Quinnipiac – Page 12

Town vs. gown battle: QU students living in residential neighborhoods test university-Hamden relations

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Quinnipiac University dominates the town of Hamden, Connecticut, and as the students transition into the Quinnipiac community they also transition into Hamden. While Quinnipiac University provides housing for students from freshman year to senior year, many students choose to move off campus into residential areas after finishing their sophomore year.

Friends who met freshman year in residential halls such as Irma, Dana, Mountainview and Troup join larger groups to move into off- campus properties. The students begin to intermingle with the residents of the Hamden community, but sometimes the mix is more like oil and water.

Hamden townie, Michele Veiga, 52, Hamden, signed the petition in hopes to make a change to the town she once knew. “Student housing is an issue that will cause us to leave the home we have loved and living in for over 18 years,” said Veiga. “The town needs to realize and appreciate the long term residents, not the four -year ‘here-today-and-gone-tomorrow’ attitudes of the students that is obvious with student housing.”

“Unkempt properties, disregard for family neighbors, pressure should be put on Quinnipiac to provide and enforce student housing,” said Veiga.

The relationship between Hamden and Quinnipiac University has run hot and cold for years and there is now hope that there is a chance to fix it. As the University plans to build a new dormitory on the York Hill campus, the main focus before this groundbreaking addition is finished is to rehabilitate the sometime sour relationships between Hamden and Quinnipiac students living together in these townie neighborhoods, and it won’t be easy.

Hamden residents such as Tony Pereira have created petitions on change.org in hopes of creating reasonable regulations of student housing in residential neighborhoods.

The goal of the petition is to have 500 residents sign in order to get the attention of Mayor Curt Leng. As of December 12th, 295 residents have signed the petition requesting reasonable regulations for the Town of Hamden.

The regulations that Hamden townies are hoping to pass include imposing strict limitations on the number of permits for student regulations, “A permit will not be provided when the proposed property is within a 1,000 foot radius of an existing student occupied house,” said Pereira. Hamden residents signing the petition want their neighborhoods back and are looking to require stricter rules regarding student activity.

Past Hamden resident Sheila Wallace, Hamden, signed the petition saying, “I was born and raised in Hamden, as a result of Quinnipiac Universities encroachment into Hamden neighborhoods the towns charm has been diminished and Hamden is now negatively unrecognizable,” said Wallace. “I once thought of coming back, no more.”

Tony Pereira updated his statement on Change.org stating, “Thank you everyone for signing, a Quinnipiac person reached out to me, but I’m not getting talked out of this” said Pereira. “We need regulation to protect taxpayers. Keep up the good work and keep sharing and encouraging friends, family and neighbors to sign, share and help make Hamden a town of family neighborhoods again.”

Senior, public relations major Heather McCluskey lived on York Hill during her second semester of junior year after returning from the QU in LA program. She made plans with her closest friends to move off campus into a property that has been passed down over the years to successive members of her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega.

Her house is off of Whitney Ave and is one of two houses, each housing six sorority women, on a single lot. Their relationships with their neighbors on either side couldn’t be more different. To the right side of the house is the landlord’s mother who is said by McCluskey to never to have a problem with the individuals who have lived in the house over the past years. But the same cannot be said of the neighbor to the left of the houses.

Heather McCluskey’s house off of Whitney Ave

“We have a really mean neighbor who loves to call the cops on us,” said McCluskey, 21, of Scituate, Massachusetts. “Sometimes he watches us from his backyard and if we have a few friends over he tries to bust us when we aren’t even doing anything wrong.”

McCluskey said that she and her roommates mind their own business and try not to cause issues with their townie neighbors.

“We had a larger party in the day time and even notified the Hamden police and they gave us the ‘okay’ as long as we were being respectful with the music level and make sure we were not littering,” said McCluskey. “It wasn’t until the party was almost over that the police showed up and they said it was our neighbor who called over 20 times for different complaints,” she added.

Over the past five years there have been over 2,000 “loud party, loud music”calls made to the Hamden Police Department, said the Hamden Police Records Department. Student occupied houses in residential areas such as washington ave, whitney ave, evergreen, and dixwell are among the call list.

Some students such as McCluskey take precautions, such as notifying the police before they have large gatherings or introducing themselves before the school year starts. They have attempted to build relationships.

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McCluskey believes that with communication and stopping yourself from prejudging a person the relationship between Quinnipiac students and Hamden residents could be strengthened.

“I think that there is a negative stigma with Quinnipiac students living in residential neighborhoods because since we are in college everyone thinks that we want to have loud parties and disrupt everyone around us,” said McCluskey. “If you live in a residential neighborhood you have more responsibilities to be courteous to your neighbors, and the second you break the relationship with your neighbors they have the right to not be happy with you.”

Professors who live in Hamden and teach at Quinnipiac experience another kind of conflicted relationship. As professors they are capable of forming deep and lasting relationships with students. Hamden residents can not form these relationships when Quinnipiac students become their neighbors.

Professors such as Kenneth Venit, who teaches first year seminar, know first hand what it is like to form unbreakable relationships with students while at the same time wanting to avoid being their neighbors.

“We had a Quinnipiac house on our block years ago, all coeds, there were lots of parties and loud music,” said Venit. “ Hamden Police Department was familiar with that house.”

While Venit has had conflicts in the past with his student neighbors, his daughters have Quinnipiac students living in their Hamden neighborhoods, said Venit, and they have not experienced any problems.

“I have attended a citizens association and two town planning and zoning meetings where Quinnipiac was the topic, attending as a taxpayer and as a Quinnipiac employee,” said Venit. “There was clear hostility present.”

“Some years back we were looking at houses in Hamden for a possible relocation,” said Venit. “We found a nice ranch but a house occupied by Quinnipiac students was too close for comfort.”

Senior journalism major Kirby Paulson, 21 of Boston, Massachusetts. is also among the thousands of Quinnipiac University students that choose to live off campus their senior year. His relationship with his Hamden neighbors is untarnished.

