Thamar Bailey – HQ Press

A glimpse into Quinnipiac’s 2018 commencement speakers

By Thamar Bailey

Quinnipiac University announced its 10 commencement speakers on April 24. The docket includes people ranging from an ESPN sportscaster who had two life altering diseases to a lawyer that devoted his life to human rights issues.

Hover over the pictures below to learn more about each of the speakers.

Undergraduate School of Nursing commencement speaker

Victoria Arlen now an ESPN sportscaster spent four years “locked” in her body after being diagnosed with two life altering diseases at 11 years old, according to School of Nursing Dean Jean Lange. Arlen would go on to lose her ability to speak, eat, walk and move. While from the outside it appeared she was in a vegetative state, on the inside she was fully aware of what was going on. Now, 12 years later, Arlen has regained all of her abilities and has gone on to be a professional athlete among other things.

While Lange didn’t have a hand in picking this years speaker, she said Arlen is “going to be our best speaker yet.” Lange hopes, after listening to Arlen, her graduates will understand the importance of not giving up hope.

“I hope that our nursing students will take away from this the incredible power of the human spirit and that (Arlen) really is a wonderful testament of why we care so much about our patients and to try to help them achieve their best potential,” Lange said.

Arlen will speak at the undergraduate School of Nursing commencement ceremony on May 20 at 1 p.m.

School of Law commencement speaker

Stephen Bright, a visiting lecturer at Yale University and former director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, has made a career of fighting for human rights, according to School of Law Dean Jennifer Brown. Bright’s litigation focus include capital punishment, legal representation for poor people accused of crimes, and prison condition, according to schr.org. Bright has argued before the Supreme Court four times, his most recent case in 2017 McWilliams v. Dunn.

Bright will address the School of Law graduates on May 13 at 9 a.m. After listening to Bright, Brown said she hopes her graduates will see how powerful the law can be and how much of an impact one can have when truly serving the public interest.

“He has given up his life to do the right thing in his legal practice and not everyone is going to rise to that level,” Brown said. ”But if people can do even a tenth of what he has done (by) just putting aside his own interest, his own comfort, his own material wealth and just giving his life and his career.”

Undergraduate School of Health Sciences commencement speaker

Denise Fiore, COO of L+M Healthcare, will address undergraduate health science students on May 19 at 5 p.m. Fiore, a QU alum, received a bachelor’s degree in technology and returned to get her masters degree, according to School of Health Sciences Dean William Kohlhepp. Kohlhepp believes Fiore is a “shiny” example of what the School of Health Sciences aspires to accomplish with its graduates, creating leaders in their field.

“Many times when people are in health care professions they look at serving their patients or serving the being part of the science behind the healthcare profession, but we want them to think about being leaders and shaping the world of health care and health sciences down the road,” Kohlhepp said.

Kohlhepp said he believes Fiore is a role model of progressive leadership.

“I think she is someone who along the way has had opportunities and she’s embraced those opportunities and said ‘yes I can do that I believe I am confident enough in my education and experience that I can do that,’” Kohlhepp said. “ She said yes to other roles along the way, built her expertise and now has really moved up in a very important organization.”

School of Engineering commencement speaker

Jonna Gerken, program chief manufacturing manager for Pratt & Whitney and president of the Society of Women Engineers, will address the School of Engineering graduates on May 19 at 5 p.m. Gerkin is adamant in her belief of inclusion in the engineering field, and Justin Kile, dean of the School of Engineering, follows her sentiment.

“Engineering is about solving problems from very diverse ways of thinking the people that use things that engineers design come from a lot of backgrounds and abilities,” Kile said. “So someone who is focusing on that makes a lot of sense, because that’s the world our graduating students are going to go off in work in.”

While the School of Engineering population is mostly male, Kile said he believes the schools’ commencement speaker choice shows their commitment to thinking about diversifying the schools’ population and “bringing in a more broader scope of the population.”

