Reputation is the opinion that some people have about someone or something.

It can be positive opinions that make people want to experience things, or negative ones that deter people from certain actions.

No matter what the reputation is, it is important to realize you cannot judge a book by its cover, and giving people and places a chance can truly change your life.

There are many opinions expressed about Quinnipiac, by students who do not attend our University.

Recently, an article was written by a student from Yale that mentioned several different cynical outlooks about our students and campus. Yet, even if people start out with a bias view of Quinnipiac, once they come onto campus, a different idea is conveyed as they experience the true nature of our close-knit community.

“I used to hear people say that Quinnipiac is very boring and no fun, so that is how I thought of it,” Fairfield University sophomore Jen Lauria said, “until I started to visit friends there. Every time I have gone there I have had a great time.”

“Last night I was telling my friend that I had two friends from Quinnipiac coming to visit and he had some negative comments. I believe he used the word ‘trashy'”, Fairfield sophomore Meghan Sullivan said.

“But I stood up for QU. I really like the school. The campus is beautiful and the people are really nice. Granted, I saw a few sketchy people, but you find them at every single school you go to, even here at Fairfield,” Sullivan said.

Even Quinnipiac students realize that there are stereotypes of our school.

“Aside from the recent article published in the Yale Daily News, I thought we were viewed as a beautiful, boring school with nothing to do on campus, and no party life,” sophomore Nicole Sellers, a psychology major, said. “People also assume Quinnipiac students are all rich and stuck up, but once people spend time on campus I think they can see that it is not the case. We are all very diverse.”

Others realize it is just narrow-minded judgments that can affect people’s opinions.

“I honestly did not know about our reputation of being ‘easy’ or ‘slutty’ until recently, like this semester, and I do not think it is totally true,” sophomore Michelle Clemente, a mass communications major, said.

“Yeah, some girls are like that, but not everyone. Just take a look at dorm road on a Tuesday afternoon. Girls are mostly wearing jeans and sweats, nothing trashy, they are comfortable. You cannot classify a school by a few people. I think there are people that dress trashy at every school, not just ours,” Clemente said.

One cannot make generalizations about an entire school just because you have seen or heard of a certain “type” of people. The world is made up of so many different kinds of people that it is unfair to make assumptions, people would be cheating themselves out of many different experiences if they simply judged things by their reputation without experiencing them first.