Accounting major Caitlin Ziegler from Smithtown, N.Y. will speak in front of graduating seniors from the School of Business and College of Arts and Sciences at the 10 a.m. ceremony on May 19.

Photo courtesy Caitlin Ziegler

Biomedical Sciences major Timothy O’Rourke from Wappingers Falls, N.Y. will speak at the 3 p.m. ceremony for students in the School of Health Sciences, School of Communications and School of Nursing.

Ziegler and O’Rourke were among the students nominated to write and submit a speech for graduation. They received a phone call a couple weeks ago, informing them that they had been selected as the speakers, O’Rourke said.

“I was just really excited and thrilled and honored to have been selected,” O’Rourke said. “It is such an honor and such an opportunity for the future to address the members of the university community.”

O’Rourke thought that being a commencement speaker would be a great opportunity when he attended the graduation ceremony last year.

“I hadn’t really thought about it much during the year, but when I got the email, telling me to write a speech I was pretty happy,” he said. “At that point I was really excited and hoping that I would be selected to do that.”

Ziegler said she cried when she heard she would be one of the commencement speakers.

“I had received the phone call and I was totally amazed, caught off guard,” she said. “I was so grateful and I couldn’t stop smiling.”

Ziegler’s parents are also excited for her.

“They were like ‘I can’t believe that four years [ago] we were just dropping you off at college and now you’re speaking at your own graduation.’” she said. “They’re really just proud of me. It’s a nice way to culminate four years.”

Both Ziegler and O’Rourke are actively involved on campus and are co-coordinators of Senior Week.

Ziegler is on the executive board for Quinnipiac’s chapter Pi Beta Phi and Relay for Life. She is also a member of the accounting honor society Beta Alpha Phi and has been a Resident Assistant for the past three years.

O’Rourke is a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, Fraternal Values Society, Order of Omega, Greek Leadership Honors Society and Pre-Health Professions. He was also the Vice President of the InterFraternity Council.

Photo courtesy Timothy O

O’Rourke believes that his campus involvement caused him to be chosen as a commencement speaker.

“I put a lot of heart and passion into the work that I’ve done with all of the committees and organizations that I have been a part of,” he said.

Associate Professor of Accounting Kathleen Simione taught Ziegler and was her advisor since her freshman year. Simione said Ziegler’s accomplishments make Simione feel like a proud parent.

“What’s been amazing to me is to see Caitlin as a first semester freshman and now as a second semester senior and to see the growth,” Simione said. “She’s an excellent student. Diligent in the classroom, articulate, thoughtful, but just as a human being she’s just a wonderful person.”

Ziegler said this will be something that she will be able to look back upon years later.

“This is a great opportunity and I couldn’t think of a better way to leave Quinnipiac by ending it, four wonderful years, on such a good note by speaking at my commencement ceremony,” she said.

Both Ziegler and O’Rourke are keeping their speeches a secret until commencement on May 19.

The student commencement speakers for the two undergraduate graduation ceremonies have been announced.

Accounting major Caitlin Ziegler will speak in front of graduating seniors from the School of Business and College of Arts and Sciences at the 10 a.m. ceremony on May 19.

Biomedical Sciences major Timothy O’Rourke will speak at the 3 p.m. ceremony for the School of Health Sciences, School of Communications and School of Nursing on May 19.

In an increasingly health-conscious society frozen yogurt has replaced ice-cream as the frosty dessert of choice. The “froyo” craze has spread like wildfire, and has even gained adoration from health fanatics because the treat is a less fattening, probiotic enhanced version of ice cream. Since summer is almost here, a lot more people are going to be craving something cold and sweet and, as the froyo lover that I am, I decided to visit two nearby locations, Froyo World and Peachy Keen, to find the best frozen yogurt in Hamden.

Flavor Variety: Froyo World is the king of flavor variety. There are exactly 12 choices which may make the flavor decision process stressful to the point of a possible anxiety attack. I’m just joking. But seriously, is it possible to have too many choices? They receive a 5/5. Peachy Keen, on the other hand, only has six flavors to choose from, and each time I visit there seems to be the traditional “Original Tart” flavor, as well as a generic chocolate yogurt. Despite the limited selection, Peachy Keen is still able to cater to most customers: 2/5.

