The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929. Proud Recipient of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors’ Award for 2015-2016 College Newspaper of the Year
OCTOBER 4, 2017
QUCHRONICLE.COM
VOLUME 88, ISSUE 6
ARTS & LIFE: NICOLE ANTAYA P. 8
OPINION: TITLE IX P. 6
SPORTS: MEN’S ICE HOCKEY P. 16
Let’s talk about
EURONEWS/CREATIVE COMMONS DESIGN BY CHRISTINA POPIK
By KELLY RYAN News Editor
Professor Cindy Kern is 3,000 miles away from her hometown right outside of Las Vegas, and though she can try to offer help from a far, Kern is focusing on pushing for conversation. Currently serving as the director of the Quinnipiac University Science Teaching and Learning Center, Kern spent all but the last five years of her life living in the Las Vegas area. She was born and raised in Henderson, Nevada and attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where she received three degrees. Kern met and married her husband there, and her son was born and raised there. Kern’s brother works at the airport that borders where Sunday’s Route 91 Harvest Festival took place. He can see the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino from his office, and the window where 64-year-old Stephen Paddock shot and killed more than 50 concert-goers and injured more than 500. Kern woke up on Monday morning and logged onto Facebook. The news of the mass shooting in Las Vegas was the first thing that showed up on her newsfeed. She immediately turned on the news on TV before texting her brother’s family and her close friends. At the time, it was 2:30 a.m. in Las Vegas, so she did not hear anything from then until around 10 a.m. in Connecticut. She learned that her family and friends were safe. Throughout the day, more and more stories
Quinnipiac professor calls for action in the wake of mass shooting in Las Vegas came in. Kern later found out that one of her former students was critically injured at the concert and is fighting for his life. Another one of her former students, who is a nurse, was able to escape unharmed. “I kind of imagine our relationships like a pebble in a pond,” Kern said. “That first ripple is your close friends and family and then that ripple goes out. I think social media really accentuates those greater connections.” The more and more she looked at the list of victims who were murdered, she realized that re-
ality that Vegas is not just a Nevada town. “This happened in a global city, a city where 300,000 transcend on that city a weekend. It’s contextualized for a lot of people,” Kern said. “A lot of people have walked down to Mandalay Bay. A lot of people have attended concerts right there in that spot. There’s very few people who have visited Las Vegas who cannot (picture) themselves there. So does that mean that (Americans) can use that as a mechanism to sustain these conversations? I hope so.” Kern emphasized that we cannot make this a
single issue without trivializing the fact that our lives are multi-issue. Just saying that the problem is gun control or mental illness is not true, according to Kern. She wants to focus on how we value humans and make that the focal point for action. “This man did not value human life at all. He didn’t even value his own life,” Kern said. “So when we think about the decisions being made, be it gun control, be it health care, be it Black See VEGAS Page 3
Student Government Association establishes initiatives for the academic year By STEPHEN MACLEOD Staff Writer
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Members of the 2017-2018 Student Government Association gather together for their first meeting after the SGA retreat.
Staff Meetings on Tuesdays at 9:15 p.m. in SB123
litical science major chose to focus his agenda on improving students’ day-to-day lives. “We want to take all the little things that annoy people on campus,” Onofrio said. “(Because) they tick away and eventually begin to take away from the student experience.” The first thing on his agenda is getting the school to recognize club sports. Onofrio credited representative junior Brandon Vattima for taking the lead on having the Board of Trustees officially recognize all club sports on campus. If recognized, club sports would be funded by the school, given permission to wear Quinnipiac apparel to games and use school locker
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rooms and facilities. While this is a standard practice at many schools around the country, it has never been at Quinnipiac. In accordance with Solimine’s goal of promoting safer drinking habits on campus, Onofrio proposed having a tavern built at the Rocky Top Student Center. The goal of the tavern would be to help make Rocky Top more of a destination for students on campus. He expressed faith in being able to secure the funding and support, as the Rocky Top original blueprints did have plans for a bar. See INITIATIVES Page 3
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losing club positions. We find that unacceptable and want to promote safe drinking.” In synergy with his safe-drinking plan, Solimine outlined his plan to enhance the senior experience. He laid out a plan to have senior pregame events. He detailed how seniors would be able to buy tickets to hockey or basketball games, get free food and then have an open bar throughout the game. His final move included updating the QCard system and making it available on students’ phones. Class of 2019 President Jack Onofrio, a po-
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On Friday, Sept. 23, the members of the Student Government Association (SGA) traveled to Camp Jewell in Colebrook, CT to hold its annual retreat, and set its agenda for the fall semester. Class of 2018 President Austin Solimine, an international business major, set out a bold agenda for the year. The top of his list includes ensuring gender-neutral bathrooms and housing implementation. “It’s an initiative started last year, but it was never really pushed,” Solimine said. “We want suites to be available to sophomores and up that are gender-neutral.” Solimine also stated that SGA is working very closely with the Gender Sexuality Alliance to ensure the process has as much student input as possible. He also pointed out the need for gender-neutral bathrooms on campus. There are currently 12 gender-neutral bathrooms across all three campuses. Solimine expressed his desire for them to be more well-marked, as well as potentially adding a few more bathrooms around campus in more easy to access locations. Another major point Solimine wants to push is improving campus culture, specifically addressing alcohol usage on campus. “We want to promote safe drinking on campus and improving our culture,” Solimine said. “We see students drinking hard liquor and getting in bad situations because they are afraid to talk to RAs, public safety or other people that can help them, out of fear of getting reprimanded or
Interactive: 5 Opinion: 6 Arts and Life: 8 Sports: 13