Quinnipiac University’s Student Government Association hosted its annual State of the QUnion panel in the Center for Communications, Computing and Engineering building on Feb. 18. 

The panel consisted of Quinnipiac administrators Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett, Provost Debra Liebowitz, Vice President of Inclusive Excellence John Armendariz and via Zoom, President Marie Hardin.

“I was very excited about getting to be part of it,” Hardin said in an interview with The Chronicle. “I’ve heard so much about it, and I think it is such a cool tradition, because it connects the administration with students. So I absolutely love it, and it met all my expectations.”

The State of the QUnion encourages students to express their concerns, suggestions and general queries to administrators and this year, students had a lot to say.

The conversation began with financial struggles as students shared their personal experiences and addressed the importance of scholarships and creative partnerships. Many also took this opportunity to bring up the importance of on-campus job opportunities and easy access to federal work study opportunities.

“If people who have federal work study don’t have a job, see me,” Ellet said. “I will work diligently with you individually to see what opportunities exist. Help students one by one. That’s what it’s about here.”

He also encouraged students to stay on top of checking student experience portals like Bobcat Central for job opportunities, as well as using job search platforms, such as Handshake and Indeed.

As the conversation shifted, students took Hardin’s dog Tator’s presence at the panel as an opportunity to bring up the possibility of implementing therapy dogs on Quinnipiac’s three campuses. 

The panel expressed a general concern for the financial burden of bringing an animal handler onto campus and Ellet instead encouraged the idea of working alongside SGA to potentially bring a therapy dog onto campus once a week.

While friendly campus golden retriever George is enough to bring a smile to your face, students are eager to see more furry friends at Quinnipiac. 

Throughout the panel, a handful of students also expressed concern for the current parking situation, explaining how the lack of parking spaces is a major struggle for commuter students. 

Administrators responded by sharing some of the difficulties they’ve encountered in implementing new lots on the Mount Carmel Campus, and explaining the process for acquiring a permit to build new parking lots.

“There is some talk about potentially looking at a space of additional parking. Nominal, maybe 100+ spaces,” Ellet said. “But again, that has to go through a process, and that will take time.”

With rumblings going around campus of new shuttle stops being built, the panel confirmed that there are no current plans for this addition. 

Students are encouraged to utilize the current shuttle system to the best of their ability to minimize parking struggles.

The discussion shifted with inquiries about a new dining option on campus. With rumors of a new “all-you-care-to-eat”  swipe system being implemented, students were curious about what the administration plans to do with the space that once housed the campus bookstore.  

First year health sciences major Abigail Murphy shared what she thinks students would like to see at Quinnipiac.

“Either a new healthy dining station or just more options,” she said. “Because a lot of students have expressed the need for healthier foods and stuff that fuels our bodies.”

This led to talk of ensuring transparency and trust in financial decisions with students at Quinnipiac and debate about where tuition money is truly being spent. 

“There has to be a relationship of trust (between) the students (the) faculty and administrators and vice versa, in terms of thinking about how we use our resources. I think a couple of things here,” Hardin said. “Helping students understand the principles we use to make budget decisions. Because we have a set of principles that we use to make those budget decisions and to help our students better understand our overall financial picture.” 

Students also expressed concern with accessibility and inclusivity on campus, with questions about increasing the number of elevators and about gender-neutral bathrooms, which there is an apparent lack of, especially in older facilities. 

“I know we’re always thinking about (how we) retrofit things or do things. But where the buildings were set up to have gender specific bathrooms only, that’s hard to change,” Liebowitz said.

On the topic of accessibility, there is rising frustration on campus about the bridge behind the Irmagard Tator Residence Hall, which has been out of order and gated off to students for several months now. With members of the audience sharing how the roadblock has made it increasingly difficult to get around on campus, the administration reassured that they will be following up with an engineer on the rebuilding status. 

Following a brief discussion, The State of the QUnion came to a close with a raffle drawing students were able to enter prior to the event. Active audience members received additional tickets with every question they asked the panel.