“As a planet we need engineers,” Kile said. “We need people that can solve these problems, we need creative people, we need hard working people. That has nothing to do with your gender.”

School of Medicine commencement speaker

Frederick Kaplan, a dear friend of Frank Netter — the namesake of the Quinnipiac School of Medicine, will be the school’s 2018 commencement speaker, according to School of Medicine Dean Bruce Koeppen. Kaplan collaborated with Netter on a book focused on the muscular skeletal systems. While working on the book, the duo became close. Kaplan would go on to give Netter’s eulogy in the 1990s.

Kaplan studies fibrodysplasia progressiva, a disease that essentially turns people into living statues, according to Koeppen. While the disease is rare, Koeppen notes that Kaplan’s work on fibrodysplasia progressiva has helped the science community understanding bone formation.

Koeppen hopes graduates will leave commencement inspired by what they can accomplish in their own career.

“(Kaplan) was involved in discovering the defective gene and now is working on therapies that may be able to help these patients,” Koeppen said. “So it’s a remarkable career and I think that if he just tells his story to show what’s possible in a career in medicine that should inspire each and everyone of our graduates.”

Graduate College of Arts & Sciences and School of Health Sciences and Nursing commencement speaker

This year the College of Arts and Sciences chose the commencement speaker for graduate students in the college of arts and sciences and schools of health science and nursing. Robert Smart chose Scarlett Lewis, founder of the Lewis Choose Love Movement. Lewis created the movement after her son was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Lewis aims to change the “mental frames” that people use to understand the world we live in, according to Smart.

“What I hear her saying is that we have worked from such a limited set of frames ‘you’re either with us or against us’,’’ Smart said. “ ‘You’re either on this side of the issue or that side of the issue’ that we sometimes end up acting in ways that if we had a chance to step back for a moment would find appalling.”

Smart said he hopes the graduate students will leave commencement inspired to think outside of the normal bounds of society.

“This is a woman that has brought herself past the point of forgiving because of the love she bore her son,” Smart said. “And when you hear her story you realize she has made something really transformative out of a really incredibly powerful tragedy.”

Lewis will speak at graduate Arts and Sciences, Health Science, Nursing commencement ceremony on May 12 at 9 a.m.

School of Communications commencement speaker

Jarl Mohn, CEO and President of NPR, is a multifaceted news junkie, according to School of Communications Dean Mark Contreras. Mohn has a strong background in radio. From there he spring boarded to MTV and would go on to be the head of E! entertainment. Along the way, Mohn ran newspapers, served on board of digital start up companies and volunteered for non-profits. Mohn takes no salary as president and CEO of NPR. It’s this sense of selflessness and commitment to the industry that Contreras believes makes Mohn stand out.

“He’s a good example of somebody who believes strongly in giving back to the industry where he came from,” Contreras said. “He casts a very wide and bright light across the media world.”

After listening to Mohn come commencement day, May 20 at 9 a.m., Contreras hopes his undergraduate graduates walk away with pride in their industry.

“I hope that students and their families are left with a sense that news in America in 2018 matters,” Contreras said. “ Hard hitting investigative news still is important, the news media is not an enemy of the people and in fact is the foundation and bull work of which democracy stand or fall.”

Undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences commencement speaker

Tracy Smith, U.S. Poet laureate and director and professor of creative writing at Princeton University, will address the undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences on May 19 at 9 a.m.

Smith, with the help of local historian and gospel groups, is working to bring the “power of poetry” to rural communities throughout the American south, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Smart said.

Smart explained that Smith has a voice that is “driven by something that you don’t often find in a poet.”

“I wanted that voice speaking to our graduates and saying now that your horizon of understanding has suddenly been lifted, you have a responsibility,” Smart said.

Smart said he hopes his graduates walk away from commencement with confidence in the power of language.

“All of us should have (a voice),” Smart said. “ And if her work and words can provide my graduates of a sense that the world is waiting for their voices then I’m done. I’m happy with that.”

