The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Issue 6, Volume 90

OCTOBER 2, 2019 • VOLUME 90 • ISSUE 6

The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929

OPINION: RACIST TIRADE P. 4

ARTS & LIFE: FALL TV PREMIERES P. 6

SPORTS: DYNAMIC DUO P. 10

Quinnipiac’s 2018 safety report released Clery report shows increase in hate crimes, rape and burglaries

By STEPHEN MACLEOD Associate News Editor

Austin Calvo participated in a debate for Student Government Association (SGA) president last spring in the Carl Hansen Student Center mere feet from where he says a poster of his had been defaced with crude imagery and homophobic slurs just hours before. He hid away his water bottle covered in stickers and opted for a much plainer one.

“I was planning to just have my water bottle with me on stage, but I ended up buying a clear Aquafina water bottle from the cafe,” Calvo said.

“I didn’t want to have it on stage and have people think that I was, like I’m very open, and proud of who I am. But in that moment, it was just like, I didn’t want to. I felt intimidated. I didn’t want to do anything that was going to make me seem too gay.”

Calvo’s story is becoming increasingly common.Quinnipiac’s annual safety and fire report, also known as the Clery report, was released on Sunday, Sept. 23, showing an increase in hate crimes in 2018.

Calvo decided to not report the 2019 incident, mainly because he wanted to focus on campaigning. He says that in 2017, someone had vandalized one of his posters while he was running for class president. Calvo says that he did report that incident, although it does not appear in the university’s Clery report. SGA has not taken up a formal opinion on the rise in hate crimes.

The report also shows a steep drop in liquor law violations, but an increase in reported burglaries, rapes and drug arrests.

Statistics go back three years, allowing readers to see trends. Liquor law violations dropped from 436 in 2017 to 327 in 2018. Drug law violation referrals dropped slightly from 172 to 170, but drug arrests rose from seven to 17.

Reports of other serious crimes increased.

There were three instances of rape in 2018 compared to two in 2017. Burglaries increased from nine to 13. There were five total hate crimes in 2018, which is more than 2017 and 2016 combined.

The report defines a hate crime involving vandalism as, “To willfully or maliciously destroy, damage, deface or otherwise injure real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.”

The hate crimes included three acts of vandalism relating to sexual orientation and two acts of intimidation against someone based on race.

They all took place in student residences on the Mount Carmel campus.

Karoline Keith, Quinnipiac’s Clery compliance officer, said that there are a wide variety of reasons as to why some reported incidents, such as Calvo’s reported 2017 incident, do not make it into the Clery report. She said that mistakes can be due to a lack of coordination between departments, where the incident was originally filed or a misidentification by someone. She also swore to look into the incident.

The Clery report defines intimidation with a hate crime bias as “To unlawfully place another

HATE CRIMES

BURGLARIES

ALCOHOL REFERRALS

DRUG ARRESTS

See CLERY Page 3 INFOGRAPHIC BY JANNA MARNELL

Connecticut in change

Connecticut’s minimum wage and tobacco purchasing age both increased Oct. 1

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Changes to Connecticut law went into effect Tuesday, Oct. 1, and some of these changes will affect students.

Two of the biggest changes in the law include an increase in both the minimum wage and tobacco purchasing age.

The minimum wage in Connecticut is raising from $10.10 an hour to $11 an hour. Each year the minimum wage will continue to increase until it reaches $15 an hour in 2023.

“This is perhaps one of the most impactful pieces of legislation for working families that a governor can sign, and I am proud to place my signature on this law because it is the right thing to do,” Governor Ned Lamont said. “With this new law, thousands of hardworking women and men – many of whom are supporting families – will get a modest increase that will help lift them out of poverty, combat persistent pay disparities between races and genders, and stimulate our economy.”

For Quinnipiac students from the surrounding states, this increase brings working students’ income closer to the rates they make at home.

“Mainly everyone here is from Massachusetts, New York, different states which have [a] higher minimum wage which is where we live so it is what we are used to,” Stephanie Morrow, sophomore marketing major, said.

Coming to Quinnipiac from Massachusetts, Morrow said she is used to a minimum wage of $12 an hour, so going down to $10.10 is a jump for her. The new law is meant to help close the pay gap for different races and genders.

However, not everyone sees the raise as a completely good thing.

“I think there is a bit of a negative side to it because it probably means that the cost of living is going up which is a little bit concerning as a lot of things are getting expensive,” Avery Daly, freshman journalism major, said.

While Daly saw the downsides to the minimum wage raise, she said that she thinks it will be beneficial for the most part, leaving Connecticut workers some extra pocket change.

The Connecticut tobacco purchasing age raised from 18 to 21. This includes cigarettes, cigars, vaping pens and other tobacco products.

While the change is meant to limit the number of youth that can purchase tobacco products, not everyone agrees that the law will improve things.

Morrow said that she thinks changing the age is unnecessary, knowing that the youth will find ways around it.

“If you are 18, you are going to know someone who is 21 and you can easily access it and that’s just going to provide more problems,” Morrow said.

“I think it will just put tobacco in a black

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

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Governor Lamont said the new law is an important piece of legislation for working families. market lighting,” Daly said. “People will still find ways to do it even though it might just be a little bit harder.”

However, Daly said that she thinks the increase in the minimum age is a good precaution.

“I think it is better for the younger kids because there were a lot of kids that were already juuling,” Ryan O’Connor, sophomore nursing major, said. “I’m talking like 14, 15 years old so it will be harder for them to get.”

Lamont says that the laws will help the state of Connecticut get in line with modern medical data.

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“Many decades ago when most of our laws surrounding tobacco products were written, the medical evidence on the impact the substance has, particularly on young people and the ongoing development of their brains, did not exist.

Continuing the enforcement of outdated laws just because that’s the way it’s always been is not a good enough reason for why they should continue to reflect outdated perceptions,” Governor Lamont said. “With the rising use of e-cigarettes and vaping products among young people, we are seeing a growing public health crisis and it’s time that we addressed it.”

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By ALYSSA NAUMANN

Opinion: 4

Arts and Life: 6

Sports: 10

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

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MEET THE EDITORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Bryan Murphy MANAGING EDITOR Alexis Guerra CREATIVE DIRECTOR Janna Marnell NEWS EDITOR Emily DiSalvo ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Stephen MacLeod OPINION EDITOR Toyloy Brown III ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Jessica Simms ASSOCIATE ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Ryan Miller SPORTS EDITORS Brendan O’Sullivan Jared Penna DESIGN EDITOR Ilana Sherman

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.

October 2, 2019

OT turns 50

Quinnipiac’s occupational therapy program celebrates half of a century of excellence

By CONNOR LAWLESS and STEPHEN MACLEOD

Dr. Kim Hartmann remembers when she was a student and Quinnipiac’s occupational therapy program was taught at Albertus Magnus College, Gaylord Hospital and a trailer that would lean when it rained too hard.

Today, the program lives in the state-of-theart Center for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences building on the North Haven campus, which ranks No. 22 in the country and contains over 550 students. Hartmann was there every step of the way and still stands with the program today as it is celebrating its 50th year since its founding.

“For many years we were trying to catch up with other prestigious universities,” Hartmann said. “We’re there now. So now it’s about planning for the future. And that is Judy Olian. I think as we move forward with her plans and the strategic pillars, we’re planning, we’re finally planning for the future.”

Hartmann stood before a room of more than 100 alumni of Quinnipiac’s program on Saturday, Sept. 28, to celebrate the progress that the program made the last half of a century.

Hartmann has been with Quinnipiac for decades. She was a student, a faculty member, a head of the OT program and today she works as the Director of the Center for Interprofessional Healthcare Education.

She greeted alumni from 1980 to 2019 by name and with personal excerpts. She said her love for students has driven her for years.

“Every single faculty, every staff person really is committed to the student’s success, Hartmann said. “And that’s what makes our program good. It’s not any one person or philosophy.”

She then ceded the floor to Betsy Smith, the senior associate dean of health sciences. Smith is known as the “historian” of the School of Health

Sciences. She had a display full of artifacts of the OT program’s past.

Chief among her memorabilia is the cap and gown of the first OT chairperson, Ruth Griffin.

Smith says that it was given to her by Griffin and that Smith wears it to every commencement. She hopes to pass it down to someone else one day, although she is not sure who yet.

She also presented the flavor each decade of the OT program brought to the school. The ’70s brought blizzards and the early and defining years. The ’80s brought Apple computers and classrooms dedicated to the program in Echlin. In the ’90s, the program began to grow to the size today. The early 2000s brought new plans for a rapidly growing program and eventually, the opening of a new campus. Today, the program features state-of-the-art facilities and tons of volunteer work.

Tradition was a big theme of the day. The Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) displayed bead lizards they made. They have to detail the step-by-step process to make the lizard and used to be one of the first assignments first years had to do.

“They used to be part of the curriculum but now it isn’t anymore,” Natalie Henry, the vice president, said. “So now if you’re around campus and you see the lizards you know what they mean.”

New Dean of Health Sciences Janelle Jasera talked about what she called Quinnipiac’s deep and wide roots.

“Our students and alumni are unique,” Jaserae said. “They create our reputation. They remain engaged and involved in our community.”

Groups then broke off to explore panels on the best practices taking place in the industry today as well as the most promising prospects for the future. Subjects ranged from the age of people receiving care, mental health and education.

