The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Volume 91, Issue 8

OCTOBER 28, 2020 • VOLUME 91 • ISSUE 8

The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929

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NEWS P.3: QUINNIPIAC SELLS WQUN Quinnipiac is in the process of transferring the radio station’s license to Clark Media.

LGBTQ @ QU

P.6-7 GRAPHIC BY MICHAEL CLEMENT

OPINION P.4: QU ADMINISTRATION ALL TALK

Quinnipiac needs to take action to fight homophobic behavior.

CONTRIBUTED BY TY SMILANIC

SPORTS P. 11: PETE’S POND

Ty Smilanic is the highest drafted ice hockey player in Quinnipiac history.

Pandemic makes mail-in ballots more popular

By EMILY FLAMME and ANYA GRONDALSKI

The United States’ heightened political climate, accompanied by the COVID-19 pandemic, has made voting and safety focal points of recent discourse.

Absentee ballots have become more appealing to many voters due to COVID-19, as they are safer and more convenient. By limiting the number of people at the polls, municipalities will be better equipped to ensure that poll workers and in-person voters stay safe.

According to CNBC, many states, including Connecticut, have provided poll workers in their towns and cities with personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and/or face shields. Rules regarding mandatory mask wearing and social distancing will be widely implemented to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

Jacey Jones, first-year health science major in the entry-level master’s physician assistant program, approves of this initiative.

“I think that it’s a good thing because it’s a necessity during a pandemic that people are

protected,” Jones said. “It’s a civic duty to vote, so I think it’s essential that PPE is given to poll workers.”

The New York Times reported that this upcoming presidential election will have the most absentee ballots in history. .

“A total of 87 million absentee ballots have been requested or sent to voters in 49 states and the District of Columbia,” according to the New York Times.

Vera Morrison, Hamden town clerk, said the town has seen an increase in absentee ballot requests in comparison to past elections.

“We normally issue 500-600 in municipal year (odd years) for local office, 800-1000 in state year for governor and did 2,200 in 2016 for president,” Morrison said. “We have issued over 10,776 ballots for this election so far and have received back 7,053 so far.

The Town Clerks have become the ‘in-house mailhouse for each of our towns.’”

Connecticut has historically been a blue state by voting for the democratic candidate in the last seven presidential elections. Ac-

cording to The New York Times, 659,000 people have requested absentee ballots and of those, 48% are registered Democrats while a mere 15% are Republican. This could be part of what is contributing to this notable increase in absentee voting by state.

President Donald Trump has long been against mail-in ballots, claiming that they will invalidate the election.

In a press briefing from Sept. 23, Trump said, “I’ve been complaining very strongly See VOTING Page 2

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

2| News

MEET THE EDITORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brendan O’Sullivan MANAGING EDITORS Jared Penna Jessica Simms CREATIVE DIRECTOR Connor Lawless NEWS EDITOR Emily Flamme ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS Chatwan Mongkol Kalleen Rose Ozanic OPINION EDITOR Toyloy Brown III ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR Michael Sicoli ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Emily DiSalvo ASSOCIATE ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Ashley Pelletier SPORTS EDITOR Riley Millette ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR Peter Piekarski DESIGN EDITOR Michael Clement PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Morgan Tencza PODCAST PRODUCER Xavier Cullen COPY EDITOR Nicole McIsaac THE QUINNIPIAC CHRONICLE is the proud recipient of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors’ award for College Newspaper of the Year in New England for 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2015-16.

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The Quinnipiac Chronicle

October 28, 2020

Faculty members fight against female oppression

By MELINA KHAN Staff Writer

Quinnipiac University faculty members are leading the fight against gender-based violence through multidisciplinary work and research efforts.

From professors in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Communications to the provost of the university, the issue of gender-based violence is of leading importance in their professional work.

Provost Debra Liebowitz, who has a background working on issues of gender and international politics, said it is not surprising that there are experts in the field across campus.

“Our curriculum deals with very different kinds of issues, so these things are relevant whether you’re talking about healthcare, or the law or literature,” Liebowitz said.

Liebowitz said issues of inequality such as gender are important because it structures our society.

“I think it’s incredibly important to think about the ways in which axes of equality or inequality intersect with categories of identity to shape people’s experiences,” Liebowitz said.

It is important to raise awareness of gender issues to promote change in our community, according to Liebowitz.

“I think it behooves us in the community to work on awareness because it is in part the awareness that is what’s going to allow individuals to change their behavior but also is going to allow others to feel like they have the voice to speak out about what happened,” Liebowitz said.

Anthropology professor Hillary Haldane said her work in the field is important because gender-based violence “is a problem found in every single country on the planet.”

According to Haldane, it is necessary to remain transparent on these issues in our own community.

“There is a reason all universities have Title IX policies and coordinators,” Haldane

CONTRIBUTED BY HILLARY HALDANE

Anthropology professor Hillary Haldane (left) and two of her students visit Morocco as part of their research about gender-based violence in 2019. said. “And this is a good thing, being transparent about our efforts to end violence will make us eventually a much safer and equitable place for all genders, for all peoples on our campus.”

However, across a nearly 30-year career researching gender-based violence, Haldane said her work has shifted.

“Humans have always had a capacity for violence,” Haldane said. “What is unique about the violence we are confronting today is how it has been shaped by capitalism and colonialism.”

Psychology professor Penny Leisring shared that her work, rooted in issues of domestic violence, has also shifted with the times to extend beyond physical forms of partner violence. For example, she began conducting research studies on cyber forms

of abuse in romantic relationships.

Media studies professor Nancy Worthington, who began working on gender issues as part of a larger interest in identity in the media, has also seen gender-based violence change in cyber capacities.

“I think mainstream media has gotten more responsible about its portrayal of (gender-based violence), but there are insular online spaces that condone it in alarming ways,” Worthington said.

Worthington also discussed promoting gender equity at Quinnipiac and beyond.

“It’s really important to be open to learning about experiences that transcend your own and that challenge ways of thinking that seem normal or common sense,” Worthington said.

Jones: ‘I don’t understand why Donald Trump discourages mail-in voting’ VOTING from cover about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster.”

On the other hand, democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden encourages mail-in voting.

“Voting by mail is safe and secure,” Biden tweeted on Aug. 14. “And don’t take my word for it: Take it from the President, who just requested his mail-in ballot for the Florida primary on Tuesday.”

Jones said she thinks Trump’s recommendations to the American public are hypocritical.

“I don’t understand why Donald Trump discourages mail-in voting,” Jones said. “Especially with the current pandemic and also considering that he has voted by mail in the past.”

In Connecticut, the pre-election voter registration deadline was Oct. 27, and could have been done by signing up online, mailing in or going in person.

Connecticut also has an Election Day voter registration option. According to CT.gov, if a person wants to register the day of the election, there is a designated location in each town that is not at the polling place where they can do so. People planning to register the day of will need proof of their identity and residency.

Election Day is Nov. 3, and the polling centers in Connecticut will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

People will need a form of identification that meets one of three criteria: name and address,

name and signature or name and photograph.

There are 800 polling centers across the state, according to Gabe Rosenberg, spokesperson for the Connecticut Secretary of the State.

In the handbook for in-person voting, Connecticut laid out its guidelines. Masks are not mandatory for voters because “it can’t be when it comes to voting rights,” according to Rosenburg. However, poll workers are required to wear a mask.

Each polling center will have Plexiglas panels at each worker-voter interaction point as well as markers for social distancing. Voting booths will be sanitized in between voters.

For more information on where each person’s designated polling center is or about voting in general, vist https://portal.ct.gov/.

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October 28, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

News |3

Game design professor receives $25,000 grant from Epic Games

By GRACE MCGUIRE Contributing Writer

A Quinnipiac University professor earned a $25,000 grant from Epic Games for developing a video game, which shows middle school-aged kids the ploys used in vaping ads.

