HQ Press

By Ariana Spinogatti and Beverly Wakiaga

Quinnipiac is rescinding its Fred Friendly First Amendment Award to former CBS anchor Charlie Rose. 

President John Lahey released the following statement after a cabinet meeting Monday morning. 

“Based on recent reports of inappropriate workplace behavior, clearly inconsistent with our institutional values, the university will no longer have Charlie Rose’s name associated with our university and our Fred Friendly First Amendment Award.”

This past November, The Washington Post published an article where eight women accused the anchor of sexual harassment while they worked with him.

Since then, Rose was fired from CBS and his program on PBS was canceled. On November 24, the University of Kansas and Arizona State University both rescinded the awards their journalism programs had honored Rose with.

Quinnipiac’s School of Communications has been honoring broadcast journalists with the Fred Friendly Award since 1994. According to Lee Kamlet, the former school of communications dean, the award is “intended to recognize outstanding achievement in broadcast.”

The dean of the school suggests candidates to Fred Friendly’s wife, Ruth Friendly. She then selects and approves the person in consultation with President Lahey.

“It was felt that he had the depth and breadth of the experience … that he had achieved excellence and was deserving of the award,”  explained Kamlet of the decision to honor Rose with the award in 2016.

While Rose has faced repercussions and issued an apology for his actions. Students at Quinnipiac have mixed feelings on whether or not he should be stripped of his award in light of these allegations.

“I know the award was given to him because of his journalism accomplishments, but I think that Quinnipiac’s honoring of this man will represent the school poorly and doesn’t accurately depict the school’s views on sexual harassment,” Molly Pelosi, a senior public relations major, said.  

Gea Mitas, a senior health science major, shares a different sentiment. 

“It was already given so why take it away?” asked Mitas. “When he was given this award, we knew what he had accomplished as a journalist and how successful he was in the industry. Those events in his career have not changed and that was the reason for getting the award in the first place.”

These are sentiments echoed by Ashley Kulik, a senior graphic design major.

“When the award was given it was meant for his work and not what he had on his personal time,”Kulik said. “Even though the allegations made against him are inappropriate, taking this back will not drastically change anything to make the situation better.”

This fall, a slew of notable men have been accused and admitted to sexual harassment claims in the workplace. Today show anchor Matt Lauer was fired from NBC due to similar allegations. Kamlet, a former ABC and NBC producer, defined this moment in time as a ‘Watershed’ moment.

“Women in all walks of life, not just journalism but entertainment and politics,” explained Kamlet, “women are finally saying enough and they are not going to put up with it anymore.”

By Ariana Spinogatti 

Mohammad Elahee, a professor of international business at Quinnipiac, won a Fulbright to teach and complete several research projects while traveling abroad to Jordan in the upcoming spring semester. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board awarded Elahee this opportunity after his third time applying for the scholarship. 

“I am going for teaching and research,” Elahee said. “Some Fulbright scholarships are for purely teaching or purely research. Mine is teaching some research. I will be teaching a graduate course on international marketing located in the capital of Jordan. I will also be teaching practical negotiation, which is my primary research area. I want to focus on the cultural aspects of negotiation. I plan on researching two studies, one about the role of emotional intelligence and the ethics in business negotiation. The second will be in the area of consumer behavior. My primary research project for which I got the scholarship was in the negotiation area.”

Elahee has a Ph.D. from the University of Texas Pan American, an MBA from the University of New Brunswick and a bachelor’s and master’s in accounting from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Once Elahee became a U.S. citizen he was persuaded by a research partner of his to apply to Jordan. 

 “I really liked the country. It is a very stable country and there is so much history, so I wanted to go to a place where I could really enjoy being there. I will be teaching a graduate course. I will also be conducting research. I will also be doing some public lectures. Basically, Fulbright commission requires Fulbright scholars to act as sort of an official cultural ambassador of the country they are representing. I hope to meet as many people as possible and my family is also going with me so it will be a learning opportunity for my children.” 

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. government in hopes to build strong relationships between the United States and other countries. To apply for the Fulbright, individuals must have strong academic and professional achievements, five recommendation letters and strong evidence of service in their fields.