President Judy Olian made a midday appearance at the event, praising the work alumni have done since leaving the program. She praised the nearly 3,000 people who have either graduated or are currently in the OT program.

Following the panels on the future of their industry, the current chair of OT, Salvadore Bondoc, ODT, took the stage to talk to the alumni about the future of the program. As the occupational therapy industry changes, the program at Quinnipiac aims to evolve with it. One of the major additions being made to the program is the introduction of an entry level doctorate track.

“The entry level doctorate, or OTD, is really in response to what’s happening to OT practice,” Bondoc said, “There is a call for leaders in the profession and more users within the healthcare arena that are occupational therapists.”

Five years ago, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) put out a statement that recommended the profession move towards an entry-level doctorate in response to an increase in demand from higher education and the industry. By following this recommendation from AOTA and introducing the new track, Bondoc hopes that students can become more competitive in the job market and be more entrepreneurial, maximize their leadership abilities and build strength in practice areas.

Proceeds from the event went towards scholarships to three current students of the OT program: Nicholas Donohue, Jaclyn Iuzalaca and Amanda Matises. Hartmann sees students as the future.

“I think that, as a faculty, one of our biggest joys is when a student knows more than the faculty does and accomplishes more than the faculty does,” said Hartmann. “And our students have surpassed many of us and we are very proud of that.”

MAILING ADDRESS Quinnipiac University 275 Mount Carmel Avenue Hamden, CT 06518 THE CHRONICLE is distributed around all three university campuses every Wednesday when school is in session except during exam periods. Single copies are free. Newspaper theft is a crime. Those who violate the single copy rule may be subject to civil and criminal prosecution and/or subject to university discipline. Please report suspicious activity to university security (203-582-6200). For additional copies, contact the student media office for rates.

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Boomer and President Olian both made appearances at the event.

Members of the OT community join Boomer to celebrate 50 years of OT at Quinnipiac.

President Olian spoke at the celebration of the OT program.

The festivities highlighted the history of the program and how it has grown over the years.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be between 250 and 400 words and must be approved by the Editorin-Chief before going to print. The Chronicle reserves the right to edit all material, including advertising, based on content, grammar and space requirements.

Send letters to editor@quchronicle.com. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the Chronicle.

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October 2, 2019

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The ‘I-word’

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Wednesday, Oct. 2 Latin Heritage Month Event Latino Cultural Society will be hosting an event to celebrate Latin Heritage Month and educate others on the month. Students can enjoy free food on Bobcat Way Lawn on Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Facetime Chat with Sports Illustrated Senior Editor Senior Editor Sara Kwak at Sports Illustrated will be video chatting with students to give insight into how to cover hockey effectively and what it’s like to be a female senior editor. The Student Chapter of the Association of Women at in Sports Media will be hosting the event 9:15 p.m. in CCE 209

Thursday, Oct. 3 Pink Hair for Hope Students and Ffaculty can buy a pink hair extension to raise money for breast cancer awareness. All money raised will go to the American Cancer Society. The Quinnipiac Student Nurses Association will be tabling for donations from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the student center tables.

SEA Bake Sale for the Coral Reef Alliance Students for Environmental Action will be having a bake sale to raise money for the Coral Reef Alliance while advocating for sustainability and the conservation of marine life. They will be tabling at SC 114 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Montage Open Mic Night Montage Literary & Arts Journal is hosting an open mic night where students are invited to share their poetry, prose, art, music, or comedy, eat food and win prizes. The open mic will be in SC 120 at 9:15 p.m.

Mental Health Speaker The counseling department and the women’s ice hockey team will be hosting speaker Jordan Burnham from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Burt Khan. Burnham will be speaking about his mental health journey and his route to recovery after a suicide attempt.

Saturday, Oct. 5 Prehistoric Stuffed Night Students will be able to make their own stuffed prehistoric buddy while enjoying music and snacks with their friends. They will also have the option to choose one of the three different dinosaurs or a woolly mammoth to make as their new friend in the Lower Cafe at 10 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 7 Fall Fest Tabling WQAQ and SPB will be tabling the week of Fall Fest to get the word out about the event.

WQAQ wants students to help in curating the best Fall Fest themed playlist and SPB will be handing out donuts and popcorn on the student center patio from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

News |3

House Democrats begin to unite on the issue of impeachment but Quinnipiac remains divided

By EMILY DISALVO News Editor

House Democrats have deemed President Donald Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president concerning enough to open an impeachment inquiry, but some Quinnipiac students are uncertain how this investigation is any different than the previous ones.

“Knowing that he has done so many things in the past, or allegedly has done so many things in the past and nothing has happened, it’s kind of like the norm to hear, ‘Oh, what did he do today?’” Shania Mahabee, freshman biomedical sciences major, said.

A whistleblower filed a complaint with the intelligence inspector general in August, and on Sept. 19, the Washington Post revealed the complaint involved a phone call with Ukraine.

Days later, Trump said that in a phone call with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he discussed an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who had previously done business in Ukraine.

Trump wanted his acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to halt military aid to Ukraine one week before this controversial phone call, according to the Washington Post.

Trump agreed to release a version of the transcript of the call with Ukraine on Sept. 23, and the next day, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi opened an impeachment inquiry into whether Trump was withholding aid from Ukraine to motivate the country to look into Biden, a Democratic primary frontrunner in the 2020 race.

Scott McLean, chair of the department of philosophy and political science, said the phone call Trump had with the Ukranian leader is more significant than any previous charge against the president.

“This is a different situation than what we were talking about up until now,” McLean said.

“It would hurt the Democrats to impeach Trump, but I think these charges are so simple, clear-cut and the fact that Trump has admitted to all of us, it has him literally saying – in a very short document – exactly what he was accused of doing.”

Supporters of Trump, however, think this investigation will be no more successful than the Russia probe, which culminated when Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his report in April 2019.

“This is yet another impeachment trying where they are trying after they failed with the Russian probe and I feel like it’s just another political game,” Matthew Bruin, sophomore journalism and political science double major, said.

Bruin said Trump’s motivation behind bringing up Joe Biden in the phone call had nothing to do with undermining a potential 2020 rival, but rather getting to the bottom of Hunter Biden’s business in Ukraine and how Joe Biden was involved.

PHOTO FROM WIKICOMMONS

The House of Representatives opened an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

“I don’t think Trump was doing this in any political fashion to try to get any dirt,” Bruin said. “It is important for them to investigate this if a sitting vice president did do this.”

Other students, though, have no idea that the president of the United States is being investigated for potentially impeachable offenses.

“I don’t really follow politics,” Mark Venice, freshman business undeclared major, said. “I don’t really care about it. It’s probably important but it’s boring to me.”

McLean stressed the importance of being informed about this particular moment in American history.

“This is a real inflection point in democracy and it’s really going to be a question if the checks and balances system really works or if it’s severely broken to the extent that we would just be a constitutional democracy in name only,” McLean said. “That’s why I think the stakes are really high.”

While McLean and House leadership agreed that stakes are higher now than ever, some Quinnipiac students are uncertain if now was the right time to open the inquiry.

“I think it was too soon because we should have waited for details to emerge,” Nate Latino, freshman accounting major, said. “I do think the Democrats by doing that are going to screw themselves in 2020 because you are going to motivate more Republicans to go out and vote.”

McLean said that these charges are so serious that Republicans would actually suffer politically if the GOP-controlled Senate fails to convict Trump in an impeachment trial.

“You can’t get any more of a crystal clear impeachable offense than this,” McLean said.

“And to top it off, he’s admitted to all of it.”

Again, some students disagree. Daniel Kuna, freshman accounting major, said Trump has done a mixture of good and bad things in office, but the illegality of his actions is anything but “crystal clear.”

“I have no clue if he has done anything illegal,” Kuna said. “There has been so many rumors. I don’t know if they are true or not.”

Justin Kemp, junior computer science major, said he’s been following the whistleblower saga and thinks this was the right time to open an impeachment inquiry. He encouraged other students to learn more about the inquiry.

“I think it is important because it has implications for everyone’s life,” Kemp said. “When politicians are involved in sketchy or even illegal stuff it’s problematic so I think that’s why people should know about it.”

The Mueller investigation endured for three years, but in a matter of days, the whisteblower’s complaint has moved the House of Representatives to take more action than the 448page report.

The whistleblower report has also moved the American people. According to a Quinnipiac Poll, voters are evenly split 47%-47% on whether Trump should be impeached and removed from office. Just a week prior, 37% thought he should be impeached and removed.

McLean said this situation is different than the Mueller report because it shows collusion occuring while he was in office, whereas the Mueller report involved his actions on the campaign trail.

“Everyone knew Trump was shady before he was elected,” McLean said. “That was part of the reason he was elected–because he didn’t play by the rules.”

Keith: ‘I double checked [the reported fires] with our fire marshall because I thought, ‘That’s weird’’ CLERY from cover person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.”

Details show that over 90% of all reported crime at Quinnipiac took place on the Mount Carmel campus and the rest took place on the York Hill campus. There were no reported incidents on the North Haven campus in 2018.

Keith says that some statistics can be misleading and stem from a misunderstanding of the crimes.

“We run into confusion with burglary because our officers think burglaries are like, kick the door in and go in and go steal something,” Keith said. “But it’s being in a place that you reasonably know you don’t have a right to be.

