In my travels around town this week I stopped at a local eatery and I overheard a couple of Quinnipiac students pondering the question, “Why does this town not respect us?”
Well, I am going to let everybody in on the big secret. The reason that people in this town do not respect Quinnipiac is simple: the town of Hamden is a working class town and the persona that a majority of the students give off is that of spoiled rich kids, unappreciative of the opportunities they have been provided and abusive of the town they inhabit.
Now I know that this is not true of everyone, but the reality is that this reputation has grown with the University through the years. For nine months out of the year, our town is flooded with kids from New York, Massachusetts and other surrounding states driving very expensive automobiles, automobiles that your average 18-22-year-old could not possible afford with their Quinnipiac decal in the rear window. When people see this, they think Mommy and Daddy paid for this person’s Audi, Lexus or BMW, and they are insulted by the attitude that such privilige seems to create.
I realize that there are students that are working their way through school, and that a wealthy upbringing doesn’t necessarily mean a student will be disrespectful, but let’s face it, people see and remember what they want, and they tend to remember the negative. The image is one of contempt and disgust, for people who have been handed everything, and act consistently rude and disrespectful.
The major reason to why the peope in the town of Hamden has a problem with Quinnipiac students has to do with the large amount of alcohol consumed by university students. Townspeople remember kids getting drunk and causing accidents and throwing away a great opportunity. I realize that this is a problem in every town that houses a university, and honestly, there is nothing that can adequately be done about the problem except trying to be a little bit smarter in the decisions being made at the end of your night.
What I said may cause some to take offense, but the fact of the matter is, this is the truth, and this is how a lot of people feel. For those of you who are working your way through college and don’t do the stupid drinking and driving I commend you and apologize for grouping you into this stereotype. For those of you who do, however, fall into this category, you only have yourselves to blame for the problems you create, and I can only hope that my working class lifestyle does not interfere with the high brow lifestyle ways that are so evident from your arrogance and obliviousness.