According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ‘diversity is the condition of having or being composed of differing elements, especially the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.’ For many people, this looks different. American diversity is thought of in a different way than the diversity in other countries. This is what some international students at Quinnipiac thought of diversity before they came to Quinnipiac and how that has changed in their time here.
Priceless
Wilkie,
Nigeria,
21
Diagnostic imaging
My idea of diversity was cultural as opposed to racial. It was based on what country you were from. It wasn’t really visual, it was either what country … if I was in Nigeria what ethnic group or class to an extent too. Like how many different people from financial backgrounds. It wasn’t racial until I came to America, to be honest. Now, (diversity) is everything: sex, gender, race, sexuality, disability. It’s everything. My spectrum of diversity is very open now.
Jiseok Hyun,
South Korea,
23,
Computer Science
Diversity was like a taboo, everybody knew about it. Everybody was aware that we should respect each other. Maybe it’s because I went to a majority white high school, they didn’t have a lot of diversity activities like we do in Quinnipiac because it was just a high school. I saw a lot of segregation, only Asian people hang out with Asian students. So, before I came here I was like there are still solid lines between races and I didn’t like that. Now, it’s a gift. What I realized is that we have a lot of common things, we share something in difference. I think that’s just amazing if you just think of it, we find each other similar or the same in difference like of cultural backgrounds, race. I see a lot of possibilities in diversity.
Zhouqi Helen Dong,
China,
18,
International business and computer information systems
I think it’s just people from different backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, different skin color that all work well together. I feel like my (high) school didn’t really have that, my high school was pretty white, I was the only Asian kid in my entire school.
Warren Webb,
Jamaica,
20,
Computer information systems
I don’t think I had an idea before coming here. I’ve always been surrounded by majority black people so I always thought that was a thing everywhere else. I thought there would have been an equal population and an equal distribution of population. At Quinnipiac, I would say my idea of diversity doesn’t really encompass race and stuff like that. It goes more towards different people who think differently. I feel like a lot of the students at QU have this one mindset, most of them not all, that if it doesn’t affect me then it doesn’t matter.
Jesulayomi Akinnifesi,
Nigeria,
20,
Business management
Diversity has been very instilled in me. I’ve lived in many countries where people of color would be the majority but the schools I would go to would be 50 percent white people and then 50 percent the minority … When I was in these different international schools, if it was anything cultural, no matter what country, culture or ethnic background you’re from you’d still want to go to it. Whereas in Quinnipiac, it’s like if you have anything with multicultural, it’s like, “Oh, it’s only for people of color not for white people.” I didn’t think it would be such a struggle to get people to understand why diversity is important … (My idea of diversity now is) people of all races, all ethnicities, countries, backgrounds, religions are eager to learn about each other, even if they disagree on things, they are still eager to learn about other cultures or factions in which they reside in. Diversity of thought, diversity of opinion.
Xinyu Olivia XU,
China,
21,
Computer information system
Before Quinnipiac I didn’t really have an idea of diversity because I was born and grew up in a small city for 18 years. People, especially my friends, have similar backgrounds, similar family (structure). Their family either work for a company or government, and were the only child in family. We don’t really have diversity things. All my friends are pretty similar.I had a lot of culture shock during the first two years. I think for now, diversity is you should accept yourself, then you accept the others. If you will not admit that you’re different from them, you will not accept what the difference is. You will not recognize what that is.
Nhung An,
Vietnam,
20,
Journalism and English
My high school was an international school, it was not just diversity in race but also nationality and ethnicity. It was also in dialects, in the way that people talk. So I saw diversity a lot in my high school and it was really nice because everyone was kind of on the same level that they are away from home and they bring different things to the table. No one judges anyone and it’s fascinating, everything is new. It’s just different race, different nationality and they speak differently and a lot of tolerance. In Quinnipiac, I learned more about genders and sexuality because I don’t think that was offered a lot in my high school. It’s not black and white, it’s not just the color of your skin but it’s also who you are, who do you identify yourself as and what do you like.
The 2017 Atlantic hurricaneseason has already proven to be extremely active and extremely dangerous. So far this year there have been 15 storms, 10 hurricanes and six major hurricanes (category 3 or stronger). These weather systems have resulted in more than 400 deaths, and more than $188 billion in damages. Connecticut has been spared the worst, but there is still a month to go in the season.
Connecticut’s coastline (photo via Google Earth)
On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy tested the limits of Connecticut’s emergency preparedness programs. According to the National Weather Service, Sandy was a “worse-case scenario for storm surge for coastal regions.” By the time Sandy got to New Jersey, it was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, but the storm surge hit Connecticut right at high tide, causing massive amounts of flooding.
The Tropical Cyclone Report created by the National Hurricane Center reports that there was storm surge over nine feet in New Haven, resulting in floodwaters as high as six feet above ground level. Approximately 3,000 homes were damaged, and the state sustained more than $300 million in damages.
Five years later, is the state of Connecticut ready for another hurricane… or not?
Rick Fontana, Deputy Director of Emergency Operations – New Haven
“Our biggest fear in the city of New Haven is a hurricane,” says Rick Fontana, Deputy Director of Emergency Operations in New Haven. “It’s number one. It really is. We’re on the coast, and I think we’re pretty resilient, but when storm surge hits … that becomes a very significant issue.”
In the event of a hurricane, Fontana would work to develop strategies that will lessen the impact of a storm, plan and prepare for different types of storms, and help with the response to and recovery from a storm.
Fontana also serves as one of five regional coordinators in the state for emergency management. His job there is to communicate with the 30 towns in Connecticut’s Region 2 throughout an emergency, and relay information up to the state coordinators.
Quinnipiac’s Plan for Emergencies
Quinnipiac University, located in Hamden, Connecticut, falls under Region 2. Edgar Rodriguez is the chief of Public Safety and is also co-captain of the emergency management team at Quinnipiac. The team is made up of about a dozen members from various university departments, including public safety, facilities, health services, and academics. Rodriguez says the team has extensive plans when it comes to storms.
