MARCH 31, 2021 • VOLUME 91 • ISSUE 17
The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929
ILLUSTRATION BY KATHARINE HAINES
By EMILY FLAMME News Editor
After last semester’s fight for LGBTQ inclusivity at Quinnipiac University, President Judy Olian and other administrators are fulfilling their promises in the form of genderinclusive housing. In December, the university made several commitments to becoming a more inclusive campus for the LGBTQ community including creating gender-inclusive housing and genderneutral bathrooms and completing the Campus Pride Index. The university also assembled different committees to focus on making these plans happen. The gender-inclusive housing will be available for the fall 2021 semester for all students. Current first-year students will have the option available when they choose housing on April 6 and 7. The Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) hosted a “roommate social” on March 25, to provide students with information about gender-inclusive housing as well as provide students with an opportunity to meet other people who are interested in this type of housing. For incoming first-year students who choose to live with a randomly assigned student, they can fill out the roommate survey, which will have questions regarding comfortability with living in a gender-inclusive environment. Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett said there will be gender-inclusive rooms available in every residence hall. “To me, it doesn’t really matter if we serve one student then we have accomplished our goal, so numbers don’t really matter,” Ellett said. “It’s about the openness of the institution to provide this for somebody who may feel like this makes them feel more comfortable in our environment.” Kayla Duncan, a sophomore media studies major who is in the LGBTQ+ Fellows program, said she met with Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Don Sawyer, the residential experience committee and the other
Promises kept: Quinnipiac to provide genderinclusive housing in fall 2021
See LGBTQ Page 2
Asian Student Alliance outlines initiative for change at Quinnipiac By MELINA KHAN Copy Editor
Quinnipiac University’s Asian Student Alliance (ASA) published an initiative for institutional and cultural change at Quinnipiac following continued targeting of Asian American communities and the recent mass shooting of Asian women in Atlanta, Georgia. The initiative calls for changing disciplinary action for students who carry out racist actions, an increase in the support resources available to international students and an expansion in the number of Asian faculty, administrators and public safety officers. Andrew DePass, executive chair of Quinnipiac’s Multicultural Student Leadership Council (MSLC), acknowledged the initiative. “We feel that sincere commitment is required to foster true change,” the ASA wrote in the document. “This commitment must go beyond proposed healing practices, an effort which alone falls short on the University’s claim to stand with Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American (APIDA) communities.” The ASA proposed the formation of a partstudent, part-faculty advisory board to handle racially-motivated incidents. As part of the
disciplinary measures for students who carry out these actions, it recommended a community service component for an organization that represents the community the student discriminated against. The organization also proposed a 5% increase in Quinnipiac’s minority faculty population over the next 10 years and greater allocation of resources to the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement to support international students. “Our entire university community shares in the sadness and horror over the repeated acts of violence against communities of color, most recently against Asian Americans,” said Daryl Richard, Quinnipiac’s vice president for marketing and communications. “We appreciate the ASA’s offer to partner with the administration as a proactive force of good to help intensify our commitments to advance racial justice both at Quinnipiac and in our broader society.” Richard added that university leaders will be meeting with the ASA members on Thursday, April 1, to continue exploring ways to ensure inclusivity at Quinnipiac. The ASA also requested a re-acknowledge-
ment of the Washington Witherspoon Plan, a diversity plan created by MSLC in June 2020 to create minority equity and systemic change at Quinnipiac. “We can’t, as an organization, just sit back and let the university not recognize or not try to help support our community in every way possible to make us feel safe,” said Rachel Reyes, a senior biology major and copresident of the ASA. Reyes said while the ASA appreciates Quinnipiac’s condemning of APIDA hate, it hoped the organization would have been contacted prior to the university’s statement. “(Quinnipiac administration) released statements condemning Asian hate without reaching out directly to our community or organization to see how we (are) doing or how healing sessions are being conducted,” Reyes said. “We do appreciate how administration is releasing statements condemning APIDA hate, though we wish they reached out to us (prior) to making a statement.” Carrie Zeng, a senior psychology major and co-president of the ASA, said the organization would also like the administration to acknowlSee ASA Page 3
INFOGRAPHIC BY MICHAEL CLEMENT
OPINION P.4: SEXISM AFFECTS EVERYDAY LIFE The women’s weight room at the NCAA basketball tournaments got attention because it was smaller than the men’s
CRANDALL YOPP/QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY
A&L P.7: QU THEATER PERFORMANCE EXCELS The theater department put on a modernized performance of ‘An Iliad’