“Our relationship is seemingly pretty good,” said Paulson. “We don’t really interact too much beyond occasional small talk and waves via passing by, but they seem like good people.”

He believes that living in the Hamden community has prepared him for living in other residential areas after graduation. After leaving the hustle and bustle of campus life he enjoys the calming environment that his Ferguson Road house provides him.

“I actually love living in the neighborhood that were in,” said Paulson. “It’s really quiet and low key, we haven’t had any issues with the neighbors and its nice to be in a place where we feel welcome.”

While other students such as McCluskey struggle to keep a healthy relationship with their neighbors, Paulson believes that you can’t say that the relationship between Hamden and Quinnipiac is completely bad.

“The relationship between students and residents runs on a case-by- case basis,” said Paulson. “Some pairs get along well, maybe others not so much. I’m not sure there’s a cookie cutter mold for that.”

Senior Gianna Vassallo, 21 Monroe, New Jersey, lives in a Aspen Glen an apartment complex in Hamden that is populated by majority Quinnipiac University students.

“I feel like most Hamden residents aren’t fond of Quinnipiac students even though I personally think that we respect Hamden and try no to disturb the peace,” said Vasallo. “In my apartment complex it doesn’t seem that Hamden residents have a problem with living in the same complex as Quinnipiac students.”

Senior Marketing major, Sydney Kenyon, 21, Lynnfield Mass, does not have a relationship with her neighbors.

“They have called the police on us once for being too loud”, said Kenyon. “We just try to make as little of a disturbance as possible.”

“I can see how Hamden residents could get frustrated with college students, especially if they have children,” she said. “ It may be hard to implement but if there was a designated area of Quinnipiac off campus for student housing that could be away from resident houses, things could be different.”

It is clear that Quinnipiac University and the town of Hamden need to become better dance partners. Relations with other universities and the town they reside in have taken time to grow, for example the relations between Penn State and State College.

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In 2017, Bloomberg named State College as the #2 destination to live in the US with the upside of Silicon Valley. Part of easing the struggle between the two meant breaking the tradition of only hearing from one another when something went wrong.

Resident Assistant Abby McCarthy, comes from a college town back in Massachusetts. “At home the relationship between the town of Westfield and Westfield State University is not as bad as the relationship between Hamden and Quinnipiac,” said McCarthy. “I think in general most of the residents are thankful to have the university in our community because it offers so much to the town.”

“There is a lot of collaboration between the two and that cannot be underestimated,” she said. “If Quinnipiac where to focus on more collaboration with the community of Hamden I think relations would change for the better.”

Mental health awareness: Is Quinnipiac doing enough?

Jennah Condon, former Quinnipiac University student, deals with depression and anxiety. In 2016, as a freshman, Condon decided to turn to the counseling services offered on campus.

“I felt like I wasn’t taken seriously and that I was brushed off, which led me to going back to my therapist outside of school,” said Condon.

Now a junior public relations major at Southern Connecticut State University, Condon said she values the importance of mental health awareness in a college setting.

“I also think that there’s such a negative connotation behind mental health awareness which is why people keep it internal a lot of the time. Taking the time to educate students about mental health issues and letting people know it’s normal would help people be more aware,” said Condon.

According to the 2012 AUCCCD Annual Survey, which 400 counseling center directors completed, 21 percent of counseling center students have severe mental health concerns, and another 40 percent have mild mental health concerns.

These surveys only indicate students who actually report to student health services. At a school such as Quinnipiac University, which includes three campuses and over 10,000 students, there are bound to be students who seek counseling on campus or go elsewhere for such services.

Kerry Patton, director of health and wellness, estimates that about 10 percent of the student population, around 1,000 students, seek counseling.

Quinnipiac currently has five full-time counselors, one part time counselor and is in the process of adding another full time position. With 6.5 counselors and roughly 10,000 students, the counselor to student ratio is one for every 1,539 students.

According to Patton, Quinnipiac has plans to hire a counselor for the Athletics Department in the near future.

“It’s just a matter of trying to figure out the timing and when it gets formally approved,” said Patton. “I think we’ll probably be actively recruiting in the spring. I just don’t know when it will actually start. The good news is it really is a top priority.”

Counseling Services provides resources outside of the university for students who need further assistance or have needs that cannot be met with on-campus assistance.

Student Health Services does not know how many students follow through with referrals to outside services.

“We provide individual therapy, we do crisis evaluations and most of the students are benefiting from brief treatment,” said Patton. “We do not have a session limit, so it really is based on the need and the discussion that the counselor and the student have about what is the goal and what they are working on,” said Patton.

According to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) 2016 Annual Report, there is a wide range in the amount of counseling needed among students. From 2010 to 2016, counseling centers provided 28 percent more “rapid access” service hours per student rather than routine hours in response to growing demand, highlighting the importance of maintaining routine treatment capacity to care for students after the initial counseling appointment.

Quinnipiac’s counseling services include diagnostic evaluation, emergency intervention, individual counseling, consultation to faculty and medical staff, family intervention and referral to off-campus physicians and therapists.

Counselor Adrienne Koenigsberg leads a weekly grief group and a sexual assault support group for Quinnipiac students who want a safe place to talk with others who have experienced similar situations.

The groups are small in size and have around two to seven students in attendance each week.

“It is an open forum for each student to bring up issues they may be having,” said Koenigsberg. “Quinnipiac provides easy access to mental health support services and encourages students to utilize these services.”

Merina Sabatucci, former Quinnipiac student, sought counseling elsewhere during her time at the university.

“I think people and universities brush mental health under the rug because they don’t think it’s really that serious, but it’s a real thing. Kids our age are always dealing with it and they should have a safe place to go at school when they need to,” said Sabatucci.

The only reason Sabatucci, now a junior management major at Southern Connecticut State University, knew that counseling was offered on campus was because of her former roommate, Jennah Condon, who tried Quinnipiac’s counseling services her freshman year.

“It took me a long time to figure out who to go see and where to go for counseling, so making the services more known could make students more aware,” said Condon.

Her counseling appointment at Quinnipiac lasted about 30 minutes. The counselor did not refer her to other services and did not ask to schedule another appointment.

