By Hannah Tebo
It’s that time of year! If you are a Hamden resident and a registered Democrat and you want to make an impact on your community, come out to one of the nine different voting stations on Tuesday, Sep. 10, to cast your vote for the Democratic candidate for mayor. While bringing identification is not required, it is strongly encouraged.
Click HERE for information about your specific district.
The two democratic mayoral debates on Wednesday Sept. 4 and Friday Sept. 6, had many different topics of discussion ranging from town budgets to taxes, but a major concern with both candidates had to do with Quinnipiac students living in residential neighborhoods around Hamden.
By Kim Kerremans
During the debate Friday morning Mayor Curt B. Leng and challenger Councilwoman Lauren Garrett discussed Quinnipiac students living throughout Hamden. Leng stated that the police had to hand out a number of citations to Quinnipiac students the first weekend back to school, for being disruptive to their neighbors.
Leng said, “we have a problem in the neighborhoods where bad behavior is occurring in certain student housing locations and it’s a real issue for neighbors because if you buy a house and expect to enjoy a quiet neighborhood.”
Mayor Leng on Quinnipiac: pic.twitter.com/XCn8UTbAjz
— HQ Press (@hq_press) September 4, 2019
This is not the case for all students, the majority of student housing is not a problem for the neighbors. Leng said, “I’m really thrilled that the Quinnipiac University’s new leadership, President Judy Olian, her staff and their security forces have really been working hand in hand with is and the police department engaging finally their student life into the mix.”
Garret joined the discussion with, “Our police officers need to make sure that they are keeping an eye on underaged drinking. I’m not hearing about any complaints on the underaged drinking.”
Lauren Garrett on Quinnipiac: pic.twitter.com/QTC770T7aM
— HQ Press (@hq_press) September 4, 2019
Leng responded, “I agree with the underaged drinking aspect, that’s a real concern. One of the things that’s happening on a positive end with that is when you get an officer that gets to a large party and breaks it up, the town and the university have a much better line of communication to now send buses when appropriate, to ensure that people are drinking aren’t getting into cars.”
The primary election is Tuesday, Sept. 10, the winner of the primary will be pinned up against Republican nominee Jay Kaye on Nov. 5.
By Adrianna Lovegrove
Councilwoman Lauren Garrett is a longtime Hamden resident who is in the running to become Hamden’s next democratic Mayor. The primary is on Tuesday Sept. 10 to determine who will be running against endorsed republican Jay Kaye in the general election.
Councilwoman Lauren Garrett
Q: What was it that made you want to run?
LG: We have a lot of financial problems in Hamden and an economy that hasn’t really been growing at all for decades. And I sit on the council and see a lot of continuations of those bad financial decisions and as an engineer I can’t sit there and watch it happen. I’ve got to fix it. I decided to just get into it and try to fix this town so that we can move forward and build an economy that supports Hamden.
Q: When you talk about those bad financial decisions, what are you talking about?
LG: A couple of years ago, Hamden took out bonds, borrowed money, to supplement the pension plan. They borrowed 125 million dollars. To sink into the pension fund and in doing so, they were required to invest in the pension fund with required payments. They’ve been kicking the can down the road on those payments and it’s putting us in a worse position for the pension plan. Any time that you don’t make a payment, it’s going to cost you more later because you don’t see growth in your pension plan that’s invested in the stock market and in other bonds. It’s a safe investment but if you’re not putting more money into it, you’re not seeing that growth. So now we’re actually in a position where we’re actually paying out more than we are putting into our pension because of the payments we have to make to retirees.
In regards to our infrastructure, our budgets are being balanced by not doing infrastructure projects, closing those projects and then using that money to supplement our budget at the end of the year.
Our debt is not being paid off as it should be. So, last year in the budgeting process there was a debt restructure that was done and instead of paying our regular debt payment they restructured over $40 million worth of debt for an interest only payment. So that payment is going up and we incurred more debt just by doing that debt restructure.
So we are adding to our debt. We are deferring infrastructure. And our pension is growing and its liabilities.
Garrett and the current mayor, Curt Leng discussed financial decisions during the first of two debates.
Q: So what is your plan to deal with that if you were to win?
LG: We need to make sure that we are funding our budget appropriately because right now we are in a situation where our fund balance, it’s like what your rainy day fund is, is at .61% of our operating budget. It should be between 6 and 10 percent of our operating budget for a healthy town. We’ve got to budget honestly and we also need to start getting to work on growing our economy so that the economy grows with the town.
When you have an economy that’s flat or declining for a couple of decades, it really hurts mill rate, the taxes and the town. We need to grow an economy that actually supports the rising costs of running the town.
So that is my primary focus. Getting more economic development, bringing more business into Hamden. We really have to work with our partners, like Quinnipiac. We need to work with people who own commercial real estate in Hamden and make sure that we’re putting in businesses that attract foot traffic.
Q: When you talk about bringing businesses to Hamden, what is your strategy to get them here?
LG: Well, we have a couple of tools at our disposal. So, one is a qualified opportunity zone. It’s a federal program that’s designated by census tract. This is the area of southern Hamden, from the border of New Haven, up to Putnam Ave and then from about Fairview to Newholm and this gives us access to money that we can use to develop southern Hamden and make it ripe for businesses wanting to come here.
We have areas of town where we can simply put in some sewers north of Quinnipiac on Whitney Avenue. There are no sewers, so do businesses want to come here and put in septic? Nope. So there are some simple areas where we can put in a simple fix and generate growth.
Q: On your website, you talk about wanting to eliminate the achievement gap. Why is that a priority and how do you plan on getting rid of it?
LG: We want to decrease the achievement gap. Everything we do in Hamden public schools should be to lift test scores for all of our students. We have great programming in our Hamden public schools for kids who are doing very well. AP tests, AP classes that give college credits to kids who pass the test. We’ve got a new engineering program at Hamden High. It’s called HECA, Hamden Engineering Career Academy and there is so much being done for high achieving students, we need to make sure that we are also putting in a lot of effort into making sure that students are coming to school. That we don’t have chronic absenteeism. We need to make sure we are giving students every tool available so that they can learn well in school. Making sure that they’re well fees. Making sure that they’re not going to school hungry. They have the supplies they need for the classroom. Everything we do needs to be about engaging our students and helping them develop into the career or college after school.
Q: You talked about bringing in more diverse teachers because 61% of Hamden students are black or brown. How do you plan on bringing in more representation?
LG: I organized a panel discussion last January about recruiting and retaining more teachers of color and the Board of Education has some really great plans that they have developed since then. Their goal is to get some of their faculty who has a college degree already and put them on a path to getting their teachers certificate while being substitute teachers in our Hamden public schools. So they can be long term subs, they can go through all their professional development training that our teachers go through, while getting their teachers certificate. This can reduce the cost of our subs and it’s a great opportunity for us to encourage the minority faculty that we have already in our schools to have their teaching certificate and teach our kids.
It doesn’t really address the overall percentage of our faculty. It’s a step in the right direction though. I’d also like to see active recruitment of black and brown teachers from HBCU’s and make sure that we are really seeking out these great teachers. I would be more than happy to go on a tour of schools recruiting some teachers for Hamden from schools. But we have to make sure funding is available earlier on in the season.
