the park. He made the decision to run for director-at-large on SPGA’s board of directors, and May 6, 2018, Arata was elected.
Days later, the tornado touched down in Hamden, causing millions of dollars in damage, leaving thousands without power and mangling Sleeping Giant. For Arata, the storm hit far too close to home in every sense, as his family’s home sits near the base of the mountain.
“Our house took a direct hit but was miraculously left standing between masses of downed trees,” Arata said. “We were surrounded by a jungle of foliage, massive rootballs, craters, tangled limbs up to the roof. My father’s day gift was a second chainsaw.”
Immediately after clearing the debris from his own property, Arata shifted his attention to the Giant, joining the SPGA volunteer trail crews in July of 2018. Every Sunday from 9 a.m. until noon, Arata worked alongside about two dozen other volunteers to carefully clear the masses of fallen limbs that cluttered the trails. When Arata joined the team, about two miles of trails had been addressed – leaving about 30 more miles.
“It looked like an absurdly impossible task,” Arata said. “Ray DeGennaro, the SGPA board member directing trail maintenance, had organized teams of four or five volunteers and assigned them to certain trials. We met at the park entrance, we got tools together, hiked up to assigned locations, and got to work cutting the way through.”
As summer turned to fall, the number of volunteers grew and each day the massive clean-up seemed less and less daunting. By September, there were as many as 85 volunteers out on the trails. By the end of January, nearly all of the park’s blazed trails were reopened. With the exception of just two trails, practically all trail clearing that had been done up to this point was the work of volunteers.
In the early months of 2019, bitterly cold temperatures and frequent winter storms hampered the clean-up efforts. Occasionally, severe wind storms and ice storms were so destructive that volunteers had to go back and redo some of the trails. It’s setbacks like these that are largely to blame for the elusive re-open date. However, since April SGPA volunteers have been firing on all cylinders, and the prognosis is good. Although there is still some work to be done, Arata is optimistic that the community will be able to enjoy the Sleeping Giant in the near future.
“Since Sleeping Giant is a state park, [Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection] makes the call, but the trails are nearly clear once more and they’re being blazed again. We can only hope the park reopens soon.”
The university recognizes the need to advance inclusion initiatives in strategic plan proposal.
By Caitlin Fish
Abby Marton experienced a self-described culture shock when she arrived at Quinnipiac University in 2016 and found that the school did not reflect the world she understood.
“Coming here there was a culture shock on every level,” Marton said. “I noticed a lack of diversity right away. When I first got here I worried that I wouldn’t fit in. Everyone seemed tied together from home, there are mutual friends everywhere.”
Abby Marton, 21
Marton, a senior marketing major from Manhattan, New York, explained that she attended a diverse high school, The Bronx High School of Science, which exposed her to many different cultures and ways of seeing the world. Quinnipiac, in Hamden, Connecticut, did not reflect that diversity.
“I wouldn’t say white was the minority at my high school but it definitely wasn’t the majority,” Marton said. “I learned a lot about different people’s families and backgrounds, whether that be food, language or religion. It was just so immersive.”
Isaiah Nieves, a senior film major from Manchester, Connecticut, likewise noticed the sharp distinction between what he experienced in a high school teeming with racial and ethnic diversity and what he saw at Quinnipiac.
Nieves explained that he grew up around racial and class diversity and that he compares his experience attending high school to attending Quinnipiac as night and day.
“Considering that this school is a private school, it’s going to attract a certain crowd of people who can afford it,” Nieves said. “There is not much diversity on campus at all.”
Isaiah Nieves, 22
Marton and Nieves are not alone in describing Quinnipiac as an institution that is lacking in diversity. The school remains largely white despite efforts to shape the student body into one that reflects the changing demographics of the United States.
According to a U.S. Census Bureau report from 2018, the United States is projected to continue becoming a more racially and ethnically pluralistic society. By 2045 Non-Hispanic whites are no longer projected to make up the majority of the U.S. population.
“By 2020, fewer than one-half of children—49.8 percent—are projected to be Non-Hispanic white,” the report states.
Students find that the troubling lack of diversity extends to the people who teach them and keep the university operating.
