Quinnipiac Univeristy has announced the creek that currently runs through campus will be drained, excavated and cleaned during the upcoming Thanksgiving break.
The Student Government Association is also hoping to rename the creek once the changes are complete. The creek has long been referred to as “Hepatitis Creek” by many students.
Student Government first proposed the idea to Manny Carreiro, the Dean of Students, last spring.
“You know that it needs it,” Dean Carreiro said. “It seems that people throw everything they can think of in it, which is unfortunate.”
Student Government and Facilities hoped to get the draining and refilling of the creek done before students returned to school in the fall, but ran out of time.
According to Joe Rubertone, director of Facilities, the project will be intensive, but should not take that long.
“It’s a messy process,” Rubertone said. “But it should only take a few days. We plan to start at the end of the week before Thanksgiving.”
The process includes diverting the water, excavating, drying and removal of the silt and will be completed by an outside contractor. The only part that will be affected is the pond behind the Dana and Irma residence halls, which is where the majority of the problem seems to be.
According to Rubertone, this is not the first time the creek has been cleaned out. It was also cleaned two to three times in the past three years.
Those in charge of the project believe it is necessary and will restore beauty to the creek and the rest of the campus.
Dean Carreiro found it humorous and believes students came up with this nickname because, “there’s all kinds of junk in there.” The new name will be decided by students; most likely through a survey.
While the creek’s new name remains unknown, many students feel it will be hard to drop the old name.
“It would have to be something pretty catchy to stick,” freshman Kaitlin Westbrook said.
Most students agree with Westbrook and think “Hepatitis Creek,” is funny, even creative, even though it does not really represent the creek.