“We’ve come up with an emergency evacuation plan and we talk about if there’s a hurricane or a storm coming, what are we doing, how are we preparing for it,” Rodriguez says, adding that although the plans haven’t been approved by the state, they are still important to have.
When a storm comes, those plans get put into action.
The team begins a 24-hour-to-landfall. Members track the storm, gather information from the state and submit that information to Quinnipiac President John Lahey and Provost Mark Thompson, who ultimately decide whether students should stay at school or be sent home.
Once that decision is made, the emergency management team starts prepping all departments for landfall. Quinnipiac’s emergency management team only goes through the regional coordinators for assistance if it’s a minor, isolated emergency – such as power outages on one specific campus. In the case of an event as major as a hurricane, the protocol is to bypass the region and work directly with the state.
“The rule of thumb is every town or city should be able to sustain themselves for 72 hours,” Rodriguez says, explaining that Quinnipiac acts as its own sort of town for those 72 hours after landfall, with the emergency management team in charge. “Then after that, you start getting assistance from the state. But the entire time that’s happening, you’re communicating back and forth with the state.”
All the information goes up to the state emergency operations center in Hartford, is organized and then is sent out to the public.
“Every hour [the state is] sending us an update on the storm and we take that update and send it to everybody,” says Rodriguez. He feels that this system of organizing the information is a good way to keep consistency and keep everybody on the same page at a time when there could be a lot going on at once.
A building-Block Approach
Dan McElhinney, federal preparedness coordinator and national preparedness division director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), explains that everyone takes a building-block approach for providing and receiving assistance after 72 hours.
“At some point [the town] may have to bring in mutual aid from surrounding communities,” McElhinney says. “When the mutual aid has been exhausted, they’ll ask for county level assistance, then they go to the state … then the state will declare a state of emergency. The governor then gets special powers to extend additional dollars to direct other state agencies to assist the local community. When the state no longer has the capacity, the governor will ask the president for an emergency or major disaster declaration. That’s when FEMA gets involved.”
FEMA’s regions (photo via FEMA.gov)
FEMA is divided into 10 regions, and McElhinney is in charge of FEMA Region 1, which includes all New England states. He says although FEMA can respond in numbers that would outweigh the state help 100-to-1, they are there to support, not to supplant.
“Basically under the Stafford Act, we pretty much have tasking authority over all the agencies and departments to assist the state in response and recovery,” McElhinney says. “We provide a lot of technical assistance, but we are not there to take over.”
Mandatory training
Not only does FEMA provide assistance in the aftermath, but it also provides training services. According to the Quinnipiac website, those who are on the emergency management team have to complete FEMA’s National Incident Management System training. This training is similar to the statewide Emergency Preparedness and Planning Initiative training exercises.
Map of Hurricane Maria on the monitor in the New Haven EOC
“The state of Connecticut has gotten very aggressive on keeping everyone prepared,” Rodriguez says. “Every year in October or November we do a drill. It’s mandatory for every town and every city through the state of Connecticut and the last few years have been some type of a hurricane.”
During the two-day statewide drill, state officials provide updates as if there were a real hurricane approaching. The state sends out maps of the storm and asks participants to respond to ongoing situations.
“You just lost all power in your town, what are you doing? You’ve got multiple trees that are down, what are you doing? Are you opening up a shelter? How are you transporting people? How much help do you have? Is the fire department on standby? And you have to keep reporting back and forth,” Rodriguez says.
Emergency operations center – New Haven
The exercises are meant to be intense, but they’re also meant to replicate a real-life situation so that if and when a hurricane does hit, everyone is prepared. And apparently, you can never be too prepared.
“When a hurricane strikes, people kind of become complacent and never think it’s going to be as bad as it is. We’ve been fortunate, but … our departments on the preparedness level always scale one level higher than we normally would,” says Fontana. “We’re always prepared but we always prepare above and beyond because it’s easier for us to scale back than it is to scale up in the middle of a crisis.”
The training drills are mandatory for cities and towns that want to receive grant money in order to build resiliency in places along the shorelines or rebuild after a weather event occurs.
coastal resiliency and innovative thinking
Giovanni Zinn, city engineer – New Haven (photo via Yale.edu)
Giovanni Zinn, an engineer for the City of New Haven, explains why that grant money is so important.
“There’s a lot more land now and it’s low lying land,” he says. “In the large storms we face two major threats: coastal storm surge, where water is piling up in the harbor and coming up the rivers, and large rain events of six, seven, eight, nine, 10 inches in a short period of time. Where does the water go? When you get both at the same time, you have a particularly bad problem. And there’s no getting around the laws of physics. There are certain situations where you can’t drain the city.”
Zinn says that coastal protection methods — seawalls, living shorelines and storm surge barriers that are employed in some areas of the state — are “extremely expensive” and put financial pressure on local communities. He also said he thinks that those preventative measures are “not really a priority” and the long-term thinking tends to be put on the back burner.
But Guilford town planner George Kral says that hard infrastructure like a seawall is actually discouraged by the state of Connecticut.
“The view is that it doesn’t really solve the problem, it just pushes the problem from one place to another,” Kral says, adding that if anything, the goal is to implement green infrastructure instead.
Towns like Guilford have already completed major projects to raise the lowest-lying roads above flood level, as part of the town’s coastal resiliency plan. According to the plan, “coastal resilience is the ability to resist, absorb, recover from, or adapt to coastal hazards such as sea level rise, increased flooding, and more frequent and intense storm surges.” Kral says the plan has two goals: to educate the public on the the importance of coastal resilience, and to suggest actions local governments could take to make themselves more resilient.
And Guilford isn’t the only place thinking about preventative measures.
David Kooris, Director of the Rebuild by Design and National Disaster Resilience programs (photo via CT.gov)
David Kooris, the Director of the Rebuild By Design and National Disaster Resilience programs for the state Department of Housing, says that after Hurricane Sandy, the federal government reserved about a billion dollars in relief funding to be “competitively awarded to places that demonstrated a new way of recovery that better positioned them to be more resilient for future disasters.”
