The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Volume 91, Issue 9

NOVEMBER 4, 2020 • VOLUME 91 • ISSUE 9

The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

COMPETING OPINIONS ON AMY CONEY BARRETT P.4

CONNOR LAWLESS/CHRONICLE CONTRIBUTED BY KATIE WELCH

NEWS P.2: STUDENTS PETITION DINING HALL CLOSURE The North Haven dining hall has shut down for the semester, leading students to demand a refund on their meal plans.

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ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

A&L P.6-7: ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

Members of the Quinnipiac community talk about their favorite 2020 music.

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE (2018)

SPORTS P. 11: FIELD HOCKEY FOUR

The current captains have taken a different approach to leading this year.

Students in quarantine and isolation share their experiences

By EMILY FLAMME and MELANIE CARERI

Quinnipiac University students who have isolated and quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure have complained that the university didn’t provide substantial meals nor did it communicate well with students.

“I definitely think that being in there was a surreal experience,” said Samantha Williams, a senior education major. “You don’t think it’ll ever happen to you, then it does.”

The university has had a spike in COVID-19 cases, with 47 active cases in isolation.

Williams and Jensen Coppa, a senior public relations and journalism double major, were in quarantine together for 12 days in the Founders residence hall after being exposed to the same person who tested positive for COVID-19.

Sarah Fraser, deputy director of athletics and member of the university’s quarantine and isolation support team, defined the difference between quarantine and isolation.

The latter is specifically for students who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are

required to stay away from other individuals until their infection fully subsides. Quarantine is for students who have been exposed to the virus and could potentially develop symptoms over the course of 14 days.

The university created a support team to assist the students since they cannot leave their rooms.

“During the time students are confined, the team is available to assist students with mail services, makes deliveries of requested items, delivers meals and essentially serve as their legs and arms to campus in any way feasible,” Fraser said.

Fraser said students are delivered meals once a day around dinner time. The food consists of a hot meal for dinner, breakfast and lunch for the next day and a bag of snacks and beverages.

However, some students said the quality of the food was poor.

“I don’t think we ate any of the school’s food,” Williams said. “It was a lot of just not eating and then (eating) the candy and chips

they brought us. Every so many days we’d get food from our friends.”

Coppa said she and her roommates in quarantine each received one water bottle per day.

“We asked for cases of water, but I think other people, if they don’t ask, then I think they probably are getting that one water a day,” Coppa said.

Williams ran out of meal plan points because the university charges $25 off students’ meal plan each day.

“I reached out to one of my friends who had an abundance of meal plan (points), and she sold it to me,” Williams said. “If that hadn’t happened, they told me they were going to stop and I wouldn’t have gotten food.”

Coppa and Williams said the health center told them they could cook their own food while they were in quarantine. They said they asked the quarantine and isolation team for pots and pans but were met with some difficulty.

After going back and forth with the See ISOLATION Page 3

CONTRIBUTED BY JENSEN COPPA

This is an example of a hot dinner students in isolation or quarantine receive.

2| News

MEET THE EDITORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brendan O’Sullivan MANAGING EDITORS Jared Penna Jessica Simms CREATIVE DIRECTOR Connor Lawless NEWS EDITOR Emily Flamme ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS Chatwan Mongkol Kalleen Rose Ozanic OPINION EDITOR Toyloy Brown III ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR Michael Sicoli ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Emily DiSalvo ASSOCIATE ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Ashley Pelletier SPORTS EDITOR Riley Millette ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR Peter Piekarski DESIGN EDITOR Michael Clement PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Morgan Tencza PODCAST PRODUCER Xavier Cullen COPY EDITOR Nicole McIsaac 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 Quinnipiac Chronicle

November 4, 2020

North Haven students are unhappy with dining hall closure

By EMILY FLAMME and MELINA KHAN

Quinnipiac University’s North Haven campus students are petitioning for the administration to refund their remaining fall 2020 semester meal plans after the campus’s only dining hall shut down on Oct. 5.

“These are based on a 70% reduction in customer usage in North Haven, coupled with 70% of our purchases being made through our Outtakes program,” according to an email from Tom Ellett, chief experience officer.

The North Haven campus is home to the university’s undergraduate and graduate programs in medicine, law, nursing, health sciences and education. Students who only go to the North Haven campus are required to purchase a meal plan, which is $185 this semester.

Third-year law student Jill Durso created a petition on Oct. 23, calling for a refund for the remaining meal plan money as well as the choice to opt out of mandatory meal plans for the spring 2021 semester.

The petition has amassed over 100 signatures from law students, alumni and community members.

When the dining hall shut down, Durso said she waited to contact the university until she saw how Outtakes, a self-service snack stand open in place of the dining hall, was operating.

“Just for reference, Outtakes is really small, they don’t want more than two people in it,” Durso said. “That was like the first thing that jumped out at me — that no one was following any of the (COVID-19) guidelines that were posted.”

After that, she said she made a post in her GroupMe chat with other law students to ask if they agreed that they should receive a refund for North Haven dining hall closure.

“I had so many people reach out and say they felt the same way,” Durso said. “That’s when I encouraged students to write in, and that’s when we decided to write up the petition to hopefully show how many people feel the same way.”

The petition states that the decision to close the dining hall “was not discussed with North Haven Campus administrators, faculty or students.” It also calls Outtakes “an insufficient

option to continue mandatory meal plans.”

The petition also shared COVID-19 related safety concerns with Outtakes, stating “the occupancy limits and social distancing guidelines (are) violated on a daily basis, including violations by (Chartwells’) own staff.”

Sanitization concerns given the self-service nature of the stand were noted.

Alison Fonseca, a third-year law student, said Quinnipiac should issue meal plan refunds to students who want it.

“It doesn’t make sense to shut down something that we’re requiring students to use,” Fonseca said.

The refund would give students $185, which Durso said she recognized was a small amount to argue over.

“In the grand scheme of life, it’s not a huge amount, but that’s kind of our position with the university,” Durso said. “Like it can’t be that much money that they can’t justify a refund. On the student side, that money can feed me, and I can eat food I actually want.”

Fonseca also said that Outtakes is not an adequate dining hall substitute given that meals are not being prepared fresh.

“To be asking students to be paying the amount of money that they are paying per semester for a meal plan, quick, on-the-go food isn’t a meal,” Fonseca said.

Fonseca, who is also vice president of the Student Bar Association (SBA), said issues like this one are why she joined SBA, so she is glad to see other students voicing their concerns.

Sarah Markham, third-year law student said she has thought of different solutions for this problem, including reimbursement in the form of a bookstore credit.

She also said she thinks in the future, the university should consider a contract with a franchise like they have with Starbucks and Au Bon Pain on the main campus.

“If they had one of those, I think it would benefit the students and the school, because the school wouldn’t have to worry about staffing it and dealing with it and students would be more likely to use it and spend money on it,” Markham said.

Both Fonseca and Markham expressed dis-

CONTRIBUTED BY KATIE WELCH

The North Haven dining hall closed on Oct. 5, due to a 70% reduction in usage.

pleasure at the meal plan requirement for students who only go to the North Haven campus.

“Especially with graduate students, none of us live on campus, so we don’t use the meal plan, and a lot of us have apartments, and we live at home, so people have their families, and we cook meals,” Fonseca said.

Fonseca and Markham both also said the COVID-19 related safety concerns expressed in the petition are not necessarily strong arguments.

“It’s no different from going to a grocery store, anybody could be touching the stuff you’re buying,” Markham said.

Both students are remaining hopeful that the university will address the issue.

“With the overwhelming amount of students who have these concerns I think and I would hope that they would (respond),” Fonseca said.

Medical professor receives Inspiration Award

By KATIE LANGLEY Contributing Writer

The American Medical Association (AMA) Women Physicians Section honored Quinnipiac School of Medicine professor Dr. Listy Thomas with the 2020 Inspiration Award this September.

“I’m beyond humbled that in this time of the most difficult experiences for all of us, medical students have the wherewithal to think of a professor and nominate them for the award,” Thomas said.