Toppings: Froyo World’s toppings are crazy. You can put cheesecake cubes, nutella flavored syrup, even cookies on your frozen yogurt. While I like to keep my dessert simple with a few pieces of sliced fruit on top, I have to say the toppings at Froyo World are mouth watering, and their creative options earn them a top rating: 5/5. Peachy Keen’s toppings are also impressive, although they don’t have quite as many syrups to put on top of the frozen yogurt. Peachy Keen has a larger selection of fresh fruit, which it adds a healthier spin to this dessert: 4/5.

Environment/Location: Froyo World is clean and has nice mirrors so you can watch yourself eat, but I simply cannot stand listening to the country music that they constantly play. Froyo World also loses points for not being within walking distance of campus, located about 10 minutes away in Hamden Plaza: 2/5. Peachy Keen plays a variety of generally pleasing music that does not make me want to rush out of there as soon as I buy my frozen yogurt. That’s a plus. And the establishment is literally a five minute walk from campus. It can’t get any better than that: 5/5.

Price: Whenever I go to Froyo World, my friends are shocked at the register by an unexpectedly high price. They spend a lot more on toppings than they realize and don’t get their money’s worth out of it: (3/5). Froyo World and Peachy Keen have the same prices for their frozen yogurt, 49 cents per ounce, but Peachy Keen gets a higher rating in this category (4/5) because it doesn’t offer a lot of heavy toppings that will ultimately raise the price of your purchase.

Quality: Peachy Keen and Froyo World have amazing flavors, and both deserve a 5/5 for this category based on taste. However, there is always the question of texture. Froyo World’s yogurt can often seem somewhat runny and watered down (3/5). Peachy Keen’s on the other hand is more thick and creamy, which helps it hold its own against the mountains of toppings you are bound to add: (5/5).

The Breakdown: I must say that both locations are definitely worth checking out and rank as the best Froyo joints in Hamden. No matter what you get, you’re at risk of devouring it in less than 30 seconds, but when you break down the scores, the top title goes to Peachy Keen with 20/25 point, over Froyo World with 18/25.

Stomping on the brakes, sophomore Alex Kriz brought his car to a screeching halt. Without a second thought, he jumped out of the car and took off running across the highway toward a car that was engulfed in flames.

Megan Maher | The Quinnipiac Chronicle

“That’s just what made the most sense at the time,” Kriz said. “To make sure everyone was alright, I guess.”

Approaching the burning car, he heard screams coming from further down the road. As he approached the area where the noise was coming from, he could see a man lying on the ground, and it soon became clear that he wasn’t breathing. Using the skills he learned working as a lifeguard at YMCA, he got down on the ground and began performing CPR until an ambulance arrived.

Two minutes after the paramedics arrived, the man was breathing.

He walked away with nothing more than a broken shoulder, but more importantly, he walked away with his life.

That night, Kriz chose not to give his information to the man he saved. He did not want the recognition. Going out of his way for someone else was something he had always done, and he did not believe his actions that night should be treated any differently.

Kriz, who is a double major in psychology and legal studies from Northborough, Mass, has spent much of his life doing voluntary service for others.

“I would rather volunteer at something than have it as a job because volunteering means so much more to me,” Kriz said. “I’m not just saying that to say it, I’m saying it because it’s actually true.”

Kriz’s long history of volunteering began when he started to help organize and set up events at his childhood church, Saint Anne’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese, in Marlborough, Mass. He also began helping in an annual charitable walk in his community to support finding a cure for cystic fibrosis.

That was just the beginning.

Today, Kriz is involved in numerous organizations that involve volunteer work, mostly involving children. Kriz enjoys working with children and intends to be a second or third-grade teacher after college. It was not the job he always envisioned himself having, he said, but now he could not imagine doing anything different. The people close to him believe he will make a great teacher.

“We don’t have enough male role models for children and I think he’d be a great one,” said Alejandra Navarro, Assistant University Editor and advisor of G.L.A.S.S.

Kriz is an executive board member for G.L.A.S.S., or Gay, Lesbian and Straight Supporters, which is an organization that offers a nurturing environment for all students regardless of their sexual orientation.

Kriz currently spends his summers volunteering at Camp Sunshine in Maine. According to Camp Sunshine’s website the camp is dedicated to offering children with terminal illnesses, and their families support, joy and hope throughout the various stages of a child’s illness.