School of Business commencement speaker

Louis Ursini Jr., vice president of enterprise information technology at Aetna, will address the undergraduate School of Business on May 19 at 5 p.m. Ursini, a QU Alum and former QU hockey player, has remained close to the business school, according to School of Business Dean Matthew O’Connor. Ursini has served on the School of Business Advisory Council for more than ten years.

While at Aetna, Ursini has provided opportunities for not only School of Business students, but students from Quinnipiac as a whole. O’Connor noted that various students have had internships and went on to obtain careers at Aetna.

Come commencement O’Connor would like his students to note Ursini’s commitment to giving back to his community.

“We would like to think that students that not only graduate from the business school, but graduate from Quinnipiac do graduate with a sense of being engaged as a citizen,” O’Connor said. “(With) whatever they choose to do that they remain engaged in their communities and give back to their communities.”

School of Business, Communications and Education graduate commencement speaker

This year the School of Business chose Joe Natarelli, construction services leader for Marcum, as the commencement speaker for the graduate School of Business, Communications and Education. Natarelli, a QU alum, has spent much of his time giving back to the community, according to School of Business Dean Matthew O’Connor.

“Not only is (Natarelli) a great example of a School of Business alum,” O’Connor said “He’s a good example of remaining connected to not only the university but the School of Business. Remaining connected to the accounting program (and) remaining connected to our students.”

Natarelli serves on the School of Business Advisory Council and has provided various internships for Quinnipiac students.

Natarelli will speak at the School of Business, Communications and Education graduate commencement ceremony on May 12 at 9 a.m.

Student Government Association budget increases after 2016 budget cut

By Thamar Bailey

After a two year battle for a budget increase, on April 25 Quinnipiac University Student Government Association President of Public Relations Victoria Johnson announced the SGA budget will be increased to $725,000 for the 2018-2019 academic year.

In 2016 the university announced it would cut the SGA budget to $600,000. This figure was based on SGA’s historical spending pattern. The organization, on average, was only spending that amount, according to SGA President Ryan Hicks. Hicks also noted the lack of checks and balances and fiscal responsibility among the student organizations were also factors in the universities’ decision to the limit funding.

Now, SGA will receive a $125,000 increase for the upcoming academic year.

The budget increase comes a week and a half after SGA had its “Spring Finance Weekend,” when the organization distributes its budget among the student organizations that requested money for the upcoming academic year. While the organization now has over $700,000 to work with, that wasn’t the case when SGA made its budget breakdown for next year.

Based on the budget cut that was first implemented in the 2017-2018 academic year, SGA only had $600,000 to distribute among the 79 different campus organizations that requested money, and they went over.

“The process we did [that] weekend, we went through and we heard every single organization and allocated all the money as if it was in-line with policy and came in way over our $600,000 mark,” Hicks said. “So then we went through and cut all conferences and competitions to get that number down and then we cut all that off-campus travel and then all the growth.”

As a result various student organizations took hits to their requested budget. In the projected 2018-2019 budget Public Relations Society of America was set to lose 91 percent of its budget. Last year, the first year the budget cut was implemented, PRSSA requested less money and still lost 91 percent of its budget.

The budget cut decreased the groups presence on campus as well as its members chances of gaining professional experience, according to PRSSA President Samantha Nardone.

“For my group this meant we weren’t able to attend the National Conference in October, where students got to network and attend workshops focused on specific areas of public relations,” Nardone said. “We also weren’t able to go on agency tours, which in the past has been a great way for students to get internships.”

PRSSA is just one of the various academic groups that have taken hits to their budget. The Global Affairs Association, Entrepreneurship Club and Pre- Physician Assistant club among others have lost more than half of their budget.

Academic groups are integral in preparing students for their careers, according to Nardone.

“Academic groups give students the opportunity to get real world experience in their field in ways the classroom can’t,” Nardone said. “ In any field that has a professional group for college students, employers will expect that you have been a member.”