“I was born and raised in Bangladesh and even before I came to the United States I was familiar with the Fulbright Scholarship,” he said. “It is a very prestigious scholarship and I know people from all over the world who come to the United States to participate in higher education and similarly American scholars go abroad to teach or do research. Even sometimes American students go abroad to study.”

Elahee is no stranger to Jordan. He has traveled their several times and thinks his teaching experience will greatly differ from his time at Quinnipiac. 

“In Jordan higher education is extremely complicated, it is competitive, they are very self driven, motivated, but there are not many resources. In the United States we have a lot of resources. In Jordan, students are very dedicated but they might not have the same level of foundation that American students have. Based on my limited experience, it seems to me that even though they do not have much sources, not much libraries, not good databases, the makeup for the resources is working extra hard.”

Elahee spoke with enthusiasm about returning to Quinnipiac and getting the chance to share what he learned with his students. He hopes his travels will help build a relationship between Quinnipiac and the University of Jordan. A goal of his is to bring Quinnipiac students on a study abroad trip to Jordan. 

“I know that it is unrealistic but if it was for a short amount of time for students to at least go there, learn about the Arab culture, learn about the Arab business practices, it would be worth it. There is a lucrative market there and Jordan is a very stable country. If our students have a better understanding of the Arab market, later, they can do business there. We live in a globalized world, we have to learn about other parts of the world and I find that in the United States we don’t have a good understanding of that. We know a lot about Europe because they are traditional trading partners but we do not know as much about Asia, Latin America, Africa or the Middle East. It’s time for us to tap into those markets and for that it is very important for our students to go visit, meet people and make friends, so I hope I can play a role in building that relationship.”

By Erin Reilly

CVS Health’s plan to buy Aetna for $69 billion may reshape the health care industry.

CVS announced the deal on Sunday, claiming the merger would provide people with an “integrated, community-based health care experience.”

“With the analytics of Aetna and CVS Health’s human touch, we will create a health care platform built around individuals,” CVS CEO Larry Merlo said in a press release.

Aetna’s CEO and chairman, Mark Bertolini, added, “Together with CVS Health, we will better understand our members’ health goals, guide them through the health care system and help them achieve their best health,” Aetna’s CEO and chairman, Mark Bertolini, added in the press release. 

Most outsiders think the deal could come with both pros and cons.

“Effects from the merger may be positive or negative depending on the stakeholders’ perspective,” Jason Scozzafava, a clinical assistant professor of health sciences at Quinnipiac, said. “I believe what is highly likely is that a merger of this scope and scale will influence our health care delivery system.”

Specifically, Scozzafava said the merger could combine many health-related services in one company.

According to its press release, CVS has about 9,700 stores and 1,100 clinics, with 82 percent of Americans living within 10 miles of one of its locations. If CVS adds more locations, Scozzafava says it “would improve geographical access to health care services for many.”

Eight out of 10 Americans are within 10 miles of a CVS https://t.co/x0MQvnPeY1

— Quartz (@qz) December 5, 2017

“This strategy could also help to expedite the expansion of a new care delivery model, one which focuses on patient education, prevention, and management of chronic illness outside of the physician’s office,” Scozzafava said.

This will also affect the insurance side of the deal. Scozzafava said, potentially, it “could offer companies a ‘one-stop shopping’ experience for their employees.”

“People with Aetna insurance could have much of their preventative and disease management health care provided to them within the walls of the retail store,” Scozzafava said.

However, this may not be entirely positive. Scozzafava added that it “could also limit choices as to where one may go for care.”

He also noted that another possible negative effect of the deal could be the distancing between patients and their primary care providers. But Scozzafava feels there is still potential for various positive changes.

“Through the proper utilization of the CVS-Aetna health delivery model, the potential exists to help ease overcrowded emergency departments, improve patient ownership of their health, and decrease the cost of health care in the United States,” Scozzafava said. However, he noted that “a decrease in the cost of health care seems unlikely in our current climate, one that is dominated by private insurance companies.”