In 2012, the state of Connecticut had already received $160 million in federal disaster relief money, and was looking for more from the department of housing’s two competitions.
“Teams worked over the course of a few months and put together a proposal to the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and to a jury of architects and urban planners to compete for portions of the discretionary funds,” Kooris says about the international Rebuild by Design program. “Seven out of the 10 were awarded funding – the largest being lower Manhattan at $330 million, and the smallest being Bridgeport and the State of Connecticut with $10 million.”
Based on the success of that first program, Kooris says HUD took another chunk of the Sandy money and created a new competition — this time at the national level — which became the National Disaster Resilience program. There were 68 eligible government entities (states, cities and counties) that could enter the competition, and 13 were awarded funding at the end – Connecticut coming in 9th place with $54 million.
Kooris says the purpose of competitively divvying the money up was to “move beyond the standard recovery funding through HUD and FEMA, which more than anything else is just rebuilding.” The programs forced cities and towns to work on disaster prevention, rather than disaster recovery.
“Rarely you get the type of project that is new infrastructure – not repairing what was damaged – and do so in a way that explicitly addresses social and economic vulnerabilities in addition to environmental vulnerabilities,” Kooris says.
Connecticut’s plan involved combining “grey and green approaches” as Kooris puts it, by using “traditional, hard engineered solutions combined with natural solutions that mimic the functions of the environment.” He says that the state is planning to raise roads, build berms and add other green infrastructure to mitigate flooding in Bridgeport, in addition to pinpointing other coastal locations with the greatest number of critical facilities — power plants, roads, hospitals, wastewater treatment — and putting the majority of the investments into protecting those places.
where connecticut stands now
Since Sandy, officials have had five years to revise and strengthen emergency weather response plans.
“We have developed an emergency operation plan that’s worked on on a daily basis,” Fontana says. “Our primary goals … are preparing our residents, making sure that they’re prepared for any type of a disaster and making sure our infrastructure is protected.”
If another hurricane hit tomorrow, there are mixed feelings on whether Connecticut would be ready.
“If it were some kind of extreme storm like a category 5, that is a whole ‘nother ball game. The impact would be severe,” Kral says about the town of Guilford. “Hopefully we’ve done a little better job in terms of planning, but that remains to be seen I guess. If we had 50 inches of rain, we’d have a lot of problems.”
Kooris acknowledges there are still some things that need to be worked on, but for the most part, he says he is “confident that we have implemented targeted infrastructure projects … that reduce risk from future storms.”
As far as Quinnipiac goes, Rodriguez admits “you’re never going to be 100 percent” prepared, but he is confident that the annual mandatory state training has everyone as prepared as they can be to respond.
And in New Haven, Fontana recognizes that a category 3 hurricane “would be devastation to the entire coast” but he is confident in his department, which he says “works every day” and “works hard.”
“We prepare all the time. We plan all the time. We don’t respond all the time, and we don’t recover all the time, but we’re confident that we have the necessary strategies in place to handle a hurricane,” Fontana says.
Adding to his confidence is the fact that FEMA recently awarded the city of New Haven a class 7 rating for flood preparedness and recovery – the highest rating available. Having this rating allows homes in the designated 100-year flood zone to get a 15 percent discount on flood insurance. “So I think that puts it in a nutshell.”
The most important thing through it all? Keeping the lines of communication open, Fontana says, at all times.
“Consistent, timely, good information. I always say, ‘Be first, be right.’”
Curt Leng has been the mayor of Hamden for two and a half years. He was first elected in a special election in May 2015, then ran six months later. Now, he’s running for a third term. HQ Press sat down with Mayor Leng to discuss where he stands on certain issues as well as what he hopes to accomplish if re-elected.
What made you want to become mayor in the first place and why are you deciding to go up for re-election?
I’ve been involved with the town actually for 20 years now. I got involved when I was 20 years old and I ran for council as a 20 year old just coming out of high school, in college traveling back and forth from UConn. I didn’t win my first election that I ran as an independent candidate. And then two years later ran as a Democratic candidate and fortunately I’ve been winning ever since.
I got involved to begin with because actually in high school I had to do ten hours of work on a political campaign. So I went to the local person that was about a mile from my house and found that I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed digging into the issues that people were working on, both the neighborhood and debating them and the pros and the cons and really digging into it.
I learned quickly that you can get involved and you can and people will listen to you and people will you know appreciate the work that you do and you can actually get stuff done even when you’re not in office yet as long as you take that step and kind of open your mouth and get involved. And ever since then I’ve been on that track.
I like working to help people. I find this is one of the one jobs…that you can help somebody every single day. You know a call comes in–hey here’s a problem that I have– you can’t solve everything, there’s no question about that. But usually, several times a day, you’re able to help folks and I think that here at the local level, it’s kind of where the rubber hits the road. There’s things we can actually directly do pretty quickly to help people out.
So you’ve been in Hamden your whole life, correct?
I’m 43, I’ve lived here my whole life, except for when I was at school and my family has been here for a hundred years.
What are some of the initiatives you’ve been able to accomplish in the past two years that you are proud of?
A couple that I’m most proud of have been returning our police to walking beats and bicycle patrols–really focusing on community policing. We hadn’t had walking beats in probably forty years and we have our first walking beat that started two years ago and now we have two regular walking beats and we have 10 different bicycle patrols that go out in all different neighborhoods on the canal, on the shopping area.
Town finances is not necessarily an initiative but it’s one that we really focus on a lot and we’ve been able to strengthen the town’s finances quite a bit. Our bond rating has been upheld. We had the first budget without a tax increase in ten years this past year, so that took a lot of work and spent a lot of time with our delegation making sure that our our state funding is fingers crossed still coming through.