Gregory Garvey, Quinnipiac professor of game design and development, and Veronica Weser, assocaite research scientist at Yale University, developed a grant-winning virtual reality game called “Ad-Tacker: Media Literacy,” to confront the rising use of nicotine among teenagers.

“The (electronic) cigarette company has been really embroiled in this controversy, where many people claim that the advertisement they created for their product were specifically targeting young kids,” said Weser, who works within the center for health and learning games at Yale. “I thought it would be really valuable to make a game, something that would be really entertaining and hold teens’ attention, but also give them information about advertisements and how these advertisers were trying to reach kids through ads.”

In this game that is primarily developed for research purposes, the player can analyze the Juul Labs Inc. ad to view its components with more objectivity.

“Someone wears the Oculus headset, the virtual reality headset, and you start in a virtual place where you look around and they’re giant virtual screens of ads,” Garvey said. “Then you would be able to enter a room with just the Juul ad and then you could start taking it apart and you would remove elements within the ad.”

Weser collaborated with Garvey and five students from his “Unreal Engine” course to develop the project in the fall 2019 semester.

“The students actually developed the code for it, which is the type of visual programming called blueprints, and they also developed the assets,” Garvey said. “Veronica (Weser) and I more or less guided the process.”

Garvey no longer teaches the “Unreal Engine” course, but this grant from Epic Games has allowed him to offer internships to his former students so they can continue to help with the project. Garvey also bought virtual reality headsets for all involved, so their meetings can

take place virtually within their video game.

In addition to the internships, Garvey and Weser plan to redevelop an augmented reality version of the game using the grant money, so it can be used on mobile phones.

“So we’re thinking of an augmented reality version ... or extended reality, where the ads are actually in the environment that you’re looking at,” Garvey said. “With augmented reality you combine virtual elements with what you see in the real world.”

According to Garvey, the ideal outcome would be that seeing the ads in the player’s actual environment will change the way the player views the ad.

Garvey, Weser and the five student interns started meeting last week to begin the new phase of their game designing and development.

“I think it’s going to be a really fun and interesting project, and it’s really cool to be working on this,” Weser said.

So far, a prototype has not been released, but all involved are ready to make a change in the community.

“The intent is to develop a game that leads to positive behavioral change,” Garvey said.

ILLUSTRATION BY KARA KACHMAR

Controversy behind the closure of WQUN radio station

By CHATWAN MONGKOL Associate News Editor

After over a year of WQUN’s silence, Quinnipiac University sold its controversial AM radio station to Clark Media.

“Quinnipiac completed the sale of the radio station’s transmitter towers and property on Denslow Hill Road to Vertical Bridge on July 31, 2020, and is in the process of transferring the station’s license to Clark Media,” said John Morgan, associate vice president for public relations.

The university filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Oct. 9, to assign WQUN’s license to the new owner. The station’s call sign was changed to WATX in May 2020, according to the FCC database.

Clark Media is a New Hampshire-based company that is owned by Clark Smidt, a broadcast advisor and a radio programmer based in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Chronicle reached out to Smidt but did not receive a response.

Vertical Bridge is a Florida-based owner and operator of communications infrastructure and locations in the United States. According to its

website, it owns over 280,000 properties across the country as well as seven towers and two rooftops in Hamden, Connecticut.

Since the property that housed the old station on Whitney Avenue was not a part of the sale, Morgan said the university will determine its use during the master facilities planning process.

Quinnipiac bought WQUN in 1996 for $500,000 and started to air in February 1997. It stopped broadcasting in May 2019 and was officially closed in June 2019. According to the FCC, WQUN needed to resume broadcasting before June 2, 2020 or it would lose its license.

WQUN went back on the air in May 2020 and went silent again in June 2020. As a result, the license will now expire on April 1, 2022.

As the Chronicle reported in January 2019, former Vice President for Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell said the decline of students’ interests in the radio industry led to the closure. However, students and a former employee said otherwise.

Emma Spagnuolo, former general manager of WQAQ, the student-run radio station at Quinnipiac, said over 100 members were involved

with WQAQ at the time, according to the Chronicle’s report in February 2019.

“For administration to say that students aren’t interested in radio as a career is simply inaccurate,” Spagnuolo said, as quoted in the same report.

Even over a year after that, current WQAQ General Manager Andrew White said students’ interests have not slowed down.

“In fact, due to COVID-19, we have more shows than we have had in recent years this year,” White said.

Morgan said the decision to close the station down was difficult to make but it came after carefully considering the number of students who wanted to complete internships there.

Pam Landry, an operation manager and a midday host for WQUN who was not allowed to give media interviews after the decision to close was announced, said it was heartbreaking, and it was hard to believe the administration’s reason considering the number of interns at the time.

“I honestly don’t know what the real reasons were behind the decision to close WQUN,” Landry said. “But I can tell you that President

CONNOR LAWLESS/CHRONICLE

Quinnipiac sold the WQUN radio station in July. It has been shut down since June 2019 due to a decline in interest of internships.

(Judy) Olian never set foot inside the door of the radio station. Of course she was invited, both before and after we learned of her decision to close us down.”

Unlike Olian and her administration, Landry said former President John Lahey was an ardent supporter.

“The staff was never afforded the opportunity to meet with President Olian and, perhaps, discuss setting some goals that might have kept our transmitter on,” Landry said.

As Quinnipiac spokesperson, Morgan did not comment on that matter.

According to the FCC database, the station went silent because of financial reasons. Morgan said the university wanted to shift its revenue into something more students and employers would be interested in, like the podcasting studio that opened earlier this year.

White said podcasts are becoming more relevant. He was glad Quinnipiac was able to present the options of having live commercial radio air time and turning recordings into podcasts.

“This is something that many universities can’t provide its students, and we are very grateful for that privilege,” White said.

The suspension of WQUN sparked criticism from within the university and surrounding communities as Hamden resident and Hamden Zoning Enforcement Officer Holly Masi created a petition to stop the closure.

“I started the petition and wanted to save the station because I truly love local community radio, and WQUN was a staple in our community for a long time,” Masi said.

Even though Landry said the voice from the communities was loud, as the petition received over 1,000 signatures, it failed to avail.

“The former staff of WQUN was greatly touched by those who tried to save the radio station,” Landry said. “It was a testament to our work and how important it was to so many.”

Besides creating a sense of community by promoting local businesses and events, Masi said the radio station was able to connect with people in real time through the broadcasters.

However, she said she is happy to see someone who is a seasoned radio professional and a radio lover bought the station.

“I’m hopeful that the new owner will use his expertise and passion to help resurrect the station in some way and to bring back some of the local personalities like Brian Smith, Pam Landry and Ray Andrewsen who are all well known and revered in the community,” Masi said. “I’d also like to help with this endeavor.”

4| O p i n i o n

October 28, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Opinion All talk, no action

Quinnipiac needs to make real change to combat anti-LBGTQ sentiments

BY LINDSEY DOWNEY Contributing Writer

Last weekend, a mother announced on the Quinnipiac Parents Facebook page that her son, Peter Jordan, was withdrawing from the university due to several weeks of targeted harassment in his dorm based on his sexual orientation.

The Quinnipiac University community has rallied behind the response to the incident with the Gender and Sexuality Alliance’s (GSA) petition, which called on the university to make several administrative changes to better support the LGBTQ community. The petition received over 1,700 signatures. While it is encouraging to see such a widespread and fast response, it’s important to note that these issues are not new, and this is not the first attempt to work with the university to improve the social experience for LGBTQ students.

Quinnipiac’s response, as seen in Tuesday’s email, was too little, too late. President Judy Olian’s email avoided responsibility and made vague and empty promises.