If they go into the common area and take a wallet and then go into a bedroom with the door propped open and take a wallet, that’s two burglaries because they entered into the common area, they didn’t have a right to be in and then they entered into the room they didn’t have the right to be in.”

Fire safety was a strong suit in 2018. Reported fires are normally a rarity in the report, but this year there was not a single one. There were a few reported fires in student housing in 2017, including one act of arson in Commons and one large cooking fire in Whitney Village that caused over $10,000 in damages.

“I double checked that with our fire marshall because I just thought, ‘That’s weird,’” Keith said. “So we have like burnt popcorn and things like that, but (in terms of) something in a trash can that caught on fire we had nothing. None. So we feel good about that.”

Keith hopes that one day crimes such as hazing and sexual harassment will appear in the report as a way to better help people understand the amount and types of crimes that take place on college campuses.

The university is required by law to disclose the crime and fire report every year under the Clery Act. The act is named after Lehigh University student Jeanne Clery, who was raped and murdered in her college dorm in 1986. Her parents, believing that Lehigh University had been underreporting crime and that their daughter had died due to poor campus security, began to campaign for laws requiring colleges to disclose crime statistics.

Four years later, the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act was signed into law. It was renamed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act in 1998.Fuga. Nemollaut aniet mincips aectoris

4| O p i n i o n

October 2, 2019

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Opinion

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Another racist attack in the viral record book California resident spews racist tirade at a black woman

By TOYLOY BROWN III Opinion Editor

For black men and women in the United States of America, racism is never out of the realm of possibility.

It sometimes appears subtly. At other times, it comes in brazenly. It is difficult to be prepared at a moment’s notice to defend yourself from the bigotted words and deeds of others.

However, it is a reality that comes with being black in America.

On Sept. 24, a California woman was caught on video unleashing a repulsive, race-filled tirade at a black woman outside a CVS Pharmacy in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles.

At the start of the video, Heather Lynn Patton is seen jumping up and down yelling very loudly, “I hate n*ggers.”

She then walks out of the pharmacy towards her car while the woman recording, a black woman and the target of this racist outburst, says Patton, “is on drugs or something.” Patton replies, “no I just hate n*ggers.”

Patton continues to loudly yell about her hatred for black people while saying the N-word once more. She then goes on to say “I would kill a n*gger but the law says I can’t kill the n*ggers. If the law didn’t say I couldn’t kill the n*ggers they’d all be dead.” Patton then says here is her license plate number and rattles off the N-word several more times until the video finally ends.

Adrene Ashford, the woman filming, told heavy.com that the incident began with an unprovoked Patton screaming at her and verbally assaulting her inside the CVS store.

Ashford began recording because she wanted the police to see video of what had happened. Ashford also told heavy. com that she went to the Los Angeles Police Department and filed a report. An officer told her she would hear back from the police department in about five days. The LAPD told the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV that a hate crime investigation is underway.

But by Sept. 25, the video had already circulated enough times on multiple social media platforms for it to have gone viral and be seen by people all over the world. Along with the video and the many opinionated comments from social media users, an apology posted by a fake Heather Lynn Patton on Instagram had also made the rounds online.

As far as people and confirmed public records know, Patton

PHOTO FROM TWITTER/@_SJPEACE

Heather Lynn Patton is seen in the video yelling racist slurs outside the CVS.

is a 49-year-old Los Angeles resident who works in the TV and movie industry as a costume designer and wardrobe assistant.

Patton also has been issued two restraining orders filed by her neighbor. In an interview with KTLA-TV, one of her neighbors said Patton “has a long history of erratic, unstable behavior and making violent threats to him and his family.”

“I have to be verbal, I have to take a stand, because so many of us don’t speak up. I’ve got to stand up for myself and fight and be a voice and say what happened.”

- ADRENE ASHFORD

COSTUME DESIGNER

Coincidentally, Ashford also works in costume design within the film industry. She could have at some point worked with Patton, a person who is capable of uttering such racially motivated hatred.

Since the incident, Ashford told heavy.com that she has been unable to sleep and eat and recalls how Patton followed her around in CVS yelling racially demeaning words at her.

Ashford describes how she interpreted this incident and why she doesn’t intend to be silent.

“That’s against the law. That’s a hate crime.” Ashford told heavy.com. “I want it to be known that this is a hate crime and this type of behavior isn’t OK. She is not a safe person to have out here in the community. I have to be verbal, I have to take a stand, because so many of us don’t speak up. I’ve got to stand up for myself and fight and be a voice and say what happened. She was in the store verbally assaulting me.”

The mindset Ashford has in response to this incident is quite admirable. People should not only be disgusted by Patton’s remarks but also aware of Ashford’s courage and commendable outlook on the situation. Some people in her scenario may not have been brave enough to continue to record someone screaming they would kill people of your race if it wasn’t against the law. Some would subdue themselves because of their lack of faith in the justice system to provide protection for its civilians.

Sadly incidents like these are not shocking. Videos of white individuals calling the police on black people for no reason are not odd. Videos of white people saying racial slurs like the n-word to degrade a black person are bound to appear on a local news outlet or make waves on social media sooner rather than later.

From the time Alison Ettel, more famously known as “Permit Patty,” called the police on an 8-year-old black girl selling water at a nearby park in San Francisco, California in June 2018. In July 2019, there was the non-nicknamed Nancy Goodman, who was recorded saying the N-word at a black woman in a Bonefish Grill restaurant in North Carolina because the woman and her friend were being “too loud.”

Goodman then memorably told NBC-affiliate WRAL, “I’m not going to say I’m sorry to them because they kept pushing at it,” Goodman said. “I would say [the N-word] again to them. They are the rudest individuals I have ever seen.”

Even the Northeast is not immune from videotaped racial spats shared widely on the internet. In March 2019 at an East Haven Shop Rite, Corrine Terrone, a white woman who onced worked in Hamden schools, angrily called an Afri-

can-American man the N-word multiple times with her two young children beside her. The reason – she felt provoked.

Patton’s viral racist rage is just another incident in the prejudiced record book.

Another troublesome aspect of this story is that the CVS Pharmacy in Eagle Rock seemingly did nothing to protect Ashford. In fact, Ashford told KCAL-TV that she begged the workers to call the police and when they failed to do so, another customer called. Ashford even told heavy.com that she went back to the store the night of the incident and expressed her frustration. She was only given information for the store’s corporate office.

Also, when Ashford went to the LAPD, she was told that it would take them five days to get back to her case. Assuming the police watched the video she captured on her phone, why would it take them five days to investigate when you see the woman and her license plate in the video. Again, this is the time frame it would take for the police to respond back to Ashford’s report; not the amount of time it would take for the LAPD to charge Patton with a hate crime.

The mishandling from the CVS and the LAPD are both deplorable and at best fall quite short of any adequacy. There should be skepticism to whether that CVS or the LAPD value Ashford’s well-being.

The well-being of Patton ought to be questioned based off her unhinged volatility and fearless use of the N-word.

The very easy and likely excuses that would be made for Patton’s actions are that she could very well be drunk, on drugs (as Ashford suggested in the video) or mentally ill.

Yes or no question: does alcohol or drugs make someone say racist things like the N-word?

The answer to that question should be no since there is no such side-effect that makes anyone say the N-word uncharacteristically.

Another yes or no question: does mental illness cause racist thoughts and actions.

I believe that would be the same answer as the first question.

Racism and hatred are not things people inherit. They are also not things that can be triggered by simply putting something in one’s body. Racism and hatred are learned behaviors and come out while under the influence or sober-minded. In both cases, every grown person should be held accountable for their disgraceful behavior at variant degrees. Especially if it threatens the safety of an innocent victim.

The degree of belligerence to which Patton displayed at that CVS should be represented as what it clearly looks to be, no matter the circumstance. If she was suffering from a mental ailment or under the influence of something that can cause her to act the way she did, why is she driving to CVS alone? If she is liable to be mentally unstable around black people at any time, how does she work as a costume designer? No matter what hypothetical you look at to possibly justify her actions, there is no reason for this occurrence to come to fruition.

Some may be shocked that this incident happened in Los Angeles in 2019. As cited earlier, there are examples of racially insensitive and harmful acts from down South as well as both coasts. According to the public records discovered by heavy.com, Patton once lived in Brooklyn, New York.

She could have done this anywhere. People like her are all over the country. Racism does not discriminate based on location nor does it come in the same form.

Patton’s actions do not represent the actions of white people in the United States. It shouldn’t. But if the perpetrator was a non-white person doing the same thing, would some so easily point towards mental health as the cause for a racist outrage? Would more people generalize and think that this person collectively represents most if not all of his or her group? Had roles been reversed between Patton and Ashford, would the CVS have called the police? Would the LAPD already ran the license plate and questioned their perpetrator? Would some people quickly excuse an enraged black woman as mentally ill?

I believe the answer is no to all those questions.

My advice for all black people are words rapped by Childish Gambino: “This is America. Don’t catch you slippin’ now.”

October 2, 2019

Opinion|5

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Whistleblowers are not criminals

How previous mistreatment paints a grim outlook for today’s leakers

By XAVIER CULLEN Contrinuting Writer

It seems so long ago that Edward Snowden leaked thousands of classified NSA documents to journalist Glenn Greenwald, exposing the unconstitutional actions of the U.S. government’s PRISM program.