This year, the Inspiration Award honored 74 professional physicians who are role models for other physicians, residents and students through the nominations from AMA members. Thomas was nominated by her medical students.

“Dr. Thomas is the backbone of my medical education; she is a woman of color and an excellent mentor, educator and emergency physician,” said Laura Cantu, a third-year medical student, to the AMA. “As (COVID-19) tore through her community and her own close relations, Dr. Thomas continued to work the frontline while organizing educational opportunities for medical students to learn about how the pandemic was being handled.”

Fourth-year medical student Nicole McAmis, who also nominated Thomas, said that the professor has inspired her.

“Dr. Thomas has made a huge impact in my life,” McAmis said. “She was one of the first people to believe in me, one of the first people to never doubt my abilities. And for that I am truly grateful.”

Thomas is an associate professor of medical sciences, the director of clinical arts and sciences and assistant dean of simulation at the School of Medicine. Before coming to Quinnipiac in 2013, she earned her bachelor’s degree from New York University, then studied medicine at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. She also earned a master’s degree from Quinnipiac.

When Thomas is not teaching, she is working in the emergency room of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which is part of Hartford Healthcare. She wanted the position in the emergency room because of its inclusiveness, she said.

“I specifically chose emergency medicine because of its safety-net, open-door policy,” Thomas said.

Her motivation to become a doctor came from her upbringing and the traumas and difficulties she has seen over the years. She said she has always been interested in academic medicine.

“I think I always just wanted to help people,” Thomas said.

Thomas said she wants to encourage young girls and women to break into the medical field.

“That’s (women in medicine) a little bit of a passion project of mine,” Thomas said. “If that’s (medicine) something you’re thinking of pursuing, it can be done. Right now, the American medical field is more than 50% female and it’s leaning more female.”

Some of those in the medical field are facing many hardships right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With patients unable to see visitors in person, Thomas said she and her colleagues have provided patients with iPads to video call their loved ones.

“It’s been challenging,” Thomas said.

“In emergency medicine, this is what we prepare for.”

Thomas said she believes that the U.S. has failed to deal with the crisis properly, letting the virus get out of control.

Regardless of one’s profession, Thomas said it’s necessary to find time to rest.

“In this time of COVID, self-care is still important and it’s very easy to lose track of that,” Thomas said.

November 4, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

‘They kind of kept saying we were the guinea pigs of it and that it would get better, but it shouldn’t have been bad for us,’ Coppa said.

ISOLATION from cover health center, Coppa said they finally received a pan.

“They told us when they gave us the pan that one of the sports teams bought it,” Coppa said. “Sports teams are helping out with isolation things because they don’t have seasons, and they have big enough budgets. They gave us a list of stuff, and every room was able to put in two things that they would want.”

People in quarantine are allowed “fresh air” appointments, in which they can go outside for 15 minutes. Coppa said they were

Students who come in contact with someone infected with COVID-19 are tested and moved to quarantine, which could be in their dorms, at home or in designated quarantine spaces.

told they would get to go outside each day, but they only went out five times in total in the 12 days they were there.

“I walked 0.1 miles a day, and I get that we’re supposed to be in isolation, but they should’ve done it to where I could have been able to walk somewhere,” Coppa said.

Coppa said she felt that the university was underprepared for students in isolation and quarantine.

“They even admitted to us that because we were the first rush of students being sent to isolation and everything, they said they

didn’t have anything set to handle it, which was one of my bigger issues with it,” Coppa said. “They kind of kept saying we were the guinea pigs of it and that it would get better, but it shouldn’t have been bad for us.”

Lorenzo Bafumi, sophomore health sciences major in the pre-med program, was also in quarantine. He said quarantining alone was what made it difficult for him.

“The hardest part is when you have to quarantine, and you’re in a university while everyone else is living their lives,” Bafumi said.

After his experience in isolation, Bafumi is proposing a new program called, “Bobcat Q-Connect.” His goal is to create a network where students in isolation can virtually interact with one another, along with students outside of isolation.

“I understand the struggles and traumas of quarantine first hand and choose to use my time to reflect and create a way to help future students in my position,” Bafumi wrote in his proposal.

The program would consist of Zoom sessions with a variety of activities that students could do together. The goal is to provide a

Once in quarantine, students stay for 12-14 days and are tested before being released.

News |3

sense of togetherness for students in isolation.

“If I can even help one more student have a better quarantine experience, then it’s worth it at the end of the day,” Bafumi said.

CONNOR LAWLESS/CHRONICLE

Students in quarantine are allowed to spend 15 minutes outside by the tree near the designated quarantine dorms.

Students who test negative for COVID-19 are sent back to their dorms or home and return to their normal life.

GRAPHIC BY CONNOR LAWLESS

Educators see opportunities amid pandemic’s effects on global education

By WILL GAVIN Staff Writer

Educators from across the world spoke about how the COVID-19 pandemic has given them opportunities to improve on global education at a panel on Oct. 30.

The speakers, sponsored by Quinnipiac University’s International Human Rights Law Society, Latinx Law Student Association and the Health Law Society focused on how the virus has challenged education across the globe.

The panel featured guests from organizations that have partnered with the university to develop study-abroad opportunities in countries such as Barbados, Guatemala, and Ireland. Representatives from the study-abroad partnerships in Italy, Nicaragua and Spain were also in attendance to speak about how their countries and students have been impacted by the virus.

While all six of these countries, as well as the United States, have had different experiences with the pandemic’s challenges, the panelists all agreed that it has made giving students a quality education tougher than ever.

“Normally in a semester, we could have up to 300 students from the U.S. on our semester programs. Right now we have four,” said Marita Foster, deputy director international for University College Corkland in Ireland.

Even in countries like Nicaragua, which has only seen about 5,500 COVID-19 cases, its impact has been immense.

“We’ve developed this alligator skin,” said Oscar Aragón, co-founder of Alianza Americana. “I’m thinking at some point as an organization. Definitely it has been a

challenge. All of our educational programs are now online. And for us being a language institute, it was a total challenge to adapt to the new circumstances. We’re not operating 100%, even with our former students.”

Despite the challenges of the pandemic some of the panelists spoke about how they could use its effects as a tool to enhance students’ education.

“For some courses, for instance: communication, social media and psychology,” said Stefano Baldassarri, director of the International Studies Institute. “Obviously our courses would be different. I mean, this crisis is providing us with so much material, on so many topics And I think we have to take advantage of that.”

Baldassarri went on to explain how his organization was able to take the pandemic as a wake-up call to the value of intensive online classes, especially for students that cannot study abroad. He also talked about how they had to come to the realization that not all students have the financial means to travel.

“This is also an opportunity to reach out to a wider audience of students — students who don’t have the financial means to spend a whole semester (abroad),” Baldassarri said.

Aragón also spoke about how the pandemic has changed how Alianza Americana operates.

“We invite our students to go out, to stay healthy, to promote health as best as we can,” Aragón said. “So basically it’s (about) being appreciative and being respectful of others.”

What could have been a discussion of troubles and missed opportunities instead became a reflection on how people can learn from tragedy.

“I’m so thankful for COVID because it’s

made us witness to what we think, how we do things — it’s made us become more innovative,” said Nicole Alleyne-Phillips-Ayikpa, president of Barbados Professional Women’s Club. “I think it brought out a little bit more of the hu-

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL CLEMENT

manness of humanity, and I’m hoping that as we continue, that it really puts in perspective how we view people, how we treat people, how we treat ourselves.”

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

4| O p i n i o n

November 4, 2020

Opinion ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

The arguments for and against Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination

BY WILLIAM DEAN

BY XAVIER CULLEN

The Supreme Court gained another constitutional originalist with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett. Much of the discussion around Barrett’s nomination focused on two things: the person and the process.

What is originalism and why is the Democratic party so staunchly opposed to this judicial philosophy? Contrary to the left’s pipe dreams, Supreme Court justices are not members of an all-powerful legislature.

Justices exist to apply prevailing laws to the cases before them, not make up law as they go along. If the latter were true, then “my Ruler, and, the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court,” as the late Justice Antonin Scalia wrote.

