QUChronicle.com November 2, 2011 Volume 81 Issue 10
Greek Week
Delts dominate, pages 8-9
Opinion
Sports
Sex on Fire: How to deal with a clinger, page 5
Lucky number 7 for women, page 16
Powerless in the snow Storm kills Halloween, power
Hamdenites lash out at QU partiers
By Kim Green
By Phil Nobile
An unexpected nor’easter swept the East Coast on Saturday, leaving Quinnipiac students with no electricity and limited transportation for their Halloween festivities. The unseasonable storm has left more than three million people from Maine to Maryland without power including more than 800,000 Connecticut residents, according to Fox News. Although many communities only received a couple of inches of wet snow, the weight on the trees, still covered with fall leaves, proved disastrous as power lines were toppled. Connecticut Light & Power said that it may take up to a week to restore power to all customers. “I lost power at 7 on Sunday morning,” said Kristy Suppe, a senior living in Cheshire. “Connecticut Light & Power called us on
Hamden citizens have long disapproved of parties thrown by Quinnipiac students, but now some residents are taking steps to prevent and disrupt any chances of off-campus partying. “I am going to organize and at the least take care of the problem on my block,” Hamden resident Eliad Laskin said. “We can take back the town in numbers and block by block. I am going to go door-to-door in my neighborhood and mobilize.” When Hamdenites want to file a complaint about QU students, they are advised to contact the Hamden Police Department, a Quinnipiac Hotline, or Chief of Security & Safety David Barger and Associate Vice President for Facilities Administration Joseph Rubertone, according to Hamden Zoning enforcement guidelines. Some feel these methods have proved to be ineffective. “Citizens may start taking matters into their own hands if this continues, because Hamden and QU have done nothing,” Laskin said. Hamden officials declined comment. Assistant Town Planner Daniel Kops said in earlier interactions with Hamden residents who have issues with Quinnipiac student behavior that the police department would be the most effective means of enforcement. Hamden’s Planning Office cannot go after tenants for bad behavior. The zoning guidelines provide a list of legitimate reasons for complaint under the title of “Student Housing Complaints to Police Department and Quinnipiac Security.” Those reasons include loud parties, underage drinking, noise, lewd behavior (i.e. public urination or vomiting), and obstruction in parking. Some townsfolk have suggested other ways to handle rebellious students. “I say use pepper spray,” Hamden resident Alicia Panayotakis said in a Facebook post on the Town of Hamden’s page. “Spray the intruders, say you thought they were taking something out of their pants and wasn’t sure what is was. It’s your property for God’s sake. Also, put
News Editor
Staff Writer
See Snow Page 3
Lesly Alvarez/Chronicle
Snow covers the Bobcat statue on Bobcat Way Saturday on Mount Carmel campus. Many students had New Haven on their minds to celebrate Halloween, but the nor’easter forced shuttles to stop at 4 p.m.
Senior Week to exclude underage seniors Liquor permits, contracts for venues to blame By Catherine Boudreau Staff Writer
Seniors who will be under the legal drinking age by May of next year will not be allowed to participate in Senior Week, confirmed Stephen Pagios, the assistant director of student center & campus life and adviser of Senior Week. According to Pagios, the presence of alcohol at every event is the main reason why seniors who are under the legal drinking age can’t participate. Obtaining liquor permits and signing contracts with each venue are both “big processes” and pose obstacles. “We have to sign agreements with all the places that we go to saying that everyone going is 21,” Pagios said. “When we are going to Oakdale or Holiday Hill or Terminal 110 as we did last year, we reserve the whole place. It’s not really feasible for these places to allow some people to drink alcohol and not others.” Makeda Sutherland is one senior who isn’t permitted to attend. She won’t turn 21 until July 2012, two
months after Senior Week. “I want to be the one that makes the decision whether to go or not,” Sutherland said. “I’m sure they’re doing activities besides drinking for the whole weekend. I don’t need to drink to be a part of a lot of the events. It’s Senior Week and it’s an experience we should all have together,” Sutherland said. Approximately 800 seniors participate in Senior Week. During the three days leading up to graduation, they stay in the freshman dorms and attend various events organized by the Senior Week committee. Events include a party at the Oakdale Theatre and afternoon activities at the Holiday Hill resort. All are exclusively for Quinnipiac seniors. Alcohol is supplied, which is included in the $295 cost students must pay in order to attend. Senior Andrew McDermott, one of the Senior Week coordinators, added in an email that if more of the events were on campus, there would be more flexibility regarding who could attend. However, most are off campus. There is one way to get into Senior Week without being 21: working it. There are 22 juniors on the Senior Week committee who work at the events. They are not allowed to drink and must wear a T-shirt that
“We all spent four years here. We’ve all put in the time. You can’t discriminate just because of age. It isn’t Senior Drinking Week. It’s Senior Week, so it should be available to every senior here.”
— Nicole Peloso 21-year-old senior
designates them as staff. “They are two different kind of parties,” Pagios said. “The juniors are not there for the Senior Week experience. They are there to make sure it happens. The only beverage they are getting is water and they are making sure things are running smoothly.” McDermott compared them to security in uniform. Pagios added that everyone has the opportunity to attend Senior Week once. Those who couldn’t participate the year of their graduation could come back the following year as alumni. “I don’t think I would come back,” Sutherland said. “It’s not my 2012 classmates. We have our own special bond, so it just wouldn’t be the same.” Senior Nicole Peloso, 21, said she thinks it is completely unfair. If
POLL: Should all seniors be allowed to attend Senior Week?
venues are going to be strict about drinking, they should be able to check IDs or have underage students wear something that symbolizes that, Peloso said. “We all spent four years here. We’ve all put in the time. You can’t discriminate just because of age. It isn’t Senior Drinking Week, it’s Senior Week so it should be available to every senior here,” she said. McDermott agreed that it “stinks” for those who will not be able to participate, however the committee has “to look on behalf of the majority.” According to Pagios, it all comes down to the legal side of things. “I think one of the stipulations to this is that we need to tell [the venues] that we’ve checked that everyone is 21. Once we start getting into that ‘well 799 are 21 but five aren’t,’ it starts getting a bit hazy.”
See Hamden Page 3
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