“It’s just an incredible thing to see [the children] so genuinely happy about everything even though they’re probably in the worst circumstance anyone could ever be in,” Kriz said. “It’s something that many adults don’t come to realize. How to be truly happy about something and truly appreciate somethings in your life.”

In addition to Camp Sunshine, Kriz is an active volunteer in Restavec Freedom Alliance. Members of this organization go to Haiti and visit orphanages that house children who were saved from being sent into slavery.

“It was our job to make them feel like they are the greatest things in the world, and actually just go and love them and make them know that they are a real awesome person no matter what,” Kriz said.

Upon his arrival in Haiti, however, he feared that the children would not like him. He needn’t have worried.

“The kids loved him,” USA Program Director of the Restavec Freedom Alliance Ellen Donohue said. “He will be a teacher that every child will look back upon when they are adults as someone who changed their lives. I believe that he did some of that in Haiti.”

Kriz also spends time volunteering as a gym teacher at a local private school. He still recalls the reaction of a group of elderly nuns who worked at the school when he approached them and offered his assistance.

“They were so excited that I wanted to help them because they were like, ‘we’ve always wanted a volunteer gym teacher because we are so old and can’t do anything with the kids,’” Kriz said smiling.

Along with this, Kriz spends time volunteering as a tutor for children in a non-profit literacy center in New Haven.

Understanding that the end of the year means extra meal plan money, Kriz is hoping to create a program at Quinnipiac to use that money to serve others. Kriz is currently working toward creating a program where students collect leftover meal plan money to buy bulk food items to distribute to food banks in Hamden and New Haven.

Kriz came up with the idea when he noticed how many students  had a lot of extra money on their meal plans.This money would normally just end up going back to the school at the end of the year, he said.

It’s a program that he hopes to start before he transfers to a new school this fall. Kriz is already involved in four organizations on campus, but always wanted to start his own. He hopes to leave a mark on Quinnipiac even after he leaves.

Although the program is still unofficial and only about a week old, Kriz has already managed to raise about $5,000.

With the numerous volunteer programs that Kriz participates in, he has even bigger plans for the future. After graduating college, Kriz intends to teach in Haiti for a year, then come back to the United States to be a teacher for Teach Across America. After this he hopes to teach in Italy for a couple of years. Then, once back in the United States, he plans on joining the Peace Core for two years.

“When you’re a doctor, you save people’s lives. When you’re a teacher, people normally think, ‘oh, well you teach kids.’ You change kids’ lives, you don’t save their lives, but you change them for the better,” Kriz said.

For right now, Kriz is perfectly happy with what he is doing day-to-day. Each day, he embraces the opportunity to help others, and maybe even teach them a thing-or-two.

One day he was going on a long run through a park. While he was running, he could see a young boy struggling to learn how to ride his bike. The boy and his mother were trying to figure it out, but it appeared that it was just not happening.

Forty-five minutes later, as Kriz was on his way back from his run, he saw that the young boy still hadn’t figured out how to ride the bike. Kriz offered his help.

Within 25 minutes, the little boy was finally able to feel the wind blow through his hair as his feet moved the petals forward. The child jumped off his bike and ran to Kriz and hugged him as he began to cry tears of joy.

“That’s the greatest thing that’s happened in a long time,” Kriz said. “Whenever I teach a kid something new, and they are trying to learn how to do it, I like to be that person who can help them get to it, and when they finally get it, seeing that look on their face; there is nothing like it.”

Spring is in full bloom here on the Quinnipiac campus!  The grass is greener, the flowers are blossoming and gorgeous trees line the paths.  However, as pretty as these trees may be, they smell disgusting.

Madeline Hardy | The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Students all over campus are complaining about the odor these trees are producing.  After years of experiencing the smell, they are commonly -albeit rudely- referred to as “vagina trees” because of their rotten fish smell.

Sure, they’re really pretty and Quinnipiac is all about the beautiful scenery but couldn’t they have picked a plant that smelled like, I don’t know, actual flowers?  It’s one thing to look good but smelling good is just as important.