What typically happens in Hamden is that we don’t really know how many teaching spots we have available for the fall until pretty late in the summer. It’s a lot of last minute hiring and by then people have already made decisions about where they are going to go to school. We have to make sure that we are being more active earlier on in the season.
Q: Quinnipiac and the town of Hamden have always had a rocky relationship. Where do you think that relationship comes from?
LG: Quinnipiac has a new president. That’s more of a clean slate that we’re working with there. I want to make sure we’re coming to the table with an understanding of each other’s goals and each others needs. I know that Quinnipiac wants to be a good partner and invest in Hamden but they want to do it in ways where they can put their stamp on it and say ‘Look what we’ve done for Hamden.’ For Curt Leng to put in his budget that Quinnipiac is going to give $2.2 million, that sets things off on a bad foot. We have to have those conversations in order to have a good working relationship instead of putting it out there in the press, putting it out there is a public document that this is what you’re demanding.
In addition to that, he didn’t attend President Olian’s inauguration. That’s not a good way to start a relationship.
Q: How do you plan on building a stronger relationship?
LG: We need to have good communication. We are sharing goals and needs. It’s in Quinnipiac’s best interest to have Hamden in good financial standing as a town. And it’s in Hamden’s best interest to have a vibrant university as part of our town.
Q: You have built your campaign around the promise of financial responsibility. Can you explain what that means?
LG: It starts with a budget. So we need a budget that is honest. An honest representation of what we can expect for revenues and funds, honestly, what we are required to fund. And that’s not happening right now and as a result we are seeing deficits every single year. Last year, it was almost $10 million. And the way that it’s being solved at the end of the year is by not contributing what we should towards the pension as well as taking money that was borrowed to infrastructure repairs, not doing the repairs and then putting the borrowed money into the budget to offset expenses.
Q: Overall, what has surprised you most about the campaign process?
LG: I was in full expectation in the amount of work that it would be. I knew this was going to be full-time, nights away from my family. I guess what was unexpected was maybe negativity. I have been focusing on the issues and focusing on communicating with voters and making sure that I am knocking on as many doors as possible. And I feel like that’s what it’s really going to take to win. I think when you have face to face conversations, there’s more respect in person and social media can just be a little bit nasty so sometimes that’s hurtful.
Q: So speaking of negative. There was a Tesla incident a while ago. A lot people claimed that you endangered the lives of your children. What’s your response to that?
LG: I don’t think that the best decisions were made that night but I think that when people are the victims of crime, I don’t think they’re expected to act perfectly. Women get raped and then take a shower because they feel disgusting and destroy evidence. Are they doing the right thing? How can I judge them for that. There’s a lot of judgment for my family and we’re the victims of crime and I think it’s hard to think about how would you make these decisions. I don’t really like passing judgement on other people when that’s not my experience.
Q: Looking back on the experience, was there anything you would have done differently?
LG: Of course but I’m trying not to victim blame or victim shame myself. I have friends who are mental health professionals who are constantly saying “don’t do that to yourself.” It’s not good for me to do those kind of things to myself. So, of course there are things that I would do differently if I was not a victim of a crime. But I am not concentrating on that. I’m trying to move one and what ultimately was the most harmful for me and my family was the negativity, the judgment and the shaming. My daughter was bullied the next day at school and that was the result of the social media negativity.
Both candidates are looking to gain momentum prior to Tuesday’s primary election.
By Peter Dewey
HAMDEN — Democratic candidates Mayor Curt B. Leng and challenger Councilwoman At-Large Lauren Garrett engaged in a primary debate on Wednesday Sept. 4 at Thorton Wilder Hall, less than a week before the primary election.
The debate was put on by the League of Women Voters of Hamden-North Haven, with more than 200 people attending. Residents were able to submit written questions at the debate for review and submission to moderator Ray Andrewsen.
“I was very impressed with the turnout,” Rod Groff, a Hamden resident, said. “I haven’t seen the room this full before.”
The two candidates were able to advocate for their campaigns ahead of the Democratic primary election on Tuesday Sept. 10.
Leng and Garrett touched upon many issues including reducing pollution, preparing for storms, making schools safer, developing parts of town such as High Meadow and bringing more taxable businesses to Hamden.
However, the biggest issues stemmed from the town’s financial crisis where the two went back and forth for much of the debate.
Garrett: “I know what is keeping these people up at night.”
She discusses the problems with Hamden financially and with transparency in terms of the budget. #HamdenMayor pic.twitter.com/osdZWBsfG8
— HQ Press (@hq_press) September 4, 2019
“I guess overall I was a little underwhelmed,” Groff said. “There are a lot of big issues right now for Hamden. From what I’ve read our level of debt is [nearly a billion dollars]. I don’t feel like they really addressed that elephant in the room.”
While the New Haven Register reported in June that the town’s debt had climbed to $1.1 billion, the candidates didn’t quite offer solutions, but rather tried to justify their positions on the crisis.
“We have a five-year plan,” Leng said. “We have a ten-year plan and we have one-year plans. The problem with anything that you write down is it is going to evolve year to year. It is going to evolve when your revenues change and when your contracts change.”
Garrett, who first won a seat on the Legislative Council in 2017, has worked on approving where the town’s money is spent, enacting town ordinances, decreasing the budget and other things.
Garrett believes that Hamden must become more financially responsible in order to sustain itself over the long-term.
“There was a financial plan in 2015,” Garrett said. “Since then there has not been a financial plan. This has been demanded by the council and nothing has been delivered on that. If there is a financial plan and it’s not being shared, that is not transparency.”
Her campaign website cites improved spending of tax dollars as well as economic development as key issues to address.
“I have been working to bring transparency and accountability to our budgeting process in Hamden,” Garrett said in her opening statement. “I think we need to start having honest conversations with our residents about where we are at financially so that people can see when these types of high taxes are going to end.”
Despite Garrett’s questioning of the handling of the town’s budget as well as its sustainability, Leng was adamant that improvements were being made, telling the crowd multiple times to not fall into that “narrative.”
“We’ve worked towards fixing our pension fund,” Leng said. “Our pension fund was only nine percent funded a decade ago. It’s 38 percent funded now. We’ve put $64 million into the pension over the past four-plus years.”
While a number of issues were touched upon during the debate, Justin Farmer of the Hamden Town Council’s fifth district would’ve liked to have heard more from the candidates.
“We have long-term plans,” Farmer said. “The average mayor lasts for about six years so I wanted them to talk about longer term than five year plans, what things did they want to develop in the next ten years and set the trajectory to allow people to come in to set up and see [Hamden] grow.”
Farmer said he wished to hear the candidates talk more about issues already facing Hamden such as developing northern Hamden and affordable housing.
“Whatever financial hardships we have, it’s going to take awhile,” Farmer said. “But the light at the end of the tunnel, there has to be a plan.”
The two candidates also touched upon Hamden’s relationship with Quinnipiac, both citing the fact that too many students are in residential neighborhoods.
“It’s a real challenge,” Leng said, as he explained that it is too easy for student housing permits to be renewed despite there being multiple violations. “The State of Connecticut needs to empower towns to be able to reject a permit renewal based on bad behavior. We can’t do it now and it is really, really needed.”
Lauren Garrett on Quinnipiac: pic.twitter.com/QTC770T7aM
— HQ Press (@hq_press) September 4, 2019
Leng also cited some positives, stating that Quinnipiac President Judy Olian has shown a dedication to supporting the community and that the university is a large driver in the town’s economy.