Barrett considers Scalia to be one of her mentors, citing her clerkship for Scalia as the source of lessons that still resonate with her today.

“His judicial philosophy was straightforward: a judge must apply the law as written, not as she wishes it were,” Barrett said in her opening statement at her Senate Confirmation Hearing. “Sometimes that approach meant reaching results that he did not like. But as he put it in one of his best known opinions, that is what it means to say we have a government of laws and not of men.”

Critics will say that an originalist interpretation of the Constitution is too strict and would bar almost all current justices from serving on the Court. But as Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett said at Buckley Program’s conference on the Constitution and the Courts, originalist philosophy states that, “the meaning of the Constitution should remain the same until it’s properly changed.” There are plenty of avenues for creating new laws, but the Supreme Court is not one of them.

Furthermore, originalism does not apply to the Constitution alone. It is a guide to be used when approaching any law. Congress passed legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the proper manner, meaning that it is binding law that the Supreme Court must follow.

The left’s real concern is that Barrett will not act as one of their lackeys. Justices confirmed under Democrat presidents have a strong tendency to believe that our founding document is a “living Constitution.” Through this ambiguous phrase, pure hogwash has flowed from the Supreme Court, becoming binding precedent.

By trusting the justices to use their best moral judgement when reaching decisions, the “living Constitution” philosophy opens the door for judicial activism and radically redefines the Court as a legislature. This judicial philosophy completely ignores the fact that the Supreme Court applies the law the people have adopted in Congress. If the law is wrong or poorly written, then politicians should walk across the street and make their case in the Capitol Building.

To be completely frank, I don’t care about originalism. It’s just a fancy label used to defend barbaric beliefs that were established decades and even centuries ago. It paints judges as these neutral arbiters that make decisions not based on what they personally interpret, but on what the original writers of the law intended, even though judges quite frequently are affected by their own faiths and feelings.

What I and millions of other Americans care about, though, is how Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s beliefs will affect her decisions on the Supreme Court. So, what will those future decisions look like? Her record and past words speak for themselves.

On the topic of equal rights, Barrett’s religious beliefs supercede basic humanity as she is staunchly anti-LGBTQ rights and anti-gay marriage. According to the Washington Post, she has done five paid speaking engagements since 2011 with the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which opposed the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that forced states to issue marriage liscenses to same-sex couples. According to the Independent, 27 LGBTQ groups called the ADF “arguably the most extreme anti-LGBT legal organization in the United States.”

Staff Writer

Podcast Producer

“By any reasonable metric, America elected Republicans to fulfill the obligations of their office, which included nominating and confirming Barrett.”

– William Dean

STAFF WRITER

Complaints of Republican hypocrisy for confirming Barrett while stonewalling Merrick Garland’s nomination in 2016 are no more than revisionist history and a fundamental misunderstanding of how our branches of government interact. When filling a vacancy on the Court, the president nominates and the Senate advises and consents. This does not mean that the Senate exists to rubber-stamp the president’s nominations. The Senate always reserves the right to reject a nominee.

Understandably, Democrats still felt cheated out of having a say in the matter. But it would be prudent to remember the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s words when she said, “the president is elected for four years, not three years.”

America spoke in 2014 when it gave Republicans a Senate majority to counter President Barack Obama’s ambitions. America spoke again in 2016 by electing a Republican president and in 2018 when it reaffirmed and expanded the Republican Senate majority.

By any reasonable metric, America elected Republicans to fulfill the obligations of their office, which included nominating and confirming Barrett.

Democrats worry that Barrett may have a severe conflict of interest in cases brought before the Court.

Why am I not concerned with Barrett’s purported indebtedness to Donald Trump? Because the American Bar Association (ABA) confirmed her competence and impartiality. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that evaluated Barrett’s “integrity, professional competence, and judicial temperament,” the ABA determined that she is “Well Qualified” to serve on the nation’s highest court. The ABA does not live under a rock, and if it believed she lacked impartiality, it would have said so.

Further testimony by lawyers for the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary said that Barrett is “an intellectual giant” with a “staggering academic mind.” They continued, saying that she is “decent, selfless and sincere” and that she shows “stellar judicial temperament.”

On national television, Senate Democrats failed to muster any effective opposition to Barrett’s qualifications. After seeing how unsubstantiated accusations of rape went over with the American public during Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Joe Biden’s party found no successful line of attack.

If Democrats can take comfort in anything, it is that their overall power is greater than Barrett’s. If the Supreme Court must follow the law that the people have adopted as Barrett believes, then take control of Congress and pass legislation you believe to be right.

“No person should have to choose between taking life-saving medication or going bankrupt — a decision hundreds of thousands of families are forced to make, according to The Guardian. Barrett wants to make sure that this cruel system continues.”

– Xavier Cullen

PODCAST PRODUCER

Barrett wants to strip the right to healthcare from millions of Americans by opposing the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act as well as impose tighter restrictions on abortion.

These policies are essential to making sure people get the care and rights that they deserve by being a human in America. No person should have to choose between taking life-saving medication or going bankrupt — a decision hundreds of thousands of families are forced to make, according to The Guardian. Barrett wants to make sure that this cruel system continues.

Supporters of Barrett might claim that it’s not the job of the Supreme Court to change existing laws but to instead only reinforce and interpret existing ones. However, that undermines the immense power the Supreme Court holds.

These nine justices can overturn any previous ruling, deem any law unconstitutional and even allow blatant violations of the Constitution. If Barrett and the other justices wanted to, they can steer America toward a more inclusive, progressive and equal country, but they won’t.

To those who say that interpreting the Constitution in this way is unethical, I refer you to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”: “There are just laws and there are unjust laws … an unjust law is no law at all. ... One who breaks an unjust law must do it openly, lovingly ... I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.”

Barrett’s hands aren’t tied, she currently holds one of the most powerful titles in the U.S., and she’ll use it to propagate her anti-equality, Christian beliefs.

However, the worst part is that the people have no direct say on who gets to hold the most powerful position in the country. And the person who nominated her wasn’t even voted for by the majority of Americans.

In fact, the two past Republican presidents didn’t win the popular vote, but rather solely won because of the un-democratic Electoral College. These two have nominated five of the nine justices on the Supreme Court.

Since Barrett and four of her colleagues have been appointed through un-democratic means, why would they fight to change it? They will reinforce barbaric laws and create new precedent that strips millions of people of their basic rights, and they will likely get to do that until the day they die. Not to mention the upcoming legal battle that will arise from the voter suppression of mail-in ballots. These justices will more than likely decide who wins the presidency and since the majority of them have their current job through un-democratic means, why would they fight to fix it?

Anyone who agrees with the confirmation of Barrett to the Supreme Court is agreeing to the destruction of America’s democracy and welcoming in a new chapter of American authoritarianism. If only the Democrats in Congress had fought more.

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

November 4, 2020

Opinion|5

Opinion No second chances

Large student gatherings can cost everyone their in-person college experience

BY MATTHEW JARONCYK Staff Writer

There is an adage that you have probably heard various ways: when you mess up, there is a second chance to make things right.

For colleges during these unprecedented times, there are no second chances. Instead, school administrators will notify students to pack up and leave in a window of time, ultimately shifting to remote learning.

After hearing the report from WTNH that Anthony’s Ocean View in New Haven hosted a party with approximately 500 Quinnipiac University and Southern Connecticut State University students on Friday night, I am writing this not to only express how I feel, but on behalf of other students who are just as upset as I am about the selfish actions of others that could potentially alter our return to campus next semester.

I am baffled at how students continue to disregard university policies when it comes to protecting the “Bobcat Bubble.” I understand that it was “Halloweekend” and students want to celebrate with their friends, but you have to realize that when you made the decision to live on campus, you essentially agreed that you would help protect the Quinnipiac community from COVID-19. With

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE

Anthony’s Ocean View hosted a party with rougly 500 people, including Quinnipiac students, breaking COVID-19 guidelines.

this, you also take full responsibility for any rules that have been violated, whether you are patient zero or a bystander.

