Former freshman class president Michael Cacciatore loves Quinnipiac, but he is transferring to another college with a more established philosophy program next fall.

“I’ve been taking a few philosophy courses here and realized philosophy is my passion,” Cacciatore said. “It’s about the broadness of the classes we offer here. We offer one level of logic and logic is kind of the thing we want to go into. Our school doesn’t have too much of that.”

His first choice is Syracuse University, but he is also looking at Boston University and Fordham University. So far, he has been accepted to Fordham. He’s waiting on decisions from the other schools.

Last September, Cacciatore told the Chronicle he hoped no one would transfer out of Quinnipiac because they feel like they don’t belong.

“I don’t want any freshman left behind,” Cacciatore said in an interview last fall. “I want everyone to be happy here, I don’t want to see anybody leaving during sophomore year or after one semester. Quinnipiac feels like home to me, and I just want everyone to like Quinnipiac the way that I do.”

But he reassured his fellow freshmen that he still loves Quinnipiac, and his decision is solely based on academics.

“I still feel this love for Quinnipiac—it’s still my home,” Cacciatore said Monday night. “I will always love this place more than you will ever understand. The reason why I am transferring has nothing to do with hating this place. That’s inconceivable to me. It boils down to the fact that I want to be a philosophy major.”

Former Student Body President Louis Venturelli offered nothing but praise for Cacciatore’s work as class president.

“He’s a wonderful, kind hearted person who always gives his best when he’s working for the student government and in the student body,” Venturelli said.

Cacciatore says he thoroughly enjoyed his first year at Quinnipiac.

“Honestly I don’t think there’s anything that could have made freshman year possibly better,” Cacciatore said. “So much happened being the president being the connection from the students to the faculty and to have a lot of success with the two events we had.”

The most successful project that he worked on with the freshman cabinet was planning weekly open-skate events at the TD Bank Sports Center, with rental skates available for an additional cost. Cacciatore said this program will begin next school year.

“The moment I got into office … I learned that it’s not about you at all—it’s about what your class wants,” Cacciatore said. “If you want this one goal, but everyone else wants something else, then it’s not what you want, it’s what they want. That’s what makes you the voice of the students.”

Cacciatore came into office with more than 70 ideas, he said at the start of last semester. But he decided the freshman class’s ideas should come first.

“When I was campaigning I realized I was being the voice of myself,” Cacciatore said. “But I realized I’m not the voice of me, I’m the voice of you guys.”

Cacciatore said he feels a little sentimental about leaving because this is the closest place to home he’s ever felt.

“A friend of mine once told me ‘the sun sets and the sun rises, but the day still goes on,’” Cacciatore said. “I am confident in their new president—I think he’ll do a great job. I really hope people understand the only reason I’m leaving is because I really want to pursue philosophy.”

Photo credit: Matt Eisenberg