“We should be asking ‘How do we embrace the fact that we are a college town?’” Farmer said. “We have Quinnipiac, we have Yale, we have Southern down the street, how do we embrace that culture as a college town rather than have this narrative that students are so horrible?”
Mayor Leng on Quinnipiac: pic.twitter.com/XCn8UTbAjz
— HQ Press (@hq_press) September 4, 2019
Leng is looking to begin his third full term as mayor, should he win the primary and the general election. While the incumbent received the endorsement from the Democratic Town Committee, Garrett was able to petition for a primary election, receiving over 1,200 signatures.
Leng has already been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, despite the fact that most federal officials wait until after the primary election to endorse a candidate.
In addition to DeLauro, former State Senate candidate Jorge Cabrera also endorsed Leng for mayor this week.
“I’m looking forward to voting on Tuesday,” Groff said. “But I’m also looking forward to hearing the other side and seeing what the Republicans put forward for November. I’ll definitely come to that debate as well.”
Leng and Garrett will face off in another debate on Friday Sept. 6 at Whitney Center at 8:30 a.m. Registration and a $20 fee is required. See the Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce for more details.
The winner of the Sept. 10 primary election will be pinned up against Republican nominee Jay Kaye in the November election on Nov. 5.
By Marissa Davis
An unassuming brick building lies in the shadows of Town Hall on Dixwell Avenue. Weeds grow from sidewalk cracks. Construction noise provides a background soundtrack. Inside the building, books — yes, books still exist — fill wooden shelves as people loiter with an unspoken to read a newspaper or assemble a puzzle. Children entertain themselves with toys and books while surrounded by brightly painted animals.
Photo by Marissa Davis
That’s a typical scene in the Miller Memorial Library in Hamden, Connecticut. It’s the main branch of the three libraries in a town of 61,000 people.
The library is named in honor of inventor and businessman, Willis E. Miller. Miller died in 1904 and his widow bequeathed the library to the town. It originally opened its doors in 1952, but has been renovated several times since.
The HPL is centered upon the Miller Memorial Library and two other branches. The two branches are the Brundage Community Branch on Circular Avenue and the Whitneyville Branch on Carleton Street.
But that centerpiece library named in honor of Miller is falling apart according to library officials.
“I’ve been here for seven years and so when I got here I had to take stock of the physical condition of the library,” library director Marian Amodeo said. “Technically we should have a new building.”
Annual reports in 2013 and 2014 point to the main library’s deterioration and problems with the branch libraries.
In 2013, the report noted issues with the phone system and spotty Wi-Fi service.
Photo by Marissa Davis
The 2014 annual report is apocalyptic.
“The exteriors of all three Hamden library buildings are in dire need of repair and attention,” the report stated. “The branch libraries need paint and other repairs to the buildings, and the grounds are an embarrassment. The main library needs power-washing of the bricks, landscaping and other repairs.”
The report revealed that the Miller Library lacked working fire alarms.
The 2017 report furnished equally bad news.
“The poor condition of the buildings and the grounds of both branches is stunning,” the report stated. “Painting, both interior and exterior, landscaping, cleaning, ceiling tile replacement, lighting, carpeting, furniture replacement, driveway and parking lot resurfacing, security and more is needed at both locations.”
The most recent annual report speaks to frustrations with the lack of movement in implementing repairs to both buildings.
Even with its structural challenges, the HPL continues to operate and produce programs for children and families.
“We moved every single thing around in the library in order to make a larger space for the children’s department,” Amodeo said. “This is a town of 60,000 people and the space allotted for children was minuscule so we just tripled the size of the children’s room and made an early learning center.”
Photo by Marissa Davis
Every kindergartner and fourth-grader living in Hamden visit the library for a story-based program and library cards. And the HPL now runs the Hamden Public Schools’ summer reading program.
HPL offers numerous free programs families, according to Marcy Goldman, head of Children’s Services.
“Throughout the year, September through May, we have weekly story time sessions,” Goldman said. “They run for five weeks at a time we do different age groups so that they’re age appropriate and we can incorporate what we are supposed to incorporate into a story time.”
But the library offers more than just story time for children.
“We also have STEM play for preschoolers, so I have lots of different things I buy from Lakeshore that are STEM-related but they’re good for young kids,” Goldman said. “So one of them for instance is a fairy-tale kit. So it’s the three little pigs and they have to practice with the sticks and the blocks that they give them, building the house that’s gonna be the strongest.”
HPL also offers convenient activities for the transient families that reside in Hamden.
“We have playgroups too that are just very casual,” Goldman said. “A lot of parents like that, there’s a lot of people in this community that come to the library that are new to town. We find that there’s a lot of transient people, they come here because their husband or wife is doing their residency at Yale, so they live here for that amount of time and then they move. Those people use the library a lot.”
Funding from the Friends of the Library has been a huge help in getting the HPL children’s department off the ground.
Photo by Marissa Davis
“Then we have fun programs,” Goldman said. “People that we hire once in a while, a lot of the programs we try to do on our own at low cost but when we have larger performers that cost say three hundred or four hundred dollars to come in and do a magic show or something that money we get from the friends of the library so everything here is always free. We don’t charge for anything.”
The library sought to target teens under a special program and even deployed a librarian to that task. But resources really needed to be focused on adult programming after years without that service.
Photo by Marissa Davis
“When I got here the staff didn’t do any adult programming,” Amodeo said. “There used to be a really vibrant friends’ group but they don’t really exist anymore. We all started to do programming and that’s just off the charts in terms of adult lifelong learning problems, cultural series, movies, those kinds of things.”
Hamden’s increasingly diverse population is prompting the library to respond. World Language teachers at the Hamden Public Schools asked the library to get families more involved in programming.
“A few weeks back we had our third world language night where we opened the library just to this group and they come in and we work with the teachers and there’s dinner and activities for the children,” Amodeo said. “We couldn’t be more happy about that because we feel we are working hand in hand to try to acclimate new residents in town.”
Photo by Marissa Davis
As the library director, Amodeo reports to the mayor, Curt Leng and to the five-member library board. The board offers some funding for programs through donations to help fill budgetary gaps. The board funded the purchase of computers to equip a lab where two librarians can offer classes on how to use the machines to the public.
Councilwoman Lauren Garrett is one official who can vouch for the library’s importance in a digital age.
“Personally I feel that libraries need to stay around,” Garret said. “My grandfather for instance, I’m pretty sure he graduated from high school, but he went off into the military, came back, had a family. Never really got much of an education beyond that and he read all the time. He was one of the smartest guys I knew, just because he was so well read. That exists in our society. You’ll find really intelligent people and it’s all because of the library.”
A new website is helping to modernize the library, according to Jessica Dans, the head of technical services.
“I did try to make our website very bright and colorful and inviting,” Dans said. “The thing people say when they come in is how nice the staff is, it’s such a friendly place, they feel so comfortable here. We kind of wanted the website to reflect that. It was a little stuffier before so we wanted something fun.”
“People have to keep in mind that the library isn’t just a bricks and mortar place, it’s a virtual place too,” Amodeo said. “A resident could come in, get a library card, and then never have to come back in here again because they then have access with their cards to thousands of e-books, all or most of our online resources, online magazines.”