So finances would be number two and number three probably it’s not exactly a specific initiative but I think that there’s a community pride I feel is coming back and I think it’s coming from the ability to communicate more with local government with with I think it’s partly the mayor’s office and I think it’s partly the police department I think it’s partly council members having more interaction with people. And also having a lot more events that people get to go to.
Obviously this doesn’t come easily. What are some of the challenges you faced along the way?
I think every day is like pushing a boulder up a hill. Well, it goes back to finances probably is the main challenge because if the town’s finances aren’t good then it’s kind of the foundation in which everything else is built off of so if the finances are not doing well and if you’re not making sure that the pension is doing better than it was–we have pension reform that’s like three quarters of the way through we have to see that through the end–making sure that your spending is not out of control so that you can keep balancing budgets and keeping the taxes down, you know holding the line of taxes at least. Then you can’t do things like expand bicycle patrols and invest in sidewalks and streets. We’ve done a lot of infrastructure improvement.
In fact in the two and a half years years I’ve been mayor…we’ve paved thirty five miles of road in two and a half years.Fifty-six roads happening right now in the 2017 season and we’ve done probably about a mile of sidewalk so a lot it’s a lot of of infrastructure improvement. Even though we’ve got a lot of roads, I certainly know that we have a lot more to do.
Where would you say the relationship stands now between the town of Hamden and Quinnipiac?
Much improved. You know much, much stronger. I’ve been able to have regular communications with President Lahey. We meet, we talk, we text. Sometimes we’re both busy people and sometimes that ends up being the way that we can connect on certain things. So we have a regular communication now and that’s really nine tenths of the whole game, because if you’re communicating then you can say “hey I have a problem with this and this” or “hey can you help me out with this or this” and going both ways. I think its been a much better situation for everybody because nobody really wants bickering and fighting and and Quinnipiac is a great asset for the town globally. There’s problems with off campus housing sometimes yeah and it’s going to happen with any college in any town USA. Starting last year there was much better communication between our police and the campus security.
How do you facilitate balancing the needs of Quinnipiac students versus the needs of other residents in Hamden?
It’s tough. There’s no be easy black and white you know clear cut type of an answer on this one. You know, encouraging the university to build more housing where it’s fit and where people that will live in the units makes sense and you know there’s another two hundred or so beds that are going to be built up on York Hill which is good. That’ll get a certain number of people in and the truth is that it’s not all of the people off campus at all. It’s a small fraction that make it bad.
There’s many times that I talk with residents and I have someone say actually I students next door and they’re really nice and they came over and chatted and said hey if we have a little party or something on the weekend if it gets too loud would you be able to let me know…people learn how to live in a neighborhood and have a common courtesy for each other.
So it’s a balance of trying to figure out how you can have rules that are appropriate and legal that kind of incentivize locations that make more sense for student development period. So it’s a matter of trying to plan these things out and the more that you work I think with the neighbors, university, town, students together which we haven’t perfected yet; I think you’ll get better and better each year. Because other towns there’s always problems but other towns seem to have perfected it better than we have.
And I talked with folks from Fairfield University as an example and Sacred Heart and it seems like they had very very similar problems thirty years ago or twenty five years ago and you don’t hear much about it at all now so you know trying to follow those models I think is something that we need to spend more time on.
So is there anything you think maybe Quinnipiac can or should be doing differently or students in general?
I think it’s all of us have to really make a concerted effort to do a more formalized town gown committee commission and really commit to having faculty, students, government, residents participate in a positive way so it’s not just an airing of grievances. You know probably quarterly, I would think. And we’ve got kind of a framework of it and it’s something that I’d like to try to accomplish over the next over the next term if I’m still here.
Mayor Leng speaks with Hamden residents during his event titled ‘Mayor’s Night Out’
I went to your event Monday night and you had mentioned SeeClickFix. What are the people in the town of and then concerned about?
Traffic is definitely up there without question…we’ve been doing some traffic calming work so it’s physical improvements to roads. Beyond that, we’ve kicked up enforcement a lot. The enforcement this year compared to last year is we did about 500 enforcement actions in the summer of 2016 and summer of 2017 there was 1388, so almost tripled the number of enforcements and we’re in a bunch more locations with selective enforcement stopping and watching, people go through a light, speed trap, all those type of things.
Graffiti and dumping issues occur in any municipality. If you’re fast with them, then they don’t become a problem if you’re not, they do. So SeeClickFix can be a good tool for that.
Any place that you can kind of get information flow back from residents and from the government to the residents even if it’s not completely productive you know, it’s good. Because the more information flow, the better because people seem to get most frustrated when they don’t know what’s happening.
What do you think sets you apart from Salman Hamid and why do you think people should vote for you instead of him?
Record of accomplishment that they can actually look at and say okay has this person accomplished what he said he was going to and do I think that it’s a good amount of progress that I want to see this direction continue and see what happens with another couple of years of his team together.
And then I’ll probably say that experience. I’ve been involved in in government and I understand municipal finances and I have been involved with the many local and state laws that really do bind a lot of the things that we do some good and some constricting. And without knowing these things and having a pretty fluid comfortable handle on them, it would be really really enormously difficult to accomplish things.
And keeping things positive. I think right now there’s a positive vibe about the town and I think it’s important not only for people’s opinions and you know just being happy and proud of your hometown but it also has a value to it outside of Hamden in that if word gets out more I think as it is now that Hamden is a pretty good place to be for a variety of reasons then families are gonna want to invest here, and buy a house and business are going to want to come here and set up shop and it’s good for our local economy and there’s nothing bad about it. So you know, trying to keep promoting that you know the track that we’re on. I think we’re headed in the right direction is probably the simplest way to answer that.
Have you ever gone to your local coffee shop and the barista knows your name and order by heart?
College students have this happen on a daily basis. On a chaotic schedule going from class, to internships, to extra curricular activities and staying up until 4 a.m., whether in the library or out in the bars, majority of those students rely on coffee to keep them awake.
“I drink coffee to stay awake mostly, and I also really like the taste of it,” said Catherine Healey, public relations major.