Once he released the documents, Snowden became an enemy of the U.S. government. He seeked asylum to dozens of countries, only to be in Russia. Joe Biden, vice president of the U.S. at the time, actively reached out to other countries and pressured them to deny Snowden asylum.

“Every time one of these governments got close to opening their doors, the phone would ring in their foreign ministries,” Snowden said to MSNBC’s Brian Williams on Sept. 27. “And on the other end of the line would be a very senior American official. It was one of two people: then-Secretary of State John Kerry or then-Vice President Joe Biden.”

Snowden says he is open to returning to the U.S., but is worried that he would not be given a fair trial. He fears a government that would do anything to make him disappear.

“I was very much a person the most powerful government in the world wanted to go away,” Snowden told The Guardian’s Ewen MacAskill in Moscow, where he currently lives. “They did not care whether I went away to prison. They did not care whether I went away into the ground. They just wanted me gone.”

Even longer ago was the case of Chelsea Manning, who released hundreds of thousands of documents on the Iraq War while she was enlisted in the military. Her most infamous leak, a video showing the U.S. military illegally killing several innocent, unarmed civilians, including two Reuters journalists, attempted to inform U.S. citizens of the unethical actions of their country’s military.

“Let’s not hide missteps,” Manning said in an interview with the New York Times in June 2017. “Let’s not hide misguided policies. Let’s not hide history. Let’s not hide who we are and what we are doing.”

Manning, however, was met with a very different fate than Snowden. Instead of fleeing prosecution, Manning was arrested while deployed in Iraq after one of her contacts showed authorities chat logs between the two. She was charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Espionage Act, as well as aiding the enemy.

She was transferred to Kuwait and placed on suicide watch.

Her cell was 6-feet wide and 12-feet long and had no windows.

Manning’s lawyer claimed that she was not allowed to sleep between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m., and was given no sheets or pillows, besides the pillow built into the bed.

Manning was originally sentenced to 35 years at a maxi-

mum-security prison until President Barack Obama commuted her sentence to nearly seven years. Today, Manning is back in prison for refusing to testify in an ongoing WikiLeaks case. She has been in and out of effective solitary confinement, endangering her health and safety.

These stories paint a grim future for the anonymous whistleblower currently in the news for releasing a complaint against President Donald Trump, which claims that “the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.” In fact, this current whistleblower could face even more pushback because of Trump’s prominent anti-leak agenda.

“The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security ‘leakers’ that have permeated our government for a long time,” Trump tweeted in 2017. “They can’t even find the leakers within the FBI itself. Classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on U.S. FIND NOW.”.

“The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers,” Trump tweeted in February 2017. “They will be caught!”

Whistleblowers, such as the one that exposed President Trump’s talks with Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, put themselves in the world’s spotlight and endanger their lives. The fact that people in power are able to squash the truth through intimidation and threats is a danger to our democracy.

Like Chelsea Manning said, let’s not hide the dark past, and present, of our country. Corruption and cover-ups should not be a partisan issue. As Americans, we should value the truth no matter how messy. Instead of attacking the leaker by calling them a criminal or anti-American, we should support the brave efforts of those who bring the dark sides of our country to light.

Sadly, too many Americans don’t seem to appreciate the efforts of these whistleblowers. In a Pew Research Poll in 2018, 54% of the American public believe that the U.S. government should pursue criminal charges against Edward Snowden.

However, Snowden’s efforts have changed the public approval of the government’s surveillance program. According to the same Pew Research Poll, disapproval rose from 47% after the initial leaks to 53% the next January.

These whistleblowers’ work has had a great impact on our perception of our government, and any attempts by government officials to stop them from doing that should be viewed as corrupt and unconstitutional. Attacking whistleblowers is like attacking a free press. Journalists are similar to whistleblowers in the fact that they keep the powerful in check, which is probably why President Trump hates them so much too.

What happened to the whistleblower protections that are meant to help those who leak illegal activity? Is the bombing of

PHOTO FROM WIKICOMMONS

Edward Snowden is one of the most famous whistleblowers in recent history.

innocents in Iraq or the secretive spying on American citizens not illegal? Don’t we shun other countries for doing these exact same things?

I respect Trump’s most recent whistleblower’s’ choice to stay anonymous. The calls for him or her to step forward and reveal him or herself shows a complete lack of understanding of the danger that that would do to their safety. If the whistleblower exposed themselves to the world, I guarantee that they would be hunted by every intelligence agency in the U.S. and would be brought to charges immediately.

Being a whistleblower is no easy task, but they are necessary to keep citizens informed about what their government is doing in secret. Everywhere there is money, there will be corruption, and everywhere there is unchecked power, there will be abuses of that power. It is up to the brave people working behind the scenes to expose the worst our government has done, and I applaud them for their efforts.

“There are crooks everywhere you look now,” said Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia right before she was murdered for her involvement in the releasing of the Panama Papers.

“The situation is desperate.”

We should protect whistleblowers at all costs because of the immense pressure they put themselves in for the public good.

Without them, there would be no substantial checks on the people in power, and we would be ignorant to all the human rights violations that the U.S. has done for decades.

Business is not boomin’ Antonio Brown: The complete saga

By BRENDAN SAMPSON Contributing Writer

Imagine being known as the best wide receiver in football for almost a decade and being cut by two teams before Week 3.

For Antonio Brown, this is exactly the case. After not playing in Week 17 for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 2018-19 season, his career started a downward spiral with levels of drama that not even legendary wide receiver Terrell Owens could rival.

On Sunday, Sept. 22, Brown, 31, tweeted he, “Will not be playing in the NFL anymore these owners can cancel deals do whatever they want at anytime we will see if the NFLPA hold them accountable sad they can just void guarantees anytime going on 40m 2 months will see if they pay up!”

Brown is referring to the guaranteed money that he lost in the past month. It all started after he ended up in an Oakland Raiders uniform in exchange for a third and a fifth round draft pick last March. At that point, Brown’s future seemed pretty clear-cut: he would play for the Raiders under the three-year, $54.125 million contract that he had and continue his career as an All-Pro wide receiver.

At this point, everything seemed to be going according to plan; Brown even tweeted a photo of him and Derek Carr, the Raider’s quarterback, captioned, “Love at first sight.” Then, on July 25, he began his downward spiral.

This was the day that Brown missed his first week of training camp. Brown suffered frostbite on his feet in a cryochamber, placing him on the non-football related injury list.

Sure enough, this absence did not stop Brown from creating a scene during his first day with the Raiders. As the rest of the players rolled into their parking spots for the next four weeks, Brown decided he would rather fly into Napa Valley, California, on a hot air balloon.

While each of these inconveniences distanced Brown from his team, the controversy was just beginning. Four days later, Brown filed a grievance against the NFL, petitioning to wear the helmet he has worn his entire career for another year, despite the helmet having been proven unsafe. Ultimately, Brown’s second grievance was denied and finally he was ready to join Raiders camp with a brand new helmet.

Amidst all of the drama, Jon Gruden stood by the controversial receiver. In an interview after the team’s preseason Week 2 game against the LA Rams he stated “I support this guy I think

PHOTO FROM FLICKR

Antonio Brown leaving the field as a Pittsburgh Steeler.

that’s what needs to be said.” Despite the off-field issues, the Raiders’ front office still seemed to support Brown until the issue on Aug. 18. After all, he was a first ballot Hall of Fame caliber wide receiver.

This was the day that Brown decided to show the NFL world that the league is better off without him. With all of the previous off-field drama, Brown decided to spread the wealth and bring the issues onto the field. He threatened to assault Mike Mayock, due to the fine that Brown had received for skipping practice almost a week earlier. During this confrontation Brown also called the first-year general manager a “cracker” per Josina Anderson of ESPN. This obvious representation of racism has no place in our game, giving me no problem with the eventual cutting of Brown from the Raiders. After this, on Sept. 7, Brown signed a one-year

$15 million contract with the New England Patriots, $9 million of which was guaranteed. And after being accused in two separate cases of sexual assault, he was cut by the Patriots as well.

With both teams voiding his guaranteed money, this shows the affliction Brown is to the league. Even after his stellar performance in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins, the Patriots still felt that the bad outweighed the good.

I am the first one to admit that Brown is extremely talented, but after the way he has acted throughout the last year, the league is better off without him.

He single-handedly ruined the Raiders’ locker room and claimed he will no longer play in the NFL after losing his guaranteed money.

As shown on the NFL’s website, some of its core values are as follows, “Respect, Integrity, and Responsibility to the team.”

Based on this, Brown has violated the very fabric of the league as we know it. He’s shown zero respect to both the league and his own team’s front office. If he respected the powers above him, he wouldn’t have filed multiple helmet grievances after the initial decisions. If he respected his team, he wouldn’t have missed the first two weeks of camp. And if he respected his general manager, he would never have even thought to threaten him, let alone call him a racial slur.

Even while Brown is apparently “Done with NFL,” he is still giving the league a major headache. On Sept. 26, Brown got into yet another fight. Eric Weddle, safety for the Los Angeles Rams, just had to respond after Brown’s outrageous tweet. Brown claimed that “the game need me I’m like test answers [sic].”

Weddle retorted stating “Don’t need to. Isn’t on a team.” Weddle sums up what the rest of us are thinking perfectly: Brown isn’t even in the league, we don’t need to hear about him.