That said, homophobia is not new at Quinnipiac.

Jordan’s story is a familiar one to queer students on campus. Quinnipiac may seem like a welcoming school, but for many of us, just trying to exist here is a struggle.

Resources for LGBTQ students, like gender-neutral bathrooms, housing options and support networks are limited as well as hard to locate. Queer faculty do not have a platform given by the university. When budget cuts were introduced this summer, our minority faculty and staff, including 100% of the LGBTQ public safety officers, were hit the hardest by furloughs and job losses, according to Paul Violano, president of the Public Safety Officer’s Association. Safe Zone training, which prepares faculty and staff to support LGBTQ students, was discontinued by the university years ago.

LGBTQ students are forced to jump through hoops of emails and waiting periods to get basic accommodations. It is even extremely difficult for students to change their name or add their pronouns on Zoom, leaving many misrepresented and misgendered by professors and classmates. Many students do not even know what resources are available to them, as they are not actively promoted by the university, unless you often find yourself reading through our Title IX webpage, which you shouldn’t have to do for simple information.

Even something as simple as using the bathroom can be a source of stress, seeing how the university only has a dozen gender-neutral restrooms spread out across all three campuses, and they are not even in every building.

Students that do know about their limited options still have to fight for things such as a change to their preferred name on a QCard or being in proper housing.

Last year, I wrote about the challenges LGBTQ students face when it comes to housing procedures at Quinnipiac. I spent the rest of the school year working with the Student Government Association (SGA) on a proposal for Residential Life that would create more gender-inclusive housing options for all upperclassmen, LGBTQ-friendly housing and a living-learning community (LLC) for first-year students.

But school administration was more interested in telling us reasons it couldn’t happen instead of working with us, so nothing has changed. However, I do wonder if this incident in Irma would have happened at all if Jordan had been able to live with an accepting community on campus.

“Our job here as students is to learn and go to classes — the administration is in charge of making sure we have a safe environment and the resources to do that. Currently, it is cultivating an environment that makes LGBTQ students feel alienated and perpetuates the violence against us.”

– LINDSEY DOWNEY

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL CLEMENT

When I was president of the GSA, it was not uncommon for students to come to the club with questions. While I wish more students came with questions about relationships or more light-hearted topics, far too many would instead come asking for advice on dealing with being uncomfortable on campus or having unaccepting roommates. Many of them would rather go to their peers than ask for the university to do something, and can you really blame them?

The university has no problem hosting town halls to discuss inclusive excellence and diversity, but when it comes to making actual change it consistently falls short. For over a year GSA has been asking administration to do something as simple as complete a short survey for The Campus Pride Index, which allows us to objectively see where the university stands as an LGBTQ supportive institution, and we don’t even have that.

In its statement responding to this incident, Quinnipiac referenced its own 10-Point Plan for Racial Justice. It created the plan in July after a former student created a petition that circulated the community this summer in response to the dozens of stories shared on the QUBobcatsForJustice Instagram page.

This list is just another example of the university’s inaction, as we have yet to see the results of many of these promises. Of course, some of the goals are more long term. Still, it’s disappointing to see something as simple as releasing demographic information on faculty has yet to be completed.

The statement sent out on Oct. 20, did not even mention a plan of action for the school, but it did make sure to blame students’ for their inaction. Olian warned against passive bystanders and asked students to familiarize themselves with school policy, despite the GSA’s statement asking for administrative change.

While is important for students to be active bystanders, it is not solely their responsibility to protect LGBTQ students, or any students. Our job here as students is to learn and go to classes — the administration is in charge of making sure we have a safe environment and the resources to do that. Currently, it is cultivating an environment that makes LGBTQ students feel alienated and perpetuates the violence against us.

Not only that, but it is hard to believe that reporting incidents of bias will actually have an effect when students lack support from the school in the first place.

This begins with things as simple as Resident Assistants (RAs) not feeling empowered enough by existing training to handle incidents like Jordan’s. But it goes as far as the school not accurately reporting the number of reported hate crimes on campus in its 2018 Clery Report. In addition to that, the university had known about the incidents happening in Irma for weeks but only now decided to seriously investigate it.

Olian’s statement went on to mention an LGBTQ fellowship position that has yet to be filled and closed out with an uninspiring call for students to be given basic rights and respect. While these are two things that LGBTQ students are not guaranteed here at Quinnipiac, it is not ambitious enough for the university to start its plans there. We need tangible change.

We are tired of being brushed over and having to fight and protest for an iota of respect. The reforms listed in GSA’s official statement were not “recommendations” as stated in the school’s response. Rather, we consider these demands, the bare minimum that Quinnipiac can do to show that it is on our side. We are tired of being met with silence, and we won’t stop fighting until our campus is a safe place for all members of the LGBTQ community.

October 28, 2020

Opinion|5

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Opinion Safety shouldn’t be exclusive to students

Chartwells employees deserve COVID-19 tests as much as anyone else

BY ASHLEY PELLETIER Associate Arts & Life Editor

In the past few years, there have been countless articles written about Quinnipiac Dining under Chartwells. However, in the age of COVID-19, holding the organization that runs our dining halls accountable is more important than ever.

While there has been a collective conversation about whether or not faculty and staff should be tested, I think that we have largely forgotten that the people working in the dining halls may have an even greater impact on the public health of the Quinnipiac community. If you don’t have a kitchen in your dorm or just don’t have the energy to cook, odds are you are getting a majority of your food from dining halls, where food is prepared by many different employees in the same space.

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate everything that the dining hall workers do for us, but Chartwells is neglecting the safety of its employees and the overarching Quinnipiac community. It should be testing its employees just as much or even more than the student body.

With the announcement of a Chartwells employee testing positive for COVID-19 after working in the York Hill Dining Hall, it has become quite apparent that we need Chartwells to be more transparent about its operations. It also needs to regularly test its employees for COVID-19.

The email sent to the Quinnipiac community claimed that the employee that tested positive did not have contact with any students and had very limited contact with other employees, but that does not mean that they couldn’t have spread COVID-19 or that nobody is at risk of catching it themselves. This is exactly why dining hall employees should be tested the same way we are.

A large portion of the student body is tested every week, and the punishment for skipping testing can be as severe as being suspended. With that much pressure being put on students, why isn’t Chartwells held to the same standards? The

university seems to forget that while students spend most or all of their time on campus, they are certainly not the only people who are present on a day-to-day basis.

There are so many Chartwells employees who work hard to make sure that Quinnipiac students have access to good food. They deserve the same peace of mind and protection that students receive.

At the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, dining halls were shut down for deep cleaning when two employees tested positive for COVID-19. In Quinnipiac’s case, no such thing has happened in order to fully prevent the spread of the virus in the busiest building on the York Hill campus. Other dining hall workers are being put at risk by a lack of systematic testing.

While QU Dining has committed to closing down both main dining halls for cleaning at specified times during the day, that is not all that must be done to protect our community. We must do our part to keep ourselves and the people who make our food safe.

The easiest way to defend our community is to order through the Boost Mobile app. For the most part, Boost is a way to get food from the dining hall without worrying about close contact with dining hall staff. Unfortunately, there aren’t always a lot of options through Boost, but it is a safer option than directly interacting with the people making your food.

Another way to increase the community’s safety is to buy from the Bobcat Den or York Hill convenience stores.

If you have a kitchen in your dorm, buying groceries from the convenience store is a great way to limit your contacts in the dining hall. Plus, it is so much more fulfilling when you make your own food in the way you want it.

When it comes down to it, remember that Chartwells employees are just as, if not more, concerned about COVID-19 as Quinnipiac students are. They are essential employees who have to support themselves and their families. Chartwells should be making it easier for its employees to take

EMILY DISALVO/CHRONICLE

Chartwells employees should receive COVID-19 tests to protect themselves and the people around them.

care of themselves, and a huge part of that is regular testing.