According to the American Association of Retired Persons, the average American drinks three cups of coffee per day, which translates to 83 percent of coffee drinkers not being able to imagine their life without their java.
How Many Americans Drink Coffee?
Dana White, Clinical Assistant Professor of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine, has been at Quinnipiac University for 10 years, working directly with students and athletes.
Throughout those years, she has often seen students with cups of coffee in her morning classes and informs her students and athletes to tweet about the dangers of abusing caffeine.
“I teach an 8 a.m. class and I’ll see everybody with their coffees so I’ll tweet it out ‘Coffee isn’t breakfast,’” said White.
The amount of caffeine in drinks varies, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), but it is generally
An 8-ounce cup of coffee: 95-200 mg
A 12-ounce can of cola: 35-45 mg
An 8-ounce energy drink: 70-100 mg
An 8-ounce cup of tea: 14-60 mg
Starbucks offers six different sizes of coffee, each one with names that only regular customers know by heart
Short: 8 ounces
Tall: 12 ounces
Grande: 16 ounces
Venti Hot: 20 ounces
Venti Cold: 24 ounces
Trenta Cold: 31 ounces
White’s recommendation for coffee drinkers is that they should drink one coffee per day, however most people do not realize the different amounts of caffeine in different sizes of coffee.
“If you go get a ‘Venti,’ that is more than two cups of coffee, that is almost three cups of coffee,” she said. “So one cup might be multiple cups of coffee.”
Drinking too much caffeine, which is very common among college students, can lead to health problems, such as restlessness and shakiness, insomnia, headaches, dizziness, rapid or abnormal heart rhythm, dehydration, anxiety and dependency.
Studies have also shown that drinking more a larger amount of cups of coffee per day might have an impact on your GPA.
In a survey with more than 1,000 college students, it was shown that students who drank only one cup of coffee per day had a GPA of 3.41, compared to students who drank more than five cups a day had an average GPA of 3.28.
Although that are many risks about drinking coffee, there are also benefits to it.
According to Harvard’s School of Public Health, it may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, suicide risk, lower the chance of oral cancers and strokes.
Those statistics might be available to Millennials, however, majority of them do not care about it or choose to ignore it.
According to Bloomberg, Millennials count for 44 percent of U.S. coffee demand, an increase from 34 percent to 48 percent from 2008 to 2016.
Millennials are increasing the demand of coffee in the country and an example of that is the opening of Starbucks on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel campus.
White does not think that this event will affect students drastically.
“I don’t know that it’s really going to do any more caffeine damage if it wasn’t here,” she said.
Other students, like marketing major Ryan Lawson, have been drinking a larger amount of coffee since the opening of the new Starbucks on campus.
“I drink coffee every day, and sometimes more than once,” said Lawson as he got a Venti sized coffee at Starbucks.
Although Monday mornings aren’t as busy as expected, Starbucks on campus gets extremely crowded throughout the week.
“Usually in the mornings and around lunch time or early afternoon is when it is the most crowded,” said one worker.
Quinnipiac students have always been aware of the huge lines and waiting time at Au Bon Pain, in the first floor of the cafeteria. However, the workers have been seeing a difference.
“We’re definitely less busy since the Starbucks opened, but we still get a lot of students, mostly because of our sandwiches,” said a worker at Au Bon Pain.
A misconception about coffee is that it gives people the energy they could be lacking of in the moment, however, White thinks this is one of the bigger issues about caffeine abuse.
“The real energy you are going to gain is from calories, and a cup of coffee only has about five calories. You can’t just drink coffee and not eat food,” said White.
The United States spends $40 billion on coffee each year, according to the National Coffee Association, with the average price of an espresso-based drink being $2.45 and the average price of a brewed cup of coffee at $1.38.
“I probably spend around $50 on coffee each month, maybe a little less,” said Anica Lazetic, psychology major at Quinnipiac.
Although Starbucks is considered an expensive coffee shop, the fact that Quinnipiac students can use their meal plan money is very helpful.
“It’s mandatory to pay for $200 for meal plan when you’re off campus, and since I’m always cooking at home, I have been spending mostly of my meal plan with coffee at Starbucks,” said Healey.
Although majority of the students think of coffee in a positive way, White believes there are some measures they need to take.
“I think most college students need to be eating better, sleeping more and calming down, so [coffee] can work against you if you take too much of it,” said White.
An uproar has taken place at Quinnipiac University, and it’s coming from all of the Bobcat hockey fans. The university’s longtime hockey rival, Yale University is set to play in Hamden on Saturday, Nov. 18. This is during the mandatory Thanksgiving vacation for Quinnipiac students.
Students should not be discouraged until they know the outcome of the online ticket portal, which is known to be a high-intensity moment for most student fans. The Quinnipiac Bobcats’ ticket office releases a hyperlink to students that leads them to an online queue. From there, the student is prompted to generate a ticket for the game. Due to the popularity of the event, tickets go quickly. This also becomes an issue for some students due to the high traffic on the website, while using the same WiFi network.
This year, students will be sent a link in the evening of Nov. 5. According to Quinnipiac’s Assistant Director of Residential Life Mike Guthrie, students with a valid ticket will be able to file a late-stay request. They will be able to submit a plea to stay for the game taking place during the start of the break period. Requests must be made on the My Housing portal through the Quinnipiac student website, no later than Friday, Nov. 10. The late-stay request sign-up form will be released on Monday, Nov. 6.
A Quinnipiac issued ticket must be presented to one of the 20 volunteer resident assistants that are completing the room checks on Friday evening. The number on the ticket must match the student’s name that has requested to stay. Student’s will not be able to sell their tickets to others. That tactic has been popular amongst fans on campus in the past.
In a poll posted on HQ Press’s Twitter page, presented some potential results of involvement.
Do you plan on staying at school for the Quinnipiac-Yale game on the first weekend of Thanksgiving break?
