Jodi Franchi of Milford and her two grandchildren aid the effort of Haven Harvest to provide food for those facing food insecurity. Franchi and her grandchildren are picking up food that will be distributed to those in need.
According to the 2015 Statewide Waste Characterization Study, it is estimated that 22.3 percent of Connecticut’s trash consists of food. This means that 519,832 tons of food are thrown away each year.
President Judy Olian and Quinnipiac University are implementing a strategic plan of the universities’ goals for the foreseeable future. Part of the initiative is the creation of the sustainability council. This is a part of the universities’ strategic plan that became public at the end of the 2019 academic year.
Anna Cicciarella, a member of the sustainability council, says that while the university is making progress there is still a lot of work to be done.
Food waste at Quinnipiac University is to be collected and delivered to the Albert Schweitzer Institute, who will then turn the food waste into material for their compost.
“We’ve had to break down what sustainability means on campus…it’s a broad term,” Ciacciarella said.
The council has primarily focused on three areas of sustainability, living, learning and sustaining. Food waste falls under living. This is one of the areas Ciacciarella has been working on. The university is partnered with Albert Schweitzer Institute, which has started a compost where food waste will be collected.
“We built it in the fall and starting in March we’ll utilize that to take food waste…there’s a worm bin in the building too, but it is a smaller amount,” Ciacciarella said.
The worm bin uses the worms to recycle food scraps and other organic material into a soil called vermicompost, or worm compost. Food scraps are put into the bin which then becomes compost as they pass through the worm’s body. This process creates composts that can be used to grow plants.
“It’s an example of what we can do in the long run,” Ciacciarella said.
Sam Conti, a Bridgeport hospital dining employee, prepares to take trays of leftover food to be donated.
Quinnipiac Dining, which oversees food services at Quinnipiac, now donates excess food directly to Hamden residents through Haven’s Harvest. Hamden Harvest is a non-profit organization that currently provides food to those facing food insecurity throughout Greater New Haven.
“We launched about a year ago, and we recover as much food as we can,” said founder and director Lori Martin.
Haven’s Harvest currently works with the university to have student volunteers deliver the food throughout Hamden during the academic year.
“When students can volunteer it’s great, we love the support and being backed by the institution,” Martin said.
In a 2019 study commissioned by United Way of Greater New Haven, researchers found that nearly one in eight adults and one in six children in Hamden experience food insecurity.
Beyond the university, Haven’s Harvest collects food from local businesses that otherwise are thrown away. The company has three programs to combat food waste, recovery, advocacy and development.
“There are a lot of businesses in the New Haven area who are interested and we want to help them,” Martin said.
Businesses and community partners that are interested in donating can fill out a form on their website. The website also has a form for anyone or an organization that needs food.
Currently, Haven’s Harvest works with around eighty businesses. These donors give food anywhere from weekly to once a year. The businesses are primarily located in New Haven county.
“It’s so much about the relationships that we make. We are creating a community and the food is just a part of this,” Martin said.
A recent study ranked Quinnipiac University in the top three percent of U.S. universities for long term value.
Quinnipiac University’s campus. Courtesy: Kevin Meiselman
The study, conducted by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, analyzed the long-term return on investment of 4,500 colleges and universities. Analysis was based on graduates’ future earnings up to 40 years after completion of their degree.
The same report also ranked Quinnipiac in the top 100 for its graduates’ median 10-year earnings at $63,300 a year. Vice President of Enrollment Management Eric Sykes discussed the impact this study could have on admissions.
“It really legitimizes what we’ve been talking about with prospective students,” Sykes said. “Quinnipiac is the kind of place where we’re all about outcomes. We’re very practical in our education. Students are going to get a lot of hands-on experience with faculty. We differentiate ourselves in that way from other schools, and this is really just evidence of what we’ve been saying.”
Quinnipiac continues to differentiate itself, as this isn’t the first time the university has been recognized with such an honor.
“This isn’t the first study to come out with differences in outcomes between Quinnipiac and other institutions,” he continued. “I think within the state of Connecticut, we are ranked number one. As families look at the return of investment and the value of a degree, studies like this allow us to talk more about the evidence behind those pieces we’ve been talking about up to this point.”
Sykes didn’t say that this study would lead directly to more applications, but he noted that it can’t hurt to be mentioned alongside other highly respected colleges and universities, especially in a respected ranking system.
“It’s hard to know any one data point that’s going to really move the needle on those, but it certainly helps us to underscore the message that we’ve already been speaking about. It allows us to talk to students and parents about the value of a Quinnipiac degree,” he said.
Patrick Harewood, pictured, is an adjunct professor of biomedical sciences at Quinnipiac University. Courtesy: John Morgan
Patrick Harewood, an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University, received a patent for his mouthwash that combats Xerostomia on Jan. 7. Xerostomia is a health condition that is also known to many as dry mouth. This condition occurs due to a lack of saliva production from one’s salivary glands.
Harewood earned his bachelor’s degree in natural sciences at the University of the West Indies in Barbados. He then attended the University of Rhode Island to obtain his masters and doctorate degrees.
His studies at the University of Rhode Island in the master’s program centered around food and nutrition. He would go on to complete his doctorate in biological sciences.
Harewood, who has been a professor at Quinnipiac for nearly twenty years, was first approached about the mouthwash creation process several years ago. As Harewood’s son was in for a routine check-up, Dr. Jeralyn Fantarella, his primary dentist, approached him about his father’s educational background in microbiology and food chemistry. Harewood himself also spent about a year and a half doing research with the Food and Drug Administration.
It was not an easy process for Harewood and Fantarella. Most of their work was done in various dental hygienists’ rooms. Bouncing from room to room, they ordered the necessary lab equipment and developed their product at Fantarella Dental Group in North Haven.
When asked about the driving force of this invention, Harewood speaks about how he was able to get the ball rolling.
“Dr. Fantarella had noticed an upsurge in the number of people visiting her office who had this condition of dry mouth,” Harewood said.
Harewood also highlighted the importance of saliva and how his mouthwash will benefit consumers when it hits the market.
“In addition to containing enzymes which play a role in the digestion of food, [saliva] also contains antimicrobial components along with enzymes, which destroy bacteria associated with tooth decay,” he said.