Widespread testing would provide peace of mind, not just for the employees being tested, but for the community as a whole. It is known that there can be asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19, and I know I think about that whenever I leave my dorm room. I am sure I’m not the only one who does.

We can all agree that we want to stay on campus for the remainder of the semester. In order to do that, we have to work together and advocate for safer community practices.

Obviously that includes social distancing and wearing masks, but it should also mean regular, cheap testing for all faculty, staff and employees who work on Quinnipiac’s campuses.

The WNBA’s social justice efforts are underappreciated The next year, when President Donald Trump was furious that NFL players knelt during the national anthem, WNBA The WNBA has always been overshadowed by the NBA. players either knelt or did not appear during the anthem. PeoThe social justice initiatives it has completed are not promot- ple need to realize how much courage it took for these players ed enough. At the beginning of July, the league announced to voice their frustrations with the injustices that occur in the that it would dedicate its 2020 season to social justice, how- country, knowing there’s a chance they could lose their jobs. ever the league has been committed to change before 2020. They bravely demonstrated their anger through press conferIn 2016, the reigning champions Minnesota Lynx held ences and symbolic gestures like the shirts with powerful mesa press conference before their game to talk about the police sages and displays during the anthem. shootings that happened against Philando Castile and Alton “What is happening now is not new,” said Brunson, who is Sterling in Dallas, Texas. Rebekkah Brunson, captain of the now an assistant coach for the Lynx. “Racism and unjust photeam, led the conference. Three WNBA teams were fined by bic fear of Black males and disregard of Black females is very the league for wearing Black Lives Matter shirts. They wore real. When we look at the facts, it’s hard to deny there’s a real the shirts for the deaths of people like Castile and Sterling problem in our society. If we take this time to see that this is a who were wrongfully killed by the police. The community and human issue and speak out together, we can greatly decrease teams fought with the league for the fines to get dropped. fear and create change.”

Star player Maya Moore, who last played for the Lynx, has been one of the most popular athletes and proponents in all of sports when it comes to social justice changes. In 2019, she decided to skip the season and the following season because she wanted to commit herself to helping those who are wrongfully convicted.

Moore started to speak out more about criminal justice reform in 2016 because of the series of police shootings of unarmed Black men in Dallas, Texas.

Moore was determined to release Jonathon Irons from prison due to his wrongful conviction. Irons was only 16 when the court tried him as an adult and convicted him of breaking into a home in O’Fallon, Missouri, and PHOTO BY JULIO AGUILAR/GETTY IMAGES In the WNBA bubble, players wore shirts with seven red bullet holes, referencing the shots that Jacob Blake received from an officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

BY KEITH SAVAGE Contributing Writer

shooting a homeowner twice. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison. At the age of 40, Irons was finally released in March, and Moore is a huge reason why after she used her fame in basketball to raise awareness of Iron’s story . She and Irons are now married but are not done making changes for the future. Moore and other WNBA players need more respect for what they have done and continue to do on social justice fronts.

The WNBA’s players are not afraid to call out anybody if they think something wrong is happening. The league’s players are unafraid of having their reputations tarnished as well as sacrificing their earnings even though they do not make that much money when compared to the NBA and other women’s basketball leagues overseas that can pay players three times more than in the United States, according to The Guardian.

“Somebody like LeBron James does not have to worry about his livelihood being threatened by his activism,” said Errin Haines who spoke to CNN. “As opposed to, you know, a WNBA player who we already know was being paid significantly less, who may be marginalized for taking a stand around these issues, and whose career could frankly be threatened by speaking up around these issues.”

Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler is a United States senator who has been publicly against the Black Lives Matter movement and all of the activism the WNBA has done. The Dream players do not care and have publicly said they want to vote her out of office. Many players care more about social change than their playing careers. Players across the league and players for Atlanta have worn shirts that say “Vote Warnock,’’ who is the person that Loeffler is running against in the upcoming election.

Even though Loeffler is practically the Atlanta Dream players’ boss, they do not care and would rather get released or traded than support their owner. Most average people would not openly oppose their boss. These players have courage.

The WNBA, like other professional sports, decided not to play on Aug. 27, 2020 because of the police shooting of Jacob Blake. The players did not just want to strike, they wanted justice. They all stood together wearing shirts that said “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor. They also wore shirts with Blake’s name on them.

The WNBA needs more respect now. It has been making major social justice efforts for years, but the players still do not get the admiration that they deserve. When will that change? Hopefully it starts today.

6|LGBTQ Experience

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Satine Bernsten Freshman film, television and media arts major

Satine Berntsen had only been out as a transgender male to two friends before he came to Quinnipiac. Here, he was hoping to fully embrace his identity.

So far, Berntsen said the majority of the students at Quinnipiac have been very accepting. He is a film, television and media arts major, and said the students in this department have welcomed him for who he is.

But due to the lack of gender-inclusive housing for freshmen, Berntsen lives in a single room.

“It started off with a question of, will I be forced to room with people of the same sex as I am,” Berntsen said. “I am transgender, female to male, and that would produce a lot of gender dysphoria for me, which I was not comfortable with.”

The Office of Residential Life answered Bernsten’s questions and told him that he could choose anyone he liked as his roommate. However, sas an incoming freshman, he didn’t know anyone.

“I couldn’t go out and ask, ‘Hey are you comfortable having a transgender person as your roommate?” Berntsen said. “You have to disclose that you are trans, or however you identify. You have to tell them and they have to be OK with it."

Bernsten got a single room after asking if there was any way he could cut down on the number of people he would have to live with so there would be less people he had to come out to and be accepted by.

Not every aspect of his transition to college has been smooth, however. Bernsten said that none of his professors asked him for his pronouns, forcing him to come out to each of his professors separately, or deciding whether it was worth it correcting them when they used the wrong pronoun.

“I had to tell them my pronouns and tell them I was trans,” Bernsten said. “If we had some way to have teachers ask pronouns, even in the beginning. It’s the most basic thing, and it would help a lot.”

On top of not asking for pronouns, Bernsten said some professors have just been downright rude. After attending the protest on the steps of the library feeling proud of his identity, Bernsten said he went inside to wash his hands and used the men’s restroom.

“I walked in and felt immediate regret and shame,” Bernsten said.

“There was a faculty (member) in there talking on the phone … they got out at the same time as me and looked at me and said, ‘You know there’s a girl’s restroom, right?’ And then laughed and walked away.”

PHOTO FROM SATINE BERNSTEN

When Shaniya Harper came out to her family at the pride parade in New York, it was a special day.

“That was a pretty wonderful experience,” Harper said.

In contrast, during her two months at Quinnipiac, Harper said she feels that the LGBTQ community is largely “ignored.”

“It’s kind of disheartening,” Harper said. “I came here thinking I could be out. I am regardless, because I can’t be shattered. But it’s like, 'ew. I don’t want to be here.'”

While Harper said she has been openly identifying as bisexual, her friends that identify as LGBTQ have avoided coming out.

“My friends are too scared to be out, and it’s like, ‘This sucks,’” Harper said. “Now we have to be closeted, and this whole thing sucks.

Why do people have to be this way?”

Harper said her friends are scared to be themselves in fear of being targeted for homophobic acts and bullying. So far, Harper has not been bullied, and she’s hoping that nothing like what happened to Jordan ever happens again.

“I figured it would be a little more welcoming and not as cold, a little warmer than this at least,” Harper said. “They’re like, ‘We’re a diverse school,’ and I’m like, ‘You all are just using that as a marketing tactic.’

I can see it now. It’s a marketing tactic and in a way, it is not working.”