Do you want this campus to be known for smelling like rotten fish?  That’s a real concern considering the amount of these trees present on campus. As spring progresses and the blooms begin to drop the scent is becoming almost inescapable, particularly around the dorms on Bobcat Way.

Students don’t want to walk around campus wafting in the smell of dead fish.  If you haven’t already noticed, it’s not exactly pleasant.  There are plenty of flowers that can look and smell good.  Isn’t the whole point of a flower to smell good?  Whose idea was it to plant these trees?  Maybe Quinnipiac should invest in a new gardener.

In a time where finals are giving students gray hair and migraines, professors are sending out study guides and roommates are getting on our last nerves, it’s time to think about the future, the fun future that is… What do I want to do before I graduate?

Madeline Hardy | The Quinnipiac Chronicle

That’s a loaded question, especially for our seniors graduating in two more weeks. The most time that current undergraduates have is 3 years, and in those three short years, it may seem difficult to realize all of the goals that you want to accomplish.  Most students focus on their schooling, their extra-curriculars, and their social lives, but what about the marks that they will leave here at QU? How will we be remembered when we graduate?

SGA put out chalkboards on monday afternoon with sidewalk chalk and the open ended sentence “Before I graduate I want to…” and left the rest up to any student who happened to walk by. Some students filled in the blanks en route to their classes.

Some people wrote down their hopes and dreams (or ridiculous antics involving the infamous Java John). Some were ambitious  “Cliff jump off of sleeping Giant” and others were simple “To make dean’s list”.

Whether an outlandish goal or a fairly modest one, our rave of the week goes to SGA for making QU students think about their goals, instead of their infinite to-do list. This was a great way to show  QU’s creativity and ambition.  Great job SGA, keep that QU spirit alive!

For the last three years, the men’s lacrosse team season has ended in heartbreak. Each year, the Bobcats have fallen short of their goal: to win the Northeast Conference title.  After losing to Mount St. Mary’s in the NEC championship game in 2011, the Bobcats made the semifinals in 2012, but were ousted by Bryant.

This season, Quinnipiac (6-7, 3-2 NEC) hopes it can finally get over the hump and win the NEC championship. The winner of the conference title game is also granted an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament

“Going into the playoffs, we are very confident,” junior goaltender Gill Conners said. “Yes, we lost to Robert Morris but their offense is one of the most powerful in the NEC, and we kept them under 10 goals which is very hard to do. I believe we are playing at our best right now and we are ready to show it going into the playoffs.”

Against NEC foes that qualified for the postseason tournament, Quinnipiac lost to Bryant 17-7, beat Sacred Heart 13-12 in triple overtime after Sagl’s gamewinner, and lost to Robert Morris, 9-7.

“In the NEC there is no better team than the others and this season has shown that,” Conners said.  “Whoever shows up to play on the day of the game will win. Once playoffs start, everyone is 0-0. Whoever shows up to play this next week will win the NEC no matter what their record is.”

Bryant is the host school and the No. 1 overall seed after going 4-1 in conference play. Robert Morris owns the tiebreaker with the Bobcats taking the No. 2 seed, while Sacred Heart is the four seed and will play the Bulldogs in the first semifinal at 1 p.m on May 3. The Bobcats then will face off at 4 p.m. The championship game will be held on May 4 at 1 p.m.

The 2013 regular season has been an atypical one for the Bobcats. Quinnipiac made plenty of noise early on as it started 3-0 for the first time since 2008 and was ranked No. 20 in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Poll for the first time in program history.

A tough month of March, however, saw the Bobcats struggle as they lost five consecutive games, losing four by two goals or less.

The Bobcats have a well-balanced offense led by sophomore attackman Michael Sagl. Sagl leads the Bobcats with 44 points, on 22 goals and assists. Sagl ranks third in the conference with points per game with 3.38 and fourth in assists per game with 1.69.

Quinnipiac boasts four other players with 20 or more points. Senior midfield captain Basil Kostaras is tied for second on the squad with 25 points along with Brendan Wilbur and Pat Corcoran. Kostaras has scored 18 goals and added seven assists. Wilbur has recorded 17 goals and eight assists, while Corcoran has 15 goals and 10 assists. Matt Diehl has collected 23 points on 13 goals and 10 assists. Dylan Webster has corralled a team-high 104 ground balls good for second in the conference only behind Bryant star Kevin Massa’s 194.