Harewood and Fantarella will be going through the process of approval through the FDA. This process entails areas of overview such as device performance, health risks, a summary report, and biocompatibility results. For more information on the FDA and their oral rinse approval guidelines, click here.
Approval from the FDA for certain products differs based on its uses. Some commonly used mouthwash products may never actually need to be approved by the FDA.
“There are some mouthwashes on the market that do not have to go through the regulatory process because they are just used for simple things like to freshen breath,” Harewood said.
“If all goes well, (the mouthwash) should be approved as an over the counter drug,” he continued. “It should probably take, if all goes well, about three months to a year to be approved.”
Harewood teaches courses at Quinnipiac revolving around biomedical sciences, specifically in the field of biomedical marketing. He encourages his students to build off of what he has accomplished.
“I hope people can see me and my work as a source of inspiration,” he said. “If I can do it, they can do it too.”
President Judy Olian. Courtesy: Quinnipiac University
HAMDEN, Conn. — In 2018, Judy Olian moved from her home in California to Hamden, Conn. to accept her leadership role as president of Quinnipiac University. Since the move, she has embraced change and is working to improve the university in many different areas, such as student education and community relations.
“What I’ve come to so appreciate here is the agility and nimbleness around change,” President Olian said. “If you’re an institution that can really turn on a dime, and I’m not saying we can turn on a dime, but it’s a hell of a lot faster than what was possible at the University of California. It’s a tremendous advantage and asset.”
Since beginning her tenure at Quinnipiac, President Olian has developed a strategic plan to better the university. This plan involves four pillars, including preparing students for careers in the 21st century, developing inclusive excellence, improving the wellbeing of the community and fostering lifelong learning and connections.
“I think the community embraced the change and the strategic plan,” Olian said. “Hook, line and sinker really embraced it. There’s an aura of excitement around change.”
In order to develop strategies to improve aspects of a university that was so new to her, President Olian spent her first few months simply listening.
“If you’re able to listen, you’ll learn an awful lot,” she said. “So, I tried to do that. I went around and met with the deans, the staff, the student groups, the government, and tried to see what people loved about Quinnipiac and where they saw opportunities. That formed the basis for our strategic planning process.”
Also included in the plan are new fields of study, such as environmental sciences, and an increase in data analytics across the curriculum to ensure students are data-savvy entering the 21st century workforce.
Although President Olian is focused on student education, her focus on student wellbeing is just as intense. She announced that the university has plans to launch a large wellness center in order to take care of both cognitive and emotional readiness in students, in addition to career readiness.
“The wellbeing center is going to be facilitated by physical fitness facilities, a wellness service center and programming,” Olian said. “Whatever it is that you need as a healthy foundation for life, we want this to be a part of the foundation.”
Another substantial announcement made during her presidency was the reveal of the Rocky Top Pub on the York Hill Campus. She believes the pub will improve social interaction between students and alumni.
The current interior of the future Rocky Top bar, On the Rocks. Credit: Peter O’ Neill
“There will be games in the People’s United Center. Having a beer if you’re of age or just grabbing food if you’re not is a part of college,” Olian said. “You learn every time you connect socially. We also want people to have fun at Quinnipiac, and this is a part of having fun.”
The atmosphere of new leadership and change is felt not only by President Olian but by members of the student body. Junior Student Government Vice President Sophia Marshall believes President Olian has made a huge impact on the culture of the campus and the administration.
“She makes it a point to really engage with the student body and in student events,” Marshall said. “I think she’s come in with a really great plan to renovate the school within the next five to 10 years.”
Marshall immersed herself into student government during her first year at Quinnipiac. At that time, former president John Lahey was in charge. However, she says she already sees differences between the two leaders.
“While President Lahey had a great tenure, he wasn’t as responsive to students towards the end,” Marshall said. “She’s come and created an immense, positive impact on the campus.”
In addition to working on Quinnipiac-focused initiatives, President Olian is determined to build a stronger connection with the surrounding communities of Hamden and North Haven.
“I think we’re crossing that rubicon and people are starting to see the value that Quinnipiac brings,” Olian said. “Obviously, it’s tremendous economic value.”
According to the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges, Quinnipiac contributed over $3.1 billion to the Connecticut economy in 2017. Students themselves spent nearly $100 million in the surrounding community.
Although the economic contribution is substantial, some Hamden residents do not enjoy the experience of living in a college town, which is something Olian has realized.
“I think that sometimes there’s a little bit of frustration for some residents in some parts of the community that students are not respectful enough of their neighbors,” she said. “Of course, we are chagrined any time we hear of an episode, though they are rare.”
In 2015, Mayor Curt Leng stated that Quinnipiac students, for the majority, are good students. However, there are some issues with students not being compassionate and respectful neighbors in the community. Since then, he says he has seen improvements.
“I am thankful for the improved efforts to address these important neighborhood issues that the university has taken, including the great outreach efforts and commitment shown by Vice President and Chief of Staff Bethany Zemba and others to work on this issue in collaboration with the town,” Mayor Leng said.
President Olian continues to work on improving the university and its relationship with the surrounding communities.
“What we want is for everyone to appreciate the value of having students and a university in their backyard,” Olian said.
HAMDEN, Conn. – With only about three months left, first, second and third-year students at Quinnipiac University are nearing the end of their living situations this school year. Many questions will appear in the coming months, but the most important one on everyone’s mind seems to be centered around differing living experiences.
Many Quinnipiac students trek off-campus for housing in their collegiate career. Quinnipiac offers several housing options, and two for their second-year students located on the Mount Carmel and York Hill campuses.
“Then there’s a bunch of them [student houses] in the neighborhood which could bring up some negativity with families,” local property manager Ari Gorfain said. “The Washington Avenue, School Street, and Whitney Avenue areas are [student] populated, and those are the better places for them.”
Students that choose to remain on campus are entered into a lottery system hosted by the school. This lottery system randomly assigns a number that leads to priority choosing when housing is made available. Students who receive a higher lottery number may be added to another student’s room who holds a lower one.
Quinnipiac recently sent out housing contracts that need to be completed by March 6, 2020. The Quinnipiac lottery for housing opens March 27, 2020, which although an early date, doesn’t deter landlords from acting sooner than the school.
Gorfain was able to touch upon his process of filling up off-campus houses.