Even before this, students received numerous emails from both the Office of Residential Life and COVID-19 senior medical advisor Dr. David Hill that pointed to large gatherings for causing upticks in positive cases.

You would think that students who read these emails would learn to take these warnings seriously, but you are sadly mistaken.

From the video posted on social media by the Student Government Association advising fellow students to not go out to the emails sent out by Hill and Residential Life, you would assume the point of not having large gatherings would be recognized.

But then this happens, making people ask the simple, yet complicated three-letter word: why? Why have people not learned from past mistakes? It seems like an obvious answer, yet it continually happens.

I am fully aware that Quinnipiac was going to continue with the hybrid model for the spring semester, but everything is up in the air at this point. Things change, and we need to be able to show as a community that no matter what happens, we are able to adapt and thrive in whatever is thrown our way.

Though this seems like unfortunate news, Quinnipiac has been one of the better schools containing the spread of positive COVID-19 cases. But do not let this fool you — the university is dealing with an influx of cases.

Before Oct. 23, Quinnipiac had 29 confirmed cases of COVID-19. This seemed manageable and did not cause much concern.

Since then, this number has jumped to 84, an increase of 55 cases, with 47 of these cases currently in isolation.

This also comes at a time when an increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases have occured in Connecticut. This seems to fit the trend across the United States, as a majority of the states are seeing similar results. Recently, an article from CNN reported that at least 31 states reported records for COVID-19 cases for one day, with 15 of these states reporting the most amount of COVID-19 deaths in one day.

With the parties and large gatherings that occurred this weekend off campus, it would be expected that the number of con-

firmed cases would exponentially rise. Quinnipiac officials may be questioning whether their decision to have an in-person spring semester was decided too early.

We can play the blame game and point fingers, but the reality of the situation is that some of us students have let our guards down and we all are now — and will continue to be — suffering the consequences, as this weekend may have raised some concerns for the spring semester.

In the case that next semester does all of a sudden shift to remote learning, I want to inform the students who used the weekend to party with their friends that you are the reason why positive COVID-19 cases continue to rise and why our spring semester is in jeopardy. Rather than thinking about the consequences of your actions, all you cared about was hanging out with your friends and the liquid inside your cup.

So, for those who went out and partied last weekend, ask yourself this: was it worth it? Was it worth getting sent home for the remainder for the semester? Worth not giving your best friends the proper goodbyes they deserve?

Reading what President Judy Olian and Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett had to say on this event, I was left unsatisfied. I wanted more. I am glad that they are dealing with this manner in an efficient way but sending these kids home for the rest of the semester only gives them more of an opportunity to come back in the spring to repeat the same acts of selfishness again and again, potentially putting us in a worse situation than we were before.

Moral of the story: more needs to be done to stop students from partying.

I am pleading to anyone who reads this, if there is one thing you can take away from this article it is to make the right decision; you can party, but limit yourself to small groups of no more than six people. If you want to have a large party, then it should be done over Zoom. If you want to have the chance to set foot on campus in the spring, we need to take the necessary precautions to mitigate the spread of the virus at Quinnipiac. If this is not done, then kiss your chance for coming back to campus goodbye.

Just remember — with every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I have always been told my fears are irrational — COVID-19 is real ANONYMOUS

I stepped onto the shuttle and chose my seat wisely — about six feet from every other passenger.

That’s when the kid across the aisle from me coughed.

Once. Twice. Again.

I stood up on the shuttle as it careened down Whitney Avenue and moved seats, causing myself to stumble and almost fall. For the average person, this isn’t a big deal. The kid was wearing a mask. So was I. I moved seats. It might not have even been COVID-19. But it could be.

This thought won’t leave my mind, and in a mere 30 minutes after the incident, I developed a headache, itchy throat and fatigue.

It nearly takes two days for COVID-19 to create symptoms. It takes a second for my mind.

My whole life I have been told that so many of my concerns are irrational.

No, the lump on your head is not a brain tumor. No, your stomach pain is not linked to colon cancer. No, your achy body is not a sign of Lyme disease, because you haven’t even been bitten by a tick.

The scariest part about COVID-19 is that it’s real, it’s in our communities and people are telling me and everyone else to worry about it. But as a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), my mind won’t let a cough just be a cough, or a headache just be a headache.

It’s always COVID-19, and in my mind, I am always on the edge of a severe illness.

To go a step further, sometimes my OCD will foment itself in physical sensations. For example, say I heard about someone near me who tested positive for COVID-19. Whether or not I was ever within six feet of this person, my mind will create a symptom — a headache, an itchy throat or even a cough.

The hardest part about this is distinguishing whether or not this symptom is really COVID-19 because in a world where this virus is much more rampant than brain tumors will ever be, it is possible I have it. It is also much more possible that I have a physical symptom manifested from my mental illness.

Most of the time, I feel very alone in this because I see

other people going about their lives — eating at restaurants, spending time with friends and making exception after exception for various people that they feel are safe enough to let into their lives.

As a person with OCD, I live by rules and routines. COVID-19 means I have a circle of two people here at Quinnipiac.

I sanitize my hands and my belongings multiple times a day. I have a set of activities and people I am comfortable with, and a much longer list of things I am not comfortable with.

I wish this article could turn into a list of ways to cope with OCD during COVID-19, but I am not coping well. I would like to use this as a place to explain what OCD is and why this is affecting people in the OCD community in a new and scary way.

OCD does not mean hyper-organized or germaphobic. These are stereotypes. While some people with OCD are concerned with alignment of objects in their home and keeping things clean, these routines don’t define everyone’s experience.

For many people, OCD creates thoughts that will not go away. For some, it is telling them to wash their hands, again and again.

For others, it’s telling them to flick the light switch a certain number of times. The actions are usually nonsensical, but they make a lot of sense to the person thinking about them. They are inflicted with a fear of what will happen if they don’t flick the light or wash their hands, and that fear is enough to make them do it again.

I am very lucky that I do not experience thoughts like these, that force me to compulsively perform an action. My thoughts usually involve physical sensations, like COVID-19 symptoms, as I described.

But whichever type of OCD someone has, COVID-19 makes it worse. The hand washers are washing their hands more than ever. Those glued to their routines have had them uprooted by a new normal. And people like me live in constant fear of sickness.

I don’t know how many people with OCD will read this, but if you do, I am proud of you for getting this far in the year. This has been a challenge for everyone, but especially us. Wash your hands, but not too much. Keep yourself safe and calm but try to let go of the things that you can’t control.

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL CLEMENT

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

6 | A lr bt su m&s Loiff et h e Y e a r

November 4, 2020

Quinnipiac’s

albums of the year

Professors, administrators and editors weigh in on the best music of 2020

By OWEN DOODY Contributing Writer

ES

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This year has definitely been unforgettable, and not in a good way. The way we’re experiencing life right now is unlike anything we’ve ever known.

With these new experiences we may have gained some knowledge, but we’ve also experienced difficulties.

So, I’ve devoted my time to highlight something that helps us through these difficulties — music.

Let’s take a look at the best albums of the year as recommended by members of the Quinnipiac community. You may find comfort in new music.

Donald Sawyer Vice President of Equity and Inclusion "Industry Games" by Chika “She spits heat!” Sawyer said. “I loved her Tiny Desk concert. She also expands the vision of the female MC. She’s got skills and a soulful sound.”

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

"Black Habits" by D Smoke

SCREENSHOT FROM SPOTIFY

“I followed him on ‘Rhythm and Flow,’ and he was my favorite contestant,” Sawyer said. “He represents where he’s from without shame and is a cerebral lyricist.”

Molly Yanity Chair of the Department of Journalism “Gaslighter” by The Chicks “My second-favorite band of all time changed its name and came out with their first studio album in 14 years, and it did not disappoint,” Yanity said. “This album mixes the emotions of the members’ divorces and their politics with the unique musicianship they have always possessed. It’s freaking great, and I listen to it on repeat way too much.

By this point you’re probably wondering what my all-time favorite band is. Guns N' Roses.”