Massa is also the conference leader with a 71.0 faceoff percentage. Webster is fifth in the conference in faceoff percentage with a .489.

“It’s very simple when it comes to Bryant, we need to win faceoffs. They killed us at the X last game and that needs to be fixed,” Conners said. “They are a good defense but our offense is better. On the defensive end, we need to play hard and tough but also smart at the same time by staying out of the penalty box. We need to play four quarters and not let up.”

The Colonials have the best offense in the NEC with 11.92 goals per game, also placing second in the league in shots on goal with 22.50 per game.

Bryant is the least penalized team with 2.12 minutes a game, and also has the best penalty-killing unit.

The Bobcats are second in the conference in fewest turnovers per game with 14.77 and have caused the second most turnovers per game with 8.85. Quinnipiac’s defense can be attributed Conners. Conners has been honored with NEC Defensive Player of the Week four times. Conners leads the conference in saves made with 179, save percentage with .563 and in saves per game with 13.77.

“It is very important to not only have a good goaltender in the playoffs, but also a hot one,” Conners said. “There are plenty of goalies out there that may not be having the best season but when it comes to the playoffs, it’s anyone’s game. That’s when you see the best goalies playing at their best times.”

Conners says that the he has stressed the whole year to the team, that the team who shows up on game day, will win the NEC.

The junior college transfer, who won two national championships at Onondaga Community College as part of the National Junior College Athletic Association, believes that five things are important in the playoffs.
“Tough defense, explosive offense, confident goalkeeping, winning the war at the faceoff and, most importantly, whoever has the most heart will the be the winner,” Conners said. “That’s what the playoffs comes down to.”

With all of the shenanigans of May Weekend, it’s easy for on-campus events to be overshadowed, but those who decided to stick around last Friday night were given a musical treat with Boston-based a cappella group Overboard. The five singers put on a personal and soulful performance with a mix of modern day tunes and classic favorites that brought audience members to their feet.

“I feel like we’re in a living room with you guys in your comfy leather chairs while we sing!” Overboard member Caleb Whelden said. The rest of the members, Nick Girard, Johanna Vinson, Donovan Davis and Eric Morrissey all agreed.

The show was hosted by Quinnipiac University After Dark (QUAD), and organized by Performance Chair Cassie Klatskin. With a lot of planning in advance, the Carl Hansen Student Center Piazza was able to provide a relaxing and cozy atmosphere that was perfect for a late-night performance. There were cookies, candy, refreshments and other small souvenirs for the audience and performers to enjoy.

“They were amazing,” QUAD member Neliana Ferraro said. “The small audience size helped them interact with the crowd.”

The group itself emerged in 2006, going from a weekend side project to a full time commitment. While some former members were not able to keep up with the rapid progression due to other jobs, outside singers filled in the spots. Currently, the newest member is Eric Morrissey who joined this past December.

“We are perpetually on tour,” explained Johanna Vinson, who is the first female vocalist to ever join Overboard.

The bulk of their tour locations are colleges and universities as well as a cappella festivals all over the country. Soon Overboard will be traveling overseas to South Korea for a two-week tour. They have already been a featured entertainment for the likes of American Idol, PUMA and Mitsubishi, as well as on The CBS Early Show, and have caught the attention of the global a cappella community.

Overboard currently has six albums out, their most recent being “Help!,” released in 2009. It is a 23 track collection of Beatles songs, featuring “Come together,” and “Help!” both of which they performed at Quinnipiac. They also performed many modern songs, such as Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors” and “Pump It” by the Black Eyed Peas. According to Vinson, some of the group’s favorite songs to perform are “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi and “Skullcrusher Mountain” by Jonathan Coulton.

“My personal favorite is ‘25 or 6 to 4’ by Chicago,” Vinson said. “It is very challenging so it takes a lot of ‘musical nerdiness’ to sing.”

No matter what the group is singing, the energy is always high and their notes are always perfectly in pitch. They are able to show their versatility in style and musical genre with their 50 plus song repertoire. From classic rock to contemporary hip-hop, Overboard was able to blow the crowd away and fill the Piazza with music. From a far, one would think someone was blasting songs from a stereo; when in reality every sound you hear is coming from the member’s mouths.

