DECEMBER 5, 2018 | VOLUME 89, ISSUE 13
The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929
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Attempted burglary at university-owned house By MADISON FRAITAG Creative Director
An attempted burglary occurred at a university-owned house on New Road today, sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 1:20 p.m., according to Public Safety Sergeant Bob Vignola. A female resident and Quinnipiac student returned home from class to find that the side door of her house had been kicked in. The resident who found the opened door was unable to comment, however, her housemate was able to describe the events. “My housemate got home and noticed that the door was kicked in and so she quickly called her parents and her mom told her to leave the house and then she picked me up,” she said. “We then realized that not only was our side door kicked in but my door, her door and then our guest bedroom door were all kicked in. We went to Public Safety and they called [Hamden Police].” The resident said nothing appeared to be missing from the house, even though only one bedroom door was locked. Vignola explained that since no property loss has been confirmed at this time the incident is technically considered criminal mischief, however because a door was kicked open he is calling it an attempted burglary. “A burglary by Connecticut statute is when you enter a premise to commit a crime so basically it’s a burglary, but it’s an attempted burglary at this point,” he said. Hamden Police Detective Joseph Liguori confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation and a notice will be sent to students, but does not
think students have cause to be alarmed. The resident said she never feared for her safety in her New Road house, and is surprised that this happened so close to campus. “I was in complete and utter shock,” she said. “I never thought that something like that would happen, especially in such a college area surrounded by other college houses.” The students have requested to be moved to a different residence area. “I am not staying in that house,” she said. “Living in this house knowing that someone did that, especially knowing where it was, we were afraid something could happen again if they did come back.” The resident, a junior at Quinnipiac living in the off-campus housing due to an accommodation, is surprised at the lack of surveillance on New Road. “I’m shocked that there are no security cameras down New Road that Public Safety can watch just because it is such a residential neighborhood with all these college kids,” she said. “They have no idea, like nothing [about the incident].” While New Road lacks video surveillance, Public Safety does patrol the area and will increase its watch as needed. “We’re going to saturate the area, that’s natural anyway,” Vignola said. “We’re following up on a couple of leads but the area is heavily traveled, so there’s not a lot of criminal action down there. We’re picking up our patrol checks as needed.” Public Safety also told the residents of the house that a maintenance worker reportedly
Dr. Bethany Zemba appointed as vice president and chief of staff By CHRISTINA POPIK Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO COURTESY OF RESIDENT OF BURGLARIZED HOUSE
A student found the side door of her New Road residence kicked in around 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
saw a suspicious car parked in their driveway as he drove by, but did not choose to investigate, according to the resident. Public Safety declined to confirm this to The Chronicle due to the case remaining open and ongoing. Although the resident does not wish to remain in her current residence area, she was pleased with the support and attention that Hamden Police, Public Safety and her ResiSee BURGLARY Page 4
Dr. Bethany Zemba has been appointed vice president and chief of staff of Quinnipiac, announced today by President Judy Olian according to an announcement on MyQ. Zemba will serve as a senior adviser, working closely with the senior management team to direct the formulation and execution of the university’s strategic plan; coordinate institutional research; oversee community relations; and serve as the primary liaison to the board of trustees, according to the MyQ announcement. “I am eager to begin working with President Olian and her senior leadership team, and to be joining an exemplary university community of faculty, staff and alumni committed to the collective goal of preparing future graduates for a lifetime of professional success,” Zemba said in the MyQ announcement. “I look forward to fostering partnerships across the university and embracing the many learning experiences that lie ahead in this role.” Zemba will be coming into the role backed with 15 years of administrative leadership at Yale University, where she most recently served as senior associate dean, chief of staff and senior adviser to the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences. Prior to that, she worked for 12 years at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, according to the MyQ announcement. Zemba officially began her position Tuesday, Dec. 4.
An Uber-scary security breach Uber driver arrested after allegedly following student to her residence hall
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SCREENSHOT COURTESY OF BROOKE ROSENBLUM
Brozek’s Uber profile photo.
talking about.” The students who previously have had no reservations about Uber, were surprised at Brozek’s demeanor. “Most of the Uber drivers around here know that it’s like college students,” Rosenblum said. “If an Uber driver looks sketchy in their profile and has a low rating, I’ll just cancel the trip but he didn’t seem sketchy. He has a 4.9 rating so I was like OK.”
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In an informal survey conducted by The Chronicle, 95 participants shared their thoughts on the current standards regarding Uber drivers on campus. Of those who participated 61 percent of people agreed that Uber drivers should not be allowed on campus. Yet, 13.7 percent of these people admitted that they have been picked up at the dorm by a driver. Uber drivers are not the only vehicles allowed on campus that aren’t driven by Quinnipiac students, faculty or staff. Food delivery service drivers are allowed to drive through security booths and up to campus dorms. When participants were asked if they felt Uber services and food delivery should be treated differently, 50.5 percent voted that they did not think they should be. Although Schmidt and Rosenblum were not affected by their ride directly, they don’t blame the school or the service for the separate incident that occurred. Schmidt noted that Uber drivers typically undergo a screening process that should prevent incidents like these. “I think Public Safety does an OK job. It’s not really that hard to get on campus if you just say you’re picking someone up they usuSee UBER Page 4
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Public Safety issued a ‘timely warning’ regarding an ongoing investigation of an Uber driver that allegedly followed a female student onto the Mt. Carmel campus and entered a residence hall on Friday. Driver Sean Brozek, 24, was arrested and charged with stalking, threatening and criminal trespassing, according to the statement posted on MyQ. He drives a white 2012 Nissan Rogue with the Connecticut license plate 581-ZJL. This is not the first time Brozek has been arrested. The driver was arrested on charges of third-degree criminal mischief and disorderly conduct July 9, 2017, according to a report by The North Haven Patch. The warning, issued in accordance with the federal law, sent out at 7:44 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30 notified the university about an incident that occurred earlier on the Mount Carmel campus forwarded recipients to their MyQ account for more details. Associate Vice President for Public Relations Affairs John Morgan said that the reasoning for forwarding students to MyQ rather than explicitly stating the information in the alert was to provide a visual. “We felt it was important to include the picture in the alert and MyQ provides the plat-
form to do that,” Morgan said. Although providing a visual of Brozek was intended to help students identify him should he be spotted on campus again, many expressed that they were not happy with the way the original alert was put out. Freshman physical therapy Emily Menice was more concerned about the way her mom reacted to the notification being that she did not have her own access to MyQ. “As I tried to log onto MyQ to figure out what had happened, the page wouldn’t load, probably due to the amount of students who were trying to log on,” Menice said. “My mom had also called me about five times panicking about the situation.” Sophomore health science major Alexa Schmidt and her suitemate, sophomore interdisciplinary studies major Brooke Rosenblum had Brozek as an Uber driver Thursday night, the day before the arrest. They noticed that he acted atypically, when compared to previous Uber drivers they’ve had. “We had him as an Uber driver on the 29th of November from Main [Mt. Carmel campus] up to York,” Schmidt said. “I was with my suitemate, Brooke. He was talking to us, he was kind of weird and budding into our conversation. He wanted to know what we were talking about and where we were
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