The HPL used to be a stand-alone library, but Amodeo was able to bring it into a consortium of libraries rejuvenated the library.
“Because we’re together with other libraries I encouraged my staff to start to sit on different committees, go to workshops and roundtables,” Amodeo said.
Funding problems, however, persist.
“I’ve worked in a variety of different libraries and some had no issues at all with funding,” Amodeo said. “So we were able to be on the cutting edge all the time. And this is not that type of library. It’s just not. You don’t get the funding. So the things I’m telling you we’re doing have already been done by other libraries but for us it’s huge.”
A new challenge emerged last year as budgets went under the ax.
“Last year we received a $30,000 budget cut in February to our materials and that just messed us up completely,” Amodeo said. “And then for this fiscal year they didn’t reinstate a lot of that money. So our material budget was decimated. That’s huge.”
The library’s budget is set by the mayor and Legislative Council.
“What happens is in January each department head creates their own budget request,” Amodeo said. “Then in February you go and sit with the mayor and the finance director and you justify, you argue, for your request. Then after you leave the mayor does his thing…so he cuts. And then in March his budget goes to council.”
Jody Clouse, a council member, said budgets are tight in large measure to commitments to pensions.
“Hamden has been in a difficult position largely due to the lack of funding pensions in previous administrations,” Clouse said. “Added to that strain, Hamden takes a big hit when it comes to education funding from the state which again was cut drastically last year. The current council does its best to make headway on funding the pension, as well as doing our best to make sure our schools and essential services are adequately funded. All this while trying to keep the mill rate as low as we can. Unfortunately that leaves very little wiggle room.”
Amodeo said that the library budget might be around $240,000 for the fiscal year. That money goes toward all of the library materials–books, newspapers, magazines, all audio and visual materials and all online resources for the three branches of the library. Each librarian is then assigned a different section or media and are given a part of the budget.
“For example, I have religion so they give me, let’s say, $1,000,” Amodeo said. “So I do my purchasing based on professional journal reviews and patron requests et cetera. I do my purchasing through the year, so you have a full year. You have four quarters to do that.”
In February of last year, Leng took $30,000 from the HPL materials budget.
“That $30,000 was a pot of money that we were all going to use for our spring purchasing,” Amodeo said. “And then they just took it away. … It was devastating.”
This year the library is working with less than $200,000 as a budget. Amodeo requested a larger budget for the next fiscal year, but will not find out the allotted budget until May 15.
“We have a small friend’s group right now and they run a used bookstore down in the lower level and they give every penny of what they earn to us,” Amodeo said. “That’s how we were able to do most of our programming.”
The HPL system is more than just a place to find books for the community. The libraries are an important resource as well.
“It’s the one place in any town that allows free access to every kind of information source, available to all people, to all residents, no matter what their age, their race, their affiliations, anything. They’re welcome here,” Amodeo said.
The future of the HPL system is dependent on the budget offered to them by the town.
“I would absolutely love to see a robust HPL system that is able to offer programming, services and resources for all ages of the community as well as promoting and celebrating the diversity of our town,” Clouse said. “I think they are doing an outstanding job of offering these things within their limited budget. But in an ideal world, they’d be able to do much more.”
With support from the community it can be shown to town officials that the HPL is an important and valued resource for Hamden residents. HPL strives to better itself in the coming years but is held back due do budget cuts and a lack of resources.
Only time will tell what the future has in store for the HPL.
The owner of a Hamden deli frequented by Quinnipiac University students pleaded guilty to one count of federal tax evasion last week and faces up to five years in prison, as well as a hefty restitution.
Ray George, 52, owns Ray & Mike’s Dairy and Deli at 3030 Whitney Ave. and is a popular fixture at the bustling shop.
Ray George, 52, owns Ray & Mike’s Dairy and Deli, a business that has served Hamden for 21 years. Pictured here in a photo from the deli’s website, George pleaded guilty to one count of federal tax evasion on Friday, May 17.
But, according to a Monday release from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for Connecticut, George “underreported his income by approximately $365,065 for the 2012 tax year and by $273,108 for the 2013 tax year, and failed to pay a total of approximately $220,000 in taxes.”
George evaded his federal income taxes in multiple ways, the court documents say, using his Ray & Mike’s business account for personal expenses, failing to deposit cash receipts from the deli into his business account and using a portion of the cash to fill an in-store ATM and not reporting the cash as income.
The court documents also say George deposited three checks totaling nearly $300,000 from the Ray & Mike’s business account into his personal investment account, without reporting the funds as income in any capacity, and then withdrew funds from the investment account to purchase personal investment properties.
He also deposited a $25,800 check from the Ray & Mike’s lottery account into his personal investment account without reporting them.
George waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty on Friday, May 17 in the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.
George faces a fine of up to approximately $440,000, as well as potential jail time. He has agreed to pay back taxes of $220,663, plus interest and penalties.
The 21-year-old business is known best for its sandwich menu, as well as the fact it is open seven days a week, 365 days a year, including holidays and during winter storms.
By Jess Ruderman
It has been 10 years since the editors of The Quinnipiac Chronicle stepped down from their positions to form the student-run off-campus newspaper, The Quad News. It has been 10 years since student journalists took it upon themselves to develop their own media outlet after they believed university administration was denying their first amendment rights and censoring their work.
It has been 10 years and yet, nobody seems to remember.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Quinnipiac 2010 graduate and one of the founding members of The Quad News, Matt Andrew said.
In 2008, the returning editor in chief, editors and applicants for editorial board positions handed an empty manilla envelope to their advisor, announcing their resignation from The Chronicle, the official student-run newspaper at Quinnipiac University.
“In the end, at the end of 2008, we all resigned,” Andrew said. “We handed them an empty manilla envelope and said ‘We’ll see you later.’”
The Quad News was an off-campus, student-run independent publication created in 2008 by frustrated members of the university paper. Following a decision made by the university to take control of the on-campus paper, The Chronicle, by selecting editors going forward and constraining the publication of content, the staff realized they had had enough. Tired and disappointed by the university policy they believed was censoring their content, they disbanded to create their own publication.
This crisis began in 2006 when the paper published on its website and front page an article regarding an incident with two Quinnipiac basketball players. After the story appeared, the university imposed a new policy that prohibited the paper from posting material online until the print edition had been published. Things proceeded normally, until a year later, just before the start of the fall semester, an incident on campus got the attention of student journalists.
“Somebody on our staff had heard about somebody writing on a freshman’s dorm who was African American, all of these racial slurs on her door,” Jason Braff, the Editor in Chief of The Chronicle at the time, said. “We investigated, we found out more information, we ended up speaking with the student who had the racial slurs written on her door, we contacted the Hamden Police Department, we were reaching out to everybody putting this story together. We felt like it was a very important story and the students should know about it and people outside of the campus should be aware of it too.”
The story was newsworthy, but The Chronicle could not publish it online.
So, Braff, in his first semester at the helm of the paper, had to make a decision: Should the piece be published although it would break university policy, or should the editors shelve it until the publication of the first issue? The editors thought a way to get the story out, without breaking the policy, would be to publish a single sheet with the article and distribute it on campus. But before they could do that, they heard from then-President John Lahey who persuaded them to wait by offering them an exclusive interview.
In order to avoid any conflicts with the administration, The Chronicle editors chose to save the story for the first issue, which was scheduled for Sept. 12.