Cultural groups were also affected. The Black Student Union and Italian Cultural Society were among those that lost 50 percent or more of their budget.

Major campus events like the Big Event and Relay lost a quarter or more of their funding.

Even the Student Programming Board, which was allotted 65 percent of the SGA budget in the current academic year, lost a minor percentage of their budget.

However, even though a majority of the SGA funded student organizations lost funding they were still able to receive additional funding through the special appeals process.

This year 81 special appeals were made and 51 were approved for additional funding. The special appeal approval ruling is based on the purpose of the appeal made by the student organization. The event has to be aligned with the organization’s mission, and SGA needs to have available funds.

The special appeals process was one piece of evidence Hicks used to request a budget increase. Since special appeals allow for off-campus travel, competitions and conferences, Hicks used the appeals process as evidence to note the valuable experiences students were able to have.

Hicks delivered multiple proposals to the university hoping to show the university that additional funding was necessary to facilitate better student experiences.

“The majority of the student experience is surrounded by what you get involved in and we hear that preached so often ‘Get involved in student organizations because they help you develop these qualities that you need in the field, they help you develop professionally, they allow you to network,’” Hicks said. “But if the money’s not there and they don’t have these opportunities then that limits their student experience.”

While the money is now available to benefit student organizations there is no set plan as to how SGA will allocate the funds among the student organizations, according to Hicks.

Quinnipiac approves virtual office hours policy

By Thamar Bailey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SGA announces executive board results after grievance investigation

By Thamar Bailey

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

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

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

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

The recently announced executive board positions are as follows:

President: Ryan Hicks

Vice President: Luke Ahearn

VP of Finance: John Khillah

QU professors explain the implications of Cambridge Analytica incident

By Thamar Bailey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hamden representative weighs in on recreational marijuana bill

By Thamar Bailey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Student government grievances halt executive board election announcements

By Thamar Bailey

The Quinnipiac University Student Government Association executive board election announcements came to a halt Wednesday night when SGA announced that the executive board results were under review.

SGA Vice President for Public Relations Victoria Johnson announced the winners of each class’s respective president, vice president and representatives. However, she failed to announce the executive president, vice president, and vice president of Finance.

There were multiple grievances that were filed, but Johnson said the organization would not be releasing any more details until the appeals are filed and “properly dealt with.”

Based on the grievances forms found on the SGA Do You QU site, a grievance is a formal complaint based on a violation personally witnessed during the course of campaigning in accordance with section four of the SGA election policy.

According to the policy, a grievance could include: campaigning outside of permitted areas, executive board candidates spending more than $250 on their campaign, accepting donations and defacing or destroying campaign materials by another candidate or his or her supporters.

It’s unclear who filed the grievances, though Johnson said they can be anonymous.

Johnson did not specify when the executive positions will be announced.

Shackled to words: The language of news extends punishment of the formerly incarcerated

By Thamar Bailey

In early February, a woman gave birth in her cell at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, Connecticut’s only women’s prison. Two days later reports began circulating that the institution was investigating how a child could’ve been born at the facility while health workers knew of the pregnancy.

Only one of the news reports published soon after the incident featured a headline referring to the new mother as a “woman.” Among the other headlines, one labeled her a “prisoner,” five labeled her an “inmate” and the remaining three referred solely to the birth of the baby.

Amber Kelly, a partner of the Quinnipiac University Prison Project and Quinnipiac assistant professor of social work, noted a similar trend. According to Kelly, when the news media refers to the female as an “inmate” or “prisoner” she is dehumanized.

“She is a woman. She is now a mother, and to read ‘inmate gives birth in cell’ hits you so differently than ‘a woman gave birth in her cell’, [than] ‘a pregnant woman gave birth in her cell,’” Kelly said. “When most people hear the word inmate there’s immediately a distancing. [People view the incident as] ‘That has nothing to do with me.’ ‘ I am not that thing.’”