“I think that Quinnipiac could improve their counseling program and also promote mental health awareness by making the fact that counseling services are available more known to students.”

Condon said she encourages a healthy conversation about mental health on college campuses.

“I suffer from depression and there are days where it’s hard to even get out of bed because it physically hurts and most people mistake it for me being lazy. If they were educated about it, they would see it in a totally different light,” said Condon.

Fresh Check Day 2018 on Quinnipiac’s Bobcat Lawn

According to CCMH’s 2016 Annual Report, clients reported a 61 percent frequency of anxiety and 49 percent frequency of depression out of a list of 44 concerns.

The mental health and overall wellbeing of students has become an increased concern at Quinnipiac. For the past four years, Quinnipiac has hosted Fresh Check Day allowing students to check in on their mental health, gain awareness and learn about resources offered on and off campus.

“I think the most important outcome for students is to really understand what are some signs and symptoms of suicide for themselves as well as how to help a friend and to really learn other ways how to manage your own stress and how to get help with various stressors and different types of emotions,” said Patton.

According to the American College Health Association’s 2017 National College Health Assessment, 60 percent of students reported feeling overwhelming anxiety within the previous 12 months, whereas only 20 percent of students were diagnosed with or treated for anxiety.

Demands for long term counseling continue to increase as reports of anxiety and depression are students’ top concerns.

“[The amount of counseling] is based on when they meet with the counselor. They are going to evaluate the student and they’re going figure out what’s best, whether they recommend weekly or biweekly sessions really depends on what they’re presented with. We work as an interdisciplinary team to figure out what other individuals can be helpful in their treatment,” said Patton.

Quinnipiac junior nursing major Sara Baylous

encourages better promotion of the services offered to undergraduates and graduates alike.

“I thought that you could only go to the Health Center for short term counseling. I never knew that you could go more than a couple of times. I feel that it would be beneficial for Quinnipiac to promote long term counseling to its students,” said Baylous.

Alexis+Ferrara.jpeg — Alexis Ferrara, a senior occupational therapy major at Qui

nnipiac,

believes that the university should inform students as soon as they begin their academic career.

“I feel like for freshman especially, they should be made aware of the resources at Quinnipiac by their Resident Assistants, in First Year Seminar and should have the information and hours emailed to them,” said Ferrara

To contact Counseling Services, email counseling@qu.edu, call 203-582-8680 or schedule an appointment through MyQ.

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Student loan debt cripples many after graduation — and what you don’t know can hurt you

By Sarah Foley

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Debt in America has reached an all time high of $1.5 trillion, forcing people to put their lives on hold. Of course, the more known debt is credit card debt but what is the real underlying reason for this crippling debt in our economy? Student loans.

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There are more than 44 million Americans with student loan debt, owing a total amount of about $1.5 trillion. Americans owe almost $600 billion dollars more in student debt than in credit card debt.

Quinnipiac University marketing professor Maxim Polonsky says that this debt is due to students being uninformed about student debt while picking the school that they want.

“It is unfortunate that student are in this situation. A lot of students don’t know what they are signing up for,” Polonsky said. “So, there can be a lot more blame put on the consumer for not knowing what they are signing up for. Students are financially illiterate and they think it can just be dealt with tomorrow.”

There are many different types of loans that students can apply for if they are looking at a school that is out of their financial reach. Yet, of course these loans come with interest rates which can seriously change the amount expected to pay after graduation.

Last July, the Federal Board of Education decided to increase the interest rate on federal student loans from 4.45 to 5.05 percent this year.

To put this in perspective, say a student owes an average student debt of $30,000 after graduation. This debt will become an extra $3,195 instead of $2,800. To calculate your loans, click here.

Interest rates are rising because the Federal Reserve has been increasing interest rates on the Federal Funds rate. This influences the interest rates on other major loan indexes, especially Treasury rates and the LIBOR index. The interest rates on most private student loans are based on the 1-month and 3-month LIBOR indexes.

Federal student loans come in many forms to fit different needs.

These loans consist of:

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Financial guru Mark Kantrotwitz, a writer for Private Student Loans, said, “Since we are in a rising interest rate environment, you can expect the interest rates on student loans to continue increasing by about 0.5 to 0.75 percent per year.”

Federal education loans increase their interest rates once a year — on July 1 — based on the last 10-year Treasury Note auction in May. Private student loans, on the other hand, can change their interest rates as frequently as monthly.

Private Student Loans.guru provides unbiased and objective information about private student loans. Private student loans are offered by private lenders such as Citizens Bank, College Ave, LendKey, Sallie Mae. Private student loans can be fixed or variable.

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Students are well educated about needing to take loans out for college but the concept of interest rates usually flies under the radar. Students are delaying life decisions such as purchasing a house or car, furthering their education and getting married.

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Although this is a huge struggle for most graduates there are ways to reduce this financial burden. Sofi is an online loan company that offers student loan refinancing options to students suffering from debt.

“We found over 60 percent of respondents reported that student loan debt is one of the top two financial concerns in their lives. While student loans are clearly a stressor for millennials, there’s a way to prevent them from causing students so much anxiety,” said a Sofi representative.

The loaning company holds events such as cocktail parties, cooking classes and yoga classes to help their clients feel more comfortable speaking out and connecting with others suffering from student loan debt. Sofi is the leading student loan provider refinancing over 250,000 people and has spent $18 billion in refinanced student loans.

Graduates can also qualify for student loan deductions through taxes but these deductions come with limitations. Loans can only be deducted if they were loaned from a qualified source, such as federal loans and private loan lenders. It is possible to deduct interest on student loans even if you don’t itemize your deductions.

This is helpful especially since grads are unlikely to own a house right away.

Offered to all is Public Student Loan Forgiveness. The program offers full student loan forgiveness to anyone who works in the public sector, which includes non-profit employees, Peace Corps volunteers, public school teachers and staff. The Pay as you Earn forgiveness program allows those struggling with student debt to make 240 payments of $65.92 a month. Once those 240 payments are complete, the rest of the debt will be forgiven.