“We are always learning new music,” bassist Donovan Davis said.

Davis sang bass with a range so low it is hard to believe that a bassist isn’t hiding behind the stage making the same sounds. His rare voice quality brings something special to Overboard, as does the group’s beat-boxer Nick Girard. The sounds he makes perfectly resemble the percussion heard from a drum set. During the show, he taught the audience how to make those sounds and put them in a pattern. Some audience members were also able to come up to the stage with him and show off their newly learned skills.

With every show they do, as Davis so keenly put it, “we keep everything fun and fresh.”

Quinnipiac recommitted to the women’s volleyball team on April 26 when it settled Biediger, et al. v. Quinnipiac University, a lawsuit filed by members of the team. Athletes on the volleyball team sued in 2009 after the university tried to eliminate the team and replace it with competitive cheering.

Matt Eisenberg | The Quinnipiac Chronicle

“We on the plaintiff side, and presumably Quinnipiac, think that the decree is fair and reasonable and in the best interest of the class,” Orleans said. “We think that it should be approved and we’re very hopeful that the judge will approve it.”

The consent decree will be in effect until 2016, in which time the university should be in compliance with the federal law Title IX, Orleans said. Title IX, which started in 1972, is a law that requires that schools have equal opportunities for females and males.

“I think we accomplished a lot for female athletes at Quinnipiac,” he said. “I mean, if you just go through the consent decree and see all of the various benefits for women’s athletes that the university has committed itself to provide and the money it has promised to spend.”

The university will add scholarships to several women’s sports teams, including the women’s cross country, women’s rugby and women’s track teams. All women’s sports will receive at least half the number of scholarships allowable by the NCAA.

Under the settlement, the university will implement a policy requiring gender-neutral allocation of summer, fifth-year, and other extra athletic financial aid. The university will also not create any additional men’s teams unless it creates additional women’s teams that provide at least an equal number of athletic participation opportunities.

The university’s facilities will also go under renovation because of the settlement. Quinnipiac will spend at least $5 million to improve athletic facilities other than the TD Bank Sports Center that its women’s varsity sports teams use. It will also construct an indoor track & field facility for practice and competition that will meet NCAA standards for hosting indoor meets, and will upgrade its field hockey and women’s rugby facilities.

“The agreement with respect to fields and facilities improvement were all things the University had already planned to do but were delayed because of the litigation,” Bushnell said. “Both women’s and men’s facilities and fields require and will receive significant upgrades.”

Quinnipiac will spend about $450,000 annually improving its women’s athletics program by hiring more coaches and athletic support staff, providing greater access to athletic training and conditioning services and increasing coaches’ salaries.

The court will appoint a “referee” to help implement and monitor the university’s compliance with the obligations.

“If the university remains in violation of the law [in 2016], then the university could be sued again at that point, but certainly we all hope that won’t be necessary,” Orleans said.

In the 2008-09 season, when Quinnipiac wanted to cut volleyball, the team’s budget was $70,384, not including coaches salaries and athletic scholarships, according to the Biediger, et al. v. Quinnipiac University case brief from 2009.

The university will pay $15,000 to Stephanie Biediger, Kristen Corinaldesi, Kayla Lawler, Erin Overdevest and Logan Riker, the volleyball players who brought forth the lawsuit, within 30 days of the Court’s final approval of the consent decree in satisfaction of individual claims. It will also pay and the Class Counsel $1.9 million for attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation.

The university planned to cut the volleyball program in 2009 along with the men’s golf and men’s track and field teams. The men’s golf and men’s track and field teams were eliminated, but the volleyball team sued to keep the program.

“I think all of us took that on knowing we would not just be helping volleyball, we would be helping all the athletes there and across the country because this was a case of national importance,” said Robin Lamott Sparks, Quinnipiac’s former volleyball coach who helped push the case to court when the university attempted to rid the program.

In 2010, Underhill ruled that Quinnipiac could not get rid of the volleyball team because that would mean the university would not provide the same athletic opportunities for men and women. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld Underhill’s decision in August 2012. Quinnipiac then added the acrobatics and tumbling and women’s golf in 2010 and women’s rugby in 2011 to try to satisfy Title IX requirements, according to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

On March 4, 2013, Underhill ruled that Quinnipiac still could not eliminate the volleyball team because women’s rugby and acrobatics and tumbling did not provide women with the same competitive opportunity as men, according to the press release from the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

 “The competition test is one aspect of that that was clarified through this case that makes clear that the level of competition that are provided to men’s team and women’s teams have to be equivalent,” Orleans said. “That is a significant precedent that was set in this case.”