“In the 24 hours news cycle, even back then, there wasn’t really Twitter or Instagram or anything – we wanted to publish it online,” Andrew said. “And the school wanted to basically read the article and kind of have oversight over it, before it was published online, kind of limiting first amendment rights. They kind of wanted control over the information that was being disseminated rather than letting the students act as journalists and kind of provide that information.”
Quinnipiac University is a private institution. Unlike public universities, students give up certain rights when agreeing to attend the private school of their choice. Student journalists deal with the specifics of these rights daily in their reporting.
Private institutions face many challenges compared to public universities when it comes to accessing sources within the administration.
Current chair of the journalism department Margarita Diaz was the faculty advisor to The Chronicle at the time these policies were put in place by the administration.
“They understood that they [student journalists] were not doing public relations and their job was to cover what was going on on campus, and that sometimes that would reflect negatively on the university. And the university had a lot of trouble with that,” Diaz said. “They would not call it this, but it was about prior review. It was about being able to look at what the paper had and prepare a response if necessary before the outside media got wind of it.”
In a December 2007 statement, the faculty of the Quinnipiac University School of Communications voiced their opinions to the administration regarding student media policies and the changes the university administration was trying to enact.
“Basic First Amendment values are a focus in all of what we teach,” the statement said. “Therefore, the faculty of the School of Communications considers any attempts to restrict the access of student journalists to administrative sources and attempts to control the manner in which student media may disseminate information as threats to the basic principle of free expression and contrary to the mission of the School.”
In response, Vice President for Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell emailed the school a reiteration of the policy manual and what was expected of both faculty and student journalists in four bullets:
Scanned email courtesy of Margarita DiazNo media outlet is to be contacted or responded without prior consent to John Morgan or Lynn Bushnell. This includes WQAQ, Q-30 and The Chronicle.
Student media can no longer be viewed as internal owing to the ability of external media to access these stories immediately. What appears in the student Chronicle likely will be picked up by the New Haven Register and other media outlets. The media considers ALL administrators to be representatives of the University, speaking on behalf of the university.
While this policy also applies to faculty, it is understood that faculty have the ability to speak to media without specifically representing the University. However, faculty should exercise caution in presenting their views on University-related matters by clearly stating that they do not represent the university.
Members of the division of athletics (coaches, administrators) should work through the office of athletic communications in regard to media contact. That office is responsible for contacting me directly in any special or sensitive circumstances prior to responding to media queries.
The email ended with Bushnell noting that the policy is ‘routine,’ but must be re-stated due to recent examples where the rules had not been followed.
In the spring semester of 2008, the university administration created a media task force to review student media policies. After it completed its work, the task force recommended a change of policy: Chronicle editors would now be selected by the university deans.
The result: a staff-less newspaper and a group of journalists determined to create uncensored news by becoming self-sustaining and independent.
“I remember sitting in the School of Communications and all of us were there, I think Margarita Diaz was there, and we were just like ‘This is the start of something new,’” Andrew said. “We were literally just throwing out names, a business plan and coming up with everything. It was a really cool moment for us to all come together, and we all had each others’ backs.
“We were kinda like family, we were friends. Nobody wanted to let each other down and we all just kind of came together in solidarity and decided this is what’s best. In the end, that was what was best.”
Essentially establishing their own business, the founding members of The Quad News created their own bank account, outsourced for their own website, recruited people for positions such as a business manager and web designer and, themselves, went door-to-door gathering advertisements from local businesses. The students became completely self-made. Through their efforts selling merchandise and fundraising they were able to successfully create and run the independent paper.
“We had a whole web staff, we had a business group, we met every single week as a group and then throughout the week as editors meeting with writers and publishing stories,” Andrew said. “Instead of a weekly publish, we were publishing three times a week like Monday, Wednesday Friday or something like that. We were all in on it.”
The Quad News staff faced many obstacles in their five-year existence at Quinnipiac. Members were unable to formally recruit writers in and out of the classroom per university restriction and could not table as an outside business.
“We were doing outreach again to classrooms and Mark Thompson [Executive Vice President and Provost] said we couldn’t do that and sent us an email,” Andrew said. “The three of us, we went to his office and had this whole meeting like ‘Listen, we are students, we want to reach out to the students. We’re just trying to garner our attention for the Quad News,’ and he was just like, ‘No, you can’t do that.’ So I asked him, ‘Where in the handbook does it say we can’t do this?’ and he couldn’t give an answer.
“They hated that we were going to classrooms and, from their perspective, wasting other students’ time. We literally tried to pay the school, as paying students, with money that we raised through advertisements with the Quad News, we tried to pay for a table in the Student Center as an outside vendor and they wouldn’t grant us that as the Quad News.”
One of The Quad News’ first meetings. Jason Braff stands in red (right). Photo courtesy of Margarita Diaz
As if recruiting wasn’t difficult enough, Quad News staff editors and members, such as Jennifer Swift, were not allowed to meet or reserve rooms on campus.
“Being a student at a university where I’m paying to go to school but still feeling like an outsider, has to get outside press access to events and you can’t recruit on-campus,” Swift said. “We couldn’t reserve a room on campus for a meeting and it was like – for what? You’re a journalism school, how are you not going to let us do this?”
While many members of the paper expressed this same anger about being treated as if they were not students of the university, Bushnell defends that the university has the right to deny a non-affiliated organization the use of school property.
“I think administration generally has a right and responsibility, if it’s not a sanctioned club or organization, that we do have the right to limit their use of the property, of the facilities and I think that holds true today,” Bushnell said. “It’s always a gray area when it’s a non-sanctioned organization, but it’s comprised of students.”
Throughout it all, and to this day, members of the journalism department, of which only Richard Hanley, Margarita Diaz and Karin Schwanbeck still remain as current faculty, stayed firm in their decision.
“This idea that the students were somehow doing irresponsible journalism that was somehow going to place the university in a position of legal vulnerability is entirely false,” Diaz said. “And I have no problem saying that, but this is the line, and I think they still think it is.”
Did you get your copy? pic.twitter.com/9HAiRjSW
— The Quad News (@TheQuadNews) February 21, 2012
Looking back, Bushnell notes that, at the time, the administration did not fully understand the influence the Internet was going to have on journalism. If a similar situation occurred today, she isn’t sure the university would respond the same way.
“We were probably shortsighted in understanding what online publishing was going to mean in reality,” Bushnell said. “The best hindsight is 20/20. If we had to do it over again, would we take those same steps? I think probably not. That’s easy to say now 11 years down the road where everything is on our phone and we expect instant information.”
Although The Chronicle, as well as any student media outlet on campus, are now allowed to publish material online at any time on any day of the week, the concept of going through the Office of Public Affairs office is nothing new to the university.
“I have always, pretty much, been the point of contact for probably since then [2008], if not before then,” Associate Vice President for Public Relations John Morgan said. “I have always been the person that all media has to contact and that includes all external media too. That means if they want to come on campus they need to work with our office.”
Quinnipiac’s Student Media Information Manual states that in order for students to speak with or interview university administration/staff, students are required to contact Morgan prior to contacting the employee. This is also mandatory for athletes, coaches or administrators.
Screenshot from Student Media Information Manual.
This concept of being granted ‘permission’ to speak with an administrator rather than directly going to that person for a response brings in the debate of true journalism versus public relations.