October 28, 2020

LGBTQ

After learning of a hom students at Quinnip

By EMILY

Arts & L

Last week, the Quinnipiac University community heard Pet

As a freshman, he came to college in hopes it would be a pl

Instead, he left campus in mid-October, not because of COV Quinnipiac has been criticized in recent months for a non-re university, LGBTQ students and their allies petitioned and — an email from President Judy Olian.

Shaniya Harper

A petition that garnered over 1,700 signatures laid out seve gender-inclusive housing and mandatory bias training to ma ideas were mentioned in Olian’s email.

Freshman journalism

“With the climate on campus, I really didn’t expect that ma and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) and senior psychology major me and said they have seen my movement. I really didn’t ex

major

The protest following the email from Olian consisted of stu two days in a row, holding signs asking for the university to

Jordan’s story isn’t the only experience of being LGBTQ at Quinnipiac due to bullying, many of them have experienced they are supposed to call home.

The feeling of Quinnipiac as “cold” stems from how “different” Harper said she feels.

“Everybody else is clearly similar or the same,” Harper said. “I already am different because I am Black and everybody else is, you know, white. Everybody else is similar and not standing out in any sort of way, and it makes it easier to spot who is who.”

Harper called Olian’s email response to the incident, “underwhelming.”

“In that statement, there was nothing,” Harper said. “Nothing to be seen, nothing to look at, nothing to look forward to. Just nothing. It’s like they’re depending on GSA to come up with stuff so they can just lowkey take the credit for it.”

GSA has been one of the only outlets that has made Harper feel at home so far at Quinnipiac.

“It’s so nice being and communicating with other people in the community like me,” Harper said. “It makes me feel a lot better being here. If it wasn’t for GSA, I wouldn’t be here, period.”

Cuttle, who identifies as an ally to the LGBTQ community, said that creating GSA as a safe space has been her mission.

“Everyone on GSA this year is wonderful,” Cuttle said. “They are so sweet, and we end our meetings and I can’t wait to have another meeting.”

“It’s

so nice being and

communicating with other people in the community like me. It makes me feel a lot better being here. If it wasn’t for GSA, I wouldn’t be here, period.

"

-Shaniya Harper PHOTO FROM SHANIYA HARPER

October 28, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

LGBTQ Experience|7

DESIGN BY MICHAEL CLEMENT

Lauren Goebert Senior behavioral

neuroscience major

PHOTO FROM LAUREN GOEBERT

Q @ QU

“I am comfortable

showing affection.

It’s a big thing in my

mophobic incident, LGBTQ piac share their stories

relationships. I want to

be out and open and not hide it.

Y DISALVO

Life Editor

ter Jordan’s story.

VID-19, but because he was bullied for being who he is. esponse to racial injustice. After Jordan’s departure from the protested against the administration's response to the incident

en demands for the administration, which included more ake the university a more welcoming place. Neither of these

any signatures,” said Athena Cuttle, president of the Gender r. “But it was really nice. Some professors have reached out to xpect all of this.”

udents gathered on the steps of the Arnold Bernhard Library o take action.

Caris Disharoon Junior nursing major

t Quinnipiac. While none of the following students have left d what it is like to feel different or out of place at a school

jokes and claim to be allies. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. can't have

both ways.

Caris Disharoon didn’t like to talk about their identity in their hometown, because they knew most of the people there weren’t very accepting. Disharoon came out as gender non-binary at Quinnipiac.

While many of the people Disharoon came out to seemed accepting, they were surprised at the derogatory words these people used.

“It felt kind of weird because they’d say they were supportive of me, but then they would call guys the f-word,” Disharoon said.

“They would make jokes about gay men, using gay as an insult.

They’d support me and turn around and make jokes that made me really uncomfortable.”

Disharoon said they can’t think of a time they were personally bullied at Quinnipiac, however, they do have some frustrations.

“People like to assume my pronouns, like people always refer to me with she/her, but I don’t really want that for me,” Disharoon said. ”I have had it with staff, I have had it with students.”

When friends slip up and use the wrong pronouns, Disharoon said they are quick to correct themselves. However, others continue to blatantly disregard their preference for they/them pronouns.

“It feels kind of like being ignored,” Disharoon said. “It sucks.”

Disharoon said they have felt uncomfortable correcting professors in class about pronouns, but like Bernsten, they were never asked at the beginning of the semester about which pronoun they prefer.

“It’s my place to say which pronouns I use, but it still feels a little weird,” Disharoon said.

At Quinnipiac, Disharoon said that people saying they support the LGBTQ communtiy and then acting otherwise is a common theme.

“They make these insensitive jokes and claim to be allies,” Disharoon said. “It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It’s something you can’t have both ways … you can’t have your transphobic joke while still being an ally to trans people. It doesn’t work that way.”

In order to make Quinnipiac a more accepting place, Disharoon said that people need to be educated how to ask for pronouns and how to be a genuine ally.

“If things had been taken seriously as they were happening, (Jordan) might not have had to leave,” Disharoon said. “In theory, this kid could have stayed, and he could have had a better student experience. The way the university handled it was just absolutely inappropriate.”

make these insensitive

It's something you

”

-Lauren Goebert

lace that he could embrace his identity as a gay man.

“They

Lauren Goebert came out as gay when she was 14. When she came to Quinnipiac, it was the first thing she told her roommates. No one has ever bullied her for her identity here, so she was saddened to hear about Jordan’s experience.

“I have never personally seen any discrimination,” Goebert said. “This is the first time I have heard about it on campus, which really surprised me.”

Goebert said she is not scared to be herself at Quinnipiac despite the fact that most couples walking around campus holding hands are straight.

“I am comfortable showing affection,” Goebert said. “It’s a big thing in my relationships. I want to be out and open and not hide it.”

Part of the reason why Goebert feels she has been so accepted at Quinnipiac is that she said she is “straight passing.” She said many people can’t tell that she is gay, so she isn’t treated any differently because of it.

“If I fit the stereotype, I think people would be more, not unaccepting, but more uncomfortable about it,” Goebert said.

Despite her positive experience, Goebert is calling for change and action following the bullying that Jordan experienced.

“I’d love to see them suspended or at least removed from campus,” Goebert said. “That’s just disgusting and shouldn’t be tolerated whatsoever.”

"

-Caris Disharoon PHOTO FROM CARIS DISHAROON

8|Arts and Life

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Arts & Life

October 28. 2020

QUCHRONICLE.COM/ARTS-AND-LIFE ARTSLIFE@QUCHRONICLE.COM

From the stage to the screen Quinnipiac’s Fourth Wall Student Theater presents ‘4 A.M.’ virtually

By KELSEY PAUL Staff Writer

COVID-19 may have prevented an in-person audience from attending, but Quinnipiac University’s Fourth Wall Student Theater took the phrase “the show must go on” to a new level.

Adapting the production “4 A.M.,” by Jonathan Dorf, to be the “Stay-at-Home Edition,” the organization united to put on four virtual productions from Friday, Oct. 23, to Sunday, Oct. 25. The show was streamed live on QU Fourth Wall’s YouTube channel so anyone could attend, no matter their location.

On the original “4 A.M.” production’s website, the show is described as “a story about teens trying to navigate the night and their fears and dreams as they search for connection.” The director of Quinnipiac’s production, senior Spanish major Julia Brignano, said that this show helped her understand the allure of nighttime.

She also expressed that as the director, she is happy with the way the shows turned out, despite the COVID-19 difficulties.

“I am so proud of the cast and crew for showing up,” Brigano said. “I’m proud of everybody who came out to audition, and of everybody who applied to be a part of our crew. The pandemic is an extremely stressful time for everybody, and to have so many people who still want to spend their time making amazing theater is so special, and I am so grateful.”

It wasn’t just the performance that had to be done virtually.

Each step in the process of putting together a show had to be modified for the sake of public health.

