The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Volume 89, Election Special

APRIL 8, 2019 • VOLUME 89 • ELECTION ISSUE

The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929

ELECTION SPECIAL Q&A by Emily DiSalvo • Issue designed by Christina Popik

Featuring a Q&A with the current SGA Executive Board (below) and candidates running to be the 2019-20 Executive Board on pg. 3

Q&A

President – Ryan Hicks (RH) Vice President – Luke Ahearn (LA) VP for Finance – John Khillah (JK) VP for Student Experience – Austin Calvo (AC) VP for Public Relations – Victoria Johnson (VJ)

with the current SGA Executive Board

AC: Our biggest one was bouncing back from last year. Everyone knows last year wasn’t our greatest year and it was all over in the press. All of the drama that was happening. We were kind of worried about what was going to happen this year and where we were going to go and I think this whole year we as executive board have done a really good job of cultivating a friendly family environment and making people feel more comfortable with each other which makes them feel more comfortable working together and asking for help which makes us as an organization function better.

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RH: The biggest accomplishment internally is the big restructure that we did, we added nine new positions to a new cabinet.

These new positions will cover a variety of students on campus. We have multicultural identity senators, international senators, commuter senators, health wellness accessibility senators and academic at large senators. That’s going to allow us to better represent, better advocate for the students on campus. In the past, who our elections represented was just by chance.

There was no guarantee they would have an international student in the room. These are now guaranteeing that these groups are being represented and always in the conversation. As our university changes, we needed our student government to change to appropriately advocate for every student on this campus. The new structure we will see next year is going to do that.

LA: I think there’s a clear three things that the students are going to care the most about.

One of them would be club sports finally happening, which is something SGA has been pushing for almost 10 years. The second is the university finally taking a strong stance on DACA. For the university to finally make a public statement about that is quite powerful considering in the past the university tip-toed away from that. The third was the smoking policy that went into place.

Q: What changes are in the works for next year?

AC: One of the big things is the bigger budget. Next year, SGA is finally in a place where we are so stable as an organization we can push administration as a united front. If there are things we know the students feel, we as SGA need to unite, strongly worded, strongly pushing administration to do more things for the student experience.

LA: With the new structure that we have, we have a louder voice, we can say that we are more representative of all these major groups on campus and all of these major groups believe that this should happen.

AC: When we had all our candidates meeting the week before elections, it was the first time I have been in a meeting and I looked around the room and didn’t know every single person there. So that was really nice, to look around and see different people running. They weren’t the career candidates that just run every year. There were new faces and I think that’s huge.

Staff Meetings on Tuesdays at 9:15 p.m. in SB123

Q: After one semester with the new president, how is the dynamic between SGA and President Olian?

VJ: President Olian came to one SGA

meeting. She invited the executive board to meet her new chief of staff when they had a little cocktail hour, dinner-type thing and she then turned to us when there was construction happening to her house. She has included us in many things and she’s been hosting office hours. The fact that she came to our meeting to show us her strategic plan, to ask us for feedback, was unbelievable and in my four years on student government no other president has attended a meeting. She has really been turning to us and wanting our feedback and I think that is so important. We feel as though her door is always open and we can always reach out to her directly and that’s something we’ve never had in the past. Her strategic plan is amazing and student-focused. I’m sad to be leaving when she’s just getting started.

AC: Right at the beginning of the semester I was leading the charge to get DACA approved by the university. I met with President Olian during her office hours and me and her did not get off on the greatest foot. I wrote an op-ed kind of slamming her in The Chronicle.

The first week of class I had a bad perception of her and seeing the work she has put in over the past year to gain student approval and actual confidence in her ability to do her job and represent us and give us what we deserve, she has won me over from someone who did not start on a good foot with her.

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Q: What are the three greatest accomplishments of SGA this year?

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Q: What are three areas you hope to improve on next year?

LA: Certain administrators are difficult to work with and I think we need to build stronger relationships with them to allow our organization to function in the most efficient way possible.

AC: I don’t think we as SGA actively push administration as much as we should and next year that is something we need to do more of.

If we are working on an initiative and they say no, I don’t think it should just be OK, we should be like, “OK, why are you saying no?