At a time when incarceration is a widely discussed and polarizing topic, experts say journalists’ word usage may have an effect on the public’s perception of previously incarcerated people and those currently incarcerated.

Don Sawyer, a Quinnipiac sociology professor who is serving as the university’s chief diversity officer, explained that upon reentry previously incarcerated people run into obstacles obtaining housing, applying for jobs and being accepted back into the community. Instead, they’re viewed as “monsters” that shouldn’t have been let out of their cage, Sawyer said.

The news media places a label on people by using stigmatizing words such as: inmate, prisoner, convict and offender, according to Quinnipiac Assistant Professor of Criminology Stephen McGuinn. When journalists use these words, they don’t realize the “dramatic stigma” associated with them, he said.

“And the disservice initially is that we don’t see [incarcerated or currently incarcerated people] as individuals,” he added. “We see them as part of some kind of group that we’ve outcast and don’t belong back in.”

Society reflects this mentality. Previously incarcerated people are disenfranchised upon their exit from prison and re-entrance into society. For instance, they are stripped of their right to vote in various states and are excluded from some state-managed welfare programs. Society, by implementing these laws and restrictions, reinforces the idea that incarcerated people are somehow undeserving of these rights and in turn they are treated as second-class citizens, Sawyer said.

Kelly, the social work professor, points out that stigmatizing words act as labels that extend the punishment beyond the criminal justice system.

“Why is it that the consequence thrown down by the state isn’t enough? Why do we need to continue punishing someone on so many levels?,” Kelly asked. “Who decided journalists were a part of the punishment of society?”

Sawyer explained the weight behind labels by comparing it to what happens when a child gets in trouble at school.

It begins with the initial instance of calling the student “bad.” The teacher then tells the child’s next year professor to “watch out” because that child is a “bad” student. Sawyer explained that this child is then perceived as such and will be treated accordingly. Along the way the student begins to internalize that they’re a “bad” student and eventually behaves in that manner because it’s expected of them. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, according to Sawyer.

The role of the news media in perpetuating the stigma against incarcerated people is borne out by the words often used in articles regarding previously or currently incarcerated people.

A search of the Hartford Courant site found that in headlines and articles journalists at the Courant had a higher propensity to use the word inmate to refer to incarcerated people, while felon, offender, convict, prisoner, and ex-con were less frequent but still used.

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“Why do we need to continue punishing someone on so many levels? Who decided journalists were a part of the punishment of society?”

— Amber Kelly, Quinnipiac assistant professor of social work

Meanwhile a search of the New Haven Register site found that in headlines and articles journalists were more likely to use the words: prisoner, offender, felon and inmate to refer to incarcerated people.

Josh Kovner, a journalist at the Hartford Courant, has spent the past 21 years covering criminal justice, mental health and child protection. Kovner tends to refer to incarcerated people by their name in his articles. When asked why Kovner explained it in terms of a story he was recently working on about bad mental health care, noting that the humanity of the person should be at the forefront of the story.

“It’s not totally advocacy journalism, it’s straight journalism,” Kovner said. “If we’re talking about bad medical care or bad mental health care or a brain injury or something, then you know, they’re a person first.”

Does the language used depend on the story being written?

Kovner notes that he sees no reasons to use words other than the name of the incarcerated persons unless quoting from police documents or other official documents to that effect. However, overall according to Kovner, journalists shouldn’t be afraid to use words like offender and inmate, even with the stigma they entail.

“I don’t need to dehumanize them further to make a point,” Kovner said. “But you know if they weren’t wrongly convicted, they got themselves into a situation and they’re going to have to take a certain amount of pain and stigma.”

New Haven Register City Editor William Kaempffer, a previous fire and police reporter, explained his stance on the use of these words. On one hand he acknowledges the negative connotation that comes with the words inmate, convict etc. However, according to Kaempffer there are words that are better to use than others. He specifically prefers the word offender or ex-offender.

“Words matter and different words carry different connotations, different implications draw different inference, and we as writers and reporters need to be mindful of that,” Kaempffer said. “Because you’ll hear conversations about unconscious biases.”