“Most of the time it’s friends of friends, and if friends have been at the house and like it, they reach out the sooner the better,” Gorfain said. “It starts all the way from day one of school.”
Some students are reached out to well before the second semester even begins. First year student Matteo Naclerio remembers when he was first approached about off-campus housing.
“I remember seeing a group chat notification about housing,” Naclerio said. “An upperclassmen I met in early September was reaching out to fill houses in the beginning of October. It put me in a weird spot because I was just taking my first exams and didn’t know anything about housing at that point.”
Current third-year Student Justin Arrichiello was extremely opposed to living on main campus. His situation differed from most, as he transferred to Quinnipiac University in the Spring semester of his first year. Arrichiello took shelter at Aspen Glen Apartments with some friends who were renting.
“When housing selections came, they came pretty quick, and that was before I made a bunch of connections with people that lived on my floor,” Arrichiello said. “I would much rather take living with people that I know over having a good housing situation.
A look at the “Hill” living option on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus | Photo by John Morgan
“I slept on his couch instead of sleeping in my dorm room. I brought all of my clothes to Aspen, parked my car at Aspen, kept my toothbrush in his bathroom. I did everything there.”
Gorfain had this to say regarding the benefits of off-campus housing, “I feel like they like their independence more. Kids are growing up a lot faster when they hit their sophomore or junior years, and they want to be in a house with their friends.”
Students that live off campus seem to share similar concerns about transportation. Cars seem to be the main concern, and students seem to rarely be in favor of testing the shuttle system. Third-year students Michael Trezza and Stephen Brisman had several comments regarding the convenience.
“We really wanted to be on our time with driving to campus. We didn’t want to have to wait for shuttles,” Michael Trezza said.
A look at the “Village” living option on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus | Photo by John Morgan
“I had five of us on York, and thirty of us on the main campus. We just didn’t want to take the shuttles,” Stephen Brisman said. “I didn’t want to hike to the garage [to get my car], when I can just get an apartment and park right next to my door.” Many off campus houses run through a funnel of students. Those who graduate in the upcoming year and/or are moving on from their residence work with their landlords to find possible replacement tenants.
The previous students living in that house attempt to build a level of trust with their landlord, and their landlord a level of trust with those who follow.
Many students are pulled from social media groups, athletic teams, and on campus organizations. The commonality of these demographics revolves around numbers. Landlords have the opportunity to take common interests and put them under one roof.
Whether regarding early activity, random roommates, or transportation and convenience issues, some Quinnipiac students are pushing to get off campus. To them, this appears to be the safest bet when it comes to playing the lottery.
Photo by: Jordan Wolff (Quinnipiac has two Bobcat statues, this one is located on the York Hill Campus outside of the People’s United Center)
The NCAA has 347 Division I schools, and Quinnipiac University is one of them. Quinnipiac started out in the NCAA’s second highest conference known as Division II and has faculty and coaches who can describe what the transition process was like.
One of those members is Senior Associate Athletic Director Bill Mecca. For the last 41 years, Mecca has served as an assistant men’s basketball coach (1978-91), head tennis coach, assistant director of athletics and head men’s basketball coach (five seasons).
The one thing that’s resonated with Mecca is Quinnipiac’s increase in population.
“Back In 1978, Quinnipiac had probably around 1100-1200 students and if you could spell Quinnipiac back in the day, then I probably gave you an academic scholarship,” Mecca said. “In terms of where we were academically, we weren’t even close to where we are now.”
Canva By: Jordan Wolff
Photos Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics: Quinnipiac Athletics five coaches who’ve been a part of the University for over 20 years. Four of them had no previous affiliation with Quinnipiac, except for Dave Clarke who graduated with a Master’s Degree in 2010.
In 2019, Quinnipiac has 21 Division I athletic programs, five coaches who have 20-year tenures, and a staff of 38 members. It has a soccer, field hockey and lacrosse complex built in 2017 and a rugby team that plays on campus. The York Hill campus has a re-named People’s United Center (from TD Bank) dedicated to hockey and basketball.
Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics: Athletic Director Greg Amodio is speaking at the inaugural reception of the new Soccer, Field Hockey and Lacrosse complex opened in the fall of 2017.
The gradual transition started in the mid-1990s.
In 1995, Quinnipiac programs were in Division II athletics. The school was known as Quinnipiac College, and the mascot was the Braves.
Quinnipiac College took a chance, as they hired Fairfield Stags alum Tricia Fabbri as their first full-time female head coach.
Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics: Tricia Fabbri, then Patricia Sacca was hired from Fairfield University in 1995. She was inducted to the Fairfield University Hall of Fame in 1998.
“It was different back then because there were very few full-time coaches and administrators that made up the athletics department,” Fabbri said. “It was small, but I was really excited to put a program together because I was the first full-time female coach hired.”
Canva by: Jordan Wolff
The men’s programs remained the same throughout the history of Quinnipiac Athletics. The number women’s programs increased significantly, adding Indoor Track, Outdoor Track, Ice Hockey, Rugby, and Acrobatics and Tumbling.
In Fabbri’s first season, the Braves went 2-23 overall, 1-15 in conference and 1-13 at home. The Braves were also in the Northeast Conference (NEC) in which Fabbri details how difficult it was to navigate.
“The level when I initially started was not as competitive as it needed to be at that time,” Fabbri said. “I didn’t get out and start recruiting and we had a lot of ground to make-up, and not a lot of time to do it. There was a lot of catch-up to be done to get competitive in terms of resources from Division II to Division I to get in place.”
Besides the competitiveness, Mecca explained that Quinnipiac athletics didn’t have much exposure in Division II athletics.
Courtesy of Quinnipiac Chronicle: Mecca currently provides color commentary for Quinnipiac Athletics, along with hosting an annual Golf tournament named after him.
“Division II is one of those places in college athletics, where in my opinion you’re in no man’s land.” Mecca said. “My philosophy is either go Division III, where you’re focusing on the wellness of the athletes and the student-body. Or, go Division I where there is a commitment to go to the next-level.”
Division II was a place where Quinnipiac could still offer scholarships to athletes, but weren’t funded enough to be in the NCAA’s highest conference.