Students are saying this is important to them.”

For example there was a senator working on getting skeletal bones for students in anatomy classes in public spaces so students who can’t afford to buy a bone kit that costs $200 can still go there and study with bones. The two sets would cost under $200 and the university told them no. We should have taken a step back and said, “No, we need this. This is ridiculous.”

Q: How is SGA involved in the strategic plan?

RH: There was five task forces the President Olian had assembly to essentially create recommendations, which went into her office, which went into the strategic plan so it was kind of a funnel forward. To my knowledge, there was three of us that were on those specific task forces that went into the recommendations that went forward. From there she did a town hall that was open to the entire student

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See Q&A Page 2

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2| Election

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

April 8, 2019

MEET THE EDITORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Christina Popik MANAGING EDITOR Amanda Perelli CREATIVE DIRECTOR Madison Fraitag WEB DIRECTOR Logan Reardon ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS Emily DiSalvo & Jennie Torres OPINION EDITOR Peter Dewey ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Alexis Guerra ASSOCIATE ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Jessica Simms SPORTS EDITOR Bryan Murphy ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITORS Jared Penna & Brendan O’Sullivan DESIGN EDITOR Janna Marnell PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Morgan Tencza COPY EDITORS Garret Reich & Jeremy Troetti ADVISOR David McGraw THE QUINNIPIAC CHRONICLE is the proud recipient of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors’ award for College Newspaper of the Year in New England for 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2015-16.

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The current SGA Executive Board sat down with The Chronicle for a Q&A prior to election day.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Luke Ahearn, Ryan Hicks, Victoria Johnson, John Khillah and Austin Calvo.

Q&A from cover body, but she specifically reached out to student government. The majority of SGA went there and was able to have some sort of dialogue with her.

AC: I served on the committee. I felt that

my voice was heard on the committee. I felt our voices were reflected in the 13-page proposal that came out. She is student-centered, but it is going to take time for her being student centered to make the university student centered.

Q: Does SGA have access to budget reports regarding the strategic plan and the inauguration and would you be willing to share them with the student body?

JK: No, we don’t. The only budget we have

access to as the finance committee is our own.

We really only oversee the budget, now which is over $800,000 for next academic year. Outside of that, we do not have much access to other offices or department’s budgets to see what the university spends money on. It’s something that we really should in terms of SGA knowing what other budgets look like.

It’s more just focused on what our budget really is. But in terms of how much money it would take for the strategic plan to take place or where that money would really go to, we don’t have much access.

RH: We have a meeting tentatively scheduled for April 24 to meet with Dr. Thompson to talk about specific budget stuff which we will be able to turn around and explain to the student body. We have been in conversation with them throughout the whole semester about having more transparency.

Q: What do you think is the single greatest problem facing QU? VJ: I think there is a space issue on campus. We don’t have programming space, the classrooms are too small, parking is kind of a nightmare. The lines at the cafe during rush hours are insane. There’s too many students and we don’t have enough space for them.

AC: I think it’s just the fact that our student

experience does not match the price tag. We are having those space issues. There is what seven rooms in the student center? Students are taking sociology 101 as their senior capstone. Our university is not at the level that it should be for a university that costs $65,000, our student experience is not at the level that it should be. The five year strategic plan is great and it’s amazing, but I’m graduating next year.

I now paid all this money for students in five

years to have a great experience. While that’s great, I do think there need to be more concrete plans about what is happening and when it is happening and this is how it is going to benefit us in the here and now.

VJ: I am going to go a little against that because it is hard for students to realize that technically QU costs $65,000 and that’s the price tag but very few pay that. There’s $150,000 given out in financial aid and a lot of students do receive a scholarship. I think that the student experience does not match a $65,000 price tag, but I don’t believe anyone in this room is paying that much to my knowledge.

JK: Students aren’t falling in love with Quinnipiac in the same ways that they are falling in love with other universities outside these walls. Our alumni donation percentage is 4 percent of alumni give back to Quinnipiac University so whether that’s because tuition is already high enough and people feel like they’ve already given their due diligence back to Quinnipiac University or there’s just a lack of student pride being a part of the QU community, not having that prideful resemblance of being part of the QU community, that’s part of what I would like to see tackled in the next few years.