On Jan. 26 Quinnipiac University held a panel “The Real Women of Orange is the New Black: A Discussion of Women’s Experiences of Prison in the U.S.” One of the purposes of the event was to start a dialogue about the unconscious biases in society that not only people in power have but also everyday people, according to Sawyer, who co-sponsored the event.

These unconscious biases apparent in society are ingrained in individuals via the language one sees, reads, hears as well as the way prison is depicted in the media, among other things, according to Sawyer.

For example, when a previously incarcerated person attempts to buy a house, neighbors whisper. They question whether anyone conducted background or credit checks, Sawyer said. This line of questioning is in response to the act that a person was in jail. It’s an unconscious bias, according to Sawyer.

“It creates a monster in our minds, it creates a boogeyman,” he said. “And then when someone is coming out of prison and they tell you ‘I was formerly incarcerated,’ what does your mind go back to? Seeing those images on TV, seeing those 100-feet walls, seeing those electric fences and the barbed wires and the guards that were used to contain this individual, so they must have been a monster if they were in there.”

In response to this reality, McGuinn emphasizes the importance of using people-centered language.

“I’d say language is real powerful and there is no reason to broad stroke an entire population with one word,” McGuinn said. “The label, yeah, that’s a part of their past, but that’s not them. That’s why people-centered language is important. Yeah, you might have to type a couple extra words instead of inmate or ex-imate, you might have to say formerly incarcerated person.”

McGuinn shrugged and added, “But if that’s the worst of it.”

Kaempffer agrees that some words are better to use than others, but disagrees that there should be an enforced uniformity among journalists’ word usage when regarding a person currently or previously involved in the criminal justice system.

Word usage should be left in the hands of the journalist writing the story, Kaempffer said. Noting that there are various ways to refer to the incarcerated population Kaempffer said word usage depends on what fits a particular story.

“So to say an ex-prisoner versus an ex-offender, my preference is ex-offender. Sometimes, you know, ‘the prisoner was in jail’ fits into the story,” Kaempffer said. “I’m not sure there are set rules that need to be put in place. I think we trust our journalists, hopefully, to be cautious in the language that they use.”

But the fact remains, Kelly said, that damaging language is still used at a high rate as proven by the recent incident involving the woman that gave birth at York Correctional Facility. Journalists’ words have an impact on every level, all the way to the landlord who takes in the news every day and is debating whether to rent to a previously incarcerated person, she said.

The prolonging of pain is unnecessary and the stain of a label and the stigma it carries isn’t easy to come back from, according to Sawyer.

“Labels shape the perception that we have of the person that’s labeled,” he said. “So if you say that someone is an ex-con they are forever tied to what they did and so their personhood becomes their crime. They exist as a person who committed a crime. They never get to the space where they’ve paid their debt to society.”

Hamden approves Quinnipiac residence hall expansion

By Thamar Bailey

Quinnipiac is prepared to create a 220-bed residence hall on its York Hill campus, Lynn Bushnell, vice president for public affairs, said in a statement.

On March 27, the Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission approved Quinnipiac’s plan to build a new senior residence hall that would include air-conditioned single rooms and three community rooms, according to Bushnell. The community rooms are said to be able to hold more than 200 people. According to the statement, the new building will provide additional space for students and student organizations to hold meetings.

Below you will find an aerial view of the York Hill campus as well as where the university plans to construct the new residence halls, courtesy of hamden.com.

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For more information and visuals, click here.

How Quinnipiac is supporting DREAMers after the March 5 deadline

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By Thamar Bailey

Experts are trying to figure out how to support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients in the wake of President Trump’s passed March 5 deadline for DACA, according to Maria Praeli, Quinnipiac University alumna and immigration policy associate at FWD.us, a bipartisan organization with a hand in commonsense immigration reform and criminal justice reform advocacy.