This year has been a disparaging one for NFL. From Kareem Hunt to Tyreek Hill, Brown is just another addition to the considerable strife that the NFL has faced in the past year. Not to mention the early retirements of legendary tight end Rob Gronkowski and Pro Bowlers Andrew Luck and Doug Baldwin.

These are ambassadors of the game that the league will definitely miss—unlike the drama queen Brown.

As a fan of football and the NFL, I think I speak for us all when I say that Antonio Brown has become a distraction that we no longer care about.

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

6|Arts & Life

October 2, 2019

Arts & Life

QUCHRONICLE.COM/ARTS-AND-LIFE ARTSLIFE@QUCHRONICLE.COM

FALL PREMIERES ILLUSTRATION BY IAN BERKEY

Fall is not all about the falling leaves, picking apples and carving pumpkins for Halloween — it is also about premieres of all-time favorite TV shows. Big favorites, such as, “This is Us,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “American Horror Story” have already held the fall premieres this past week, but other beloved shows such as “Riverdale” and “Big Mouth” are premiering the new seasons in the upcoming weeks. Read all about the premiere recaps and information on the upcoming ones if you are trying to find a new show to watch or are excited for your favorite shows to be coming back with a whole new story - J.Simms

r e l i Spo rt ale

THIS IS...NUTS Emily DiSalvo

This is it. “This is Us” has returned and my hopes were higher than William before he went to rehab.

I sat down to watch fully expecting to be reunited with with the Pearsons, thrust back into Randall’s relationship with his adopted daughter Deja and Kevin’s confusing romance with Zoe. Maybe Nicky would make a comeback and we’d see a respect between him and Rebecca develop. Maybe we’d finally find out why we kept seeing flashes of Rebecca lying in her death bed last season.

Nope, nope and ... nope.

We met Cassidy, a mom returning home from Afghanistan suffering from severe PTSD. We met this blind guy who starts dating a waitress he meets at a diner.

We met Malik, a junior in high school who has an infant daughter.

Oh, and we saw about seven minutes of a dinner Jack had with Rebecca’s family at which Rebecca’s father threatened him and promised his relationship with Rebecca wouldn’t work out. He would make sure of it.

However, in the last 10 minutes of the episode, these elements collided like a lawn chair shattering through a glass window–literally.

As Cassidy is sitting through a meeting with other veterans struggling to integrate back into society, a chair comes flying through the window, sending all of the PTSD sufferers into a panic. Who threw the chair? Nicky, Jack’s long lost brother.

Then, we see Malik at a party. He’s grilling burgers, when a girl walks over with her friend, who is no other than Deja. She introduces Deja to Malik and Deja is overcome with a glow that can only be described as teenage lust. We later see her return home and Randall asks, “What happened to your face?” because he had never seen her quite so happy.

Then we see Kate and Toby meeting with their son’s doctor.

We know baby Jack had some complications since he was born so early but we didn’t know it caused him to be blind. Wait. Blind?

The blind guy who fell in love in the diner is Jack all grown up?

Turns out grown-up Jack is a wildly talented singer who performs in giant concert venues. The episode closes as he’s singing. His voice continues on, but the camera moves between clips of him on the stage and clips of Rebecca singing in an empty bar to Jack, who she had just met a few weeks ago.

The episode ended and I had chills. Jack’s voice singing “I found my way to you” haunts me as I am writing this because I still don’t understand so much of what happened.

Why did Nicky throw the chair through the window? What does Deja’s infatuation with Malik mean? And then why did we flash forward so many years to see Jack all grown up?

I’m impressed, confused but also excited. With a show like "This is Us," you always wonder how they could possibly extend it for another season. What else could the Pearson family do? They only have so many children. By introducing three entirely new

RECAPS CRAZY GREY’S

21 SEASONS OF SAVING LIVES

The beloved hospital drama, “Grey’s Anatomy,” premiered its sixteenth season on Sept. 26, bringing to light the cliff hangers the finale of the fifteenth season left viewers with back in the spring.

Viewers, for the first time, see cherished characters not working in the comfort of the Grey-Sloan Hospital after the whole insurance fraud scandal that took place during the previous season. Not only does that change occur during this premiere, viewers also see beloved couples break-up due to the events that occurred during the finale of last season. Just like all “Grey’s Anatomy” premieres, this one had big changes occur that will set a whole new tone for the rest of the season to come. Will Alex Karev, Meredith Grey and Richard Webber be able to come back to work atGrey-Sloan Hospital? What will happen with Jackson Avery and Maggie Pierce? We just have to wait and see how this season turns out.

For now, 21 seasons, “Law & Order: SVU” has been showing Olivia Benson and her team saving the city of New York from crimes involving sexual acts. Benson’s team has drastically changed over the past 21 seasons and it has changed again during this premiere. Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, a member of the Special Victims Unit since season 16, was seen during the opening scene of the premiere packing up his desk and telling his partner, Amanda Rollins, that he had to turn in his gun. Carisi ended up joining the District Attorney’s office as the Assistant D.A. Other than this big change, Benson and her team went on to save victims from Sir Tobias Moore the head of PicFlix, a large TV studio and streaming service. Like any “Law & Order: SVU” episode, the SVU team works to bring down the perpetrator and bring justice to the victims.

Jessica Simms

Jessica Simms

1980S SLASHER MAKES A COME BACK Janna Marnell

We all know that "Murder House," "Asylum" and "The Coven" have been the best seasons that “American Horror Story” has put on. Evan Peters has broken our hearts in a mysterious way in these three seasons as Tate Langdon, Kit Walker and Kyle Spencer. However, he disappeared shortly after his debut in this series.

Season four all the way up to Apocalypse (2018), with the exception of Roanoke (2016) has been a disappointment for my Halloween craving. However, this season "1884" is only two episodes in and it still shows my love for 80s horror movies. It is your typical horror movie cast that consists of the whore, the jock, the hippie, the black person and the one that so far “seems” innocent. This group of friends gets hired at an abandoned summer camp that was reopened after a decade of being shut down by a massacre that happened in the early 1970s.

Mr. Jingles, the murderer of the massacre, escaped from a psychiatric hospital after finding out about the camp reopening to get his revenge on the one that got away. Although, so far, there are some plot holes within the extra murderer and stalker that is after Brooke Thompson (Emma Roberts). This past week’s episode left us on a cliffhanger having one of the victims be actually a ghost, unable to leave the camp grounds.

My friends and I plan on sitting every Wednesday night at 10 p.m. around the TV to watch this ‘80s inspired slasher that’ll hopefully keep us wanting more.

PREVIEWS BIG MOUTH Alexis Guerra

When we last left the characters in “Big Mouth’s” holiday music episode, “My Furry Valentine,” things weren’t looking so good for Andrew Glouderman (John Mulaney). He has been trying to win back Missy (Jenny Slate). He’s allergic to his new red Kangol hat, causing a “profoundly violent rash” on his scalp.

And finally, he embarrasses himself at a party and in the last few moments of the episode, we leave Andrew in the street, angry and humiliated. Netflix’s raunchy cartoon about kids going through puberty will return to the streaming platform on Oct. 4. The show’s creator, Nick Kroll, revealed that Netflix has picked up the show through season six — so we can expect to be hearing sex jokes from the mouths of middle schoolers long into the future.

FOURTH SEASON STARRING THE CORE FOUR Jessica Simms

Season three of the popular mystery drama, “Riverdale,” changed the whole course of events for the core four’s lives.

Betty’s family is now missing, since The Farm has all disappeared, Charles Smith is an FBI agent, Hal Cooper is now dead and Veronica and Archie are possibly back together. Season three ended with almost the entirety of the core four (Archie, Betty and Veronica) standing over a fire, with blood all over them. Jughead was nowhere to be found, except with Archie clutching his beanie.

The three of them agreed to destroy the evidence, finish school and then go their separate ways. Fans are waiting to see what the three characters mean by this, but can’t find out until season four premieres on Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. Is Jughead dead? Will the core four ever be fully reunited? Guess we all just have to wait until season four premieres to find out.

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

October 2, 2019

Arts & Life|7

JOHN MAYER FINISHES TRIUMPHANT U.S. TOUR AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS POWERS Mayer’s U.S. leg of his 2019 World Tour was significant for many reasons, but remarkable for one — he is at the peak of his artistic ability

By PHIL AKRE Staff Writer

John Mayer hasn’t released the critically-acclaimed “The Search For Everything” since early 2017. In the time since, it appears the 41-year-old has come to terms with his polarizing past, while he’s fully embraced the fans that have followed him for so long.

His time off from Dead & Company, who he packed football stadiums with this past summer, marks the return of his recent material in a live setting. Mayer recently wrapped up the U.S. leg of his 2019 World Tour at Sacramento's Golden 1 Center, just days after a two-night run at Los Angeles’ Forum.

Of course, the tour wasn’t without its welcomed surprises.

On Sept. 16, at San Francisco’s brand-new Chase Center, Mayer welcomed Grateful Dead co-founder and Dead & Company bandmate Bob Weir, as well as Sammy Hagar.

That’s quite the duo to have as sit-ins. The three jammed on Mayer’s “Queen of California” and rolled into the Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain.”

During the intermission at the second show of a two-night run at Madison Square Garden in June, monitors projected a live broadcast of Mayer speaking directly to the audience.