Mizuho Aussicker Japanese Language Teacher “Stray Sheep” by Kenshi Yonezu “I like his music — it’s easy to listen to,” Aussicker said.

“His lyrics resonate with you, and I like his voice. I could listen to it all day.”

Aileen Dever Chair of Modern Languages SCREENSHOT FROM SPOTIFY

"Eurovision Song Contest: the Story of Fire Saga OST"

ILLUSTRATION BY JENNIFER MCCUE

“I would say my favorite album would be ‘Eurovision Song Contest: the Story of Fire Saga’ soundtrack,” Dever said. “The movie is a parody of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, and is meant to be silly, but some of the songs are catchy. I like it because it brings back memories of when I lived in Spain during the 1970s and attended middle school there — and actually saw the song contest!”

Hilary Fussel Sisco Professor of Strategic Communication “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” by Fiona Apple “I think the rage and energy of Fiona Apple’s ‘Fetch the Bolt Cutters’ fit my early pandemic vibes,” Sisco said. “I think the whole thing is pretty close to perfect for 2020.”

Angel Perez Associate Professor Civil Engineering “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” by Fiona Apple

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

“The wait in between Fiona Apple albums is comparable only to the one between ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ books,” Perez said. “Fiona has such amazing song writing skills and unique point of view that it’s always worth it though. The DIY vibe of the album, and the timing of it (As the first month of pandemic living was closing) made it one of those albums that feels pivotal and inextricably tied to a moment in history.”

SCREENSHOT FROM SPOTIFY

November 4, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Toyloy "TJ" Brown III Opinion Editor

Brendan O'Sullivan Editor-in-Chief

“Limbo” by Aminé

“Artist 2.0” by A Boogie wit da Hoodie

“Aminé's album ‘Limbo’ is built for longevity,” Brown said. “His light-hearted nature mixed with his relatable and substantive laced lyrics makes me simultaneously bop my head and appreciate the artist's skillful lyricism.”

“I’ve been a huge fan of A Boogie for a while,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s very versatile in that he can do slow, fast, hype or sad songs in my opinion. Also, he’s from New York and so am I, so I find that cool. Lastly, my friend from high school produced a good number of the songs on the album and his beats are awesome.”

Michael Sicoli Associate Opinion Editor

Jessica Simms Managing Editor “Chromatica” by Lady Gaga

A l b u m s oAfr ttsh e& YLei af er | 7

“Legends Never Die” by Juice WRLD SCREENSHOT FROM SPOTIFY

“My go-to album has been Lady Gaga's latest album, ‘Chromatica,’” Simms said. “I am someone that loves pumpup music and this album is upbeat. Gaga did a clever thing by making this album like a production. To get the full experience, you have to listen from the beginning as there are ‘acts.’ In between a set of songs, Gaga throws in a track of instrumental music. By doing this, she makes the album feel cohesive instead of just a few songs thrown together on a new track.”

“I’ve always been a huge Juice WRLD fan,” Sicoli said.

“He really spoke to an entire generation, which is no easy thing. This was his first posthumous album and it was easily one of his best. It allows me to love the talent therein while still mourning the fact that eventually there won’t be any more music by Juice.”

Michael Clement Design Editor “Eternal Atake” by Lil Uzi Vert

Jared Penna Managing Editor

“It’s the most fun I’ve had listening to an album all the way through in a while,” Clement said.

“YHLQMDLG” by Bad Bunny “There isn't one bad song on this album and the energy that Bunny brings to his music is contagious,” Penna said. “You can't play a single track on this album and stay in a bad mood.”

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

Riley Millette Sports Editor “Ugly Is Beautiful" by Oliver Tree

Connor Lawless Creative Director

“It’s close between this record and Spillage Village’s latest album, but this is as good as it gets when it comes to genre crossover,” Millette said. “Oliver Tree blends pop, rock and hip-hop seamlessly throughout a whole album, sometimes mixing elements of all three on the same track. With a unique voice, style and sound, Tree is one of the most exciting things to happen in music for quite some time.”

“Healer” by Grouplove “There is no musician like Grouplove whose music just makes you feel happy and that’s needed in 2020,” Lawless said. “Grouplove’s discography is always an interesting blend of pop, electronic and alternative rock and ‘Healer’ gets the formula right. The albums lead single and first song on the album, ‘Deleter’ was the perfect energy booster I needed for an otherwise dull summer and has an established position in my favorite songs today.”

Emily Flamme News Editor “Sleepyhead” by Cavetown

Emily DiSalvo Arts & Life Editor

SCREENSHOT FROM SPOTIFY

“Southside” by Sam Hunt

“Cavetown always does such a good job telling stories through his songs,” Flamme said. “His soft pop sound coupled with the vivid imagery of his lyrics makes for an awesome listening experience. I especially love how each song is a certain emotion turned into a story.”

“‘Southside’ by Sam Hunt was my favorite album because it really showed how versatile Hunt is,” DiSalvo said. “Additionally, he opened up about his drinking problem in some of the songs which made him seem more vulnerable and human.

I never get tired of the song, ‘Hard to Forget.’ It is so unique.”

Owen Doody My own favorite “Angelic Hoodrat” by Kenny Mason

Ashley Pelletier Associate Arts & Life Editor “folklore” by Taylor Swift or “Chromatica” by Lady Gaga “Both of these albums are so well written,” Pelletier said. “They have overarching storylines and great sound.

'Folklore' is definitely more subdued and soft while 'Chromatica' is more beat heavy, but they are both awesome albums by stellar female artists” ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

As for my choice for album of the year, I had to go with 25-year-old Atlanta rapper Kenny Mason’s “Angelic Hoodrat.”

The sound design on this album is insane. When you listen to this album it sounds like it’s being played through a cassette tape or some sort of old record player. All of this is intentional, like lo-fi hip hop on steroids. On top of this, Masons’s lyrics are crisp and not repetitive, though some songs lose me a bit when they become more “poppy.” I can see the next age of rap artists following the trend with this album in terms of arduous sound design. I suggest going through this album with headphones on at least once before playing it out loud. My favorite songs include “Firestarter,” “Angelic Hoodrat” and “HIT.”

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

8|Arts & Life

November 4, 2020

Arts & Life

DESIGN BY MICHAEL CLEMENT

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

Vegan eats from your college kitchen Struggling to eat plant-based on campus? Keep reading

By ANYA GRONDALSKI Staff Writer

As a first-year in the Quinnipiac University Honors Program, I’ve been fortunate enough to live in a residence hall where I have access to a fully-functioning kitchen. It comes in handy for Sunday brunches with friends, or if I simply want to toast a Pop-Tart. The biggest blessing though, is the fact that it enables me to cook for myself.

The few vegans at Quinnipiac know the horrors of cross contamination in the dining halls or under-seasoned vegetables.

Our options are limited, and so I often find myself cooking comfort food that reminds me of home that I never see in the dining hall. I shared a few of these quick, healthy and delicious recipes below.

These recipes all require what I consider to be the basic essentials of living vegan at Quinnipiac — almond milk, vegan butter of your choice and seasonings (make sure nutritional yeast is included in the bunch).

Enjoy!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Mock Alfredo

I recently created this recipe on campus. I found myself on a I know mushrooms are a polarizing subject, but just hear me out. These stuffed mushrooms are simple and delicious and will Sunday afternoon looking at the bits and bobs in my mini-fridge, and this is what came to fruition. It’s warm and savory and hits fill you right up after eating just a few. all the same spots as some vegan mac but with a healthier twist.

You’ll need: You’ll need: - Two packages of baby bella mushrooms - Broccoli (or any green veggie of choice) - Panko breadcrumbs - Onions - Neutral oil - Pasta (I used mini-shells) - Nutritional yeast - Vegan butter - Seasonings - Non-dairy cream cheese (optional) - Herbs (optional) - Nutritional yeast Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

- Garlic powder Start by rinsing the package of mushrooms. Remove the - Chili flakes stems and save about a third. Compost the rest.