“Everything from production meetings, rehearsals, performances and figuring out props and costumes was done without anyone being in the same physical space,” said Emma Poirier, a sophomore biology major and stage manager. “I think the biggest challenge for this production as a whole was getting that actor-audience connection through a screen.”

"The pandemic is an extremely stressful time for everybody and to have so many people who still want to spend their time making amazing theater is so special, and I am so grateful."

-Julia Brigano, senior Spanish major

SCREENSHOT FROM YOUTUBE

Quinnipiac University's Fourth Wall Student Theater '4 A.M.' streamed its performances on YouTube via Zoom. This scene involves two officers entering Ellie's home at 4 a.m.

Poirier added that many of the features of a regular show that are have more than is originally perceived. Despite their different typically used to aid the actors’ movements had to be omitted, too. personalities, all of them face common difficulties such as “The entire performance hinged on the actors alone, there sheer loneliness in the middle of the night, or even nightmares. weren't any set pieces or fancy lights to enhance their actions,” Through a series of monologues, songs and even writing letters, Poirier said. “I think this actually worked to our advantage the individuals expressed the concerns they assumed to be for this particular show because a lot of the characters are unique — but were rather universal. relatable, and all the actors are such great storytellers that I The show closed with the once-lonely DJ asserting his think the audience didn’t have trouble becoming invested with newfound truth, a seminal message that contrasted the original the characters, even through a screen.” inquiry, for all who feel that they are alone in feeling a particular Cast member and senior theater major Nicole Gibson, who way: “I know you’re out there.” played ensemble member Michelle, jogger Stephanie and a nightmare, had a similar sentiment about the modified show.

“It was not difficult to adapt this show to a modified socially distant version since everyone was 100% on board with putting the show in an online format,” Gibson said. “It was amazing to see how everyone could still be together, whether we were at Hamden or in our hometowns.”

Gibson added that this show, despite it having to be altered to fit COVID-19 regulations, had just as much importance to her in its message.

She additionally credited Brignano, Poirier and Janelle Rosales (another stage manager) with the success of the production.

“To me, the significance of the play is searching for connections at the most unexpected time and place,” Gibson said.

“Everyone has gotten so close as a cast and Julia, Emma, Janelle and the rest of the crew have been so wonderful in putting this show together under unusual circumstances.”

One of the show’s all-encompassing phrases, “Is anybody out there?” reflects one of the greater themes in the production — finding ties to others even under the most unpredictable and unusual circumstances, like in the middle of the night.

There are a variety of characters, all with different backgrounds and interests, who eventually find similarities among each other despite their surface-level differences.

As the show depicts, whether it be a jogger, PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY FOURTH WALL a modern day Romeo and Juliet, a pair at a Jonathan Dorf's '4 A.M.' was adapted by Quinnipiac University's Fourth sleepover or a solitary DJ, people almost always Wall Student Theater to be a virtual production.

October 28, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Arts and Life|9

book of the week Sen. Chris Murphy issues a withering analysis of gun violence in America in ‘The Violence Inside Us’

By EMILY DISALVO Arts & Life Editor

As a junkie for books by political leaders, I have become used to self-grandiose tales of legislative triumphs that are personally and professionally rewarding.

In Sen. Chris Murphy’s, “The Violence Inside Us,” he explains that he has spent his career in the Senate working toward a goal that has literally and figuratively been killed again and again.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, the Connecticut senator devoted his career to stopping gun violence at its source — the gun. Gun control is a hyper-partisan issue in Congress that often flares up in popularity in the days after the shooting and then tamps down like a fad.

For Murphy, passing gun control measures such as universal background checks isn’t a trend. After Sandy Hook, the whole country was talking about gun control. But what Murphy realized is that people die from gun violence every day, and no one talks about it.

Murphy is talking about Shane Oliver, who was shot in Hartford after a squabble between him and another man over a girl. He was 20 years old.

People like Oliver die over drug deals and disagreements in Hartford numerous times each year. Murphy, who lives in Wethersfield, realized his own privilege. While his suburban town borders Hartford, he understood the city line was enough to shield him from the violence that resulted from the poverty in Hartford’s North End. He was ashamed of how much the Newtown shooting of white children in a suburban town shocked him into action but the countless deaths like Oliver’s did not. In hopes to remedy America’s gun problem for every American, Murphy took action, and he describes this trajectory in the book.

Murphy begins by telling Oliver’s story and then gets into the biology of violence. He explains that every human being has a potential to invoke harm, yet America is significantly more violent

than other countries. For Murphy, the answer is simple.

“Why look for a more complicated answer when the simple one is staring you in the face?” Murphy wrote. “It’s easier to get a gun here than anywhere else. And it’s much easier to get your hands on a gun that will kill many people very quickly. And it’s easy to transport those weapons to your chosen place of assassination.”

Since the Sandy Hook shooting, Murphy has repetitively tried to introduce gun control measures. After major shootings, many Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have gotten on board with bans on assault rifles and background checks only to later be convinced by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that the complete commitment to zero gun control is the only way to keep this powerful lobby’s support.

Murphy’s frustration propelled him to give a 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor about the horrors that guns have wreaked on America. While no progress was made, he identifies this as a pivotal moment in his career, because he knows Americans, like parents of children who were lost to gun violence, were listening.

Beyond the gun, Murphy delved into the reasons that 20-yearolds like Oliver get into gun fights. It comes back to poverty and joblessness which also relates to race. Murphy, a white man from a Connecticut suburb, describes the fear he felt when visiting a school in Baltimore and heard gunshots outside. The kids inside went into lockdown as if they were just going to gym class — like they do it every day.

Many of America’s problems are related — race, poverty, violence and the inequity of the American experience. To me, this book laid out this history in a well-researched and logical way that transcended party lines. To read this book and not feel compelled to join the fight for a less violent America is impossible.

“There are some days, I admit, when I wonder why I couldn’t have accepted a different mission, where the pain and the hurt are not so manifest,” Murphy wrote in the final chapter. “But then, on those days, I remember who I was before 2012. And I try to convince myself that maybe, just maybe, I am uniquely suited to this moment.”

ILLUSTRATION CONNOR LAWLESS

Sen. Chris Murphy's book, 'The Violence Inside Us,' details many of America's societal problems and how they relate back to violence.

Life as a first-year in 2020

By LEXI PEPE

Contributing Writer

Going virtual As a first-year student myself, I was skeptical about attending school virtually. I had to consider a lot of things such as would I still make friends? What if my grades are affected?

How can I be involved while living remotely?

However, a lot of first-year students had the same concerns as me. A few commuters and remote students felt like they weren’t making any connections and building relationships among the Quinnipiac University community. Luckily, the Freshman Advisory Board, directed by Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett, came up with the Virtual Roommate Program. The board sent emails to all virtual students to help first-years socialize and get a chance to meet fresh faces from home. There was a link to a survey in the email that included questions about your major, hobbies and availability.

Ephemia Nicolakis, a graphic design major on the FirstYear Advisory Board, led the Virtual Roommate Program.

“The goal of the program was to produce a pair or small group that could hopefully form a friendship and, as a result, be there as a resource,” Nicolakis said.

Many students shared positive feedback about the programs that the First-Year Advisory Board put on.

“Our in-person roommate events were just as successful, as students were grouped at tables and discussions and games were conducted.” Nicolakis said.

Ellett was also a commuter student during his first year of college. He recommended first-year students seek out opportunities, rise out of their comfort zones and become involved in their interests.

For example, Ellett mentioned he could make policies focusing only on organizational change and what can be better, but he said he went above and beyond through his role as Chief Experience Officer and met with Quinnipiac students in a fun way by playing socially distanced “Head’s Up.” “Every Friday and Saturday night, I walked on campus...