An informal survey sent out by email to Quinnipiac students who belong to multicultural organizations on campus revealed that 70 percent noticed that lack of diversity in the faculty and staff.
“I think the professors are less racially diverse than the student body,” Issac Bauer, a junior communications major from White Plains, New York, said. “It makes me happy to see that there are a lot of women professors, but in education, it is important to have teachers of all different backgrounds.”
Isaac Bauer, 20
According to data on racial demographics cataloged on the university’s website, white students make up three-quarters of the undergraduate population, while data obtained by HQ Press from a faculty member who requested to remain anonymous reports that white faculty members make up more than three-quarters.
Pie charts outlining the racial demographics of the undergraduate population and fall 2018 full-time faculty at Quinnipiac.
Bar graph outlining the racial demographics of 2018 full-time faculty members by school.
Students have mixed opinions regarding the university’s attempts to increase diversity on campus. The informal survey of Quinnipiac students reports that 57 percent have noticed efforts by the university to increase diversity while 42 percent have not.
Quinnipiac President Judy Olian references diversity as a transformative element in her strategic plan proposal released in January to build what she described as a “university of the future.”
The plan recognizes that Quinnipiac needs to improve in that area.
“We are not yet where we need to be as an inclusively excellent institution–not in faculty or staff, not in students or alumni, not in programming,” the strategic plan states. “We aspire to be more.”
The university appointed Donald C. Sawyer III as chief diversity officer in 2018. Sawyer, a Quinnipiac sociology professor, is tasked with advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives and putting in place action steps to get there.
“My job is to create a plan that partners with other people on campus to do the work of inclusive excellence,” Sawyer said. “The role is to work as a community, that’s faculty, staff and students, to bring about a campus that is inclusive for all people. Some people assume that my job is just here for students of color. That’s not it. It’s for all people.”
According to Sawyer, one of the ways the university is planning to address this lack of representation in the faculty is by diversifying its applicant pools when hiring for a new position.
“We have to be looking at ways to diversify our applicant pools, he said. “Not necessarily telling people who to hire. But, how do we make sure that when we are hiring for a position that the pool is representative of the diversity that exists in that particular discipline.”
Sawyer explained that not every school has a chief diversity officer, but he expects the position to become more common as it is important for universities to increase diversity and inclusion in order to stay competitive.
“Universities see that diversity is not just about doing it because it’s a good thing and feels good, it is to make sure they’re going to be the universities that survive,” Sawyer said. “To prepare so that they’re not going to be behind the curve. If you look at the students that are coming, you have to prepare for that representative diversity that we’re seeing in the K-12.”
Sawyer explained that a big part of his job is educating students about the differences between the terms diversity, inclusion and equity because a lot of people use them interchangeably.
“When we talk about diversity, we’re just talking about the representative, the numbers,” he said.
Inclusion goes hand in hand, as it is the active engagement with that diversity.
“Getting people here is pointless if you don’t have anything in place to make people feel welcomed and a part of the campus community,” he said.
The equity aspect is more complicated, as it works to remove obstacles and improve access for underrepresented students, according to Sawyer.
Xi Chen, associate professor of sociology at Quinnipiac, said she believes a historical denial of education for underrepresented students and weak points in the U.S. education system both contribute to the lack of diversity at the university.
Chen explained that public schools are funded by local and property taxes, so schools in poor or urban areas do not receive as many resources or as much funding as they do from affluent neighborhoods. In order to become a college student, you have to have been prepared along the way to even be able to apply, and many under-resourced schools do not deliver in this aspect.
“Students from the under-resourced schools are competing against the students in resource schools for the same seats in colleges,” Chen said. “If you have those obstacles in the way the system is set up for some people to be more successful than others.”
Chen said that she believes even with financial aid and scholarships, the cost of tuition prevents a more diverse applicant pool.
“Tuition for this university is very expensive and is geared toward New England North-Eastern upper-middle-class,” Chen said. “There is a huge racial gap in terms of what type of family can afford it due to social inequality in class and wealth.”