- Any fresh herbs you might have (my suite has herbs from In a separate bowl, add a good portion of bread crumbs. I an event at the Albert Schweitzer Institute a couple weeks ago) usually say around a cup is safe but you can start by adding less Neutral oil and working your way up. Finely mince the saved mushroom - Salt stems and add to the bowl with the breadcrumbs.

- Pepper To the mixture, add three tablespoons of nutritional yeast, First, you’ll want to chop the veggies. Cut the broccoli pieces salt, pepper, italian seasoning and any additional fresh herbs you quite small so they are evenly dispersed throughout the dish. Then, have on hand (preferably thyme or parsley). Finish the mix by pouring in enough oil to hydrate it. There should be a consistency cut the onions as thin rings so they cook down into stringy pieces.

Finally, place a pot of salted water on the burner and bring to a boil. of wet sand, crumbly but still able to hold.

In a saucepan at medium heat, drop the onion with roughly Line up the hollowed mushroom caps holes up on a foiled two tablespoons of oil. Season the onion with salt, pepper and baking sheet lightly coated with oil. Start to stuff the mixture into each cap. Don’t be shy with this part — most of the water will chili flakes in order to bloom the spices. Once the onions have cook out of the mushrooms and you want them to be nice and softened and browned a bit, toss in the broccoli. You’ll want to full. Once all the caps are filled, add a drizzle of oil on top and stir this mix occasionally and cook it until the broccoli is fork bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. The mushrooms should be tender. At this point is when you should drop the pasta in the pot, cooking for about seven to 10 minutes until al dente. golden and soft, almost shriveled up.

Returning to the saucepan, pour in enough almond milk to cover the vegetables and turn the heat up to medium high. Once the milk starts bubbling, add a good handful of nutritional yeast, a few shakes of garlic powder and a spoonful each of butter and cream cheese. Once everything starts to simmer down, add a splash of the pasta water — this is going to help thicken the sauce.

Once the sauce has thickened, toss it all together and add a few herbs and some pepper on top.

Easy Fry Now, I’m well aware that few people brought a box of potatoes to college with them, but I’m a special breed of french fry connoisseur. This recipe can be applied to any vegetable you have that you want to get crispy and crunchy. Some zucchini lightly coated in flour and seasonings, some quick onion rings, you name it. But for this, we’ll be making easy dorm fries.

You’ll need:

- Potatoes - Neutral oil - Salt - Pepper Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Start by cutting the potatoes into fries. I like mine to have a variety of thicker and thinner ones so they bake unevenly. This way I will have both crispy and fluffy fries. However, chop to whatever size you prefer and leave the skins on. Once chopped, place the fries into a bowl. Add water to the bowl until all the fries are covered and give this a good stir. By washing off some of the starchy sugars, this will ensure the fries won’t burn so fast.

Drain the cloudy water and place the fries on a paper towel to dry. Then toss them into a dry bowl.

Drizzle with oil, enough to coat all of the fries and add a healthy shake of both salt and pepper. Pepper is the key to a delicious fry.

Shake the bowl around to cover and season each fry and then lay them out on a sheet pan. Make sure no fries are touching and that they line up evenly. This will ensure for a crispier fry.

Bake for 15 minutes, flip and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

November 4, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Arts and Life|9

book of the week Stephen King’s ‘The Institute’ is entertaining and unsettling

By ASHLEY PELLETIER Associate Arts & Life Editor

If you have any sort of interest in fictional stories, chances are you know of Stephen King and his infamous horror novels.

“The Institute” has the same suspense featured in books such as “It,” “The Shining” and “Carrie,” but it is a very unique kind of horror.

“The Institute,” published in September 2019, follows Luke Ellis, a 12-year-old prodigy who has been kidnapped and taken to a top-secret facility in middle-of-nowhere Maine. The facility was created to house children with telepathy and telekinesis (referred to in the book as TP and TK), but also to extract their powers in abusive manners.

At times, the book can be a tough read, especially as the main characters are faced with torture at the hands of adults, but it is amazingly written. Each main character has distinguished personalities, and the reader can relate to them in different ways.

It is interesting to see how Ellis, a TK, interacts with the other characters, a majority of which he claims he wouldn’t have been friends with in any other situation — particularly Avery Dixon.

Dixon is a 10-year-old boy that is rather small for his age and still has a problem with wetting the bed, but he is also brave and smart. He is the most powerful TP that the Institute has seen in a long time.

As the Institute continues to test Ellis, he realizes that he has also developed TP. He uses this ability to communicate with Dixon through their minds, and they hatch a plan to escape

with the help of Maureen, an older woman who works as a housekeeper for the Institute.

My favorite thing about “The Institute” is its opening. If you read the blurb from the back of the book, the opening section of the novel makes no sense as it relates to a different set of characters. Then, as the story of the main characters progresses, you begin to forget about the characters in the beginning.

However, they all play an integral role in the book's ending, making for a satisfying conclusion.

You can feel the tension as Ellis attempts to escape from the Institute with Mrs. Sigsby, the woman who runs the institute and the rest of the people in charge hot on his tail. The action comes to its peak as Ellis is saved by the characters from the beginning of the story.

When Ellis returns to the Institute, the children he left behind are using their powers to destroy the building, killing most of them in the process. However, some of Ellis’s friends are saved and returned to their living family members.

“The Institute” is over 500 pages long. It is by no means a light read, but I wholly recommend it nonetheless. It got me invested in a way that no novel ever has before. It took me about two days to finish in which a shorter book would have taken three or four days. King packs so much excitement and entertainment into the pages that it doesn’t feel as long as it actually is. If that doesn’t tell you something about how much I loved this story, I don’t know what will.

STEPHEN

KING

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INSTITUTE

ILLUSTRATION CONNOR LAWLESS

Stephen King's 'The Institute' is a difficult read, but also impossible to put down.

Highlighting professors’ work

By JESSICA SIMMS Managing Editor

On top of teaching classes and grading papers, some professors also spend time writing books. Here are two Quinnipiac University professors who have recently added “author” to their resume.

Molly Yanity Over the last couple of years, Molly Yanity, associate professor of journalism and chair of the Department of Journalism, has written and published papers on topics related to sports journalism.

By attending conferences for these papers, Yanity met Danielle Coombs, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University.

“She has been doing a lot of research on fans, and we both just love watching the women’s World Cup,” Yanity said. “We were talking about fans and media coverage, so we decided we wanted to do some kind of book that mixes the two things that we research on.”

Yanity and Coombs have signed a contract with Palgrave Macmillan to publish their academic book, “Mediating the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup,” which analyzes how the 2019 World Cup was covered and consumed.

“This isn’t like I am getting a book contract with Simon & Schuster, and I am going to go on a book tour, and they’re going to turn it into a movie kind of thing,” Yanity said. “It’s an academic kind of book. People don’t really buy this book. A few will get published, and they will go straight into a library.”

Both Yanity and Coombs will be editing the book and are asking professors who also research similar information regarding the 2019 World Cup if they would like to include chapters in the book.

“This is the first time I’ve done this,” Yanity said. “It’s the first time I’ve been the author of one of these books.”

Yanity has been working on this book during the semester and pandemic.

“It’s been really busy,” Yanity said. “The good thing is that I’m editing this, so most people are writing it. I’m not doing all of the writing. I’m doing like two chapters … We work with one of (Palgrave Macmillan’s) editors, and she kind of cracks a whip and keeps us like, ‘This is what we’re supposed to be doing next.’”

The bulk of the book should be done after Thanksgiving and Yanity said the pair will likely send it out to get published in January.

“We made this decision to have it online first because we just want people to be able to read this stuff,” Yanity said. “... It’s not like a glamorous thing. It’s cool, and I’m stoked.”

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE

Professor Molly Yanity and a professor from Kent State University combined their passion for the women's World Cup in a new book.

Rebecca Bamford Rebecca Bamford, professor of philosophy, is a scholar of 19th-century German philosophy. She has co-authored the first English book-length study about the book, “Dawn: Thoughts on the Presumptions of Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche.