In it, he expressed his desire to play an album in its entirety at a show, something he had long sought to do. What he did next may as well have shaken the Garden to its core - he was to play straight through his 2006 commercial and critical breakthrough, “Continuum.” It was a notable instance of Mayer’s interaction with his audiences, something he’s done for years at his own shows.

Mayer’s U.S. run highlights his continued popularity and position within music and popular culture. He hasn’t released an album in over two years, yet he remains one of music's true mainstays. Having 4.7 million Instagram followers doesn’t hurt, either. By his own admission via Instagram following the U.S. leg, this is his first-ever tour without a supporting album. You wouldn’t have thought that at shows held in iconic venues like the Garden, LA’s Forum and Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan.

In the time between his U.S. run and Europe stretch this October, Mayer has stayed busy by jamming with Eric

PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK

John Mayer performs during one of his concerts of the 2019 world tour.

Clapton (who has called Mayer a “master guitarist”) and others at the Crossroads Festival. After the Europe run, he’ll again join Dead & Company for a series of shows, with stops at the Garden and Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum.

So what’s next? He’s a rare star who seemingly has options at every corner. 2020 will mark the return of new studio material, informally announced via Mayer’s Instagram. What kind of album will fans hear? His sound has slowly transformed in the last three years, as the Dead’s long, melodic jams have invariably affected his

own approach. “The Search For Everything” was a search for hope, light and the road ahead following a break-up.

Mayer’s next album is an unpredictable entity, which makes for more anticipation from fans and critics alike.

Mayer’s tour proved that he remains unapologetically himself and that he is at peace with the career he’s had to this point. He returned to his roots playing “Continuum” in full at MSG, an album that marked a new chapter and direction in his life.

It feels like another chapter is just getting started.

EAT FOR EID

Muslim Student Association and South Asian Society bring culture and cuisine to campus

By ASHLEY PELLETIER Contributing Writer

The sounds of music, friends and celebration filled the air. The smell of food wafted through the air of the piazza while people came together and enjoyed themselves.

The Muslim Student Association and the South Asian Society came together on Friday, Sept. 27, to host their annual Eid Dinner and Henna Night. The Eid Dinner was held to celebrate Eid alAdha, the “Festival of Sacrifice,” which took place from the evening of Saturday, Aug. 10, to the evening of Sunday, Aug. 11.

Eid al-Adha is the second Eid celebrated in the Islamic calendar, the first being Eid al-Fitr.

“Islam is a religion and there are so many different cultures that fall under it,” Uswa Hanif, vice president of the Muslim Student Association, said. According to Pew Research Center, there were about 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. It is the secondlargest religion behind Christianity. Over 60% of all Muslim’s live in Indonesia, India or another South Asian country.

Tables in the piazza were filled with people eating naan, Luqmat al-Qadi and many other traditional foods. Candy and coloring pages covered the tables, free for people to make use of.

A polaroid photo booth was open to take pictures in, and a free raffle for AirPods was offered.

Prizes were given to the winners of a Kahoot based on South Asian and Islamic cultures. The questions centered mainly around the traditions of Eid and henna, but included other aspects of Islamic and South Asian cultures.

The two henna artists that were available had long lines of people waiting to get designs of their choice. Henna is a plantbased dye that is used to create traditional temporary body art and is most commonly used on the hair and feet, but can be used on the hair and nails as well. Henna is known as Mehndi in Hindu and is used for celebrations such as weddings and births. Henna designs can include flowers, animals and other elements of nature.

“We want people to understand the meaning of Eid and what Islam is about,” Irsa Awan, president of the Muslim Student

ASHLEY PELLETIER/CHRONICLE

Students were able to fill in coloring pages while eating foods such as naan and Luqmat al-Qadi.

Association, said.

Eid al-Adha is the remembrance of the prophet, Abraham, and his willingness to sacrifice his own son, Ishmael, in a test from God. Abraham almost went through with the sacrifice, but was stopped by God when he passed His test.

The event had a much larger turnout than in previous years due to the teamwork of the Muslim Student Association and the South Asian Society. The dinner has previously been held in SC 120, but took place in the piazza this year. Many students learned about the event through the groups’ respective Instagram pages.

“I am not just walking away with a full stomach of really great food and a beautiful henna design on my hand,” Skylar Haines, a

first-year journalism major, said. “I am walking out of tonight with a great feeling of community and intercultural understanding.”

“We really try to preach that [the event] is not just for Muslims,” Hanif said. “Anybody can join.”

The event brought people together, but was also informative for people who had never been exposed to Islamic or South Asian culture.

The Muslim Student Association meets bi-weekly at a predetermined location and the South Asian Society also meets biweekly at a predetermined location. The South Asian Society has a celebration of the Indian holiday Navratri called Garba on Oct. 11, in Burt Kahn Court.

8|Arts & Life

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

October 2, 2019

FALLING INTO AUTUMN Looking for some outdoor fun as the leaves change colors? Here are some local attractions to visit whether you’re looking for an enjoyable day out or a late night fright- H. Cotton Lyman Orchards Middletown, CT Family owned for 275 years, Lyman Orchards brings enjoyment to thousands of visitors each fall season. Enjoy your day picking apples, pumpkins or other various crops. Get lost in a corn maze and finish off your day by launching apples and shopping at their marketplace where you can enjoy breakfast on the deck and purchase some locally made goodies to take home.

Pumpkintown USA East Hampton, CT Visit Pumpkintown USA and take a mile-long wagon ride through the forest and admire the pumpkinhead people and their animals enjoying an old-fashioned lifestyle. After the wagon ride, pick a pumpkin and enjoy the beautiful sights they have to offer.

Six Flags Fright Fest Agawam, MA To experience a fright-filled day, head to Six Flags New England to ride the coasters and get frightened as you walk, or run around the park. You’ll be sure to get your scare by visiting their attractions such as the Midnight Mansion or watching one of their spooktacular shows like “Hell's Belles.”

The Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce Bristol, CT Venture to Lake Compounce for thrills and chills. Lake Compounce, home of roller coaster attractions and New England’s largest Halloween attraction, will have you on your toes anticipating scares around every corner. Visit for a spook as you walk through a one mile journey of slaughter houses, cornfields, caves and dungeons filled with vampires, witches, werewolves and lost souls.

Apple Harvest Festival Southington, CT For all thing’s apple, check out the Southington Apple Harvest Festival. Taking place, the first two weekends of October, you can find pie eating contests, road races, a carnival, live music, fireworks and even a parade. Best part about it all, free admission and delicious food.

B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill Old Mystic, CT Being the last steam powered cider mill in the United States, B.F. Clyde’s is a popular historical landmark. Aside from their history, B.F. Clyde’s offers all things apple, including hot and cold cider, doughnuts and a cider slush. Age permitting, you can head to their free wine tastings and enjoy their hard cider. While enjoying a sweet treat you can watch the entire process of the apples being turned to a delicious cider.

GRAPHIC BY HAYLEI COTTON

'EL CAMINO' LOOKS TO HONOR ITS PREDECESSOR The new 'Breaking Bad' movie will smash expectations

By MICHAEL SICOLI Contributing Writer

Welcome back Jesse Pinkman.

The full trailer for “El Camino,” a Netflix Original movie, was released on Sept. 24, and fans of the award-winning television show, “Breaking Bad,” should be thrilled and hopeful.

“Breaking Bad” took the world by storm for over six seasons from 2008 to 2013. It was quickly regarded as one of the best television shows ever made, covering the journey of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and his transformation from a dorky chemistry teacher to a cold-hearted crystal meth kingpin. Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), Walt’s assistant/friend/pawn throughout this journey, became as pivotal to the plot as Walt did by undergoing his own transformation, from a dropout druggie to a tough mafioso.

“Breaking Bad” won a 2014 Golden Globe for Best Television Series after the finale in 2013, just one award among the 110 awards won by the show.

So, in case anyone forgot, this show was nothing short of a masterpiece.

The last time fans saw him he was breaking out of Jack Welker’s (Michael Bowen) white supremicist gang after suffering beatings and confinement for several months. White saves him from the compound and bleeds out nearby, while Jesse rams through the fence in a truck screaming with joy at his newfound freedom.

For many it was a satisfying end to a remarkable series.

Jesse is the loose end left from the original show. The trailer gives viewers chills every single time it is watched.

Jesse finds his way to his friend Skinny Pete (Charles Edward Baker), and holes himself up there. The audience sees the sheer damage done to Jesse, his face bruised and contorted, his back covered in lashes, looking like an animal that had been kicked one too many times. It takes Skinny Pete several seconds to even recognize his best friend when he opens the door. Badger (Matt L. Jones), Jesse’s other friend, takes off his hat at the sight of Jesse, like he was at a funeral.

In a way, Badger was.

Jesse symbolically “dies” in “Breaking Bad,” and whoever he is in “El Camino” simply cannot be the same person he was. “El Camino” means “the way.” This new movie is Jesse’s effort to find his path after “dying” in captivity. He underwent loss on a level no one could match. Both of the women he loved, Jane Margolis (Krysten Ritter) and Andrea Cantillo (Emily Clara Rios), died

The full trailer for 'El Camino' premiered on Sept. 24. within eyesight and in connection to him.

But to analyze this further, Jesse took a shower.

Water is often symbolic of a cleansing, and a sign of a new life similar to a baptism. Jesse visits a river, eerily familiar to where Mike Ehrmantraut (Johnathan Banks) died, with an unknown figure standing aside him.