Golden Financial services, a debt settlement company warns that, “thousands of qualified consumers won’t be getting student loan forgiveness on the public service program even though they believe they will because they forget to submit the form for it.”

The company blames this on the Department of Education and loan services for not clearly disclosing this to students. The application for student loan debt consolidation is here.

Working with a student loan attorney can be a serious next step when suffering with student debt. An attorney can help a grad navigate the complicated world of student debt and shed light on the concept of fixing it. They can help grads get out of default and on to a better repayment plan.

Student debt attorney Kevin McCarthy says he has seen an exponential growth of graduates coming for help.

“Most people come to us when they are living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, not being able to help themselves whatsoever. Credit card debt allows people to to go bankrupt while student loan debt has to be paid off. This is causing a lot of pain for families and isn’t allowing people to live a better life,” he said.

An attorney can provide guidance regarding your legal rights and options, represent your interests by negotiating with your student loan holder, help you resolve defaults and apply for a discharge, and handle credit disputes. Attorneys can only help if the loans are from a private student loan lender. They cannot help if the student loans are federal.

Being well educated about loans and their interest rates can allow avoidance of crippling debt. Families struggling to understand student loans can hire a college funding adviser to help them work through the finances.

Central Mass college funding advisor Dave Landry said, “Many families feel overwhelmed with the college financial aid system. In my view, the system can also be unfair – especially if you make mistakes while navigating through the process.”

These advisers will stay with you throughout your time at school and help assist applying for loans to find ones that fit you best.

Although student loan debt sounds intimidating to most, it is also considered “good debt” because of its importance. Without an education, people struggle to increase their income opportunities. A recent study from Georgetown University found that those with a college education earn over $1 million in earnings in a lifetime compare to those without an education.

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Although a college education is crucial to living a better life, it has also been damaging not only those in debt, but also the economy. Attending school is beneficial, but students need to be more aware of their financial abilities when attending school.

Polonsky noted it is possible to deal with this debt when keeping on top of it.

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“It is possible for people to live in this developed economy which allows people the basic level of survival to create debt. That’s the beauty of capitalist economy. The blame is on college here. College is very expensive and causes a very debatable proposition. The idea that a $60,000 private college is going to lead you to a better degree then a $30,000 public school is just a marketing technique used by the university.”

Student loan debt will always be an issue, and will worsen with the rise of interest rates. Students aren’t surprised about this debt until they are exposed to it after graduation.

A petition for peace

By Ana Grosso and Paige Meyer

The longstanding unrest between Quinnipiac students and the town of Hamden culminated into a written petition on change.org.

“It is part of growing up. Maybe because Hamden is such a small city and wants to remain small, residents may be less tolerant of the youthful behavior which is going on here no matter if we like it or not,” said Akanji Bola, a resident of Hamden.

Three weeks ago, Tony Pereira of Hamden wrote the petition that demands Mayor Curt Leng create reasonable regulations for student housing in residential neighborhoods. Although Pereira’s first motivation is a better quality of life for Hamden residents who are affected by student housing, his secondary motive is protecting taxpayers.

“Students are a little rowdy to say the least,” Hamden native John Wilonski said.

“They are loud with parties and all that crap. Most of them park all over their lawns and could care less.”

Pereira seeks 500 signatures on the petition, which details Hamden residents’ struggles and gripes over the ever changing climate in residential neighborhoods. Some changes that Pereira suggests include limiting housing permits and student housing locations and enforcing stricter rules with student residents in terms of speed limit, house parties, vandalization and pollution.

“Absolutely, no question about it, beyond a shadow of a doubt,” Wilonski said, when asked if student housing is devaluing hamden.

Pereira also asks that house owners regulate parking and provide sufficient and legitimate parking spots for students because street parking is obstructive and unsightly.

289 people have signed the petition as of Thursday, Dec. 6.

“College is the first time they are out of the home. Students are trying to experience college life and experience life in full. I do not have an experience but I have heard it been said around town in many cases,” Bola said.

Pereira ended the petition by writing, “Student rental housing should supplement the high tax bourdon [sp] on residents with diminished quality of life as a result of student neighbors.”

In the comments section of the listed petition, some residents detailed exactly why they signed this petition.

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College students dance to save kids

By Kerry Golden

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Each year, colleges and universities across the state of Conn. host 10-hour dance marathons to benefit the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and the Children’s Miracle Network. By raising money to increase the financial capabilities of the hospital, these college students are helping to save the lives of children everywhere.

Cole Halvax, now a senior at Maple Hill High school in upstate New York, never thought that he would live until the age of 17. That’s because just two weeks after he was born, he was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, more specifically, Delta 508. Cole and his family looked to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center for help and hope.

“He had significant failure to thrive early on…he was not gaining weight,” said Cole’s mother, Tara. “He was not growing and that’s because CF affects your pancreas so he doesn’t break down fats and proteins.”

Within 24-hours of being diagnosed, Cole was admitted to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center where he remained a patient for the next four years of his life.

“I think they gave me a good head start on life…they set me off to living a good life. They gave me enough medication and enough surgeries to help me proceed to get to where I am today,” said Cole Halvax.

Located in Hartford, Conn., The Connecticut Children’s Medical Center(CCMC) is the only hospital in the entire state that focuses primarily on children. The hospital provides for more than 30 pediatric specialties, and each year the hospital sees more than 100,000 children with various types of conditions.

Students from The University of Connecticut, Quinnipiac University, Wesleyan University, Trinity College, the University of New Haven and Eastern Connecticut State University not only recognize the need to raise money, but have responded in huge ways.

Last year the University of Connecticut’s HUSKYthon crushed their goal of $1 million raising $1,021,485, the highest total for any dance marathon to date. Ranking second was Quinnipiac University’s QTHON, which also surpassed their goal of $150,000 raising a total of $265,431.79. But where exactly does this money go and how is used to help children?

