QUChronicle.com September 19, 2012 Volume 82 Issue 4 Proud recipient of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors' award for 2012 College Newspaper of the Year
SPORTS
Women’s rugby scores 94, page 14
OPINION
iPhone 5 underwhelms, fails to innovate, page 6
ARTS & LIFE
New Haven Shake Shack, page 8
SGA Public safety responds to attacks elections today By KATHERINE ROJAS News Editor
By CAROLINE MOSES Contributing Writer
In celebration of Constitution Week, freshmen and seniors get to practice their right to vote in the Student Government Association’s elections today. Eighteen freshmen and three seniors spent the past two weeks campaigning to earn their spot in the 2012-2013 SGA board and make their mark on their class. The process of running for president of a class is a long-winded but rewarding one. Each hopeful candidate has to secure 600 signatures from their peers, to prove that they will receive enough votes once the election process begins, and to narrow down the large list. Students said over the past two weeks they have been bombarded by promotional fliers, promises of air conditioning and swimming pools, funny videos and Facebook group requests. Many students, like freshman Ashley Castro, found these beneficial. “The students running [for president] advertised very well through fliers, meet and greets and incentives like snacks; it gave us more personal interaction,” Castro said. Freshman Simon Brossier counteracted Castro, having doubt in the election in all. “Most of the people running just want to do it to be popular,” Brossier said. “They are not going to make the university better. It feels as though the whole group is separated. There are the candidates, and then the rest of the students; they are not very connected.” Brossier isn’t the only one with this viewpoint. Some freshmen said the candidates only offered empty promises and no actual reasoning for why they should be elected. “I wish more people would tell us why they want to be president instead of just posting pictures of themselves and saying ‘vote for me,’” freshman Jack Brady said. “They knock on our doors at inconvenient times to tell us to vote for them and don’t give us reasons.” The election process is available now until 8 p.m. Students can vote online via qu.collegiatelink.net. After the votes have been counted, the election committee will make phone calls to each candidate with their results. Visit quchronicle.com for updates.
A group of people attacked a Quinnipiac student in New Haven on Sept. 8, according to Chief of Public Safety David Barger. Following the incident, the Department of Public Safety sent out a universitywide email advising students to be aware of their safety in New Haven. “One of our students was on the Green and was attacked by a group -- [these] groups [are] traveling in
New Haven approaching individuals carrying iPhones, iPads [and other gadgets],” Chief of Public Safety David Barger said. In the email, Barger stated his awareness of “several robberies that have recently occurred in New Haven, especially in areas frequented by Quinnipiac University students.” These robberies were targeted at individuals carrying iPhones, Droids and other mobile devices, as well as wallets and pocketbooks.
Junior Class President Matt Desilets stated in an email how he’s received student complaints about their safety in New Haven. Desilets said the attack could have been avoided if the distance from the shuttle stop and destinations in New Haven were closer. With the distance between the shuttle stops in New Haven and the areas students go, “are we putting See PUBLIC SAFETY Page 2
“Doing that really gave impetus to [the idea of a museum],” Lahey said, “I was able to see all the sculptures and the paintings in a museum setting.” Having an art gallery in the name of Quinnipiac University, according to Lahey, will also put the university more on par with some of the biggest and best universities in the country. “Yale University has a British museum of art so I think it’s appropriate that if Quinnipiac was going to have an art museum, it would be an Irish museum,” Lahey said, “We’re kind of the scrappier, new kid on the block.” The Whitney Avenue building See LAHEY Page 3
See HALL WARS Page 4
PHOTO COURTESY JOHN MORGAN
An initiative realized Lahey talks about Irish museum opening Editor-in-Chief
Fifteen years in the making, Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum is set to open on Whitney Avenue on Oct. 11. President John Lahey has been the driving force behind this collection, which is the largest collection of artifacts in the world dedicated to the Irish Famine, or the Great Hunger. Lahey secured almost every piece of art himself, traveling back and forth to Ireland about 10 times in the past 15 years. He gives all of the credit, however, to Murray Lender, the collection’s financial backer and the namesake of the business school building, who passed away this past March. Lahey sees the museum accomplishing two things. The first is to educate people about the Great Hun-
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ger itself, and the second is ultimately to become respected as a museum of artwork. The collection has previously been housed in the Lender Family Special Collection room, but according to Lahey it was about three years ago that he and Lender realized that they had acquired more art than they could accommodate in the one room. The pieces of the collection were spread out around campus, and some were still in boxes and crates, waiting for a home. Although the idea to house the collection in one place was already in the works, it wasn’t until 2010 when the Consulate General of Ireland showed the collection in New York, that Lahey and Lender really saw the vision come to life.
Do you plan on visiting the Irish Museum?
By DANIEL GROSSO Associate News Editor
Sigma Phi Epsilon’s freshman field day could have been sidelined this year. Cuts in funding for SigEp’s Hall Wars forced the fraternity to produce more money to preserve its annual event. Now in its eighth year, Hall Wars is a September staple at Quinnipiac, but this year the brothers of SigEp had to dig deeper into their own pockets to deliver the annual event to the university community. SigEp lost one of its key sponsors for Hall Wars this year: the Student Programming Board. “SPB didn’t want to do a cosponsorship because they didn’t feel like their staff had enough presence or involvement on the day of Hall Wars,” SigEp President Daniel Sullivan said. Hall Wars, which is set for Sunday, puts freshman residence halls against one another in a day of athletic competitions, including inflatable games and relay races. There is also a dunk tank and raffles, rounding out a fun field day for Quinnipiac’s freshmen. Sullivan estimated that SigEp spends between $7,000 and $8,000 to make Hall Wars happen each year with the help of its co-sponsors. SPB played a key role in planning the event in past years. Junior Connor Croteau is in charge of planning Hall Wars and said SPB was responsible for renting the inflatable games, dunk tank and popcorn machine. When SigEp lost SPB’s cosponsorship, the brothers had to find a way to raise the lost funds, otherwise the fraternity would need to scale back Hall Wars for this year’s freshman class. “Conflicts happen, so you just adjust to it,” Sullivan said. “Nothing impeded the process of fundraising so we just took it upon ourselves, as a fraternity, to do more fundraising as individuals.”
Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, which used to be located within the Arnold Bernhard Library, will have its own home on Whitney Avenue on Oct. 11.
By MICHELE SNOW
Funds won’t fail for freshman field day
MULTIMEDIA Check out a gallery of the 18 freshmen running for SGA positions.