Q: What do you envision for the Spruce Bank property?

LA: President Olian wasn’t even responsible for the decision to improve that property.

Ideally, that property gives us tons of new acres to develop on, so a new dorm on there because we need to see more dorms on main campus for sophomores at least to be able to live on main and the space that they renovated to be able to host students and alumni receptions to get that 4 percent higher, to host potential investor. That is a great opportunity for President Olian to have a better understanding of not just the students here but the other investors.

AC: It’s an investment. She is very wellknown for her fundraising abilities. If people feel like they are in a nice environment, donors are more likely to give.

Q: Who is a new member of SGA who has really stood out this year and why?

LA: The freshman president and vice president have both done phenomenal work as well as Caroline Mello. She just finished up her initiative getting CPR clinics available for all students and there was an overwhelming number of students wanting to get certified in CPR so potentially that has the effect to save someone’s life someday.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SGA

RH: I am unbelievably proud of this entire organization from the top down, the way we have gotten things done this year. In the past four years, this has been the most productive student government. Those that have been here in the past hit the ground running and helped those who were new transition in and it was the perfect collision of two different worlds.

Q: Provost Mark Thompson has been a huge advocate for the student body by helping allow SGA to fund more clubs and conferences to enhance the student experience at QU. How will his departure from the university at the end of May affect SGA? VJ: We will miss him. Dr. Thompson has been great. With that being said, we are happy for him. Moving to a bigger position, he deserves it. He has worked so hard. He’s always heard the SGA voice. He has always done everything he can to help us. But with that being said, President Olian has been really great too and has made our voices heard as well. We are really happy for Dr. Thompson. He deserves this move. We wish him nothing but the best.

Q: This year SGA added a judicial branch. Can you please explain what that is and how it worked this year?

RH: The judicial branch is pretty much made up of seven members and a chief justice. There are three justices that are student government members and there are three justices that were elected by the student body but don’t serve on student government association. The don’t come to every meeting, they don’t vote on motions. The judicial board as a whole overlook our constitution and bylaws.

They did a lot of work with the revamping of those documents to make sure they were up to par with our practices. They provided constitutional interpretation if something was unclear and they would also hear grievances and conduct interviews. For our first year, the chief justice, Jack, did an unbelievable job. All six justices did a really great job paving the way for that role. The goal is to hold Student Government accountable and to have that checks and balances and I think that body is going to continue to grow and develop and make sure that candidates who are then elected make sure that they do what they promised during the campaign trail. I think there is nothing but room for growth for that body and it will really benefit student government and the work that we do and how members conduct themselves and the amount of accountability.

April 8, 2019

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Election |3

Meet the

Candidates

Student Government Association 2019-20 Executive Board candidates HEADSHOTS COURTESY OF SGA

PRESIDENT AUSTIN CALVO

Junior • Political science major • SGA VP for Student Experience My name is Austin Calvo and I’m a junior political science major. I have served on SGA for the past three years, and on Executive Board as the VP for Student Experience for the past 3 semesters.

This year, I have coordinated events such as Ask Away which created conversations and dialogue. Furthermore, I have created spaces for students to give direct feedback to SGA, over the past semester I have tabled weekly in the lower café to hear directly from students. I have visited organizations general boards to hear from students about what they want changed on campus.

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• Transparency – Both SGA, and the University Administration must be more transparent with the student body.

I served on a committee that helped created President Olian’s strategic plan, and a 5-year strategic plan is great, but we as students need to know what is happening for us, in the here and now, in order to justify the $65,000 we pay here.

• Advocacy – Like I said in my statement, I have worked all year to create spaces for students to give direct feedback to SGA about what you want us to work towards on your behalf. Next year I will do the same. I will continue to table in the lower café, along with other Executive Board members and ensure that student’s voices are always being heard by SGA, and then taken to University Administration to actually see that change take place.

• Student-Centered – In everything that we as SGA do, we must remain student centered and remember that we are in our seats only to improve student’s experience, and no other reason. Next year, I will push to make sure that all SGA members remember this at all times. Additionally, and more importantly, I will push to make sure that administration knows that students MUST come first in everything the university does. The money we pay to this university is not represented in the experience we receive as students. If elected I will work the hardest that I can to see this changed at the end of my term next year.