Some students might also be sticking around campus for the game set to take place on Friday night. The Quinnipiac Bobcats will be playing Brown University in Hamden. A late-stay request is also available to students with a valid Quinnipiac generated ticket. Students granted permission for just this game must be out of the dorms no later than noon on Friday.
Another event that could potentially impact attendance is happening right down the street. One of the biggest rivalries in Ivy League history will be held at the Yale Bowl in New Haven. The Harvard vs. Yale football game is set to take place on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
According to Guthire, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, ECAC, had made the hockey schedule far in advance. No changes would be made due to the university’s recess.
On November 7 the residents of Hamden will head to the polls for the mayoral election. In the running is current mayor Curt Leng and underdog Republican candidate Salman Hamid. HQ Press sat down with Hamid, a public school teacher and Quinnipiac alum, to discuss his run for office and what motivated him to do it.
Why are you running for mayor?
I got up and I was like I’m going to run for Mayor one day, and it’s been a series of things over time. It’s not just one in particular but the focal point it got to, I was at a bank and the banker goes ‘so I heard you’re running.’ And this was someone before the word really got out so I’m like ‘okay.’ And she’s like ‘why are you doing it?’ and I was like ‘great question.’ People didn’t really ask me in the beginning what is it that you’re doing this for and I said I’m not in it for the glory or the fame, I’m a public school teacher. What I really am doing it for is my kids and future generations of Hamden so I need to leave behind. I can’t sit in the sidelines anymore. I need to leave behind a sustainable Hamden for my kids and future generations to come. So I’ve always been about the idea that life is about service…and it got to a point where I’m like the taxes are too high, there’s blight all around town, traffic congestion is out of control it’s ridiculous, and it’s all reactive now instead of being proactive. So someone’s got to come in from the outside and clean up. And if it’s going to be me, then so be it. I will be happy to do it.
What is your opinion of the town’s relationship to Quinnipiac?
This is a college town, and I get that, but there also has to be a relationship between the college entity and the town and the residents there. You probably heard over and over of residents complaining about Quinnipiac student housing and so on and so forth. And this is what I’m talking about. That situation wouldn’t have happened if taxes were sustainable in town, because people have either foreclosed on their property or they rent it out to students because there is no other option because they can’t sell their homes. Unfortunately people have gotten more and more negative interpretations because there’s always a few bad apples who are out partying on Fridays and Saturday nights, hanging out on their lawns, and people have kids and you know they don’t want any of that. It’s got to be a sustainable relationship. So with the incoming president I plan to meet with him or her and work with them to develop more of that housing moving forward. But I also plan on having events, town events, at Quinnipiac also. People have to understand it’s a two-way street and Quinnipiac is aware of that and ready to own up to their end.
What is the first thing you would do in office if you were elected mayor?
Reestablish communication. There has been a major lack of communication between the top entity in town, which is my opponent, and the residents. The communication only seems to happen when it’s an election season, but beyond that I hear constant complaints as I’m knocking on doors that the town has just stopped listening to our issues and concerns.
If you were to become mayor, what is the biggest thing you want to change over the next 4 years?
Can I say two?
Sure!
Well they go hand in hand. Refine the spending and bring commerce back into town. That will hopefully bring more people, more families back into town. I want to build a small business advisory council of existing shop owners here as well as ones that want to come in and do business as well because there are too many empty lots.
How do you deal with the racist comments directed towards you?
Being Muslim in a post-9/11 society has not been pleasant. Prior to that my race was rarely an issue, my religion was rarely an issue. Kids at my school would be like ‘fight me,’ and I was just like ‘why would I fight you, I don’t get it?’ and they would say ‘well your people blew up the twin towers,’ and it’s, oh my goodness. Yeah, there’s been a lot of stigma and that’s a lot of the reason I created American Muslims United. But at the end of the day I can’t get angry about this stuff. I love living in a country, as people don’t understand, I love living in a country where people can voice their opinions and not get killed over them. My family is from Pakistan and if you speak out against government you just go missing. I’m thankful to live in a country that people can voice their opinions. And I love it and if that’s what you have to say then say it. I appreciate your comment, thank you. But I also let people know that as an educator it is my job to inform people of what my faith is and how we act and interact in this community. And I mean, how many Muslim candidates have you seen run period? The state of Connecticut has probably had one Muslim mayor but beyond that, crickets. I’m also letting people know that Muslims are here, they’re active, and we’re part of the solution, not part of the problem. But I can’t get angry. As mayor I will represent everyone in town, even the people that write not so nice things, I will still represent them.
Why should the people of Hamden vote for you to be their Mayor?
I plan on committing and following through with the items that are spoken about on my platform, building an animal shelter, a business advisory council, getting a citizens council so we can hear their voices, reduce traffic issues and develop commerce back into town. I have never been part of the problem. I have not been in political office for 20 years. I have always been part of the solution in the background doing stuff. I’ve been given this opportunity to run and I plan on doing an effective job. I mean, I have to have morals and ethics. I’m a public school teacher, right? You know I have to teach future generations. My goal has always been to try and improve my community, and if this is the best way to do it, in this platform and this avenue by running for mayor on the republican ticket, then so be it.
Netflix is releasing season two of its original series “Stranger Things” on Friday, Oct. 27. The show, which takes place in the 1980s, is about a boy who disappears in a small town, and the dramatic chain of events that follows while his family and friends search for him. The newest trailer for its highly anticipated season features all of the essential characters from season one, including Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), and picks up right where it left off.
According to a Wired article, “In one month, Netflix users in 190 countries watched Stranger Things, and viewers in 70 of those nations became devoted fans. A handful of people tuned in from Bhutan, and from Chad. In a first for the streaming service, someone watched Season 1 in Antarctica.”
Netflix’s quarterly earnings report shows that roughly 109 million people are subscribed to the streaming service worldwide, with just under half of those (52.8 million) in the United States.
Mann Packing Listeria Recall
By Jenelle Cadigan
National, Connecticut, Hamden, Quinnipiac
Mann Packing of Salinas, California, is voluntarily recalling dozens of products sold at stores like Target, Walmart, Whole Foods and Aldi due to possible listeria contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The company is recalling these products “out of an abundance of caution” because of “a single positive result found on one of our products during random sampling by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.”
