In the wake of Hamden Mayor Craig Henrici’s comments about his enforcement of a town ordinance that prohibits more than four non-related people from living together in a single-family home in town, Quinnipiac students expressed disdain with the law.
The town passed the law in 2001 in response to a barrage of complaints from Hamden residents about the unruly behavior of Quinnipiac students who lived off campus. Last month, Henrici told The Chronicle he began enforcing the town law in earnest in March of this year.
Mike Simone, a sophomore diagnostic imaging major from Massachusetts, who lives in a house with three of his friends in Hamden, decries the mayor’s enforcement of the town ordinance.
“Who are they to tell me who I can and cannot live with?” said Simone. “The only reason this ridiculous law is even being passed is because of the students. The people that live in the town do not like college kids running around, but without us there would be a lot of good people without jobs and a lot of local businesses would struggle.”
The news of the law comes to a surprise to students who currently live on campus such as Adam DePaolo, a junior public relations major from New Jersey. DePaolo says that the news of the law altered his and his friend’s plans to live off campus as seniors next school year.
“We have a group of five and we were planning to live together next year,” DePaolo said. “We heard about the law and that it is going to be enforced, so we plan on purchasing a home, so no landlord can kick us out.”
Although DePaolo and his friends have made their plans with the law in mind, DePaolo still has bitter feelings toward the law.
“I am against it. I think it is unfair and was put into effect to screw over QU students.”
Within the past couple of years, Quinnipiac has required seniors to live off-campus. At Parents Weekend on Oct. 14, Quinnipiac President John Lahey jokingly remarked in a speech to parents and students that the building of new dormitories on campus came to the delight of Hamden residents.
It is no secret that many Hamden residents are not happy with Quinnipiac students living in the community. In last week’s issue of The Chronicle, Lee Flemming, a Hamden resident and self-described “concerned citizen,” lambasted Quinnipiac’s “sleeping administration” in its inability to house all its students. Flemming advised the town to “evict just this portion (the Quinnipiac students) of the population and bring them back inside the gates.” Flemming also stated that it is the university’s duty to find on-campus housing for students.
The feeling of being unwelcome among some town residents is felt by Simone.
“The people that we have to share neighborhoods with are not so happy to have us here,” Simone said. “I mean, we are not going to go to sleep at ten o’clock every night, so the noise makes them mad.”
Simone believes that the only group of people who appreciate the students’ presence in town are the business owners.
“It seems as if the store owners are the only people that like us due to the money they make off of us,” she said.