Even the music agrees with this point.

The song played in the trailer is “Black Water,” by Reuben and the Dark. It is a morose song about a man who looks at himself in the mirror and realizes that he has changed beyond belief. The lyrics “I saw my face in the mirror, though I know I've changed, though I look, much the same” speak to this point. The lines, “grace in the black water bathe my soul, and tell my heart, I told you so,” also speak levels about Jesse. He is convinced that he is the bad guy, he has told himself this for years despite Walt’s assurances in previous seasons that everything bad had to happen, and that he never had a choice. Jesse believes this effort to purify his soul will not work because the only water available to him is this “black water.”

Jesse is trying to move on, but several parts of the trailer

PHOTO FROM NETFLIX

indicate he is still very troubled. The sound of a police siren sends him clutching a gun or hiding in a corner. He cannot escape his past as he is hunted down by the law. Nostalgia is triggered a couple times as well, recreating scenes using similar camera angles. Part of the famous “Run” scene from “Breaking Bad” is recreated when he is walking at night in the same outfit in the streets, and the hooked photo of Andrea and Brock Cantillo (Ian Posada), her son, looming overhead in a scene similar to the one in “Ozymandias,” one of the final three episodes in the “Breaking Bad” saga.

All in all, this just looks like a masterpiece. Vince Gilligan, the creator of “Breaking Bad” and creator of “El Camino,” knows the story better than anyone else. This trailer simply reinforces the idea that Gilligan is ready to make another splash in this remarkable storyline.

The silence of the trailer sans music is broken in the last ten seconds.

“You ready,” an unknown voice asks.

“Yeah,” Jesse replies.

Oh man, so are we.

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

October 2, 2019

Arts & Life|9

AMEER VANN’S MISGUIDED DEBUT FALLS SHORT Former BROCKHAMPTON member addresses abuse allegations in the completely wrong way on this unapologetic project

By RILEY MILLETTE Contributing Writer

The timeline of Ameer Vann’s last year and a half has been chaotic, to say the least. A former member of hip-hop boyband BROCKHAMPTON, Vann was cast out of the group by his friends and bandmates following allegations in which two women accused him of physical and sexual assault. This included one woman claiming Vann restrained and choked her to the point of losing consciousness.

Since the release of BROCKHAMPTON’s “Saturation III,” the last album of the group that he was a part of, we’ve heard little from Vann outside of short tweets immediately following the incident, all of which have since been deleted.

The surviving tweets on his Twitter account are promotions for his debut solo EP, “EMMANUEL.” The central idea of “EMMANUEL,” in fact the only idea of this EP, revolves around the allegations against him and the consequences of them. The opening track, which is also the title track, consists of Vann reflecting on his past. However, he shows little remorse for his actions.

“It’s so hard to say I’m sorry, it’s so hard to self-reflect,” Vann says about his checkered history. With these words being the first line on the first track, Vann does not set the tone in a way that would resonate with most listeners. Failing to explain what it is that is holding him back, it leaves the audience wondering his true feelings on the subject.

Vann further fails to take accountability, quoting his family life as a reason for his actions. “I’m a product of my father, I’m an addict like my sister, I’m so sick I need a doctor,” Vann said on the title track. With these bars coming only 15 seconds after the previously mentioned line, it confirms the idea that Vann truly has little inside him that wants to seek forgiveness.

The remaining five tracks of the album do less to change the tone, as lyrics about drug use, gun violence and depression continue to seep into the listeners’ ears.

Even after the bars about his past, the boldest claim that Vann makes is that BROCKHAMPTON is at a deficit without

AMEERVANN/INSTAGRAM

'EMMANUEL' received a 2.5 out of 5 star rating by Rate Your Music.

him and takes multiple shots at the group, saying “I aint no boy in a band” on the track Pop Trunk and “tried to kill me but I’m still alive” on “Sunday Night.”

The clearly bitter mood that Vann is in for essentially the entirety of the album conveys that he not only is he content with brushing his actions aside but also that the repercussions are easy to overcome.

Musically, there is not much to mull over in the EP. While it might be unfair to compare his solo work to that of the group, it is discouraging to see Vann regress into a more mainstream style of music.

BROCKHAMPTON staked its claim by creating music that is a blend of hip-hop, pop, hardcore rap and slow ballads, all

of which are done to mastery. Vann’s work falls into the trap of rattling hi-hats and booming bass that is all too familiar to hiphop fans today. The instrumentals are uninspiring and one in the same, especially when compared to his former work.

The track “EMMANUEL” features only an eerie, rumbling bass with intermittent trios of bass thumps in accompaniment with Vann’s rapping. I appreciate this decision as the track is heavily substantive as far as lyrics go, and the subject matter matches the dark tone laid by the grumbling bass underneath.

The track “Glock 19,” my favorite among the six, shows off a skippy trap beat with anthemic samples of a woman singing. The bass pattern actually goes hand in hand with the hi-hat heavy beat, which is otherwise bland and unwelcome on the EP, but the Cool & Dre-produced beat breathes life into the project.

Vann’s flow is also exceptional on “Glock 19,” which was his specialty during his BROCKHAMPTON days. Ripping off fast flows is not his forte, but Vann continues to show how tight his rhyme schemes are and how well he stays in the pocket on this project.

The EP is a small sample size, spanning only 17 minutes, making it difficult to determine whether or not Vann has “lost it” or if he ever even had it and was benefitting from the rest of the BROCKHAMPTON members, but it failed to make a creative statement and blends in with the overflowing scene of trap rap in the mainstream.

Ameer Vann’s “EMMANUEL” EP leaves a lot to be desired sonically and lyrically, leaving the artist in an even more troubling situation than before.

2/5 Stars

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The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Dynamic duo

RUNDOWN WOMEN’S SOCCER Rider 2, QU 0 - Saturday Selena Salas: 4 shots, 3 SOG Meaghan Phillips: 3 saves, 2 GA FIELD HOCKEY QU 2, Georgetown 1 - Wednesday Julianna Cappello: 1 goal, 2 SOG Brooke Whipkey: 1 assist Hedda Biermann-Ratjen: 4 saves, 1 GA Columbia 2, QU 1 - Sunday Valerie Perkins: 1 goal Bianka Strubbe: 1 assist, 1 SOG Biermann-Ratjen: 1 save, 2 GA VOLLEYBALL Fairfield 3, QU 0 - Saturday Aryanah Diaz: 19 digs, 10 kills Alejandra Rodriguez: 18 digs WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY QU 5, Ryerson 1 - Saturday Brooke Bonsteel: 2 goals, 5 shots Kate Reilly: 2 assists, 2 shots

GAMES TO WATCH MEN’S SOCCER QU vs. Saint Peter’s - Wednesday, 3 p.m.

QU at Manhattan - Saturday, 2 p.m.

WOMEN’S SOCCER QU at Marist - Wednesday, 7 p.m.

QU vs. Monmouth - Saturday, 12 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY QU vs. Liberty - Friday, 3 p.m.

QU at Boston College - Sunday, 12 p.m.

MEN’S TENNIS QU vs. Holy Cross - Saturday, 9 a.m.

QU at Rider - Sunday, 1 p.m.

WOMEN’S TENNIS QU vs. St. Francis - Saturday, 10 a.m.

QU vs. Sacred Heart - Saturday, 1 p.m.

QU at Rider - Sunday, 1 p.m.

WOMEN’S RUGBY QU at Harvard - Saturday, 12 p.m.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL QU vs. Iona - Saturday, 1 p.m.

QU vs. Manhattan - Sunday, 1 p.m.

MEN’S ICE HOCKEY QU vs. Brock - Sunday, 4 p.m.

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY QU at Providence - Friday, 6 p.m.

QU vs. Providence - Saturday, 3 p.m.

October 2, 2019

Greek sophomores Zampati and Tselepi reunite

By MEGAN MAHARRY Contributing Writer

A look at the Quinnipiac volleyball roster will reveal Georgia Tselepi and Olga Zampati are quite far away from home.

The two sophomores are from Athens, Greece, where they played high school volleyball together.

Tselepi had not started off playing volleyball. She competed in track and field, but never developed a passion for it. She said she randomly decided to try volleyball, and realized it was the sport she loved.

“I’ve been playing for like 12 years,” Tselepi said. “And I love it. Nothing has changed.”

Volleyball was not Zampati’s first sport either. She originally did gymnastics, but was unable to continue when she lost a place to compete, forcing her to choose another sport.

She then began playing volleyball, where she discovered her love for it.

The two teammates and friends have been playing together for about six years now. Tselepi said the experience has been very fun.

“We know each other so well,” Zampati said. “We know our weaknesses and our strengths, so we’re helping each other out.”

Their names were not only on the roster for Moraitis High School, but they also competed on the Greek National Team for about five years. However, making the national team was no easy feat. Multiple girls tryout, while only a handful make the cut.

“It made me compete more,” Tselepi said.

“And understand the idea of how to compete and earn my spot.”

Playing against other countries also gave Tselepi the opportunity to observe a different style of play and practice.

Upon graduation, Tselepi decided to come to the United States. Most of the players on the national team left after she graduated, and this prompted her to consider doing the same thing.

“Here is a totally different experience,” Tselepi said. “I love trying new things.”