The university will now decide whether or not to get rid of the acrobatics and tumbling team, Bushnell said.

“Given the judicial rulings regarding acrobatics and tumbling in which the Court has ruled that Acrobatics and Tumbling is not in its view an approved NCAA sport for Title IX purposes, the University will have to review its status and continuation going forward,” she said. “The University currently sponsors only NCAA-approved intercollegiate sports and not club sports.”

The North Haven Campus hosts the School of Medicine, health sciences, School of Education and soon the School of Law. The health sciences on this campus closely work with handicapped residents in its pro-bono clinic, VISION. As these clients arrive, they may park in the parking garage and enter Building 1 through the second floor link walkway, shielding them from any bad weather. But after commencement this summer, this link will be demolished.

Madeline Hardy

The walkway was originally used by Anthem–Blue Cross Blue Shield, before it vacated the building, and when the parking garage was for Anthem employees only up until October, according to Filardi.

The parking garage opened up to students, faculty and staff this year, allowing them to utilize the walkway. Though it is a convenient and a faster way into the building, the walkway must be demolished as part of the master plan for the campus.

The School of Law will be housed in the building adjacent from the parking garage, meaning the walkway will disrupt the main entrance way that will be constructed for that building.

“[The walkway] goes right into the front door of the School of Law and kind of detracts the entry and takes it away. So it’s really just a design element,” Filardi said. “There will be a main entry that will serve the law school; [the walkway] really interrupts all of that.”

According to Filardi, the new addition will have an entry to the School of Law that will push out, thus making the walk shorter from the parking garage to the entrance of the building.

The North Haven Campus currently has two parking lots and one garage. The first parking lot is closest to the School of Education, the second parking lot is directly across the School of Medicine and the parking garage is closest to where the School of Law will be.

However, the closest parking spots to the main entrance of the center for medicine (Buildings 1 and 2) are currently occupied by the construction workers, Graduate Physical Therapy student Michael Lesse said.

Lesse is concerned for the clients he and other students work with, as well as some professors and staff members, that have difficulty walking.

“Save our Walkway” petitions have made rounds around the North Haven Campus in recent weeks. The petitions were initiated by professors and signed by faculty and students in protest of the plan to demolish it.

“You can see that everyone is using [the walkway], it’s the main way in and out,” Lesse said.

Those in protest of the demolition plans have contacted Filardi with their concerns. Once the university is sure of the exact plan, Filardi said those involved in the plan will meet with the associate deans and professors of the North Haven Campus in an open forum to better explain their decisions and address their concerns.

“The problem is we’re in the middle of planning for it so we don’t have every ‘T’ crossed and every ‘I’ dotted. We can talk about generally speaking what we are trying to accomplish,” Filardi said. “There are certain things when you’re doing this kind of stuff, it’s really not–it’s not an option, so it’s not an option for us to make an entry where they can go straight in because this is all a construction site.”

One concern for the North Haven Campus is handicap accessibility, including handicapped parking, Lesse said.

To help with that concern, around nine new handicap parking spots were created closest to Building 2 no more than 200 feet from the building for coding reasons with automatic door openers waiting to be installed.

“We understand the handicap concerns and we’re trying to address them by closer parking, and again this is for the next year,” Filardi said. “When the building opens it will be completely accessible.”

The School of Law building is completely under construction, creating a construction zone up to the main entrance of the School of Medicine that people must go around.

“I think that’s one of the concerns people have because quite frankly they have a longer walk to the building, but there’s nothing we can do about it in short term,” Filardi said.

Certain areas in the North Haven Campus will be under construction in the next two years with plans to relocate the bookstore and changes to Building 4, which is located behind the parking garage, Filardi said. Building 4 will house a fitness center, a health center, a Public Safety dispatch, information services (IT) and storage.

“The construction we’re doing today is really to give us the facilities that we need to be successful in the future with the programs that we have or the programs that we’ve instituted,” Filardi said.