I would walk around with popsicles, fruit and candy all individually wrapped,” Ellett said. “With my gloves on, I

would give a person a card, and they would hold it up to their friends, and if they guessed the word in ten seconds, I would give them a piece of candy or an apple.”

The Freshman Advisory Board meets every Tuesday night. Ellett said this week he would pitch the idea of making the program a recurring event to allow commuters and virtual students to meet more people and receive a fulfilling college experience.

Accommodations to virtual students At the beginning of the semester, an email was sent out to all virtual students telling them to email all of their professors outside of their major to let them know they live remotely. This year professors are holding office hours virtually to accommodate for social distancing and the online-only students.

Outside of office hours, virtual students who need extra help can contact the learning commons or go to MyQ and request a tutor. They will schedule a time to meet on Zoom and help students with any homework that may be troubling for them. If a student needs access to the library from home, they can log into the Arnold Bernhard Library database, which includes scholarly sources on a wide variety of disciplines.

However, there are some students who miss the taste of freedom they had at home.

“I’m excited to do the spring semester at home and get back to my job, make money again and do classes on Zoom at home,” said Amy Loberger, a first-year business management major.

Home can be seen as a safe place where everything is known. As it is, venturing out and trying to discover one’s self as an individual through a pandemic can be challenging. It is understandable why first-years may consider staying home for the spring semester.

There are a lot of factors to consider when returning to Quinnipiac in the spring: How many COVID-19 cases will there be? Is there a difference in academic performance virtually versus in-person?

As a first-year student, it is OK to feel homesick or isolated during these odd times, but it is important to remember there are resources out there to help.

Life on campus Many students living on campus have had a positive experience so far. According to Olivia Zevzavadjian, a first-year physical therapy major, she has been making friends safely on campus.

“I followed people on social media,” Zevzavadjian said. “I am usually an outgoing individual, so I always introduced myself if I saw a group of people outside on the quad or in the Student Center.”

Lots of students on campus have been going out of their way to meet new people, whether it be on their way to class, through social media, school clubs and more.

ILLUSTRATION CONNOR LAWLESS

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

10|Sports

October 28, 2020

Bitten by the bug

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE (2017)

There’s no better season to make up for lost time for Lauren Triglione

By RILEY MILLETTE Sports Editor

The injury bug is the one of the most feared phenomena in the sports world.

There’s almost nothing more brutal than working your hardest for your body and mind to be right for the season, then sustaining an injury once play starts. Yet, it happens far too often.

Quinnipiac University women’s soccer senior forward Lauren Triglione is no stranger to the bug.

The team has made it to the MAAC tournament every year since Triglione joined the team as a freshman in 2017. But she’s yet to play in a postseason game.

“She’s developed into one of our best players, and one of our best — if not the best — all-around players,” said Dave Clarke,

Quinnipiac women’s soccer head coach.

“You can play her at the back, you can play her in (the) midfield, you can play her up front. I think there’s an asterisk next to the development in the sense that her injuries have curtailed her postseason play.”

When the team played the MAAC tournament in Florida in 2017, Triglione was dealing with an illness. Her sophomore season was cut short due to a broken leg. Three games into her junior campaign, she suffered from illness again and was held out for the rest of the year.

But by no means should these setbacks detract from her career outlook. During her sophomore season in which she played 10 games, she was fourth on the team in points with nine, as she collected three goals and three assists.

Having proven herself to the coaching

staff, she was ready to make her junior year a turning point.

“She started the 2019 season on fire, involved in a lot of our goals and build-up play and then got sick again, and we had to shut her down,” Clarke said.

Triglione was understandably upset after the loss of her third season, according to Clarke. But he said that she’s equipped to handle that kind of setback.

“She puts a lot of things into perspective, and she’s like that with life in general,” Clarke said. “Being that way as a person and then also experiencing what she’s gone through as an athlete gives her a different perspective.”

Then, of course, COVID-19 reared its ugly head. Imagine being a senior in college, ready to play out your final season, knowing that your team is poised to make

Quinnipiac senior forward Lauren Triglione is ready to contribute after missing games in three straight seasons.

MORGAN TENCZA/CHRONICLE (2018)

its way to the MAAC tournament. Having never played in a postseason, the pandemic had to have come at the worst possible time.

But Triglione is looking at the light at the end of the tunnel.

“It’s been a blessing in disguise,” Triglione said. “I have missed time in the past and even though it stinks to not have a season this fall, I take it as an opportunity to get better. It just gives me more time to get prepped for a season. We never usually have this amount of time to focus on personal development, it’s usually hit the ground running when we get here in August and it’s team play, team play, team play because we’re gonna start games soon.”

Clarke agreed that the extra time before the season would do Triglione a service.

“She’s getting fitter, she’s getting back to being herself,” Clarke said. “It’s just a long road for her.”

Regardless of Triglione’s on-field talent, which Clarke glowed about several times, he also spoke about her leadership skills.

Even though this year’s graduating class includes just four members of the women’s soccer team, the group is greater than the sum of its parts.

“She may be one of the ones that they go to,” Clarke said. “There are four leaders on the team, and Trigs may be the one that you got to with the most problems or the most problematic situation because she probably has that laissez-faire attitude to life.”

This season is still a wild card for Triglione. Even though injury may not keep her out, her major might. She’s scheduled to spend the upcoming spring semester at the University of North Carolina (UNC) as a part of its athletic training program. This poses a difficult challenge to split time between school and athletics.

“She has to do what she has to do for her major, hopefully we can work it out. If the school has to fly her up and down from North Carolina every weekend, we’ll do that,” Clarke said with a chuckle.

In today’s climate, it’s hard to picture what the world will look like in five months.

It’s hard to know what it’ll look like even five weeks from now.

But Triglione sees that there’s no use in dwelling on what she can’t control. What she can control is her attitude.

“I’m thankful for it even though it’s not the picture-perfect ending I would have liked,” Triglione said.

October 28, 2020

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Sports|11

Pete’s Pond: Already breaking records

Quinnipiac freshman Ty Smilanic has already lived up to his hype

By PETER PIEKARSKI Associate Sports Editor

Freshman forward Ty Smilanic had quite the memorable moment — he became the highest drafted Bobcat in school history as the 74th pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.

“That was a really special moment for me and my family and to be the highest drafted player out of Quinnipiac University history that’s awesome too,” Smilanic said. “But I mean they’re such a great group of guys and teammates I have at Quinnipiac, they all texted me immediately after it happened.

So, I mean, it’s a cool achievement, but I’m just happy to be part of Quinnipiac hockey.”

Only 11 months removed from his commitment to Quinnipiac, Smilanic is now part of a potential national championship contender and his goal with this team is nothing short of that.

“I came out to Quinnipiac, and I just fell in love with the players they have here and the culture, the coaches,” Smilanic said. “I love the idea that hockey’s the No. 1 thing on campus, and that’s really cool to me. I could have gone to Michigan where maybe hockey’s third, fourth on the order. So I mean to come here and join a rich history of hockey and hopefully bring the first national championship back to Quinnipiac.”

During a press conference with men’s hockey head coach Rand Pecknold and Smilanic, Pecknold noted that he expected Smilanic to be drafted higher and that Florida got a steal of a pick.

And I couldn’t agree more with Pecknold’s statement as I had Smilanic going as high as the 31st pick. However, three separate injuries throughout this past season is what caused his draft stock to drop.

“He looks like a first-round talent to me,” Pecknold said. “He’s been dominant, he makes plays in small areas, he competes, he can skate. Elite level skater, great edges. So we’ve been really happy with him. I think he’s going to be, you know, one of the more dominant freshmen in our league this year.”

United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP) head coach Seth Appert helped develop Smilanic’s skill set over the last two years. Oddly enough, he used to be the head coach for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an ECAC Hockey conference member.