The Obama Administration established DACA in 2012. It granted undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors with a temporary and renewable two-year work permit and protections from deportation, according to informedimmigrant.com.

But President Trump put the program in jeopardy in September. He announced a March 5 deadline, after which no one can renew or or submit an application.

A week before the the Trump Administration’s deadline the Supreme Court announced they would not hear a California case concerning the integrity of the DACA program. As a result, the case returned to the ninth circuit. The court ordered an injunction that made the deadline obsolete. While it didn’t create a solution, Praeli described the injunction as a “small victory.”

“What the court petition did was that out of a California injunction say that the way in which the Trump administration ended the program wasn’t right and therefore the administration had to accept renewal applications,” Praeli said. “But what it did not do was say that the administration had to accept new applications.”

FWD.us is currently working on is assisting businesses and universities to support their DACA recipients.

“It’s someone’s well being being turned upside down, but it’s also people within their communities, their circle that’s affected by this,” Praeli said. “So if you’re an employee your employer is now losing someone and that’s [a] cost to business. If you’re a teacher at a university you would be potentially losing a student.”

Several universities have showed their support for DACA recipients by paying for legal fees associated with applying for and renewing DACA permits as well as offering scholarships.

More than 700 college and universities signed on to the Pomona College statement, symbolic of their support for DACA students, otherwise known as DREAMers, stating their refusal to share information on DACA students and refusing to use campus enforcement for deportation.

Quinnipiac University was not one of those universities, according to Executive Vice President and Provost Mark Thompson.

“The concern that the president had with signing on to the [Panoma statement] was about the potential political backlash against those institutions that were signing on to that agreement,” Thompson said. “So he didn’t want to position our students who are DREAMers to potentially in any way be impacted by any backlash that would come from the federal government.”

While Quinnipiac didn’t officially sign the Panoma statement, Thompson said the university follows the same sentiment. In an email addressed to the Quinnipiac community on Sept. 6, 2017, Thompson reaffirmed the universities commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“DACA students are an integral part of our community,” Thompson wrote. “The university does not share private information about our students in accordance with the Family Educational and Rights of Privacy Act (FERPA). While the university is bound to comply with state and federal laws, enforcement of federal immigration policy primarily rests with federal authorities.”

Praeli, who graduated in 2016, believes the university could have firmer policies. During her time at the university she noted she had great professors, but lacked a sense of community. Instead, she had to make her own network of professors and faculty members to support herself.

According to Thompson, the Quinnipiac Department of Multicultural and Global Education would’ve been in charge of facilitating such a network and community. He added that he believes this is something the university ought to do if it’s not being done already.

Community is only one issue of various academic barriers that DREAMers have to face, Praeli said.

In Connecticut prior to 2011, even if a student had lived in the state their whole life they wouldn’t be eligible to pay in-state tuition. It wasn’t until Governor Malloy signed An Act Concerning Access to Postsecondary Education in July 2011, that undocumented immigrants who met the criteria were eligible for in-state tuition.

Praeli also explained that DREAMers are not privy to financial aid and state funding in the forms of grants and loans, which is why various private institutions have created scholarships for DREAMers.

Quinnipiac doesn’t offer any scholarships specifically designated for DREAMers, according to Dominic Yoia, the university director of financial aid. However, Yoia said all students are considered for academic scholarship, regardless of their U.S. citizenship status.

While there’s no official count of the number of DACA students attending Quinnipiac, Thompson suspects the number is relatively low.

However, executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute and political science professor Sean Duffy said regardless of the number of DACA students, the university should provide better assistance for them, especially because there’s a reality that many of Quinnipiac students have mixed-status or undocumented families while they are citizens themselves.

“It would be nice if our university actually had more than just to say ‘oh if you’re concerned about this then go to the office of multiculturalism and global education and they’ll be able to refer you to some resources in the community that may be able to help,’” Duffy said. “That’s really a kind of weak kind of support in my mind.”

The department of multicultural and global education was unavailable for comment for this story.