A part of going to that next level was Jack McDonald. McDonald was hired as the new athletic director in August of 1995, and had a chance to sit down with former Quinnipiac president John Lahey. In that discussion, McDonald was very candid on what direction the college needed to take.
“He thought that Quinnipiac’s academic reputation was national Division I-caliber and he’d like the athletic department to catch up to the academic reputation of the school,” McDonald said. “I thought that Quinnipiac would be a great Division I school.
Maybe not the upper echelon of Division I schools, but at the time there was about 321 Division I schools and Quinnipiac would easily fit among those group of schools.”
The men’s and women’s tennis teams each made their mark in 1996-97 (last year in Division II). The men’s team finished 18-1, and went 9-0 in conference play. They were inducted into Quinnipiac’s Hall of Fame in 2014.
The women’s team went 16-2 and also went 9-0 in conference play. They were also inducted into Quinnipiac’s Hall of Fame in 2014.
In 1998, Quinnipiac declared its intent for Division I athletics. McDonald still had some groundwork in front of him. He first had to see which conference Quinnipiac could start in.
McDonald said how Quinnipiac put out multiple applications, but it was ultimately accepted into the Northeast Conference. Another step was trying to elevate the Men’s Ice Hockey Program.
In 1998, McDonald founded a whole new league called the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hockey League. The MAAC was the men’s ice hockey team’s first Division I hockey conference and it included AIC, Army, Bentley University, Canisius College, UCONN, Fairfield University, Holy Cross, Iona College, Mercyhurst University and Sacred Heart University. The Braves went 22-4-2 in its first season in the MAAC and lost in the semi-finals to Canisius College 5-2.
More change was upon the college two years later.
Part Two: Change the Game
In 2000, Quinnipiac changed its name from Quinnipiac College to Quinnipiac University. Quinnipiac expanded its programs and were now able to grant master’s degrees. Fabbri felt it was time not just for athletics, but for the entire community.
“I thought it was appropriate,” Fabbri said. “Lahey and his administration were growing the graduate programs here, so it was a very paralleled move to keep step in time that we are now broadening what we have to offer our students with moving from college to university.”
Some programs saw immediate results. The 2000 women’s soccer team went 13-6-1 and won the NEC tournament, while the Quinnipiac field hockey team went 12-8 overall and 10-2 in the NEC. Both programs respectively made the Quinnipiac hall of fame in 2010 and 2012. The Quinnipiac Hall of Fame is a place where the University honors there most impactful members, clubs, and athletic programs.
The men’s ice hockey program continued its rise in 2001, as they went 20-13-5. They went 15-6 in the MAAC and defeated Mercyhurst 6-4 in the MAAC title game to advance to its first ever NCAA tournament. They were also inducted into the Quinnipiac Hall of Fame in 2012.
McDonald also started to do some broadcasting duties for the Braves, and discussed how putting hockey games on TV affected the process.
“We wanted people to turn on NESN looking for a Bruins game and they’d see Quinnipiac playing UConn or Fairfield,” McDonald said. “Television was a great way of getting exposure for hockey in Boston and basketball in New York.”
Quinnipiac decided to adjust its mascot two years later. In 2002, they officially changed its mascot from the Braves to the Bobcats.
According to USHCO, this was a suggested move from Lahey as he noticed that Colgate University changed its name from Red Raiders to Raiders.
Quinnipiac Vice President of Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell, stated that, “Quinnipiac’s women’s teams were offended by the use of the Lady Braves moniker, and graphic representations-logos and mascots-were similarly burdened,” the release said. “The institution, out of concern for these sensitivities, had stopped using human representations of Native Americans years ago.”
According to a Quinnipiac Chronicle article by Viktoria Sundqvist, the university’s main factor of choosing Bobcats was due to how common they are in the New England area.
Fabbri remembers how important this adjustment was for the future of the university.
“I think that was a little bit to go with the sign of the times of being politically correct in what was happening in the landscape of college athletics,” Fabbri said. “It really fueled a conversation with Lahey and McDonald. I had nothing to do with making the decision, but I was happy with the move of going from Braves to Bobcats.
The athletics department was also going through transition as they hired Northeastern alum Mike Medina in 2004 as Assistant Athletic Director for intramurals.
Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics: Medina graduated with a journalism degree from Northeastern University and currently serves as Quinnipiac’s Director of Fitness and Recreation.
Hockey and basketball didn’t have an arena to play in and programs were still participating in the NEC. Programs were able to wear whatever uniform they desired, but Medina shared how that’s no longer the case.
“One of the things we’ve seen is how the Bobcat has evolved,” Medina said. “We’ve had a rebrand of some of the athletic marks, in particular with the Adidas contract that has started. Prior to that contract, all of our teams wore whatever uniforms they wanted. We’ve seen the consistency of the Bobcat stay, but we’ve seen these tweaks that’ve enhanced the image of the university.”
Part Three: blueprint for success
In 2006, the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team was admitted into the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. A year later, approximately $52 Million was spent to design and open the TD Bank Sports Center on Quinnipiac’s York Hill campus.
Photo by Jordan Wolff: This was named the TD Bank Sports Center until September of 2017, as TD Bank’s sponsorship came to an end in favor of People’s United Bank.
Prior to that, Mecca revealed how the hockey team practiced at 11 p.m. on Sundays in East Haven. They had an opportunity to join the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference because Vermont decided to switch to the Hockey East conference. Mecca also shared how the university reacted when ECAC representatives came to visit the campus.
“We had put on emphasis on the fact that whatever we were going to do for the men, we would also do for the women,” Mecca said. “They brought bulldozers there and parked it on the side of the road. As they were driving people by in the car to show them where we we’re going to build this state-of-the-art facility, there was this bulldozer that wouldn’t start. It was on the side of the hill, signaling that we were ready to go,”
In 2009, Quinnipiac added a women’s rugby team. They won back-to-back-to-back national championships in their 10-year history.
The rugby team won its first and the inaugural varsity championship in 2015, defeating Army West Point 24-19. Quinnipiac Assistant Director for Athletic communications Nick Solari was a junior journalism major at the time, and remembers how special it was seeing it in person.
“Coach (Becky) Carlson has done a great job with that group,” Solari said. “It wasn’t your typical show up to the game and report on what you see. For the longest time, everyone associated men’s ice hockey as the team going to the national championship. They went to two frozen fours when I was a student there. Simultaneously, women’s rugby was competing for national championships too.”
Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics: Solari attended Quinnipiac from 2012-16, along with covering sporting events for the Quinnipiac Chronicle.
How does everything stand today? The Bobcats saw 21 conference championships and 33 NCAA championship appearances in McDonald’s tenure.
Each program elevated to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 2013, with the field hockey team joining the Big East conference that includes the #1 UConn Huskies in 2016.
Courtesy of Quinnipiac Chronicle (Photo by Anna Brundage): The Quinnipiac 2012-13 Hockey team’s reaction after loss to Yale
The men’s ice hockey team made it to the Frozen Four in 2013. Quinnipiac scored 1:49 into the game and added two more goals in the first period, to make it a 3-0 lead. They held on by a final of 4-1 to advance to its only NCAA championship game.
They faced their in state rival Yale Bulldogs, and were tied 0-0 entering the second period. Yale’s Christian Bourbonais scored with four seconds left in the period to make it a 1-0 game. Yale scored three unanswered goals to win by a final score of 4-0.
The women’s basketball program has won 52 straight conference games and had a memorable run in 2017. They advanced to its first NCAA tournament, where they upset the #5 Marquette 68-65 in the first round. They faced #4 Miami in the round of 32, and won 85-78 to make it to the Sweet 16.
The Quinnipiac baseball team had a historic 2019 season. They faced Fairfield in the MAAC championships and it went to extra innings tied at five. In the bottom of the 13th, junior infielder Evan Vulgamore scored on a wild pitch to send Quinnipiac to its second ever NCAA tournament.
The Bobcats traveled to Greenville, North Carolina to face the #10 East Carolina Pirates. Quinnipiac got out to a 2-0 lead with a homerun from Vulgamore. East Carolina stormed back to make it a 3-3 game, but the Bobcats senior outfielder Liam Scafariello hit a go-ahead two-run homerun to make it a 5-3 game. Quinnipiac held on to win its first ever NCAA tournament game.
The numbers show that success has come with athletic expansion, McDonald still wants athletics to continue its aggressive nature.
“One of my mottos is even if you’re on the right track, if you just stand there you’ll get run over,” McDonald said. “Whenever you’re winning games or having success, you never stop thinking ahead. You can never stop advancing yourself in any phase of life, not just athletics. It’s important to keep moving forward.”
At a university that bears an indigenous name, you would expect a campus celebration for Indigenous People’s Day. At Quinnipiac University, this was not the case. There was nothing on or around campus that acknowledged the day according to Mohegan tribe member and Quinnipiac University student, Kiara Tanta-Quidgeon.
For the small population of indigenous students who attend the university, the lack of Native voices on campus is enough to feel excluded.
“At home, we are all united by our history and our passion for our people,” Tanta-Quidgeon said. “We are all intertwined by not only our ancestry and our blood, but by the love of our land and our culture. This is not something that I have at Quinnipiac, but it is something that I want for current and future indigenous students and will fight for until it is achieved.”
“I always felt that by coming here I was losing a huge part of myself.” — Kiara Tanta-Quidgeon
Tanta-Quidgeon, a sophomore biology major, was raised in Connecticut by a single mother and her indigenous heritage played a huge role in her life. Growing up, she lived near the Mohegan reservation in Montville, Connecticut and would attend the celebrations called powwows and sometimes even danced in them. When she decided on where to go to college, it was a tough decision for her.
“I came here because I wanted to be close to home but I always felt that by coming here I was losing a huge part of myself,” Tanta-Quidgeon said. “I wanted QU to be a place I could call home, but a huge part of what I’ve always known as home was missing. There was a significant lack of inclusion for indigenous students and an absence of indigenous voice in the Quinnipiac community.”
This year, Quinnipiac University was ranked the Princeton Review’s No. 1 university forlittle race/class interaction.
Quinnipiac University, with a 73 percent white student demographic, has a low enrollment of Native American students and other minority groups despite its indigenous name. According to the2016 IPEDS Data Feedback Report, 0.1 percent of students enrolled in the university identified as Native American.This number translates to 14 Native American students enrolled in a university of about 10,000 students.
The low number of enrolled indigenous students has led students to start questioning the lack of diversity on campus.
“We are predominantly a white, settler-colonists institute that uses a name with little to no credit given to the people and the history of this place,” Tanta-Quidgeon said. “If they didn’t care about the history of their own how were they to care about mine?”
Tanta-Quidgeon explained that a lack of inclusion looks like it does now: an overwhelming majority of the population being Caucasian.
“A lack of inclusion is a lack of diversity and a lack of celebration of differences,” she said. “Our groups and organizations do an amazing job of implementing minority voices in the community and celebrating their cultures and differences, and that is what I want for indigenous students.”
Before this year, Tanta-Quidgeon said she only knew two other indigenous students on campus. And both of them were her cousins. She said that she only met a few more Native students this year so the number is still small.
Despite the low number of indigenous students enrolled, there is no place for these students to gather and celebrate their heritage.
“There is no place I felt totally comfortable sharing the most important parts of myself and no place where I could find students to bond to and unite with like I did with the tribal members back home,” she said. “I mean there wasn’t even a place on the QU website where you could even learn or see that Quinnipiac University is on the land of a Native American tribe and uses their name.”
While the university has added a more extensive about page to its website, there is no mention of the Quinnipiac tribe and that the university resides on Native land.
Students gather in the student center for the Teach-In on Indigeneity and Quinnipiac to listen to professor of philosophy, Anat Biletzki, speak about colonization in the Middle East. Photo by Hannah Tebo.
This lack of education about the land the university resides on and the name it holds has been a growing issue in the community which has led to new inclusivity programs like the Teach-In on Indigeneity to start taking place.
This Teach-In took place in the student center on Nov. 19 and addressed a wide range of issues. Professors from areas of history, philosophy and law lectured about indigeneity throughout history to educate those who attended about the history before settlers came and to show the detrimental impact of colonialism on the Native people. Around 77 students swiped in at the Teach-In according to Executive Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, Sean Duffy.
Of the multiple professors and lecturers that spoke, two indigenous students stood in front of peers and faculty to discuss what it was like to be an indigenous student at Quinnipiac. Tanta-Quidgeon was one of them.