“Any organization does not allow you to just come in and talk to their employees,” Morgan said. “Organizations have a spokesperson and obviously I can’t be expected to know every higher education topic from top to bottom, that’s why we have departments and we work with them, you call us, I put you in touch with that person, you’re getting an authentic answer. I’m not sitting with them going over bullet points as to how we want to position it unless it’s something critical, but the run of the mill stuff they just rely on their own expertise to share that information.”
While it may be ‘required’ to contact Morgan before speaking with an administrator now, this was not always the case.
“Before the racial incident, student journalists could contact any administrator directly,” Diaz said. “The policy was changed by administration to be able to monitor the student journalists. The issue is simply that they realized students were doing real journalism and they had to be ready to respond.”
College Recruiter defines Public Relations as working to improve and monitor a client’s branding. Journalism, on the other hand, is defined as being ‘beholden to the truth,’ not to the image and opinions of clients. The line between the two has been one students have been fearful to cross at Quinnipiac.
Although Morgan does assist students by directing students to the right person to contact, he has also prevented them from contacting or interviewing an administrator if he does not deem it necessary or appropriate. In the nature of public relations, he is protecting the university, but when it comes to journalism, he is blocking students from what could be a crucial side of the story.
“We find that student media, as part of the learning process, is inclined to make a lot of mistakes,” Bushnell said in a recent interview. “Things blow up in people’s faces because of hearsay or rumors. That’s why some people will only respond in writing and some people won’t even respond at all.
“I think that it’s important to recognize that as journalists in training, you have responsibilities too. Just because you’ve heard something repeated over and over and over again doesn’t make it true.”
Contacting the public relations department is a known requirement before speaking with certain university members, yet there are cases in which a student either purposefully or by accident have broken this unspoken rule. In these cases, it is understood that ‘consequences’ are to follow.
“I’ve never actually said the word consequences,” said Associate Director of Campus Life David McGraw, who advises all of the student organizations on campus, including student media. “I do not know of any black and white punishment that you would get. It’s probably the biggest question of what the actual consequences would be that, at least for me, no one has told me, ‘If they do this, this is what will happen.’”
As the rumored ‘consequences’ loomed over students 10 years ago, the same threat, if you will, still stands now. For McGraw, such punishment would depend on the importance of the topic being covered and the extent that it was taken to.
“Being a private institution, I will say the university, in theory, does hold that power still that I could get a phone call that says, ‘We will not fund The Chronicle anymore,'” McGraw said. “This day and age with first amendment and all that kind of stuff, I do think the university would definitely take a different stance on it. We also have a new president who I think would probably approach the issues that happened 10 years ago differently than our previous president did.”
With similar guidelines still intact 10 years later, the question arises of: Were the efforts of The Quad News all for naught?
Andrew, the former Quad News managing editor and later editor in chief, recognizes that the emotions that fueled the founding editors may not be present among the current student body.
Ten years later, the editors of The Quad News have moved on from their days at QU. Where are they now?
“In the end it’s hard to duplicate that passion in other people if they didn’t experience it like you did. It’s hard to get students to want to be involved in general,” he said. “To get them to support something that’s not sanctioned by the university is even harder.”
A topic not taught or discussed in classrooms or among student media, the memory of The Quad News and their fight for the journalistic integrity of Quinnipiac has become just that: a memory.
“They did something different and it was just swept under the rug, like it’s off the grid, nobody knows about it,” said Logan Reardon, a current journalism student previously involved in The Chronicle. “I feel like we should know more about that.”
In a survey of 22 Quinnipiac communications students, 14 responded that they had never heard of The Quad News. Eighteen responded they believed there to still be censorship going on at Quinnipiac.
Some of the original members of The Quad News. Featured sitting in front Brendan Rimetz (left) and Matt Andrew (right). Photo courtesy of Margarita Diaz.
A decade later, Andrew hopes that, despite the fact that The Quad News failed to outlast those who restrained them, hindered their progress and denied their rights, that the mindset of what it means to take action rather than shy away lives on in the paper’s wake.
“I was always fired up,” Andrew said. “I was so passionate about the Quad News that I would do anything to make it survive and make it successful, within reason. But it was something I truly believed in and I would go a great lengths to make sure that it was going to be successful.
“Nobody else was doing the Quad News. We were like ‘This is something we’re going to do, we’re not going to back down, we’re not just going to get pushed around. We’re going to do something great and that we truly believe in and we’re not going to give up on it.’”
By Logan Reardon
March 11, 2019. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) women’s basketball title game between Quinnipiac University and Marist College.
Final score? Bobcats 81, Red Foxes 51.
Quinnipiac clinches yet another MAAC championship.
As the buzzer sounds, head coach Tricia Fabbri eagerly storms the court with her team, making sure she hugs each and every person she can find.
Her family – who, from the 25th row in a mostly empty arena, berated the referees endlessly throughout the game – comes down and gets their chance at a hug. A long embrace between the family, tears inching down some faces, and then it’s back to business.
The next day, she’s in her office preparing for the NCAA Tournament.
Fabbri and her five seniors celebrate the 2019 MAAC title. (Photo by Morgan Tencza)
Fairfield University to Quinnipiac University.
It’s a short, 30-minute drive north on I-95.
For the last 32 years, Tricia Fabbri’s life has been defined by those two schools. And for the last 25, the 30-minute drive has been a staple of her daily life.
It all began in 1987, when a 5-foot-11 forward from Delran Township, New Jersey was a freshman on the Fairfield women’s basketball team. Tricia Fabbri – then Tricia Sacca – was a bruiser on the court, tallying 1,622 career points and 1,037 rebounds – both ranking her among the program’s top five.
That fall, though, Tricia found something that she didn’t go to Connecticut expecting to find.
Paul Fabbri graduated from Fairfield in 1987 – just a few months before Tricia arrived – and stayed at the university as a part-timer in the sports information department. He worked with the women’s basketball team during Tricia’s freshman year.
After three All-MAAC First-Team selections, Tricia stayed with the Stags as an assistant coach until 1995, when she saw an opening at Quinnipiac College – a Division II school in nearby Hamden.
“I thought, ‘Hey, I’m ready to become a head coach at 26,’” Tricia said. “I knew a couple people at the University of New Haven who made some calls to (then-Quinnipiac AD) Burt Kahn. I’m still convinced (I was hired because) Burt had two golden labs, and when I went into his office for the interview they were very happy to see me, I was unfazed and we had a good conversation.”
That was a monumental year for the young couple. Tricia and Paul got married in 1995, and both started new jobs that summer – new jobs that each of them still hold 24 years later.
Tricia went to Quinnipiac, while Paul started teaching and coaching baseball at Ridgefield High School, as the couple resided – and still does – in Stratford, a town neighboring Fairfield.
Quinnipiac wasn’t an ideal landing spot for Tricia. It was a lowly Division II program coming off back-to-back 4-22 seasons and it hired a new athletic director – Jack McDonald – soon after Tricia was hired.
“If you have aspirations to be a head coach, you have to start somewhere,” Paul said. “Quinnipiac was in the area and it offered a great opportunity for her just to start and have her own program.
“I think you have to take a risk, but never did I think it would become what it’s become.”
Tricia inherited the program and won 15 games in her first three seasons. Despite the on-court struggles, McDonald and then-Quinnipiac president John Lahey were determined to elevate the university to Division I.