Bamford wrote, “Nietzsche’s Dawn: Philosophy, Ethics, and the Passion of Knowledge,” with Keith Ansell-Pearson, a professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick in England.

“Our book is a fully equally co-authored monograph on a book called ‘Dawn,’ which is one of Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher’s, middle writings,” Bamford said. “So, what we’ve done is basically do a full-length analysis of what philosophical work is really being done in that text. We’re suggesting it’s really a book of ethics.”

In philosophy, Bamford said co-authorship is not very popular. She said that she and Ansell-Pearson started off their journey working together by discussing their thoughts on Nietzsche’s writing.

“Then we wanted to try to do some writing and so each of us would draft chapters and the other would kind of review and make suggestions and bring in ideas from previous work, but also change and revise and reflect what the other was thinking,” Bamford said. “There’s a lot of back and forth and a lot of exchanging drafts. That made it I think a bit more complicated because you didn’t have complete control yourself … It’s really

PHOTO FROM JOHN MORGAN

Professor Rebecca Bamford co-authored a book with a professor from the University of Warwick in England.

important when you do that that everybody is on the same page.”

Bamford said that co-authoring is a worthwhile experience.

“It really pushes you to defend why you think you have that particular position or particular analysis,” Bamford said.

Bamford and Ansell-Pearson sent their complete manuscript off to the press in September 2019 after editing and revising it themselves. The book was then peer reviewed by three anonymous reviewers. After receiving positive feedback, Bamford and AnsellPearson made revisions and completed indexing. In the summer, that aspect of the book was completed.

“The pandemic probably didn’t help with trying to do all of that work with other additional concerns going on, but by that point, we were mostly finished so it was more technical checking,” Bamford said.

After that, Bamford and Ansell-Pearson waited to see the final copy of their work.

The e-book version came out a few weeks ago and Bamford said the paperback version is on its way. She said having her work completed is exciting but also nerve-wracking.

“I got into academia because I wanted to make a contribution to knowledge,” Bamford said. “This book I think really does do that … This book makes a distinctive contribution and that feels really good … Slightly frightening because now it’s out in the world and people are going to start reading it and I hope we’ll have productive disagreements. So I don’t think of this book being the last word. I’m hoping it’s much more the start of an even more productive conversation.”

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

10|Sports

November 4, 2020

Watch her bloom

Quinnipiac rugby senior used to be a wallflower, but now she’s a full-grown leader

By EMILY FLAMME News Editor

For Grace Martin, a senior prop on the Quinnipiac University women’s rugby team, the last three years have been about developing her role as a leader on and off the field.

“Her commitment to leadership is just remarkable,” said Becky Carlson, head coach of the women’s rugby team.

“I’m always going to have a standard in my head of how leadership can evolve, and it’ll be Grace Martin.”

When Martin joined the program in 2017, she was reserved. Carlson said she was never the first to speak and would always sit back and observe what was going on.

“I was very shy and quiet my freshman year, and I’ve grown into more of a leadership role on the team,” Martin said. “On our team, we try to challenge everybody to be a leader and lead in their own ways.”

Right now, there are no competitions scheduled for the rugby season in the spring. However, Carlson noted that Martin still tries her hardest during practices.

“When I think of a player in our program, throughout the whole thing, the pandemic and all of the challenges that we had, where you’re like ‘Gosh, what would I give for her to have one more year,’ Grace is that player,” Carlson said.

As a coach, Carlson said she feels bad for her players during the pandemic. For her, it’s a loss of one season, but for the players it’s 25% of their career as a collegiate athlete.

“They go to practice every day and they don’t show how much this hurts, and it takes a lot of resilience,” Carlson said. “Grace being there, even though we have nothing technically that we’re working for this competition and being so on board with it and really getting into it is really what is going to put our team back on top.”

The women’s rugby team won the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) championship in 2017 when Martin was a freshman. The team hasn’t made it to the championship round since, which Martin felt was the most disappointing part about not having a competitive season.

Carlson talked about how Martin used to be anchor on the team, but she sustained an injury during her junior season. A severe foot and ankle sprain sidelined her for two and a half weeks.

“For Grace, her junior year, when she had those injuries, she didn’t really get to shine as much as she probably could have,” Carlson said. “She’s always been a talented player. She’s gotten stronger physically, she’s gotten stronger mentally.”

Practicing this season with COVID-19 restrictions has been a challenge, especially since rugby is a contact sport. Martin said the team has been focusing on strength building and skill work such as footwork and game strategy.

“It’s definitely a big change, but we’re working through it, we’re adapting,” Martin said. “That’s our biggest focus

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE (2018)

Senior prop Grace Martin charges through a tackle with the ball in her hands in a game against Penn State in 2018. right now, is being able to adapt to all of these changes.”

Despite losing playing time due to injuries and the pandemic, Martin brought up how she feels her role is to help develop the new talent on the team. Martin thinks the current underclassmen have a lot of potential from what she has seen at practices.

“I’m honestly really impressed, and I’m excited to watch them grow and learn their roles,” Martin said. “Not only grow as athletes, but as individuals because it’s nice since they’re finally starting to come out of their shells and you can hear their voices on the field, and it’s great to see. I’m really confident this team can go far.”

Carlson said that Martin’s leadership has a strong impact on the underclassmen by creating an environment where she and the team can find success.

“She’s just constantly looking at ways to better our communication for the good of the team,” Carlson said. “In the process, it’s been kind of having her sharpen her leadership skills. It has kind of a unilateral benefit, and she doesn’t

“I wanna see us try to be the most badass university in the country.”

– KYLE ROBINSON

QUINNIPIAC VOLLEYBALL HEAD COACH

Senior guard Vanessa Udoji will serve as a co-leader for student-athletes on the DEI Committee.

CHRONICLE ARCHIVES (2017)

even realize it. She’s doing all of this stuff for the team, but it has helped her gain so much more self-belief.”

The culture the team has is vital to its success, which is why Martin believes it was so important for her to create a welcoming and safe environment each year for her new teammates.

“I’d say the biggest thing is caring for the people around you goes such a long way and making sure that the people around you know that you care and that you support them,” Martin said. “That’s kind of what we base our team off of — being able to support each other and still having a competitive environment and pushing each other to grow but knowing that at the end of the day, we have each others’ backs.”

Over the last few years, Carlson said that Martin has grown into a strong individual who stepped up when the team needed her.

“There’s been so much self-study that has gone on in the last four years and her being mindful of the team dynamic and how she fits in the team dynamic and how she can help other people fit into the team dynamic — that’s how she’s changed,” Carlson said.

DEI from Page 12 on the DEI Committee as a student-athlete co-leader. Casamento emphasized the necessity of a student facet to the group, and Udoji was happy to be a part of it.

“As a black student-athlete it allows me to be able to use my voice both on and off the court,” Udoji said. “I believe that in this role it is my responsibility to be a voice for student-athletes of color so that they know they are being heard and supported on campus.”

Udoji said that the steps the committee is taking are important and that the campus will benefit from having an outlet to talk about racism.

“As a student-athlete there are times we may be afraid to use our voices when it comes to uncomfortable conversations regarding topics like racism, oppression, educational inequality,” Udoji said. “I think that it is important that we’ve created this committee to normalize having these types of conversations on campus.”

The athletics department’s diversity is a major contributor to how well the DEI Committee is able to accelerate change across campus. Having a wide array of backgrounds, nationalities and ethnicities is essential to having a campus where equity is prioritized.

Main is happy to be a part of a department that equally represents all walks of life .

“We all have very different makeups of our teams, and our sports are known for different reasons,” Main said. “There are so many different departments and our coaches do really reflect that, so it’s a really wonderful experience to sit on a call and talk about events, activities, what’s most important. I just love getting the perspective of other people.”

Since Floyd’s death, it’s been a difficult road to traverse. There are a lot of factors getting in the way of instituting real change that fixes the issues of racial inequality and police brutality.

But local change is one of the most important ways to introduce important values on a national scale. Robinson is happy to see Quinnipiac take these steps.

“I wanna see us improve,” Robinson said. “I wanna see us try to be the most badass university in the country, as a place where a young person or anyone can go for higher education.”