The recalled products were distributed throughout the United States and Canada with “best if used by” dates between Oct. 11. and Oct. 20. The full list of recalled products can be found here.
According to the Center for Disease Control, about 1,600 people get listeria each year and approximately 260 people die from listeria each year. Listeria has more serious effects on pregnant women and newborns – sometimes leading to miscarriage, stillbirth or premature delivery – as well as people over age 65. Common symptoms of listeria are fever, diarrhea, muscle aches, fatigue, stiff neck, headache, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions. Symptoms usually appear between 1 and 4 weeks after eating contaminated products.
Most of Puerto Rico still without power
By Michael Brennan
Photo courtesy of U.S. Civil Air Force
Puerto Rico, which was hit with a category 4 hurricane nearly a month ago, is still mostly without power. According to the Puerto Rican government, the U.S. territory has only restored electricity for 23 percent of its citizens as of Oct. 23.
Quinnipiac School of Communications secretary Rosa Nieves has a lot of family that lives in Puerto Rico. Since Hurricane Maria hit the Caribbean three weeks ago, she has been collecting donations to send to the island for relief efforts.
Knowing that the territory is missing basic needs has prevented more tragic necessities, such as the burial of one of her family members.
“People have [been] burying family members in their backyards because they have no idea when help will come. We didn’t hear that one of our family members died during Hurricane Maria until almost three weeks after the hurricane hit Puerto Rico,” said Nieves.
In addition to the donations she collects from students, she also participates in family-run donations to the island in other states like New York.
“My aunt in Brooklyn started an initiative to collect basic supplies to send to families in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico once post offices started to open… I got so much in donated supplies I couldn’t bring it all with me to Brooklyn in one trip,” said Nieves.
Kelsey Bombon, the President of the Latino Cultural Society, is still spearheading efforts to raise money for relief efforts at Quinnipiac. She is “in the process” of organizing more fundraisers for those affected.
Yankees fall to Astros in ALCS game seven
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
By Michael Brennan
The Houston Astros handily won game seven of the ALCS 4-0 on Saturday night, which dashed New York Yankees fans’ hopes of a coast-to-coast World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ratings are expected to be down nationwide for the World Series. Last year’s Series had the highest ratings in 25 years and are considered to be an outlier for the MLB according to Business Insider.
The Yankees are one of Connecticut’s two primary baseball teams, according to The New York Times. The other favorite team, the Boston Red Sox, were already eliminated earlier in the playoffs.
The “my culture is not a costume” campaign was first introduced to Quinnipiac University in 2014 by the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement (DCGE.) The campaign was inspired by the “we’re a culture, not a costume” campaign by the Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS) student group at Ohio University. Some of the cultural costumes in the campaign include the Native American costume, Mexican costume, costumes involving black face, geisha costumes and gay/lesbian costumes. Many of these costumes are still sold at Halloween costume superstores like Party City and Spirit Halloween.
The campaign aims to raise awareness on cultural appropriation during Halloween in hopes students will stop buying these costumes.
Over the years, many universities in different states in the the nation have recreated the campaign on their campuses. The Quinnipiac “my culture is not a costume” campaign included costumes that mock those who suffer from a mental illness, in addition to those that mock races, religions and ethnicities.
Photo courtesy of Abbie O’ Neill
Quinnipiac’s Latino cultural society president, Kelsey Bombon, was involved in the campaign. Bombon held a photo of an individual in an anorexia costume.
“Once the photo was published I felt no one understood it,” said Bombon. She added that the campaign in 2016 was rushed and the photos were marketed too late.
“My freshmen year, when they did it for the first time, it was was more impactful because orientation leaders were a part of it…many people knew who the faces of the campaign were,” she said.
“It started as students holding images of costumes that are not appropriate. The view on it was one of three things. Either students walked by and knew nothing of it, they saw their friends in the images and made fun of them or students would see it and recognize that they couldn’t wear the costume but didn’t understand why,” said Abbie O’Neill, DCGE director of student engagement.
O’Neill said this year she aimed to make the campaign more active than passive. DCGE alongside the student government association hosted various events to provide a space for students to tell their stories and have a discussion about cultural appropriation. The most recent was “your voice at Quinnipiac” on Oct. 20 in the piazza, where students volunteered to tell their personal stories related to cultural appropriation and discussed with others why it is wrong.
“I feel like there are still people who have a lot to learn…there are people who are aware of the campaign but don’t understand the deeper meaning of ‘my culture is not a costume,” said Yadley Turnier, student leader on the multicultural council.
Turnier attended “your voice at Quinnipiac” where she participated in discussions about cultural appropriation during Halloween.
“It happens all year round, but we only notice it around Halloween,” said O’Neill. Students face bias related incidents and hate crimes throughout the year.
Megan Buda, Quinnipiac director of student conduct, said the data student affairs has in relation to bias-incident reports does not reflect an increase in inappropriate Halloween costumes.
“Don’t remember having any reported bias incidents related to Halloween costumes that was reported to us,” she added.
Although there isn’t an influx of reports during the Halloween holiday, there have been more reports on bias-related incidents over the years.
“I think there’s more conversation around it now than when we first started,” said O’Neill.
“Bias, Harassment and Discrimination policy” is defined in the student handbook. If you experience or witness such actions taking place, report it to Quinnipiac’s office of student affairs.
“One size fits all” has been a staple among headwear for years, using “flexfit” technology to make hats comfortable for multiple head sizes. Now, ONE condom company is scrapping that approach to make safe sex more feel like less of a burden.
ONE condoms are turning the industry on its head with 60 different sizes of condoms to make sex safer and more enjoyable. Between 30-35 percent of males complain of condoms that are too tight and cut off sensation during sex, while another 15-20 percent claim their condoms are too long, causing the condom to be pulled off during intercourse, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data was originally compiled by TheyFit condoms, a similar company that ONE bought at the end of 2016.