Tselepi spent her first year in the United States playing for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, where she appeared in 16 matches, playing 17 sets.

Zampati came to play in the United States for similar reasons: the opportunity to combine her love for athletics while obtaining a degree.

This was a chance she did not have in Greece.

She also said that in the United States, the level of play in the sport is pretty high.

Zampati chose to join the University of Oklahoma Sooners for her first collegiate season. She appeared in six matches, including a Big 12 match-up against Kansas State.

After parting ways following high school to come play at different colleges in the United States, the two teammates ultimately found themselves playing on the same court again — this time for the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

Head coach Kyle Robinson, the assistant coach at Oklahoma at the time, was the one

COURTESY OF QU ATHLETICS

Sophomore outside hitter Olga Zampati serves the ball against Rutgers. who recruited Zampati to Oklahoma. Once he Robinson said. left, the new coaching staff implemented a difRobinson is in his first year as head coach ferent ideology that Zampati said was not the at Quinnipiac. He came from three seasons as best fit for her. an assistant coach at Oklahoma and a successShe then decided to transfer to Quinnipi- ful tenure as head coach at LIU Brooklyn from ac. She knew Tselepi also wanted to transfer, 2008 to 2015. so she put her in touch with Robinson. The He said it can at times be tough as an intwo later came on a visit together and loved ternational athlete coming to the United States it, knowing it was their next chance at play- alone, especially since they are thousands of ing their favorite sport. miles from home. He said Zampati and Tselepi “Quinnipiac has everything I want,” Tselepi being here together is huge because they resaid. “It’s a smaller university, and the environ- mind each other of home. ment is closer.”

“I think the international athletes for me Both Tselepi and Zampati commented on always bring a level of professionalism to the the differences in play between Greece and the game, to the court, that isn’t like our domestic United States. In Greece, the season is much girls get,” Robinson said. longer, beginning in September and running all He said in volleyball, there is a culture that the way until May. Zampati said it is more in- has a professional mentality system. And this tense here than in Greece. Tselepi added there level of professionalism Zampati and Tselepi is not as much time to prepare for games due to rubs off on the rest of the team. the shorter competition season.

Robinson said both the girls are very social Reunited at Quinnipiac, the duo has taken and easygoing. And he had nothing but good the court together again. The team has a cur- things to say about the rest of his team. rent record of 4-8 overall and 0-3 in MAAC “We’ve got so many good people in our unit play. Both have seen action in previous here that it makes it easy for anyone to come games, Zampati is one of the team leaders in in,” Robinson said. kills and digs, tallying 60 and 76 respectively, And Zampati and Tselepi bring that same so far this season. dynamic to the team.

Robinson said he expects Zampati and Tsel“I remember seeing them on their visit, epi, along with the rest of his team, to work smiling and laid back and comfortable like they hard, learn, compete and try to be the best ver- had been here forever,” Robinson said. “But sion of themselves every day. that’s just a testament of the culture we have “Each girl has a different role, but within created here and the quality of the people that their roles, everyone is here to do a job,” we have in that culture.”

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Zampati rises up for a kill against Rutgers.

COURTESY OF QU ATHLETICS

October 2, 2019

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

HOCKEY HOOPLA

Sports|11

Clockwise from top left: Senior defense Kenzie Prater drags the puck from left to right as she crosses center ice; junior forward Grace Markey battles with Ryerson defenders to maintain possession of the puck; senior forward Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout prepares to send the puck off her stick to a teammate; sophomore forward Lexie Adzija battles with a Ryerson defender in hopes of claiming possession of the puck past the goal line.

MAXFIELD MASCARIN/CHRONICLE

8 48 100

The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team enters the season ranked No. 8 in the USCHO Division I Preseason Poll.

With 48 seconds left in the game, field hockey freshman forward Julianna Cappello scored the goal to tie Georgetown 1-1. The Bobcats won 2-1 in a shootout.

Over the weekend at the 2019 Army Invitational, Quinnipiac senior women’s tennis player Layla Rodriguez won her 100th career match.

Brooke Bonsteel

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

BY THE NUMBERS

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE

Women’s ice hockey made its return to play on Saturday, Sept. 28, and junior forward Brooke Bonsteel shined. She scored twice against Ryerson, leading Quinnipiac to a 5-1 victory.

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

12|Sports

Sports

October 2, 2019

QUCHRONICLE.COM/SPORTS @QUCHRONSPORTS

Three of a kind MEGAN LOWE/CHRONICLE

Three German soccer players bring a different level of experience and maturity to Eric Da Costa’s club

By JACOB SHIFFER Contributing Writer

“I love the Germans,” Quinnipiac men’s soccer head coach Eric Da Costa said.

He was just beginning a two-minute-long speech on what Quinnipiac’s three German soccer players – sophomore midfielder Dejan Duric, junior midfielder Simon Hillinger and freshman defender Henry Weigand – bring to the team. His praise never wavered.

“When they get here, they just have a different mentality,” Da Costa said. “They’re a bit more mature. They know how to handle the academic load. They can manage their time a bit better. They can communicate a bit easier. The transition in soccer is not that different. There’s just a lot of similarities and parallels with the Germans. We’ve been really lucky.”

For Hillinger, that praise and admiration was felt during his recruiting process.

“I really felt like the coaches wanted me here,” Hillinger said. “Compared to other coaches I talked to I always felt like the second choice but with [assitant coach] Graciano Brito and Eric Da Costa it was like I felt right away like they really want me and they want me in their program.”

Originally from Ditzingen, Germany, Hillinger played on the Red Bulls Leipzig U17 and U19 teams in Germany’s top youth soccer league from 2014-2016. He also played for Hallescher U19 in the second league in Germany.

“I feel like I’ve been in the same situation as every other international student,” Hillinger said. “So I gotta help them too.”

This wealth of international experience led him to be selected to Quinnipiac’s leadership council for a second straight season.

As one of two European players on the council, along with senior defender Jeppe Haehre from Norway, he wants to make sure he looks out for other international players on the team.

“I feel there is a responsibility for us,” Haehre said. “Because I feel like we need to make sure we’re collective as a group that

everyone is helping each other out.”

Part of that responsibility is understanding the differences between the American and German soccer styles and teaching that to other players. Now in his third season, Hillinger feels like he finally understands the differences and can apply them to his game.

“The physicality is different especially for me,” Hillinger said. “If I look at myself freshman year I was very skinny and I came in trying to solve everything with my technical abilities.”

After starting in all 19 games as a freshman and earning MAAC All-Rookie Team honors, Duric understands the need to adapt to the American game. He’s recognized the difference in styles and knows what he needs to improve upon this season.

“It’s way more physical and the tactics is way more one on one,” Duric said.

Duric grew up in Bielefeld, Germany and played for the DSC Arminia Bielefeld in Germany’s top youth soccer league. Last season, he led the Bobcats in minutes played and has used that experience to improve his mentality for his sophomore year.

He’s learned to focus on more than just the tactical side of the game. On a Bobcats team made up of players from 10 different countries, he began to focus on the different playing styles and how they represent each player’s unique culture.

“Soccer combines all the different cultures and we can learn about other cultures through soccer,” Duric said.

That advice and Hillinger’s leadership has benefitted fellow German Weigand. Raised in Hamburg, Germany, Weigand played for Niendorfer TSV in German soccer’s highest division at the youth level. During his time with the team, they earned two second-place finishes in the Hamburg Regional Cup. Now with Quinnipiac, Weigand believes having Duric and Hillinger as teammates makes all the difference.

“When I need something,” Weigand said.

“Simon and Dejan are always there for me.”

The three players look out for each other

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE

Sophomore midfielder Dejan Duric carries the ball through the midfield. on and off the field. They’ve helped each other with everything from learning how to balance academics and athletics, how to purchase an American cell phone plan, and how to buy car insurance. They’ve been able to speak to each other in German about the differences between German and American cultures.

“The good fact is that no one understands what we’re saying,” Hillinger said.

Aside from joking about cultural differences, they lean on each other for support when the time difference makes it difficult to speak to friends and family back home.

On the bad days, having a friend who understands your upbringing, your culture and your language can boost their morale. It doesn’t hurt that they’re embraced by their teammates and coaches who know they bring more than just their talent to the team.

“We’ve enjoyed having them in the program,” Da Costa said. “They add a lot of value.”

That value wasn’t hard to add to the team.

As a smaller school in Division I, Da Costa believes it’s easier to recruit international players to Quinnipiac. Most international players don’t understand the American college soccer system at first, but they see each school as an opportunity to receive an education and further their playing career.

“Recruiting the American kids is actually a lot more difficult for us,” Da Costa said.

“They want the glitz, they want the glamour.

They know the differences between the institutions in terms of prestige or popularity, so they look their nose down at us.”

The experience international players bring to a team helps them develop at a quick rate.

As different as the American system is from other countries’ systems, Da Costa doesn’t believe it fazes them since they are focused the second they step on campus.

“The international players have been able to make an impact for us right away where the American player sometimes takes a year or two to settle in.”

The impact of the three German players has not gone unnoticed. Hillinger has contributed a goal and an assist this season while Weigand is tied for the team lead in minutes played and Duric ranks seventh in the same category. They’re taking their unique opportunity seriously, while remembering to appreciate the game that made it all possible.

“Try to enjoy it,” Duric said. “Try to learn as much as you can while having fun and doing what you love because we all love soccer.”