November 4, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Sports|11

Fearsome foursome

Quinnipiac women’s field hockey has no seniors on the roster, so the juniors will have to step up

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE (2018)

By JORDAN WOLFF Staff Writer

Typically at this time of the year, the Quinnipiac University field hockey team would be right in the midst of conference play. However, we’ve learned that everything about 2020 is unexpected.

This year’s roster features no seniors, the athletes who normally help lead their teams throughout the season. Yet even without the traditional leadership in the locker room, the Bobcats are finding their way. This time is a little different, as the team decided that four players would be in a “leadership group.”

Even with all the teams she’s gotten to coach and the experience she’s gained, Quinnipiac field hockey head coach Becca Main believes this leadership group stands out.

“It’s not often you get a variety of leadership that blends well,” Main said. “They are definitely a group of individuals that have found a leadership style that works for them.

Probably the most seamless group in terms of allowing each other to be leaders in the way that they lead best.”

Junior defenders Jess Halley and Mikayla Dugan, along with redshirt junior defender Alyssa Watson and redshirt junior forward Brooke Whipkey, make up this year’s group.

One may think having too many minds could create a lot of tension, but in this instance it’s the balance that makes the foursome work.

“I think we each have very different personalities, but we somehow all work together very well,” Watson said. “I think that players go to each of us separately for different things, which really works out nicely.”

On the field, Whipkey and Halley each finished with one goal and two assists last season, while Dugan had one goal and Watson ended the season with one assist. But, it’s the off-field presence each player carries with them that makes them stand out.

Watson mentioned how a lot of her teammates confide in her, and that they go to her for any situation, which gives her a sense of comfort.

During team workouts, Watson likes to hold teammates accountable. She isn’t afraid to pinpoint teammates who don’t perform at a high level and doesn’t tolerate excuses as to why those expectations aren’t being met.

“I think that’s something that every leader should do,” Watson said. “I think we all do that, but I’m definitely more outraged about it.”

Another quality of leadership is energy. An example of this could be a professional football player celebrating after scoring a touchdown or getting a sack. That type of enthusiasm is what Whipkey brings as a leader.

When teammates arrive to practice, Whipkey’s level of excitement increases, and she looks forward to showing that on the field.

“I’m very loud, so I’m not shy to voice an opinion or call the team for a huddle and kind of get us reorganized,” Whipkey said.

When New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick sat former running back Jonas Gray the game after he scored four touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts in 2014, some would describe that as an example of Belichick’s high standards. That’s the term Halley expects of herself and teammates.

“If I don’t perform the way I wanted to, it really bothers me,” Halley said. “So, I feel like I bring that to the team, and I expect good things from them, so they know they hold themselves accountable.”

Being loud, holding other players accountable and having energy are qualities not all leaders possess. Some would rather let the actions do the talking, and that’s what Dugan brings to the table.

“I would say for myself, I’m more of like on the quiet side, but more of like calm, cool and collected,” Dugan said. “Like if the team’s really like at a high, I’m able to like, calm down everyone and be like ‘it’s okay.’”

Another piece to the leadership group puzzle is Main. Main is entering her 26th at Quinnipiac season and has a 206-254 career record. She’s a four-time coach of the year, winning the award once in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC),

twice in the Northeast Conference and once in the Northeast-10.

Main also led the Bobcats to a 2013 MAAC championship and the NCAA field hockey tournament three times. But as much as she’s done on the sidelines, Watson explained how much Main means to her off the field.

Watson said how Main was the one that recruited the entire leadership group. She’s known Main since she was a sophomore in high school and credits Main for aiding in her personal development.

“She’s really big on building us as females like out into the workplace, which is huge,” Watson said. “I think it’s overlooked by a lot of coaches that it’s not all about the sport, it’s about who you’re going to be as people once you leave it.”

Last season, Quinnipiac finished 5-13 overall and 2-5 in the Big East. Whenever the Bobcats get the green light to play, Watson assured that the squad will be ready.

“This has been tough,” Watson said. “I honestly didn’t think it was going to be as hard as it is right now. But we’re really grinding, and I think we’re excited to show what we’ve been working really hard at.”

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE (2018)

Redshirt junior defender Alyssa Watson is ready to lead her team alongside her three leadership groupmates.

12|Sports

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

November 4, 2020

Sports

@QUCHRONSPORTS

Break the mold MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE (2018)

Since George Floyd’s death five months ago, national movements have come and gone — Quinnipiac plans to change the trend

By RILEY MILLETTE Sports Editor

A popular word in media lately has been “change.”

Journals, news outlets and papers across the country have been preaching the importance of change in order to rework the fabric of our country ever since the Black Lives Matter movement returned to mainstream media after a police officer murdered George Floyd.

However, change is best ignited at the local level, not national. Without the cataclysmic actions of those in the community, progress wouldn’t be anywhere near where it should be. That’s where Quinnipiac University wants to start.

Quinnipiac started the Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DEI) Committee to begin this local change. The committee’s goal is to “engage the athletic department staff and student-athletes in social justice initiatives,” according to an announcement made on Quinnipiac’s athletics website.

“I think our main goals are to support on-campus initiatives and opportunities, and to create programming and education for our student-athletes, staff and coaches,” said Kristen Casamento, senior assistant athletic director for academic support and chairperson of the committee. “And third, create policy that has inclusive excellence for the future to really empower them to use their voices in the most important way.”

The committee is composed of several Quinnipiac coaches and athletic figures, including volleyball head coach Kyle Robinson, field hockey head coach Becca Main and men’s soccer head coach Eric Da Costa.

There are other programs with similar goals at the university such as Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) United for Justice that both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have partnered with. But the DEI Committee is aimed toward all of the school’s athletics and wants to have a significant impact on the Quinnipiac culture and beyond.

COURTESY OF QU ATHLETICS

Volleyball head coach Kyle Robinson is excited to be a part of the DEI committe which seeks to bring change at a local level.

“You’re a part of change, you’re a part of something that’s big,” Robinson said. “When asked to be a part of something big and important, for me it’s important to jump at the call, especially when it’s something I believe in, something I’m passionate about.”

Main corroborated that the necessity for groups like the DEI Committee are increasing.

“This is an epic time for change and to address social injustices, so obviously to be a part of that for me was a no-brainer,” Main said. “To be able to get on a call with my colleagues on any topic is fantastic, but to be able to do it for something like a DEI Committee is extra special, because you’re learning about DEI from different vantage points, which is what the purpose is.”

Robinson said that this committee has been needed in the Quinnipiac community, and this new group creates an opportunity for Bobcats in the athletic community to engage in tough conversations.

“These are things that are generally discussed at home around a campfire in privacy,” Robinson said. “Now, we get to really discuss them with each other. I think it’s cool that I’m a part of this small group that we’re all representing this athletic community, and I can’t imagine a much better group than what we have.”

The committee plans on having these conversations over winter break, as well as bringing in a professional to train everyone in the athletic department during the spring semester. Main said that having these conversations is the beginning of the long process.

“The first piece of this is education, and it should always be an ongoing piece of education,” Main said. “Educating yourself on what the community needs, what’s around you, what the student-athletes need, and that’s been really good.”

Since there are other organizations similar to this around campus, the DEI Committee is hoping to collaborate with them and create a more welcoming environment.

“Obviously we have DEI committees going on on campus in other areas, both in our student government and other activities, so why wouldn’t we link up with each other?”

Main said. “I just got to participate in the George Floyd family discussion that was hosted by five different groups.”

The event that Main is referencing was a recent webinar where Floyd’s aunt and uncle answered questions with Quinnipiac community members. Minister and activist Nyle Fort moderated the event, and his words had an impact on Casamento.

“Nyle talked about ‘educate, agitate and organize,’” Casamento said. “The people that can agitate and organize with the most power are students, and student athletes already have a great platform as leaders on the campus. They have the ideas, they have the ability to create change because this is their institution.”

Women’s basketball senior guard Vanessa Udoji will serve See DEI Page 10