LUKE AHEARN

Junior • Marketing major • SGA Vice President Over the past year I have been the Vice President of SGA. When I ran for that position I made a promise to bring clubs sports to campus, I also promised to increase funding for student organizations. It would not have been possible without the hard work of many others but my promise was kept. I now promise you a student government that will work for you, increase school spirit, bring back May Weekend and make the Quinnipiac experience equivalent to the cost of admission. Trust my proven results and vote Ahearn for a change you can count on!

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• Make the experience of Quinnipiac University match the cost.

• Revive the May Weekend tradition so it is for all students.

• Enhance school spirit.

• Fight for students at the university’s highest levels.

• Get involved with the facilities planning process to make sure there are improvements to parking, housing and meeting spaces.

VICE PRESIDENT JULIA SCHADE

Junior • Legal studies & economics majors • Junior class senator and justice on judicial and ethics board Throughout my time on SGA, I have come to realize that more voices need to be heard on our campus and I want to be the person to advocate for those voices. Over the last year, I have served on the Student Advocacy Committee which has allowed me to advocate for improvements that benefit the entire student body, but there are still changes that need to be made. It’s time for your seat at the table so vote for Julia Schade for VP and let your voices be heard.

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• Have an open dialogue with the student body so that their needs and concerns are addressed.

• Create an identity at Quinnipiac so that the students are more united and have a sense of belonging.

• Advocate for changes that benefit the entire student body and will have a lasting impact at Quinnipiac.

• Be transparent with the student body so that they know we’re advocating for them and support them.

• Improve all student services such as academics, parking, housing, and dining.

SOPHIA MARSHALL

Sophomore • ELMPA major • Sophomore class president Over the course of my time at Quinnipiac I have served as a class president every year, and have made significant connections not only with the student body, but with high-level administration, meaning that I have the ability to make significant change, and fast. I have loved every single second of being able to advocate for such an impressive population of students, and I would love your support in being able to continue doing so. With two years of experience and a desire to listen, proven success, and passion to enact change on this campus, I won’t let you down.

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• I promise to work diligently on reoccurring, hot-button topics that students continually struggle with including but not limited to: free laundry (something I have been working on for a year), updating of outdated residence halls, increasing the amount of scholarship students can obtain, and increasing the number of common spaces for students within the Quinnipiac community, specifically within the Student Center (i.e. game room, relaxation room, etc.)

• I promise to bridge the gap between students and SGA, and in turn between students and administration, by holding a monthly outreach event where myself and my committee goes out once a month into the community to receive direct feedback from students (all with the goal of increasing transparency and productivity).

• I promise to better the relationship between Quinnipiac University SGA and the government not only of the town of Hamden, but of the government of Connecticut as well, in order to give the University a significant influence in the policies being passed that are affecting our students, and in order to enact change more rapidly on campus.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT EXPERIENCE ESAU GREENE

Sophomore • Political science and sociology majors • Sophomore class senator I have been involved overboard with SGA for the past year and immediately began working for you. I am currently a member of the student experience committee. I am a firm believer in our campus and student body and the potential it has to offer. I am actively engaged on campus in various clubs and organizations as my belief in impacting this wonderful community doesn’t start and stop with SGA. I promise to serve you restlessly and will work tirelessly to foster a greater QU. So, on Election Day vote for me and allow me to further advocate for you!

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• Looking to develop a deeper more interpersonal connection to help serve Students.

• Looking to creating a culture and helping to foster a more empathetic QU. • Working to create a more involved/transparent SGA.

KAYE PADDYFOTE

Sophomore • Journalism major • Sophomore class senator I’m running for this position because I feel as though I am the best candidate for the job. I’m a sophomore journalism major and political science minor. Outside of SGA, I am involved with Q30 Television where I serve as the associate producer for Q30 news and I am an orientation leader in the summer. As Vice President for Student Experience, I want to create a community that embraces each and one of our students here at Quinnipiac. If elected I promise to ensure that anyone who steps foot on our campus feels accepted and at home.