Tanta-Quidgeon discussed her heritage and upbringing, but described one of the most difficult parts of being a indigenous student on campus was the lack of clubs and organizations that brought Native students together. She said that through these new initiatives at Quinnipiac University there’s more awareness and they are starting to create student-led groups for indigenous students.
“I do have a good number of friends at school however, I am always excited when I come across another student who is Native American,” senior psychology major and Mohegan tribe member, Kristina Jacobs said. “It is a really good feeling to have people who understand your culture and way of life and to share something with someone that is so close to your heart.”
Tanta-Quidgeon speaking at the Teach-In to students and faculty about what it’s like to be an indigenous student at a predominantly white university. Photo by Hannah Tebo.
Lala Forrest, a first year medical student at Quinnipiac University, was the second indigenous student to stand in front of students and faculty to discuss the barriers of being a Native American student.
Originally from the Pit River tribe in California, Forrest spent the first year of her life on the reservation with her single mother. She moved off the reservation as a toddler because her mother wanted to provide her with opportunities and resources that weren’t available on the reservation.
For her, college was only ever an option, not something she had to do.
In high school, she found a program that helped first-generation Native American students apply to college. She spent four years at University of California San Diego before applying to medical school. She discussed at the Teach-In the low enrollment of Native students to medical schools and revealed that in 2018 out of 30,000 Native college students, four applied to medical school and zero got in.
“This is a call for medical schools to increase their representation of Native Americans in medicine,” Forrest said. “And this is important because Native students want to go back and help their communities, they want to help people who are suffering disproportionately in nearly every health category.”
Forrest then discussed a “pipeline project” the University of Minnesota has for indigenous students to help them prepare for medical school. They start preparing these students in middle school and provide support for these students all the way until they get to medical school. She explained that Minnesota showed support of Native students with 13 percent of the faculty at the school being indigenous and having Native faculty members on the admissions committee.
She wrapped it all back around to being an indigenous student at Quinnipiac and the purpose of the new events being introduced to the community.
“Our purpose is to foster a campus-wide conversation on indigenous identities, histories and culture,” Forrest said. “The goal I think of this initiative is to work towards social justice, equity and inclusivity for indigenous people and how we need to be bearing an indigenous name and residing on indigenous lands be culturally responsiveness but also responsible with that.”
The school is also working with an organization called the Akomawt Educational Initiative, a group that travels around east coast schools, connecting colleges with indigenous communities.
“These are the types of things we would like to change, the structure at the university,” Chris Newell, Passamaquoddy tribe member and one of the leaders of the Akomawt Educational Initiative said. “One that is welcoming to all people.”
Three members circulated through speaking at the podium. They talked about indigenous people today and how they are still fighting for rights. They discussed the Standing Rock protests, the importance of accepting different forms of knowledge as credible and what Quinnipiac can do to keep this type of inclusive conversation alive on campus.
They also visited campus on Dec. 2 and professors at the university were able to individually meet with the team to discuss how to create curricula that is more inclusive of Native histories, culture and knowledge.
“Being a native student at a predominately white school can be difficult, especially when some of our experiences are so different,” senior psychology major and Mohegan tribe member Lauren Jacobs said. “I think that Quinnipiac should advocate and try to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day and just create more awareness and more information regarding native culture. Further, I think that Quinnipiac should make it more known that Quinnipiac is named after a tribe.”
So why has the university waited until 2019 to start this type of conversation?
According to Duffy, past presidents prioritized establishing the university.
1950 Chronicle article reporting on the changing of JCC to “Quinnipiac College.” Courtsey of Bob Young, QU Libraries.
“There were bits and drabs [of events] over the years,” Duffy said. “The focus was really on bringing on what had been the Junior College of Commerce and limp through the ‘70s and ‘80s that way to its next level. Since then the student population has almost doubled in size and there had been a lot of programmatic growth and development that we were really focusing on as an institution.”
And the university has grown a lot since it first opened its doors in 1929.
Quinnipiac University was originally founded in 1929 under the name “The Connecticut College of Commerce” according to Duffy. At the time, the college only offered two year degrees but in 1950 the institution admitted the first four-year class.
Then in January of 1950, the college changed its name to “Quinnipiac College” after the students and faculty voted between four different names which were Nathan Hale, Ronan, Quinnipiac College and the College of Arts and Commerce, according to Duffy.
According to the 1951 Quinnipiac General Catalogue, the school’s comprehensive source of departamental, college and university-wide information, the school was originally named after the Quinnipiac plantations but according to Duffy the university was named after the Algonquin tribe that were named “Quinnipiac” which translates to “long water people.” When the tribe sold the land to white colonists, the settlers named the land Quinnipiac before changing it to New Haven according to honorary story teller for the Quinnipiac and adjunct professor at the university, Dorothy Howell.
But it is still unclear who the Quinnipiac were.
According to Howell, there isn’t much known about the tribe before white settlers came to the New Haven area. The tribe was small and in 1668 when settlers came to the land, the tribe sold the land to colonists who reserved a small piece for the Natives which is now looked at as one of the first Native American reservations in the United States according to Howell.
The tribe today is fragmented. According to Howell, many of the members have been adopted into the tribe just as she was. Howell believes current members have much to add to the university that could begin to establish new traditions just like Quinnipiac Weekend was once an integral part of the community.
In the early 1950s, the university celebrated its first ever ‘Quinnipiac Weekend’ during the first weekend of May. According to the General Catalogue, this was a celebration of the founding of the university.
“The weekend was originally meant to celebrate Quinnipiac’s heritage and give the students a few days to celebrate being part of this community,” Duffy said.
The university held a variety of events for students including shows, a picnic at Holiday Hill in Cheshire and a prom at night according to one 1967 issue of the Chronicle. However, there was no celebration or mention of the indigenous people and land the school is named after. The weekend was more focused on celebrating the founding of the university rather than the name.
The university officially stopped sponsoring Quinnipiac weekend festivities after a student was killed in 2007 walking across Whitney Avenue according to a2016 Chronicle article.
In that same year, the famous ‘Legend of the Bobcat’ was integrated into the community to connect the university’s mascot, name and students to the school and keep the sense of community alive. But it’s a story created by students at the school rather than a legend from the Quinnipiac tribe.