In 2018, money from dance marathons helped purchase a machine called a vein illuminator which is used to help find patients veins when they need an IV. Money also goes to the Children’s Greatest Need Fund, a fund that disperses money to the area of most need at the time money comes in. Such money can be used for technology, research or patients. This fund assesses the needs of every aspect of the hospital and responds accordingly.

“Every dance marathon is a little bit different, depending on when the money comes in,” said Marissa Troiano, Associate Manager for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. “Last year they (QTHON) had some money go to the cardiology department…they did some fundraising for our new fusion and dialysis centers which just broke ground a month ago.”

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These dance marathon events involve much more than raising money, they also raise awareness of the necessity to help others. By actually visiting the hospital and seeing first hand its current needs, students can work cooperatively with the hospital to set goals and plan the event.

“We got to see the cardiovascular room that about three years ago the money went towards. Push day we were able to fundraise for a vein illuminator that the hospital can now use. Also, a lot of our funds went to the fusion and dialysis center that the hospital has built for these patients because they are having an increase in patients that need this element, so that’s where our money is going towards,” said co-recruitment chair of QTHON, Victoria DeLarosa. “ And we are still working with the hospital now to see what our total is going to be, and actually seeing that this is benefitting people, it could be a room or just an Ipad.”

Fundraising for equipment and research is crucial to every patient, those that receive care in the hospital, and those that receive it as outpatients.

Quinnipiac freshman, Rachel Houlihan, knows the value of these dance marathons as she, like Cole, has ties to the hospital. As a freshman in high school, Rachel was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This disease required her to see a specialist at CCMC to learn about and adapt to living with her condition.

“I felt lucky because a lot of the kids who are there are young and they are going to face a lifetime of whatever they are there for,” said Houlihan. “Not only are they (the kids) be getting the best care, but they are getting the best emotional support as well.”

Dance marathons do more than raise money, they establish connections. These connections make the need and struggles of sick children real and helps strengthen college students’ awareness of the need to take action. One way this is accomplished is through “Miracle Children,” patients from the hospital who trade their time with doctors to attend a fun evening with college kids. Each year patients, along with their parents, attend these dance marathons, meet the students, and realize there is a whole community who supports them.

Miracle Child, Bianca, shows off her gymnastics skills at the 2018 QTHON dance marathon

“The fundraising is amazing…but the impact is real,” said Troiano. “The event itself -the experience for the patients-is life changing. We have a patient whose family will tell us QTHON changed his life. It made him come out of his shell. It made him able to go to Disney, to fly on planes, go on vacations…things they never thought he would be able to do.”

Quinnipiac sophomore Jonathan Sweeney has been dancing for two years now and feels that dancing for people who can’t is extremely important, especially living close to Sandy Hook, Conn.

“I dance because I faced childhood illness first hand and I know how helpful organizations like QTHON are,” said Sweeney. “And I also dance because I was immensely affected by the tragedy at Sandy Hook- they never got to live their childhood, so I feel this is a way to honor them by helping other kids.”

Cole’s mother believes the Children’s Miracle Network does indeed perform miracles. When asked if she Cole’s good health is the direct result of CCMC, she replied, “Well definitely. I mean you take somebody like Cole.To be honest, 17-years ago with his diagnosis, at this point we thought he would be getting a lung transplant and a liver transplant. Playing varsity soccer and going to sectionals and going to college, that wasn’t even on our scope of thinking at 4 years old,” she said.

“Getting early treatment and early medicine, and good medicine, makes a huge difference…some of these kids don’t have the means to do so, that’s why it’s important to raise money, so that they can have a future…because 17-years ago, I didn’t think he would be here, and that’s a miracle,” said Tara Halvax.

This year’s QTHON will take place on March 23, 2019. If you would like to participate or donate to a dance marathon near you, vist https://dancemarathon.childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org

Hamden forcing out-of-state cars to register in town

By Sarah Foley and Nora Scally

The town of Hamden is home to around 61,000 people, but during the school year, Quinnipiac University adds about 10,000 more to the population of Hamden.

Many of the vehicles owned by Quinnipiac students are registered out of state, causing Hamden to take a loss on motor vehicle taxes.

Connecticut Conference of Municipalities has noticed that many out-of-state vehicles are not registered within towns and has been a problem throughout the state. Towns such as Waterbury, Bridgeport, Danbury, New Haven and Stafford have also tried contacting companies to help track down tax invaders.

A study done by the city of Waterbury in 2016 uncovered more than 4,000 vehicles registered out of the city. The study estimated that the cost of those lost registrations approached nearly $450,000.

Screen Shot 2018-12-07 at 3.39.14 PM.png — Chief Assessor, John Gelati, said the tax is being put in effect to have equalization in the town of Hamden and it will include students who live off campus and drive cars with out-of-state plates.

Screen Shot 2018-12-07 at 3.39.32 PM.png — “This is a part of a comprehensive revenue initiative that we are launching which includes an audit of personal property and real estate as well,” said Gelati.

The assessor’s office is currently selecting a request for proposal to implement car registration in Hamden under the law. The assessor’s office is hoping that this will be done at the end of the month and hopefully be put in effect for this coming year. Gelati believes the implementation of this tax will be a slow process but hopes that everyone will be in compliance with it

Gelati said the tax will not affect any specific motor vehicles in particular, regarding students in the Quinnipiac community, it requires notification to the vehicles insurance. Gelati said that the process would be much easier if everyone contacts their vehicle insurance company to register their car in Hamden.

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Not only out of state cars will be taxed but students that reside in a different part of Connecticut will also need to register their car with Hamden.

If a car is seen in the same area for a couple of months, that car will need to be registered in Hamden. The assessor office will be monitoring theses cars that are out of state and are seen on a lawn or driveway for a few months.

“The tax will affect students who reside in Hamden or have moved here after college and have not yet registered their car in the town,” said Gelati.

Depending on how long the car stays in Hamden will determine whether or not the car needs to be registered. Those who are here for a visit will not be taxed but for students living in off-campus housing, this may create a problem.

The town and assessor’s office have an obligation to discover taxable property in the town. They are allowed to scan license plates over a period of time if they suspect a person to be living in Hamden with an unregistered vehicle.