All of these possible scenarios rely on the deal actually going through. David Cadden, a Quinnipiac entrepreneurship and strategy professor emeritus, stressed that the merger still needs to be approved by the Department of Justice.

“Prior attempts to merge the largest insurance companies in the country were shot down by (the Department of Justice),” Cadden said.

However, Cadden said this case is different. He said the CVS-Aetna deal would be considered a vertical merger because the two companies are in the same supply chain. The deals that he says were denied were horizontal mergers because they consisted of companies from the same industry.

Cadden said CVS and Aetna “will argue that this merger will lead to significant cost savings, which then could be passed on to the consumer.”

“If they can demonstrate this, there is a significant probability that the Department of Justice would approve the merger,” Cadden said.

The question of whether or not the deal will be approved is part of a larger atmosphere of uncertainty within the health care industry, with its future remaining unclear.

“Our U.S. health care system is going through uncertain times,” Scozzafava said. “The political changes in Washington have led to uncertainty with Medicare funding and the (Affordable Care Act).”

Also, there is the threat of new competitors in the health care industry.

“Retail stores like CVS are responding to the threat of e-commerce, more specifically Amazon potentially entering the pharmaceutical distribution business,” Scozzafava said. “Amazon has proven its ability to disrupt longstanding shopping behaviors and CVS may be trying to get ahead of the change.”

The deal with CVS could be the second major Aetna-related change for Connecticut this year. In June, the insurance company announced that it would be moving its headquarters to New York City after being in Hartford for 164 years. Aetna plans to move sometime next year, but about 6,000 employees will remain in Connecticut.

By Ryan Chichester

The U.S. Senate passed a new tax bill in the dead of night on Friday evening into Saturday morning, creating the largest changes to the country’s tax code in three decades.

The bill is 479 pages long and was distributed to senators around 7 p.m. on Friday. It was passed with 51 votes just before 2 a.m. on Saturday, leaving little time for senators to rummage through the proposals in changes before the deadline. No democrats voted to pass the bill.

The major change with the new tax bill is the deduction of tax rates for businesses and corporations, which will go into effect in 2019. The tax rate for big businesses will drop from 35 to 20 percent, and those companies will also be able to write off most of their investments for the next five years.

Tax rates for millionaires will also see a decrease from 39.6 percent to 38.5 percent. Most Americans making between $500,000 to $1 million annually will enjoy the new bill, as 91 percent of that group will get a tax cut of at least $100 in 2019. However, only 46 percent of Americans who make between $20,000 and $30,000 a year will see such a cut. 

Americans who may not like the bill changes could be students at Quinnipiac and beyond, as the House bill eliminates student debt write-offs. This forces graduate students whose tuition bills are waived due to working for professors or for their school to include that waived money as taxed income. In short, graduate student assistants will be taxed on their tuition money that is going directly to the school because of their services while seeking their advanced degrees. Universities fear these changes could deter students from seeking graduate study programs. 

Among other effects of the bill is an increase in the American debt. The national debt of roughly $20 trillion will likely increase by another trillion due to the bill, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

 

By Ayah Galal

As the five year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting approaches, the Newtown Action Alliance (NAA) is organizing its annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence in Washington, D.C.

Newtown residents founded the NAA to advocate for families and victims affected by gun violence. The advocacy organization is dedicated to “reversing the escalating gun violence epidemic in this nation through the introduction of smarter, safer gun laws and broader cultural change.”

The NAA organizes a two-day trip, during which supporters take a bus from Newtown, Connecticut to Washington, D.C. This year the trip is planned for Wednesday, Dec. 6 and Thursday, Dec. 7.

The vigil will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Over the course of the trip, members of the NAA and supporters will attend congressional meetings and hold a press conference at the Capitol Building.

Last year, more than 330 vigils were organized in 43 states. The goal for this year is to hold more than 500 local vigils in all 50 states.

The vigil is in partnership with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown Survivor Network, Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Organizing for Action, States United to Prevent Gun Violence, St Marks Episcopal Church and Women’s March.