“For one thing, we really ought to replace the bogus legends with stories from the actual Quinnipiac history we can discover,” Howell said.
According to Newell there is a legend behind the Sleeping Giant that is told by the tribe and the community should adopt that version instead.
“Indigenizing Quinnipiac means tying it to the land,” he said. “Maybe not tying it to a student-created legend because with what we’ve seen with legends that were created and the way the internet is, they become fact to some people.”
In 2001, the university decided to change the mascot of the school from the Braves to the Bobcats. After a recommendation by former university president, John Lahey, the institution abandoned the usage of a stereotypical Native American chief and transitioned to a more culturally appropriate mascot.
The university still has work to do according to Howell, but she thinks these new programs are a good start.
“In brief, the one thing we owe the land we occupy, whether in honor of the Quinnipiacs or as an obligation we should all be accepting, is respect,” Howell said. “How we express that respect will be up to the QU community. The decisions are beyond you and me, but one day of lectures, one month dedicated to Native Americans, one pow-wow, one year of indigenous programs are no more than a start.”
Imagine a LinkedIn-style site for college athletes who want to attend a new school. Aaron Falzon experienced the real thing.
“I put my name in,” said Falzon, who now attends Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. “I went to go write my 20-page paper. 30 minutes later I had four emails, two texts and five missed calls, and I was like, what is going on?”
Aaron Falzon warms up for his first home game at Quinnipiac against Albany. (Photo by Liz Flynn)
Welcome to the NCAA Transfer Portal, where the students can enter their name into a system that serves as a gateway to the vast reservoir of colleges seeking top athletic talent.
The NCAA opened the portal Oct. 15, 2018, to give students the opportunity to change schools without the hassle of sitting out a year per long-standing transfer rules.
The portal gives athletes a chance to seek opportunities – the role of college in general. But it has turned into something much, much more, even for mid-major Division I schools such as Quinnipiac.
Quinnipiac men’s basketball head coach Baker Dunleavy has recruited five transfer students, including one through the portal in Falzon. The portal is a profound development for the school.
“The wave of transfers isn’t going anywhere,” Dunleavy said. “It’ll only get bigger. It’ll only get more popular. I think player movement and freedom is something that continues to grow.”
The Good
The Bobcats took advantage of the portal to land Falzon, who previously attended Northwestern, a Big Ten school. Dunleavy found him on the portal and sent one of those emails that overwhelmed the Massachusetts-born player.
Why did Falzon leave a major school outside of Chicago to attend Quinnipiac in suburban Hamden, and play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with its one-bid status for the NCAA Tournament?
“I wanted to go to a place where I have an opportunity to play and have the chance to win a conference championship,” said Falzon of Newton, Mass. “Also, the bonus when I come here is being close to home. Mom and Dad can drive to every game.”
Dunleavy, in turn, saw Falzon as a player who fit the team’s culture.
“For us, we can be really opportunistic with transfers when they fit our culture and our identity and really being disciplined in knowing when that’s the case,” Dunleavy said. “With an Aaron Falzon, that was the case. We were really aggressive to recruit Aaron.”
The Bad
Jaden Daly, a sports writer for A Daly Dose of Hoops, has been covering New York-metro area men’s college basketball for 10 years. Daly has seen both sides of the story: the high-major schools bringing in players that out-matched their competition on the mid-major front and the mid-major schools taking advantage of this chance to recruit the nation’s top talents.
Between grad transfers ,players in the transfer portal and players that have entered their names in the draft teams will look very different come end of the summer. Roster management has become as important as any aspect of coaching for high major programs. @CollegeGameDay
“The lower level schools are losing out because now it’s created a marketplace where if you are a higher major and you’re losing out in recruiting, it’s a ripple effect with the one-and-done’s. You have to go to the next best option,” Daly said.
That next option? Well, it’s plucking the best of the best from conferences like the MAAC. In the portal era so far, Quinnipiac has not been a team that has had to see players leave to other schools. However just three years ago the Bobcats were forced to wave goodbye to their two top scorers in Mikey Dixon and Peter Kiss. Dixon joined St. John’s in the Big East and Kiss is now playing at Rutgers in the Big 10.
Mikey Dixon (left) and Peter Kiss (right) pose together during their freshman year at Quinnipiac. (Photo by QBSN)
This has been the issue for mid-major teams in the last calendar year with the portal.
“If you’re a high major coach, you see a 15, 20 point per game scorer that goes into the portal,” Daly said, “why not take a shot at him? If you’re not able to get a one-and-done like a Kentucky or Carolina or Duke is going to get, you have to find some way to keep up with the Joneses.”
The Jury’s Still Out
On the other hand, mid-major schools need to compete with each other, and Quinnipiac’s program is no different: it needs to find talent flying just below the major-school radar. The transfer portal facilitates that effort.
Jessica Hegmann-Grasso, the MAAC’s associate commissioner said, the transfer portal gives these types of schools, especially in her conference, ways to get a hold of the players they would not be able to typically recruit out of high school.
“The transfer option does benefit the mid-major conferences, like ourselves. Being able to get access to those players that may go elsewhere and then come back to us,” Hegmann-Grasso said, “we do benefit from that.”
MAAC men’s basketball has gained 20 transfer student-athletes for the 2019-20 season, while losing 11 in the portal.
Hegmann-Grasso did point out that we are only in year two of the portal process. There is so much still to come.
“It has only been two years. It’s still new. Like anything else it takes that adjustment period to see how the full reaction will be from it. Right now it’s waiting and seeing.”
One thing that it has already accomplished is it has made it easier for the student-athletes to explore all of their options.
“The process to dealing with the transfers prior to the portal was a lot more restrictive, a lot more interaction and conversation,” Hegmann-Grasso said, “where the portal is now making it a little bit more free.”
Is it free enough? Not for ESPN’s Jay Bilas.
Now, Quinnerly will play as a 24-year old, redshirt senior. For what purpose? The NCAA’s transfer policy is an unholy, unjustifiable mess. If Quinnerly played softball or all but five other sports, he could transfer at semester and be immediately eligible. https://t.co/tju0iA1kGJ
The transfer portal has continued to progress this freedom that the student-athletes desire. Phillip Lamar Cunningham, a professor of media studies who formerly served as co-director of the sports studies program at Quinnipiac University said that the portal, itself, has legitimized the power that the student-athletes can have. Though, he does not believe it has had an outstanding impact on the landscape of college athletics.