Gelati said that he has received positive feedback from residents of Hamden and believes that this might even bridge the gap of Quinnipiac students and Hamden residents. He believes that it is a positive move for the university and the students to be in compliance and pay their appropriate taxes.

Gelati is not sure how this would affect on-campus residents because Quinnipiac is private property but he is sure that students living in off-campus housing will be affected.

“I would like to add that, should the university students want to have more information about this process we would be more than happy to attend a meeting and help students learn more about the process to register their cars in Hamden,” said Gelati.

Gelati understands that the process of registering a car can be quite intimidating and is happy to speak with the school and students to makes the process easier for all.

The lack of female representation in economics and how it is affecting the field

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By: Rachel Borntrager

The feminist movement and other social advancements have contributed to women entering fields that have been traditionally male-dominated. Despite this, women continue to be consistently outnumbered by men within the field of economics.

Since the 1980s, female representation within economics at the undergraduate level has hovered around 30 percent.

This podcast attempts to investigate the reasons behind this gender imbalance by interviewing a variety of people in the field, including students, professors and professionals.

Read the full story below.

Despite the fact that economists pride themselves on avoiding, or fixing, inefficiency, they fail to observe a potential inefficiency directly within their field. According to a 2016 study conducted by the NCES, National Center for Education Statistics, economics majors are 70 percent male. At a higher level, 85 percent of full-time economic professors are male, The Economist reported.

There are multiple theories as to why women shy away from the field of economics. One of those theories is that women, on average, do not have as much of a natural aptitude towards math as men.

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Both Donn Johnson and Linda Fisher, Quinnipiac University professors of economics, have not experienced proof of this within their classes.

“In my classes it’s not like I see a discrepancy in math skills between our female students and our male students,” Fisher said.

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“I don’t buy into the old stereotypes about math because the women that I have in classes are just as good, if not better, of students — and sometimes, disproportionately, (they are) the top of my class,” Donn Johnson, chair of the economics department at Quinnipiac, said.

Within the past few decades, other quantitative subjects have seen increases in female representation.

Accounting, a major that used to be primarily male, is now more than 50 percent female. Economics, however, has experienced a plateau in terms of the amount of females entering the field.

After a minor increase in the 1990s, female representation has remained nearly the same within the field, the New York Times reported.

Since then, female representation at a colligate level has consistently hovered around 30 percent. This lack of representation also fails to take into account approximately 270,000 more females than males receiving bachelor’s degrees nationally, the Digest of Education Statistics reported.

With this considered, the inequality within the field of economics is even more drastic.

“So a lot of people think economics is just about making money and that appeals more strongly, it seems, to men than women, but, economics is about a lot more than that and people just don’t know it,” Linda Fisher said.

Fisher is not the only one that attributes the imbalance within economics to a lack of understanding of the subject. Londyn Zografakis, a senior economics major at Quinnipiac, agrees.

“People, especially females, don’t understand what economics is and when I say economics is my major I always get the question, ‘what is that?’ They are not able to see that you can help people knowing these theories,” Zografakis said.

This lack of understanding could be a result of the misconception that economics is a business discipline. In 2015, Quinnipiac moved economics from the School of Business to the College of Arts and Sciences. Many colleges are now making that switch because economics is nationally recognized as a social science.

Fiona Scott Morton, the Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Economics at the Yale University, believes that the debate-heavy nature of the field of economics is a potential factor that contributes to the imbalance.

“In economics, the way research works is you write a paper and you take it on tour, you visit different departments and you go to conferences and you present it orally and they ask you questions and you have to defend everything in your paper,” Scott Morton said. She then added that this expectation of economists does not fit into the societal boundaries that often restrict women today.

“In our society, it is really hard to be an assertive female because women are supposed to be nice and so being assertive and nice at the same time is a lot harder—men can be assertive and be jerks and nobody cares,” Scott Morton said. Scott Morton also served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and the wage gap are arguments that seem to arise whenever there is an obvious gender imbalance in any field. However, most women that were interviewed have not experienced blatant discrimination, but many, like Zografakis, did say that they have been treated differently based on gender.

“Prior to this one male getting to know me, he just assumed that I was an airhead and I wasn’t given a fair chance to show that I was smart,” Zografakis said.

As a young female economist, Scott Morton also experienced similar treatment.

“I would go to seminars and ask a question and the speaker would kind of blow past my question […] and five minutes would go by and an older man would raise his hand and ask another version of the exact same question and get a long, detailed, and thoughtful answer from the speaker,” Scott Morton said.

Groups for female economists have emerged within the past few decades to combat the imbalance and make women feel more comfortable as a minority in the field. One group that is recognized nationally is CSWEP, the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, which was founded in 1972 by the American Economics Association. Judy Chevalier, who will chair the committee in January, discussed her plans for the future of the group.

“I think the low representation of women in the undergraduate major is actually something I am really concerned about and something I want to work on in my term as CSWEP chair,” Judy Chevalier, who was also a former co-editor of the American Economic Review, said.

Although the reason why women shy away from economics remains a mystery, economists have proposed a few ways to attract women into the field.

“We can teach our intro classes, our big classes, and our micro classes with women instructors, so that it is abundantly clear to all the women sitting there that you can do this and this is a women’s profession,” Scott Morton said.

“I think if more women understood that we could use economics to change the world, then we would draw more women into the field,” Fisher said.

Although there is no explicit way to know whether the gender imbalance is negatively affecting the field of economics, a 2013 survey of American economists showed that women were more likely than men to support higher minimum wages, regulations, and redistribution (“Women and economics”). This survey demonstrates that women, on average, have different opinions than men.

“If we had more women economists submitting essays regarding certain public policies that affect women the most, maybe women wouldn’t be such a minority in so many different areas,” Jessica Hernandez, staff assistant for US State Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, said.

Many parts of the gender imbalance within economics remain ambiguous, such as the causes and effects of that imbalance. However, it is clear that the female voice, and opinions, could potentially be overpowered if the imbalance persists.