Since the acquiring of TheyFit, ONE condoms has been on a mission to keep the discussion of safe sex going by creating a fitting chart for males to determine their size. Customers can find their appropriate size with a process as easy as “print, get it up, measure and BAM!”
The company isn’t stopping there. ONE condoms have also encouraged consumers to get in on the creative process by holding contests for best condom wrapper designs as well as take photos with their ONE condom, or a “ONEselfie,” and submit the photo to the company website, who will donate five condoms in return. So far, the company has donated over 8,000 condoms through this promotion.
While the discussion of safe sex is usually met with an eye roll or awkward silence, students at Quinnipiac University are expressing a sense of excitement with a potential new option for practicing safe sex.
“There’s a lot of cool designs here,” said Quinnipiac student Michael Reilly, as he shuffled through a stack of various ONE condom designs, with colorful wrappers labeled “Lucky One,” “One Bright Idea,” or this student’s personal favorite, “Don’t Forget One.”
“That’s clever, I like that. You definitely shouldn’t forget one if you want to avoid pregnancy,” Reilly said.
The most important question, and the mission of the company, would be if the fancy designs and sizing statistics will increase the chances of having safe sex.
“Oh, absolutely,” another student, Tom Conley Wilson said. “It makes it much more interesting. The biggest issue I’ve heard with condoms is that it’s boring. With all the different variety, I think this would encourage people to have safe sex more often. I think this is sick. I’m about to try these later.”
While students at Quinnipiac are intrigued by the uniqueness of ONE condoms, they will have to venture off campus to stock up, according to Nancy Hunter, Associate Director at the student health center.
“The state provides our condoms,” Hunter explained. “We have two or three brands currently, but we don’t have ONE condoms yet.”
Despite the absence of ONE condoms on campus, these bright and colorful hats can be found in numerous pharmacies around the Hamden area, as well as WalMart. However, for the most accurate sizing options, the company suggests you do your shopping online.
New Haven county is among the highest rates of reported Gonorrhea, Syphilis and Chlamydia cases in the state of Connecticut among people aged 15-24, according to a 2013 study by CDC. More than two million cases of these three STDs were reported in the US in 2016, the highest number ever according to the CDC.
Hamden has been especially vulnerable to Chlamydia, according to a 2015 study that found the city’s rate of reported cases to be in the top 15 in the state, with the majority of cases being in young adults.
For students at Quinnipiac, their draw towards ONE condoms can be through fun or fear. To loosely quote “A Cinderella Story,” “If the condom fits, wear it.”
After Harvey Weinstein, the 65-year-old American film producer and former film studio executive who allegedly sexually assaulted and raped multiple women, was fired, victims all over the world came forward with their stories.
Alyssa Milano, an American actress, activist, producer and former singer, started a trending hashtag that went international: #metoo.
Although not many Quinnipiac students opened up about their stories, they did react to the news and the resources available on campus.
Quinnipiac University provides multiple resources for victims of sexual assault and rape.
Confidential resources on campus include health services, counseling services and clergy. Any information shared with people in these departments is not required to be reported.
There are also “responsible employees” on campus – also known as mandated reporters – who are required to report incidents of sexual violence, harassment or discrimination to the university Title IX coordinator immediately. People in this category include all faculty, administration, athletic, human resources, public safety, student affairs and student paraprofessionals (resident assistants and orientation leaders while they are still under contract).
According to the student handbook, “prompt reporting of such incidents makes investigation of the incident more effective and enhances the ability of the university to take action on a complaint.”
Quinnipiac’s Title IX coordinator is Terri Johnson. The Deputy Title IX coordinator for incidents involving faculty, staff and vendors is Stephanie Mathews, and the Deputy Title IX coordinator for incidents involving students, visitors and persons who are not affiliated with Quinnipiac is Seann Kalagher.
If a victim wants to open up a Title IX investigation, they can choose to end the investigation at any point. The coordinators will only share information on a need-to-know basis throughout the investigation, but it’s important to note that these investigations can sometimes take a very long time – weeks or even months.
If a victim chooses to go to the health center, they can be tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia and given medication for both. The health center also provides plan-B medication. The health center will go over the options with the victim, should he or she want to report it to the Title IX coordinators or to the police, or go to the hospital.
The hospital can provide a few things that the health center can not– a rape kit, HIV testing and HIV post-exposure prophylaxis, which is medication taken so that the infection does not develop.
Christy Chase, director of student health services at Quinnipiac, is one of three sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) that works in the health center. SANE nurses are registered nurses who have completed specialized courses related to medical forensic care of sexually assaulted or abused patients. She says the Title IX coordinators and police officers have a job to get information out of the victim as soon as possible, but she tries to shelter them from that.
“We’re very protective of the student in that moment,” Chase says. “Our first priority is finding out medically if this person is okay. That’s gotta be the first thing.”
Since the situation can be overwhelming, Chase tries to protect the privacy of the victims as much as possible.
“I don’t want it to become a circus with students and staff,” she says. “We need to keep the perimeter, and when I was on nightside I would almost throw people out of the waiting room.”
Chase says many students choose not to go to the health center because of the misconception that it will immediately start an investigation.
When it comes to sexual assault, investigations are only started when a victim goes to a non-confidential resource, and parents are only contacted by the health center if a student is transported to a medical facility by ambulance. But, health services does not have to say why the student was transported by ambulance.
Chase used to work in an emergency room as a sexual abuse examiner. She stresses the importance of getting a rape kit done, saying it’s vital to collect the evidence right now even if one doesn’t want to press any charges. If a person is to change their mind in the future, the hospital will be holding onto the kit.
The #metoo movement has empowered many victims to come forward, but Chase says if anyone feels triggered by the posts, confidential counseling services are a great resource as well.
“I don’t want there to be barriers for students to not come in and get the help that they need,” Chase says. “We don’t want them to be afraid.”