Falzon stands with his teammates before his first home game with Quinnipiac.
“The transfer portal, like most NCAA initiatives, is a little late and doesn’t necessarily change much as much as it capitulates to the forces that they already had to give way to.”
Knowing that you have options is an important part of a young athlete’s mindset, and those are really on full display all the time now.
“For a small school like Quinnipiac, the benefits are if you’re an elite college athlete, you are coming home,” Cunningham said. “If you are someone that’s on the cusp of a major conference team but you can’t really break through, you can possibly come here [Quinnipiac] and be a star. We see this in every sport. If you are a star in a mid-major you are suddenly more attracted to more established teams.”
The new rules have led to confusion over the transfer portal’s role. For Hegmann-Grasso and her colleagues in the MAAC’s league offices, they just would like to see it play out a bit more.
“I think it’s just too early to start changing anything because it took a while to get to this point, and to just change it right away?” Hegmann-Grasso said. “I don’t think we do our due diligence of really setting up a system, even though some were in favor for it and some were not.”
It’s just the start of more and more changes in college basketball, and so far, Quinnipiac can call itself a beneficiary. So far.
As the end of the fall semester draws near, Quinnipiac students are already preparing for the holidays. Whether this is making plans to celebrate a specific holiday or just spend time with family, the community has a lot to look forward to.
Senior film major Meredith Fox enjoys spending time with her family all throughout Hanukkah. Photo credit:
“For the holidays my family always goes to my grandmother’s house and we all exchange gifts and light the candles,” said Meredith Fox, third-year 3+1 FTM major. “It’s nice to get everyone together for a fun holiday like Hanukkah.”
Junior nursing major Melissa Buck enjoys the events that Quinnipiac hosts during the holiday season, such as the annual holiday dinner. (Photo credit: Alexis Guerra)
Along with students planning ahead, the Office of Religious Life aims to meet the personal religious needs of students of all faiths during the season of celebration. The three groups represented in the office include Catholic and Protestant chaplains as well as a Muslim religious life coordinator, according to the Quinnipiac website. The Peter C. Hereld House also regularly hosts events for the Jewish community on campus.
“I think Quinnipiac does a pretty good job of keeping the celebrations inclusive,” said Melissa Buck, junior nursing major. “I always look forward to the student centers being decorated and the different events that are going, especially before finals.”
According to Father Jordan Lenaghan, executive director of University Religious Life, the university looks to incorporate all religions. This year, Quinnipiac’s admitted students included those who identify as Wiccan, Scientologist and with the Reformed Church (Christian).
With new religions joining the campus community, the Center for Religion hosted an Irish Cultural Christmas party sponsored by Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute. The Quinnipiac Catholic Chaplaincy had an Advent Mass during finals review week. Regardless, students are still looking forward to going home for the holidays.
Quinnipiac held its annual holiday dinner for undergraduate students on Dec. 5 on the Mount Carmel Campus. (Photo credit: Alexis Guerra)
“I’ll be celebrating with family, by going to mass and then having dinner and exchanging gifts,” said Grace Senra, president of the Catholic Chaplaincy. “We’ll also incorporate a Hanukkah celebration and light the menorah, as one of my uncles is Jewish!”
Along with plans for the winter break, Quinnipiac has its own fair share of holiday traditions. On Dec. 3, members of the university’s community came together for a Quad lighting ceremony, complete with cooking decorating and holiday carols. The university also hosts its annual holiday dinner for undergraduate students on Dec. 5.
“To me,” said Senra. “Celebrating the holidays and keeping up with traditions is hugely important. I love being with family, and the special religious ceremonies such as mass and lighting the Advent wreath are some of my favorite parts of the Church year.”
The image posted outside of the condemned dorms, showing what the renovated dorms are set to look like once their finished. Photo credit: Cam Silver.
Over the summer, students at Quinnipiac received new housing assignments this fall due to findings of asbestos in dorms that are currently being renovated.
Students expected to live in dorms Larson, Perlroth, and Troup received an email over the summer stating that these dorms are going to be closed for the 2019-20 school year and that students are being moved to different dorms. Some students were able to stay with the friends they chose to live with while others became separated.
“When I first received the email, I was incredibly upset because my group of suitemates was split up and placed on York Hill, which is an entirely different campus.” said Kassidy Berger sophomore at Quinnipiac.
The students assigned to Crescent received upgraded parking permits that allow them to park in the York Hill parking garage at any time and Hilltop parking lot as well from 6 a.m. to midnight. Students were also credited $1,000 toward their housing bill for next year, but even with these perks the school gave these students, it is still an adjustment living on a different campus.
“The main difference with my current living situation is that I need to drive down to class everyday. It is incredibly frustrating to have to deal with parking.” said Berger.
Part of Bobcat way has been shut down at different times throughout the past few months in order to move materials and tools into the dorms. Photo credit: Cam Silver.
According to Robert Labulis, Hamden Building Official, Quinnipiac applied for permits to install air conditioning in the dorms. The University’s Connecticut-licensed asbestos consultant inspected the buildings and determined that certain material in the buildings that would be disturbed contained asbestos. He is also on campus inspecting the buildings twice a week to make sure the renovations are progressing as planned.
Labulis knew parents were concerned with students’ health regarding the findings of asbestos.
“Unless students were chewing on the walls then their health in the buildings were not at risk,” said Labulis.
The university could have painted over the walls and carpet the floor and would not have to worry about the asbestos but Sal Filardi the Vice President for facilities and capital planning did not want to do that.
The backside of the condemned dorms, showing how much of the campus has been blocked off due to the asbestos. Photo credit: Cam Silver.
“Most of the time you can paint over a wall and that’s fine or plywood over a floor and put carpet down, said Sal Filardi. “The fact that there’s asbestos tile underneath the plywood it’s fine.” “We decided as a university to remove all of the asbestos.”
If they took the route to paint over the walls or carpet down the floors then the dorms would have been open this school year.
Filardi and Labulis both state that the buildings will be ready for the 2020-2021 year with air conditioning and will be asbestos-free.