Quinnipiac professor caught in sex sting: the legal steps

By Ana Grosso and Aron Fried

In the wake of Quinnipiac University finance professor and Thomas Coe’s exposure as a sexual predator, the sting operation, planned and filmed by “POPSquad”, raises one question: If police were at the scene, why wasn’t Coe arrested?

Members of “POPSquad” confronted Thomas Coe and published the sting operation in a video on Nov. 11. In the video, the group included sexually explicit messages that Coe had allegedly sent to what he believed to be a 14-year-old-boy who he was attempting to meet up with.

Section 53a-49 of the Connecticut Penal Code outlines criminal attempt as an offense.

According to the statute, a person is guilty of criminal attempt if he or she, “intentionally engages in conduct which would constitute the crime if attendant circumstances were as he believes them to be.”

There was no actual 14-year-old boy involved, but the video and subsequent released private messages clearly show that Coe believed there to be, and that he knew exactly what he was doing.

After exchanging messages, Coe arrived at the sting house just before midnight on Sunday, Nov. 11.

Police arrived to the sting house about an hour later and spoke with both Coe and members of the “POPSquad” team, but despite what looks like a very clear violation of the criminal attempt statute, they did not arrest Coe.

Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Lawler would not comment on the specifics of an investigation or even confirm the existence of one, but he said, “There are requirements for cases where officers believe that on site they have probable cause to make an immediate arrest and other cases where they go out and seek a warrant.”

Although Bristol police arrived an hour after “POPSquad” exposed Coe, they did not make an arrest because they were not involved in the investigation. In the video, Coe made indirect suicidal threats and the “POPSquad” team feared for his life and called police for precautionary measures and legal reasons.

According to the video, Coe will absolutely be arrested, especially with such detailed and documented evidence, however police must investigate the crime for themselves before making an arrest. “POPSquad” members said in the video that an arrest will take “forever” because the criminal justice system is in their opinion, “broken.”

Lawler touched on that as well.

“Prosecuting sex crimes is not easy,” he said. “That is something that requires substantial investigation in order to successfully prosecute them. I don’t see this as being any different. They are difficult to prosecute.”

Coe lives in Meriden, in close proximity to Francis T. Maloney High School. HQ Press reached out to the Meriden Public School District and they have not responded.

Coe lives in an apartment complex right across the street from a high school in Meriden. Source: Google Earth. Graphic by Ryan Ansel

The Connecticut Sex Offender Registry laws outlines specific rules involving schools. However, registration as a sex offender requires a conviction, so until that happens, if it happens, Coe can legally continue living at his current residence.

Sgt. John Mennone, police spokesman in Meriden, said the video was not recorded there, and city police are not investigating the incident.

In a similar sting operation in January of 2018, Guilford police arrested five men and charged them with second-degree criminal attempt to commit sexual assault and criminal attempt to commit risk of injury. Police arrested 24-year-old Gregorio Rafael Diaz, of Putnam, 30-year-old Robert Prece, of New Haven, 29-year-old Sergio Bordonaro, of Boston, Ma. 41-year-old Marvin Gay Dunkley, of New Haven, 44-year-old Kevin Millen, of Ellington, according to News 8.

What sets this sting apart from Coe’s is the fact that Guilford police were involved with the initial investigation and setup. The Veterans 4 Child Rescue Foundation launched a collaborative initiative called “Not in my Town,” which combines the foundation’s efforts with Guilford police and the New Haven State’s Attorney.

“The operation was also filmed as part of a documentary by the Veterans 4 Child Rescue Foundation and was designed not only to arrest sexual predators that are lurking literally a text message or mouse click away, but to also raise awareness to the realities of child sexual exploitation and the importance of internet safety in “keeping our children safe while on-line,” police said.

Black college athletes face tangible hurdles when considering protests

By Aaron Robinson

Perspective: Quinnipiac’s Aaron Robinson offers his personal thoughts as a Bobcat athlete.

On the afternoon of Dec. 9, 2017, the Quinnipiac University women’s basketball team lined up across the free throw line of its home arena standing at attention for the national anthem, holding hands as the players always do.

Directly across from the home team, the Princeton women’s basketball team looked quite a bit different.

As the anthem played, the 509 fans that were in attendance stood at attention, hats removed, eyes locked on the flag. No one seemed to notice that a few members of the Princeton women’s team were not standing. Instead, these players knelt in protest.

“I believe that police brutality and excessive violence is an issue in our country and that the use of force and police power disproportionately affects people of color,” Sydney Jordan, a senior on that Princeton Tigers, team said.

That, she said, is why she knelt.

Sydney Jordan (No. 20) takes a knee as well as Qalea Ismail (jumpsuit) and Kenya Holland (No. 24) in a game against Rutgers University. (*Photo by and reprinted with permission from Joel Plummer*)

Jordan and her teammates followed the lead of former National Football League quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who first took a knee during the anthem before a preseason game in August 2016 — a summer that witnessed a rash of police brutality against African American men.

Police officers shot and killed unarmed black men, such as Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile outside of Minneapolis. Baltimore police found Freddie Gray dead in the back of a police van after he sustained injuries in custody, and an officer gunned down Terence Crutcher in the middle of a Tulsa street. None of the officers were found guilty.

These are just a few of the 855 African Americans who have been killed by the police since 2015, according to the Washington Post’s police shooting database. Of these 855 people, 90 were unarmed and another 27 were killed while possessing a toy gun.

The anger and frustration in the black community spilled into the playing fields and arenas of American sports.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL.com. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

When Kaepernick took a knee, many fans and observers interpreted his action as a show of disrespect to the the flag and military.

On the other side of the issue, many maintained the action was a display of his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

“I often think about the statement that Kaepernick and others in the NFL made and how, when limited to a single sport at a single competition level, it might appear as if other people don’t care,” Jordan said. “Thus, it was important to me to send the message that it’s not just a few successful football players who feel strongly about police brutality.”

Jordan and her teammates at Princeton, an Ivy League institution, were among few college athletes to join in what commonly became dubbed a “protest.”