Although the university lacks in representative diversity, some students believe it is beginning to make inclusion a priority.
According to the informal survey of Quinnipiac students, 73 percent of respondents said they believe the university supports an inclusive environment.
The university has 17 student-run cultural and identity groups on campus that frequently hold events, open to everyone, aimed at educating students about different cultures, religions and ways of seeing the world.
Christina Ojo, a junior biology major from Providence, Rhode Island, is involved in many of these groups, including the African Caribbean Student Union, Black Student Union, Latino Cultural society and the Asian Student Alliance. However, she said that she does not believe the greater population of Quinnipiac recognizes these organizations.
“I don’t think Quinnipiac does enough to even get at why these organizations are important,” Ojo said. “I appreciate that we are, at the very least, here. I think the responsibility of educating is left to the students of diverse realities. It’s gaslighting.”
Christina Ojo, 20
Chidi Nwuneli, a junior political science major from the Bronx, New York, has attended many university events put on by the multicultural organizations but does not believe many students respond to the invitations.
“Quinnipiac does try (to be more inclusive) but I feel like students aren’t receptive because it’s not something they grew up around,” Nwuneli said.
Chidi Nwuenli, 20
Diversity on campus is not just about having students of color, according to Nwuenli. It is also about having students who have grown up around students of color because then there will be more diversity in thought.
“Accepting of change is hard, so I think it more falls upon where they’re recruiting people from,” Nwuenli said. “I heard President Olian said she wants to recruit more people from Florida, Texas and California. When you have more people from urban centers mixing with people who are from mid-sized small-sized towns, people start to become more open-minded and friend groups become more diverse.”
According to the informal survey of Quinnipiac students, 64 percent of respondents said they do not believe the general student population is interested in learning about diversity and inclusion.
Anytime Quinnipiac wants to get something done, such as the Big Event or Qthon, it uses Greek Life, according to Nwuenli. He said that he believes the multicultural organizations should belong in this partnership.
“Greek organizations should work with the multicultural organizations, it’s something that I’ve been saying since freshman year,” he said. “That’s the only way you can have exposure for both of them. If there is an event hosted by a sorority and the African Student Union, both groups will be there and you get to meet new people and create those bonds.”
Julia Miles, a junior nursing major from Oakland, New Jersey, said she believes that a majority of the students at the university do not seek out information about diversity and inclusion because it does not affect them directly.
“I think the school could integrate this type of education into the academic experience because most students who are not underrepresented won’t pay attention unless it is put in front of their faces,” Miles said.
Julia Miles, 20
Miles explained that in her nursing classes aspects of diversity and inclusion are incorporated into many of her projects.
“It’s clear that our program wants to create nurses that are aware of the world,” Miles said. “When doing projects, there is a component that requires us to include some cultural or religious factors that may affect treating the patient.”
There are many benefits to a diverse atmosphere and the students at Quinnipiac may be missing out on opportunities to become more aware of the world, according to Marton.
“It’s a huge way for people to connect, to diversify your school of thought even, Marton said. “It’s so unhealthy and ignorant to think that the way you grew up and what you know and what you’re familiar with is the only way to do things. You’re missing out on literally an entire world of different experiences and it’s a shame.”
Increasing diversity on campus is not just about doing something for the greater good, it is necessary for an environment to thrive, Sawyer said.
“It benefits all who are involved,” Sawyer said. “When we have diverse teams we solve more problems. We can attack more issues that are facing us as a society. So it goes beyond just something that feels good. This is important for the future of our institution.”
The university is in the process of putting numbers to the strategic plan, developing a budget and a fundraising goal, according to Sawyer.
“We’re looking at creating different types of admissions and outreach programs to get Quinnipiac on the radar in different parts of the country,” Sawyer said. “We’re looking at different types of student populations, veterans, people who have been historically underrepresented in higher education, people who transfer from community colleges. Diversifying faculty and staff in order to attract more people.”
Quinnipiac has been criticized for catering to its white population while disregarding the needs of underrepresented students. According to Sawyer, the university is on a path to changing this.
