NOVEMBER 17, 2021 • VOLUME 92 • ISSUE 11
The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929
ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS
Mapping out IndigenousArtshistory & Life p.6-7
DANIEL PASSAPERA/QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY
NEWS P.3: ECO-FRIENDLY CAMPUS
QU Sustainability Committee begins its path to establish a enivronmentally green campus through a food waste audit
ILLUSTRATION BY PEYTON MCKENZIE
OPINION P.4: THE CHRISTMAS DEBATE Writers Connor Youngberg and Jack Spiegel discuss the correct time to start celebrating the holidays
ALEX BAYER/CHRONICLE
SPORTS P. 10: GRADUATE TRANSFERS From Dylan St. Cyr to Oliver Chau, the men’s ice hockey team is getting contributions from its five new graduate transfers
Students hope COVID cases subside amid uptick By MELINA KHAN Associate News Editor
Following Halloween and Bobcat Weekend, Quinnipiac University identified 30 new COVID-19 cases in a span of seven days, the largest increase of the semester. Community members say the spike is concerning, especially as the end of the semester nears. Quinnipiac has seen a low number of infections this semester, with an average of about five cases per week. Over the last two weeks, there has been an average of 28 cases per week. Unvaccinated students are the only students required to undergo weekly testing. Hill said there are around 350-400 unvaccinated students who engage in these tests, but that throughout the semester, there have only been a few positive cases identified within this cohort. Ahead of Halloween weekend, the university urged students, via email, to follow safety protocols, as the holiday sparked a rise in infections last year and led to a campus-wide quarantine. Senior Medical Adviser Dr. David Hill said it is likely last week’s rise in cases are a direct result of Halloween celebrations. “It just seems likely, when you’re going along and you’re having two or three or four cases a week everything seems to be going well, and then we know that this is a big party weekend … it just seems to make sense, because nothing else
has changed in our community,” Hill said. Alissa Defelice, a junior behavioral neuroscience major, said she wasn’t surprised by the rise in cases considering what happened last year. “It was the same as when we got sent home last year after Halloween, so I wasn’t expecting anything different,” Defelice said. To avoid potentially contracting COVID-19, Defelice said she chose to stay home on Halloween. “I knew (a rise in cases) was gonna happen again,” Defelice said. “And New Haven was so crowded anyway, there was no point in going out (because) I expected the cases.” Katie Costello, a first-year law in society major, also emphasized the risk of going off-campus. “When you go to the clubs, no one’s wearing a mask, so I figured that was what (the rise in cases is) from,” Costello said. “It’s not necessarily the university’s fault for that at least.” Toad’s Place, a popular New Haven club patronized by Quinnipiac students, was one local establishment impacted by Halloween weekend. Police shut it down during a Halloween-themed party Oct. 27, after a barricade containing the line of people waiting to enter collapsed, as reported by Yale Daily News. A club employee told Yale Daily News he estimated more than 2,000 people were on the premises at the time.
Despite students increasingly going off campus on the weekends, Costello said it is not something the university should be concerned with. “I feel like students are going to do what they’re going to do, and the university should be focused on what happens here on campus,” Costello said. Like Costello, first-year health sciences major Sophia Stamos said she has seen many people not masking, especially on campus. “I think that students were kind of laying back with the rules (with) wearing masks and stuff,” Stamos said. “And I’ve seen even (in the Student Center) people not wearing their masks.” Stamos said more should be done to ensure students are properly masking, especially in classes. “People should say stuff about it, to tell people (to) put their masks on or put them above their nose,” Stamos said. ”Professors should do a better job of doing that or just students should know to wear a mask.” Costello also said the rise in cases is concerning because of the potential impact on classes.
ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS
“It does worry me in the sense that I don’t want campus to close at all, especially right before finals or anything,” Costello said. “So I feel like the university should just be promoting students’ agency and being safe and taking part See COVID UPTICK Page 2