Quinnipiac women’s basketball coach Tricia Fabbri stood on the sideline that afternoon when Tigers players knelt.

“I think how it’s been dealt with at the highest level just has a trickle-down effect,” Fabbri said. “You would understand young kids being nervous about what a university would think about them taking a stance. I think there are examples going on in real life that would give them real pause.”

Fabbri noted that Kaepernick, two seasons after his initial kneel, is still out of a job in the NFL. Eric Reid, who was Kaepernick’s teammate in San Francisco. only recently got signed again after a two-year hiatus from the NFL.

NFL owners came up with a policy that forces players to stand and “show respect” for the flag. And, President Donald Trump has made the athletes’ displays a rally cry, calling players who protest “sons of bitches” and going so far as to suggest they don’t belong in the U.S.

“You have to stand proudly for the National Anthem. You shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe they shouldn’t be in the country…the NFL owners did the right thing” -President @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/bt36t4EX5u

— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 24, 2018

In 2018, ESPN the Magazine senior writer Howard Bryant published “The Heritage: Black Athletes, A Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism.” The book details a history of athlete protest dating back to the 1940s, as well as police brutality against people of color reaching back even farther.

“Look at the people who speak out, they get killed,” Bryant said metaphorically. “What happened to Tommie Smith and John Carlos? They got destroyed. What happened to Muhammad Ali? He got destroyed? What happened to Colin Kaepernick? He got destroyed.”

The message, Bryant suggested, to college athletes is clear — stand or be destroyed.

Still, many see the complexity of the simple act of kneeling.

Quinnipiac’s chief diversity officer Don Sawyer, a former member of the military, said, “When we think about the people who are defending our freedom and fighting for the Constitution, they are fighting for our right to be able to protest in this nation.”

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It is this culture that has been created by America and by a lot of these sports leagues that causes a lot of athletes, African American ones in particular, to exercise extreme caution when speaking out on social issues, and the pressures are magnified when examined from a college athlete’s perspective.

“I think in the college game, guys feel like they can be easily replaced and they don’t have the security to do something that could jeopardize their position,” said Taylor McHugh, a senior guard on the Bryant University men’s basketball team in Smithfield, Rhode Island. “A lot of guys fear the consequence and the backlash a little more than pros. The consequences are more severe.”

This idea of fear is one that comes up often for college athletes thinking of standing up for social justice. Ironically, most schools do not have policies that prohibit athletes from speaking out.

“We had conversations as an athletic department saying, ‘If it was to happen, what would be our reaction?; And the reaction would not be a retaliatory one,” Quinnipiac athletic director Greg Amodio said. “We are not interested in stifling anybody’s ability to deliver a message.”

Amodio said he actually hasn’t heard of policies elsewhere, either.

“When a lot of the protesting was going on, there was a lot of conversations amongst ADs saying, ‘What would you do? What would you do?’ and nothing like that ever came up,” he said.

Still, no athlete at Quinnipiac has put the lack of a policy to the test.

“I think the biggest reason is control. I think the player’s believe that they don’t have as much power as they have,” Bryant stated. “You walk in the door and they make it seem like they are doing you the biggest favor in the world. It is a matter of power, it is a matter of mindset.”

It seems fear has held the athletes in place.

“I’ve had friends who are college athletes who were thinking about protesting during the anthem, and it wasn’t necessarily, ‘If I protest, I’ll lose minutes,” said Trey Phills, a senior guard on the Yale men’s basketball team. “(Rather,) it was, ‘If I protest, this is going to detract from the team’s focus before a game,’ and the coach might have pushed against that or made them reconsider.”

College coaches and college administrators have an immeasurable impact on their players and the voice or lack thereof that their players have. Whether they explicitly state that protesting or participating in acts of activism are prohibited, athletes usually have a good understanding of what is and is not acceptable in the eyes of the university.

“I don’t recall someone specifically saying not to do it, but you could kind of feel the vibe that that might not be something that the university would like us to do,” McHugh said.

“In college, we’re young and we’re still trying to figure things out and often times you just want to take the path of least resistance just because you don’t know how that activism would affect your college career,” Phills said.

The fear of the unknown is a common theme among many college athletes. Not knowing how the coach would react, not knowing how the administration would react, not knowing how fans will react, or even potential employers.

College athletes often have worked their entire lives to put themselves in a position where they can have security in their life post college. The fear of losing all of that in the blink of an eye, as Kaepernick and many others did, is tangible.

Another factor is that NCAA student-athletes feel they are at the mercy of their respective universities when, in fact, the exact opposite may be the reality. Take, for instance, the collective action in 2015 of the University of Missouri’s football team, which threatened to boycott all football activities until the university president was fired or resigned. The football players — as well as many other students — were upset with the president Tim Wolfe’s handling of several racially charged incidents on campus. Two days after the threat, Wolfe stepped down.

“The common thread through Kaepernick, Kain Colter (who led a fight for the unionization of college football players in 2014) when he was at Northwestern, and (activist) Paul Robeson, is political education,” said Kevin Blackistone, a Washington Post sports columnist and professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

“They didn’t allow their colleges and universities to use them. They didn’t take study for granted — and that allowed them to understand not only their individual place in society, but the collective space people of color occupy.”

Jordan, who led the action for the Princeton women’s basketball team, got it.

“I think the comparative lack of activism at the college level can be, at least partially, traced to a feeling of uncertainty about our futures,” she said. “As college students, often without guaranteed employment, there is definitely a sense that we have not ‘made’ it yet. Consequently, I feel as if my future is very much dependent on the good will of others who want to see me do well.”

Powerful Podcast: QU Women on #MeToo and Sexual Harassment

This podcast was deemed powerful for a reason.

Inspired by the Kavanaugh hearing and confirmation, Paige Meyer, Ana Grosso and Sarah Foley sat down with Quinnipiac students to hear their concerns and their perspectives on sexual assault in our society and its impact on college students. While creating this podcast, the goal was to capture the perspectives of sexual assault in our society and the impact that gender and politics have on college students in the Quinnipiac community.

Listen to hear five powerful females explain their take.