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• Respect all students of all opinions.

• Create a community that embraces you.

• Ensure a prioritization of the student’s voice.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING & PUBLIC RELATIONS OLAMIDE GBOTOSHO

Sophomore • Business management & advertising major • VP of sophomore class My name is Olamide “Olam-me-day” and I am a sophomore business management and advertising double major from Westchester, NY. I am running for the position of VP for Marketing and PR because there are many initiatives that SGA does that the student body is not aware of that deserve to be recognized. I am the most qualified candidate because not only does it incorporate my major, but it’s a position that I can take an innovative approach to. I want to make SGA more personal, transparent and interact with students all year round rather than just during election season.

See CANDIDATES Page 4

4| Election

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

CANDIDATES from Page 3

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• Transparency – Transparency increases the students’ trust in SGA and creates a better relationship with us and the students • Dependability – In order for students to depend on us, they need to constantly be aware of what we are working on and how we are advocating for them.

• SGA Presence – Instead of us as SGA trying to bring students to us, we should instead go out to the students.

Having increased awareness and presence on campus is important to not only make a personal relationship with the student body, but also make the students comfortable talking to us.

JAMIEN JEAN-BAPTISE

Sophomore • Behavioral Neuroscience major • Sophomore Class Senator Throughout my campaign, I have identified myself as the unconventional candidate. I am the candidate who is willing to think outside the box and market things in a creative way to get my message across to the students. If you haven’t had the chance yet, search “The Election Mixtape” on your designated music streaming service. It is an album detailing why I would be the best candidate for a position like this verbatim. On election day, make an educated choice and vote for the creative voice.

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• Creative marketing: We attend a university where the culture leans towards students who don’t want to do be informed or get involved. Students get too many emails on any given day and the residential buildings are littered with flyers and posters. We need new creative ways of getting messages out to the students besides flyers and emails.

• My job as a senator doesn’t end: The pursuit of initiatives

to better the student body should not end once a senator gets elected into the executive board. I ran for student government my freshman year to make a difference at the school and my stance won’t change no matter what position or title I am given.

• SGA approachability: Our best ideas come from the students but if the students don’t find us approachable, our initiative ideas become extremely limited. I would like to host events with free food and giveaways inside the suite once a month to bring in more students and gauge their ideas for initiatives.

• Better have that same energy: During campaigning week you see fewer people in the SGA suite and that’s because you can’t win a contested election by sitting in a suite all week. After being elected, we go back to the suite and wait for the students to come to us with their problems again until the next election. This is a vicious cycle that I refuse to fall victim to. The same energy I have during campaigning will be the same energy I have all year long.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR FINANCE GLENN ADAMS

Sophomore • 3+1 Business management major • Sophomore class senator and secretary I am from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and I am a business management major and finance minor in the 3+1 program. I spent both my freshmen and sophomore years using my position as senator and secretary to work on improving conditions in the recreation center, dining, Campus Life and parking. I am running for Vice President for Finance because I know that my last two years on the finance committee has provided me with the experience necessary to continue to work towards securing and allocating university resources to student organizations in order to enhance the student experience at Quinnipiac.

April 8, 2019

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• Served on the Student Government finance committee for the last two years.

• Experienced in helping student organizations construct, oversee, and utilize their budgets.

• Looking to increase student organization’s accessibility to the resources they require to operate and pursue their interests.

• Will work to increase the number of opportunities for student organizations to have their events funded.

CHIEF JUSTICE LILLE GAETA

Sophomore • Political science major • Sophomore class senator and justice on judicial and ethics board I am a sophomore Political Science major from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I have been a member of the Student Government Association for nearly two years. Throughout my tenure on SGA I have worked on multiple initiatives to better the study body. I have been a senator-justice for nearly two semesters, and served on multiple committees to revise our governing documents. I have a very strong understanding of how the organization functions. I am ready and willing to take on the challenge the role of Chief Justice will bring.

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

• If elected, I will work to ensure every bit of policy in the governing documents matches the practices of SGA. • Try my best to use restorative justice practices.

• Make decisions in the fairest and unbiased way possible.

• Promote the practice of ethical behavior for all members of SGA.

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