“Ty is an explosive, world-class skater,” Appert said to NHL.com. “He is certainly one of the most dynamic players of the draft and has shown that while playing through numerous injuries this season.”

Smilanic joined a team that engages every opponent with speed. The Bobcats create a lot of their offensive setups through odd-man rushes. Spacing is huge for his game as he likes to use his speed to force defensemen to create bigger gaps, allowing him to go to work.

His play style appears to mimic that of Quinnipiac’s best forward and newly instated senior captain Odeen Tufto.

Players with speed and incredible hands love to deke and dangle in every area of the rink.

“Smilanic is an excellent skater,” said Ben Kerr, a hockey scout for lastwordonsports.com. “He has very good top-end speed and excellent acceleration ... Smilanic combines his strong skating with good puckhandling skills. He can challenge defenders and take them wide and get to the net ... He has a very good wrist shot and a quick release. It is powerful and accurate and his quick hands can change the angle just before shooting, fooling goalten-

CONTRIBUTED BY TY SMILANIC

Quinnipiac freshman forward Ty Smilanic was drafted 74th overall by the Florida Panthers in the 2020 NHL Draft. ders. His snapshot, slap shot, and one-timer are also effective.”

Prior to his commitment to Quinnipiac, Smilanic played at the junior level for the USNTDP in the United States Hockey League (USHL) as well as the U.S. National U17 and U18 teams.

While playing for the USNTDP in 2018-19, Smilanic recorded 9 goals and 8 assists for 17 points in 33 games. He then joined the U.S. National U17 team and posted 20 goals and 18 assists for 38 points in 54 games played — a nearexact points-per-game number to his USNTDP stats. And in one game at the U18 level, he scored one goal.

His next season, Smilanic blossomed and produced at a more elite level. In 34 games played for the U.S. National U18 team, he scored 7 goals and had 15 assists for 22 points. With the USNTDP, he scored 6 goals with 3 assists for 9 points in 12 games played.

“Ty Smilanic is on course to set his own path; he plays a dynamic game on the puck utilizing his speed and quickness to generate and produce offense,” said Dan Marr, director

of NHL Central Scouting. “He gives a consistent effort and is relentless on pucks. Everything he does is high energy, utilizing his speed, quickness and competitiveness.”

With the 2020-21 NCAA or ECAC Hockey season in question at this point, it’s worth noting that his Western Hockey League rights are owned by the Regina Pats, should he opt to head to the Canadian Hockey League route after being drafted.

However, that is only if they are able to generate a season and the NCAA cannot.

For now, Pecknold will do whatever he can to prepare Smilanic for the season and build on his already explosive skills.

“His edges are elite like he has not just legitimate NHL speed but like elite NHL speed,” Pecknold said. “I think that’s his biggest trade. I mean, he had a great summer. He’s matured. He needs to work on some aspects of his game and as every 18-year-old does. That’s what we’re good at. We’ll round him out a little bit and can be a 200-foot player, but I think he’s got high character.”

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

12|Sports

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

October 28, 2020

Sports

@QUCHRONSPORTS

Maddy’s motives PHOTO FROM MADISON SAMOSKEVICH’S INSTAGRAM

How Madison Samoskevich’s hockey experience will continue the family tradition

By JORDAN WOLFF Staff Writer

Finishing fifth all-time in assists (55), fourth in career points (109), third in goals (54) and going selected overall by the Connecticut Whale — that’s the legacy former Quinnipiac University women’s ice hockey player Melissa Samoskevich left behind.

As Samoskevich is now an assistant coach for the women’s ice hockey team at Penn State, another Samoskevich has entered the Quinnipiac program ready to create her own path.

Madison Samoskevich, a freshman at Quinnipiac, is living on her own for the first time, managing a higher level of classes and providing herself three meals a day. But, the big difference between her and her sister is that she has no idea when she will put on a Bobcats jersey for the first time.

Madison Samoskevich is used to moving around. She went to high school in Minnesota and didn’t have the chance to come home to Connecticut a lot. When it was time to look at higher institutions, Quinnipiac just fit the proverbial bill.

“Coming closer to home was a big factor for my college decision,” Madison Samoskevich said. “Hearing my sister talk about it really just made me love it here.”

An advantage that Madison Samoskevich also has is the fact Melissa Samoskevich knows what it’s like to be a part of the same program.

“We used to train together,” Melissa Samoskevich said. “I think it was really helpful for her to learn the drive, some of the details and how things would be. I definitely tried to push her in the off-ice sense of the game because I knew that’s a big part at Quinnipiac of how we build and how we grow.”

Some of the details Melissa Samoskevich mentioned were if a player walked into the weight room with their shoes untied, it would translate into being unprepared.

Also, players need to treat warm-ups the same way they treat a game or practice. Melissa Samoskevich revealed it’s the little things that often add up to the bigger picture.

Fans and the media often see athletes for what they are on the ice. In Madison Samoskevich’s case, it’s usual to see her put on a jersey, lace up her skates and compete in a fast-paced environment for 40-60 minutes. Without the hockey gear on, Melissa Samoskevich revealed how her sister emits positivity.

“A lot of people don’t realize how happy-go-lucky she is,” Melissa Samoskevich said. “Off the ice, she’ll ask you some questions, but just because she’s curious. So, I’d say laid back.”

Another thing to consider is the perspective of a coach. In this instance, both Madison Samoskevich and Melissa Samoskevich will have the experience of playing under Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey head coach Cassandra Turner. Turner is entering her sixth season as the head coach and 12th as a part of the program.

In a recent press conference, Turner was asked the similarities she sees in both sisters. Turner had quite a bit to say, and she started off by describing Melissa Samoskevich as “a very powerful straight-out skater, a lot like Madison.” She also revealed that Madison Samoskevich’s teammates call her “mammal,” while she calls her “Samo.”

Turner is impressed by Madison Samoskevich’s ability to navigate small spaces with the puck and believes her skill set will catch on with fans right away.

“You’re very quickly going to stop thinking about the name,” Turner said. “She brings her own flare to the game and is going to help our team and help our d-corps. I think this is the strongest d-corps (defensive unit) I’ve coached at Quinnipiac.”

Turner followed up by describing why it’s so important that Madison Samoskevich knows how to play at a high intensity.

“She plays the game fast,” Turner said. “She plays fast with the puck into the rush. She’s so deceptive with the puck, and she’s not afraid to take it to the net. It’s such an exciting piece because she’s gonna be on the offense, and I want her to bring that.”

Madison Samoskevich honed her skills while playing for the United States U18 team, a successful squad that went to Japan in 2019 to compete for the world championship.

When asked about her time with the team, Melissa Samoskevich described how it is about trying to grow yourself as a player heading into the college game.

“As you get older, that gap between players gets smaller,” Melissa Samoskevich said. “With Maddy having that experience, it’ll be really good for her because obviously college hockey is faster than high school hockey and more physical.”

Besides her own game and what she brings to the table, Madison Samoskevich joins a program that went 20-14-3 overall and 11-9-2 in ECAC Hockey play in the 2019-20 season. Quinnipiac also reached the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals last season, where it fell short to No. 6 Princeton 3-2 in double overtime of game three of the three-game series.

Even with all the expectations and uncertainty surrounding her debut, one thing Madison Samoskevich has for certain is how happy Melissa Samoskevich is for her accomplishments.

“I’m really proud of her,” Melissa Samoskevich said.

“Not only for her accomplishments in U18, but how she’s grown as a player and person. Her work ethic has sky-rocketed and so has her confidence. I get really emotional about it, but I’m really proud of her because she is my best friend.

To have her go through this experience like I did is really special for us.”

PHOTO FROM MADISON SAMOSKEVICH’S INSTAGRAM

Quinnipiac’s Madison Samoskevich is following in the footsteps of her older sister Melissa, who also played ice hockey at QU.