“It was a difficult time,” McDonald said. “She had no full-time assistant coach. She had an office next to the elevator, as big as a closet. The proper support was not there for her. The first three or four years were a real struggle.
“To top it all off, we then dropped on to her, ‘Oh, coach, now you guys are Division I.’ We were playing a Division I schedule with Division III resources.”
Quinnipiac didn’t finish above .500 until Fabbri’s sixth year, but that year was almost her last.
On Dec. 4, 2000, Fabbri nearly left Quinnipiac.
The Quinnipiac Braves (2-2) hosted the Seton Hall Pirates (2-3) at Burt Kahn Court. The Pirates played in the highly-competitive Big East with teams like UConn and Notre Dame, among others. The Braves led by double digits at halftime, but the Pirates stormed back and won in overtime, 63-58.
“The crowd was disappointed – some people chirped some bad things at Trish,” McDonald said. “I go up to my office and I’m shutting down my computer and all of a sudden she walks in. She looks at me – and if the tears weren’t coming down her eyes, they were pretty close.
“She said ‘Jack, I can’t handle this. You deserve better than me. I want to resign.’ And I said ‘Trish, I’m going to pretend you never said that. Get the heck out of my office, go home, have a glass of wine, kiss your husband and hug your kids and we’ll talk on Monday.’ Frankly, that’s sort of the benchmark moment for the program.”
Fabbri (left) was emotional after the 2018 MAAC Championship Game.
Photo by Logan Reardon
Quinnipiac has had just three losing seasons since that day.
Now, the only tears Fabbri cries are after winning MAAC championships.
“That was the best thing for us, we took a great turn after that,” Fabbri said. “Jack saw the big picture and I just couldn’t see it. He saw the program moving, even if it was a step-by-step path. He believed in what I was doing.”
Off the court, the Fabbri’s were young parents. Their daughter Carly was born in April 1996, and sons A.J. and Paul Henry followed shortly after.
“I remember coming to her basketball camps when I was 3 years old,” Carly said. “I always had a ball in my hand. Growing up I was the water girl for the team and my mom would take me on any away trips I could go on. I loved being on the road and the bus with the team.”
While it was cool to have her mom coaching a Division I team, it did have some disadvantages.
Carly Fabbri cuts down the net after winning the 2018 MAAC title.
Photo from Logan Reardon
“(Tricia) missed Carly’s games when she was playing in high school, same thing with Paul Henry and A.J.,” Paul said. “She missed their games because of her responsibilities and it was extremely frustrating for her.”
Sports are everything in that family. Both of Tricia’s older brothers played Division I college football and each of the three children played in high school. They describe the family as a “team dynamic,” as sports dominate their lifestyle.
For Carly, knowing her mom had to miss some of her games was no big deal. She understood. It was the summer’s that hurt the most.
“I think it really hit home the hardest over the summer when she would go on almost two weeks of being on the road at a time and wasn’t home,” Carly said. “That’s when I would miss her the most. When I was off from school and if I wasn’t able to go recruiting with her, she was just gone for a long time and that’s when I got the most sad.”
As the kids grew older, Tricia’s program began to excel.
Now the Bobcats of Quinnipiac University, Fabbri’s squad won at least 10 conference games for six straight years from 2001 through 2006.
Fabbri credited Kim Misiaszek (‘01) and Colleen Klopp (‘01) – two Connecticut recruits from Old Lyme and Southington, respectively – for getting the team so competitive early in the Northeast Conference (NEC).
Still, people didn’t know what Quinnipiac was.
The name is funky and it’s in the middle of nowhere. So, how was Fabbri able to sell her budding program to recruits?
“As much as recruits will say they choose the school for the school, the coach is a very, very big reason why,” Mandy Pennewell (‘09) said. “It’s somebody that you’re going to love, and love to hate sometimes. You have to be able to handle that relationship at a young age where you are getting critiqued and certain things are expected of you.
“It felt like she was the mother of our herd, and you don’t cross that. You knew you had an environment where you were going to be protected, you were going to thrive and she was going to challenge you and hold you accountable.”
Quinnipiac was – and likely always will be – the “other” women’s college basketball program in Connecticut.
“When I was getting recruited, no one knew what Quinnipiac was,” Pennewell said with a laugh. “Honestly, after I committed, I just started saying I was going to school in Connecticut and everybody would think UConn. If you don’t know women’s college basketball you wouldn’t know.”
Quinnipiac lost to UConn in the 2018 NCAA Tournament Second Round, 71-46. (Photo by Morgan Tencza)
Now in 2007 with a growing program, Quinnipiac athletics changed forever – and people started to know the name. The People’s United Center (then the TD Bank Sports Center) opened on Jan. 27, 2007, moving the men’s and women’s basketball and ice hockey programs to the new $52 million arena.
“The building separated us from other mid-major universities,” Fabbri said. “This is just the brilliance of John Lahey. He wanted to continue to nationally build an academic reputation for the university, and he used athletics as the front porch. He saw athletics as a way to bring the university to national prominence.
“But it also brought a big responsibility, because if you build this, you better have success.”
MacGillivray celebrates his fifth and final conference championship as a Quinnipiac assistant coach in 2018.
Photo by Logan Reardon
Quinnipiac played its first full season on York Hill in 2007-08 (25-6, 16-2 NEC), and that coincided with the first postseason berth in program history. The Bobcats hosted future conference foe Iona at the TD Bank Sports Center in the first round of the WNIT on March 18, 2008, but lost, 71-59.
Still, it was another step for the program. Expectations were high as Quinnipiac brought in Mountain MacGillivray as a full-time assistant in 2009.
“When I got there, I said ‘If we don’t have the best roster in the league, we aren’t doing our job, because we’ve got a great school and a great coach and a great campus and a great arena,’” MacGillivray said. “What happened next was kind of inevitable. You just have to work hard and not make mistakes – and Trish rarely made any mistakes when it came to evaluating players and getting the right fits.”
Pennewell, along with Erin Kerner and Brianna Rooney, were some of the “right fits” that MacGillivray described. The trio graduated in 2009 and each made their mark on the program as part of that first postseason team in 2008.
After those three graduated, the program – and the university – took a detour from the progress they were making.
In April 2009, Quinnipiac women’s volleyball coach Robin Lamott Sparks and her players filed a lawsuit against the university. And as Pennewell, Kerner and Rooney left the school, Fabbri was forced to rebuild on the fly while her administration went through the lawsuit.
“(The Title IX case) really was a low point, but Trish did stay focused during it,” McDonald said. “A sign of a good coach is what you can do in adversity more than what you can do in success. She continued to be someone for all the younger women’s coaches to lean on. She was a rock.”
Sparks was a newer coach at Quinnipiac, so she didn’t really establish a relationship with Fabbri before the case.
“I was only there for about a year or two before the Title IX suit,” Sparks said. “And then after that, no one in athletics wanted to talk to me.”
Fabbri spoke on behalf of the basketball program during the case, but the suit didn’t affect her program in any way. In fact, they tried to avoid it all together.
“To a degree, there was separation by distance (because they were on York Hill and the rest of the sports were on main campus),” Fabbri said. “With that separation, I didn’t really know what was going on to be honest with you. No one was really talking about it because it was confidential. We were physically removed from it so I didn’t really get the ins and outs.