“If you want to see if something is important to an organization you look at the budget. So, the fact that inclusive excellence is in the strategic plan is one of the first markers that let you know hopefully were serious about this,” Sawyer said.
Protestors from Hamden and New Haven are continuing to march for Stephanie Washington, a 22-year-old woman who was shot and put in the hospital by Hamden and Yale Police officers.
Protestors are demanding that the investigation of the officer-involved shooting be transparent, that the officers involved, Devin Eaton and Terrence Pollock, be immediately fired and that all body and dash cam footage be released to the public.
Protest sign
Hundreds of Hamden and New Haven residents gathered in front of Hamden Police Department Friday, April 19 as protests continue for the fourth day following a string of protests that began three days prior.
Protestors met at Hamden Plaza where they marched up Dixwell Avenue, about 1.6 miles, to Hamden PD to protest the Hamden and Yale PD officers’ shooting that put Stephanie Washington in the hospital.
This protest is a follow up to the one that happened in New Haven on Thursday night, which lasted from 5 p.m. until midnight.
Protestors shut down several streets, first marching from Elm Street to College Street and then lingering at the intersection of College and Crown Street. New Haven Police blocked traffic from the site and rerouted cars around it. Police closed Exit 1 off of I-91 South to keep vehicles away from protestors.
Police close exit 1 off of of I-91 South
Gabby Veron, a 21-year-old Yale student said that she protested all night and will continue to march against police brutality.
“We have to recognize the act of violence that was committed by police against a young black woman in our community,” Veron said. “I’m here tonight to make it known that we will not accept this, we cannot turn a blind eye and we want answers.”
Yale students and New Haven residents stand at the intersection of College and Crown Street in New Haven.
Hamden Officer Devin Eaton and Yale Officer Terrence Pollick fired 12 rounds into a vehicle of which Washington was a passenger of.
Washington did not suffer life-threatening injuries and continues to recover in a local hospital, while the driver, 21-year-old Paul Witherspoon, was not wounded, according to an article by ABC News,
The article states that the shooting unfolded after Hamden police responded to a call of an attempted armed robbery at a gas station in Hamden. Officers Eaton and Pollock blocked the vehicle that Washington and Witherspoon were in because it matched the description of the one leaving the scene.
Footage from a nearby surveillance camera, obtained by WTNH-TV, shows Officer Eaton jumping out of his vehicle and firing rounds into the driver’s side window.
Protests first started to break out on Tuesday, as dozens of community members and Black Lives Matter protestors rallied outside the Hamden Police Department, according to an article by NBC Connecticut. On Wednesday protestors gathered outside the house of Yale President Peter Salovey.
“I write this evening to assure you that Yale will cooperate fully in the investigation that the Connecticut State Police and the State’s Attorney’s Office are conducting, Salovey said in a statement issued Wednesday. “when they have finished, and we can have access to the evidence, we will also conduct our own investigation into this matter. As the primary investigation proceeds, we will share whatever information we can as quickly as we can about the circumstances of the shooting.”
In response, New Haven and Hamden mayors and police chiefs addressed the officer-involved shooting at a press conference on Wednesday night.
New Haven Mayor Toni Harp said she believes the incident is unacceptable, According to an article by WNPR,
“This incident portrays police activity gone horribly wrong,” Harp said at the press conference Wednesday. “And now Stephanie as well as many residents, her family, her friends, must live with the consequences and the resulting uncertainty of what was by every definition an unacceptable response.”
The article said Hamden Mayor, Curt B. Leng, said the state needs to complete the investigation to ensure justice is done.
“If there’s any resident or business that has any information regarding this incident, whether they’ve seen something, heard something, or most importantly, possibly, if they have any video evidence — please bring it forward,” Leng said.
Gus Eliopoulos is a co-owner of Fat Wedge U, a new restaurant on Whitney Ave. Eliopoulos said he believes the most important aspect of running a food business is making sure that their food is fresh. “We thrive on freshness and good quality,” he said. “We make all our own sauces and grind our own meet for burgers in house. We get product shipments in every morning, and we marinate our own chicken. If we don’t use all the chicken that was marinated for the day it goes in the trash and we start a fresh batch the next morning.”