“I played a part in the trial, but I just had to answer everything that came and happened with the women’s basketball program. I was resourced and supported very well. It was just basketball, basketball, basketball questions from me so I just answered them.”
Framed QU Chronicle cover in Fabbri’s office after the Bobcats clinched their first NCAA Tournament berth.
Photo by Logan Reardon
While the program was not directly affected by the trial, the team did suffer back-to-back losing seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11. It’s up for debate whether that was more related to the loss of their three star players or the trial. Coaches and players will say the right thing, but no one will ever truly know.
The case was settled in April 2013, and Quinnipiac agreed to keep all of its current women’s teams, add scholarships and improve facilities for its female athletes, according to a statement issued by the university.
In 2013-14, Fabbri was faced with another challenge. One year after her first NCAA Tournament bid, Quinnipiac jumped from the NEC to the MAAC.
“There was definitely a step up in competition (to the MAAC),” Adily Martucci ‘17 said. “I think there’s always going to be challenges when you are faced with teams you haven’t seen before. We were getting comfortable in the NEC.”
Martucci saw it all during her years. From her freshman year, the last in the NEC and the first in the NCAA Tournament, to her senior year and a Sweet 16 berth, Martucci likes to say she “joined the team at the perfect time.”
Martucci, along with Morgan Manz (‘17) and Carly Fabbri (‘18) (remember the 3-year-old at basketball camp?), helped bring the program to new heights.
Now, the Bobcats have been to three straight NCAA Tournaments and five of the last seven. It’s a dynasty by every definition of the word – there’s no way around it.
So with everything she’s achieved, what keeps Fabbri at Quinnipiac?
“I’ve had the opportunity to go and talk to the perceived bigger and power conferences. That’s been extremely interesting to go and do. But, just like recruiting, when you yourself are going and getting recruited, you find that the grass is never greener.”
Fabbri was a finalist for the Penn State job after last season, according to Blake DuDonis on High Post Hoops. Despite the reports, Fabbri insists she’s not interested in moving on.
“I’m really happy where my feet are and I still can make an impact within this program,” Fabbri said. “We can still achieve what I personally want to achieve. I really believe that second weekend (of the NCAA Tournament) is sitting there and I always like a challenge. It’s extremely difficult, but it’s also doable.”
If that’s the goal, then so be it. Fabbri holds the key to her future.
If she wants to use that key to make the drive north up I-95 for another 25 years, Quinnipiac will be better off.
But she’s earned the right to make that decision – whether she stays for life, or leaves tomorrow.
By Shayla Colon
Dirt roads that went for miles, no dwellings in sight- just a lush grassland lined with hills of blossoming trees– that was Hamden in the 1600s. Once a rural region, Hamden has evolved into a thriving and developing city nearly 70 years later, changing from masses of open farmland to a bustling landscape with buildings on every corner. The engine driving this progression is people.
Hamden center in 1936, courtesy of Dave Johnson
Today, the small town is a developing city on the rise with stores in every corner and residents on every street.
Beneath the flurry of caps and gowns, tassels and sashes brims an undeniable anxiety that is alive within every Quinnipiac student approaching graduation day. With three weeks left till that prospective date, such fear is rising to the surface and threatening to boil over.
Considering the theme for this week’s presidential inauguration is “Your Future,” Quinnipiac’s next batch of graduates can’t help but think about theirs.
“I am scared,” QU alum and Ted Talk speaker, Lauren Cantu said in the opening of her recent speech. Taking place Tuesday, April 30, Cantu’s talk was the first of four speeches in a lineup dedicated to the dilemmas that lay ahead. Her’s specifically dealt with the the well-being of physicians as well as the potential for burnout in her future career.
“I am scared for my future,” Cantu said. She’s not alone.
Like Cantu, another QU alum Anthony Allen voiced concerns in his own Ted Talk about communities and sustainability.
“We’re facing some big challenges and systemic failure today,” Allen said. “We urgently need a new approach and a new perspective.”
As of Wednesday, May 1, Quinnipiac heard from someone offering just that.
The People’s United Center before guests’ arrival
During the inaugural celebration of Quinnipiac’s first female President Judy Olian, she spoke to these concerns. She also presented an array of solutions and addressed possible ways to secure a future that is bright for all who seek it.
She started with what Quinnipiac can do as an institution of higher learning, for both its students and the larger community they will soon become apart of. When Olian was named as the university’s ninth president just over a year ago, she was tasked with creating a strategic plan for the university’s future.
“Here we are– this relatively small school with this giant ambition,” Olian said in Wednesday’s speech. “I believe we have the potential to define a piece of the landscape of higher education.”
Just how does she plan to make Quinnipiac an institution of excellence? The truth is, it’s a work in progress. It’s work that is never fully done, but constantly underway.
“In the spirit of constant beginnings, the strategic plan in process over the last eight months has resulted in an exciting vision for Quinnipiac that builds the bridges to our shared future,” Olian said.
This vision is one that hinges on several factors: distinctive academic programming, nurturing internal and external communities and inclusive excellence.
“We will aspire to become a community that’s built on trust, openness and stability,” Olian said. “One that can have honest conversations about difficult subjects and that cares for and elevates marginalized members of society.”
Olian mentioned the importance of celebrating the differences within the community and welcoming members of underrepresented groups. This includes first-generation students, LGBTQ members, veterans and individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds.
Along the same lines of diversity and inclusivity, students and faculty alike were thrilled enough at the prospect of having Olian as the university’s very first female president.
“It’s a landmark celebration– this is really exciting for Quinnipiac,” professor of women studies Melissa Kaplan said. “I think having inclusive excellence and celebrating diversity is the hallmark of any higher educational institution and I’m excited to be apart of her vision for the future.”
QU alum and masters student Brian Koonz was also in attendance. At the age of 53, Koonz is working on his graduate degree while also working as an adjunct in the school of communications. Like Kaplan, he appreciates and stands in support of Olian’s vision.
“It’s a powerful and pivotal moment in the university’s history,” Koonz said. “It’s a time of transformative change, not just for higher education as a whole, but really for Quinnipiac.”
Beza Indashaw, senior health science studies and pre-med student agreed wholeheartedly.
”I think we’re heading towards the right direction,” Indashaw said. “Trying to make this a more inclusive community is big for us, and her ideals are something I think Quinnipiac needs right now.”
Such ideals include an emphasis on lifelong learning, openness and the ability to embrace and effect change when necessary.
“I like higher institutions who are able to pivot with relative ease to the opportunities of the future,” Olian said. “That combination of comprehensiveness with focus, warmth and embracive change, are the contours of Quinnipiac distinctiveness and they drew me to this unique institution.”
In addition to the great potential Olian sees in the university, she also recognizes that complex problems and effective solutions are best approached by teams with a variety of perspectives. She admitted in her speech that there is still a ways to go.
“We are not yet where we need to be as an inclusive institution– not in faculty or staff, not in students or alumni, not in programming. We aspire to be more,” Olian said. “The university of the future cannot be a replica of what it was yesterday, or even what it is today.”
None of the changes Olian proposed will be achieved by looking back. As someone taking the reins from former president of 31 years John Lahey, Olian shows no signs of doing so.
Many, including Koonz, are excited to see her at work.
“We look forward to seeing what the future of Quinnipiac University has for us under her guidance.”