Web protesters fought two con-troversial bills last week, refusing to relinquish their First Amendment rights to free music and movies, and they succeeded.

The Stop Online Piracy Act was a bill introduced in October that would give the federal government power to inhibit people from using foreign online piracy websites. The sites trade counterfeit movies, mu-sic and other American copyrighted products.

Another similar bill, Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), was introduced

in the Senate last May with the goal of giving the federal government and copyright holders the ability to block access to websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeiting goods outside of the U.S.

The bills gained support in Con-gress, but were severely opposed by Internet users who claimed the bills were too aggressive and infringed on First Amendment rights, Quin-nipiac’s Assistant Dean of Career Services for Communications Jo-seph Catrino said. By the end of last week, lawmakers showed opposi-tion to the bill and a vote on PIPA that was scheduled for Jan. 24 was

Quinnipiac men’s basketball players James Johnson, Jamee Jackson, Dave Johnson, Ike Azotam and Nate Gause were granted accel-erated rehabilitation and community service hours in exchange for clear criminal records for their involvement in an on-campus fight last September.

The five players appeared in Meriden Superior Court Jan. 17 before Judge Phil-ip Scarpellino. The players’ families and coach, Tom Moore, were in attendance.

Scarpellino granted both James John-son and Jackson two years of the accel-erated rehabilitation program and 200 hours of individual community service, outside the service the basketball team does together. In addition, they equally have to share the costs of paying back the

QUChronicle.comJanuary 25, 2012Volume 81Issue 14

5 basketball players grantedaccelerated rehabilitation

PIPA, SOPA can’t clean up Web

CASE CLOSEDBy Marcus Harun

Web Developer

See COURT Page 3

A program that gives persons charged with a crime or motor vehicle violation for the first time a second chance. The person is placed on probation for up to two years. If probation is completed satisfactorily, the charges are dismissed.

Work that convicted defendants are required to perform in order to repay the community for the harm caused to the community by the crime.

Legal definitionsAccelerated rehabilitation:

Community service:

Soure: Connecticut Judicial branch

victims medical expenses in verifiable out-of-pocket restitution.

Dave Johnson and Azotam were granted a one-year accelerated rehabilitation program and 50 hours of individual community service. The judge granted Gause an 18-month acceler-ated rehabilitation program and 100 hours of individual community service.

“You need to grow from this,” Scarpel-

lino said. “Whether you like it or not, you are looked up to by some in the university.”

Scarpellino told all five players that they were to make “no unwanted contact with the victims.”

If all five students follow the court’s orders then their cases will all be dismissed, their de-fense attorney Thomas Lynch said.

“The court’s main concern is to be consis-tent in what it does,” Scarpellino said.

He acknowledged that the athletes should be held to a higher standard be-cause they are in the spotlight, but he said this judgement was fair for the crime.

“The judge made his comments say-ing that treating them all the same and making them do community service sent the message that despite whatever pun-

By kiM greenNews Editor

By kiM greenNews Editor

See zOning Page 3See inTeRneT Page 3

QU was top priority

at town meeting

QU retracts ‘08 expulsion for hate crime

FOur SGA mEmbErS rESiGn

The Planning and Zoning com-mission for the Town of Hamden held a meeting Tuesday in which Quinnipiac was a priority on the agenda.

The sixth item on the agenda concerned the university, as it is to address the commission’s review of housing and parking data, Assis-tant Town Planner Dan Kops said. The commission required that the university provided annual informa-tion on the number of students liv-ing on campus and commuting, as well as data on parking. In recent years, there has been increased con-cern with the commission about the growth of the student population.

“There is a condition of approval from the dorms at York Hill that there should be a bed to every stu-dent and the commission’s concern is that the number of students has increased while the number of beds has not,” Kops said. “We want stu-dents to be living on campus and not off renting.”

The seventh item on the agenda

CHECK QUCHRONICLE.COMtOday fOR UpdatEs

Four members of the Student Government Association, including the Class of 2014 president, resigned from their positions on the general board during the winter recess due to personal reasons, Vice President of Student Concerns Vincent Bond said.

Matthew Desilets, former Class of 2014 president, said in an email, “my resignation was for personal reasons, that is all. SGA has pro-vided me the greatest experience at this university and my time in SGA is something I will always cherish.”

The three junior class represen-tatives who resigned are Camilla Gomes, Steve Ducos and Saba

Shahid.“It was a little shocking, but then

again, I see the reasons why,” Sha-hid said of the other resignations. “Everyone who did resign is doing it to better their future because there’s other priorities; obviously academ-ics comes first.”

Shahid resigned after two and a half years of involvement in the or-ganization.

“I have a lot of other things go-ing on that I need to put more time into and focus on to excel in the field that I’m trying to go in to,” Shahid said. “I have so much pride and love for this organization but it was something that I knew I had to do in order to succeed in other parts of my life.”

Ducos, a representative for the

Class of 2013, said in an email he resigned because of scheduling con-flicts and rising academic responsi-bilities.

“It was a very difficult deci-sion to make because they are such wonderful and amazing people who share the same love that I have for our university,” Ducos said.

The Student Government will hold a special election on Feb. 8 to select three new junior representa-tives. The sophomore position has been filled by Marissa Harper, for-mer vice president for the Class of 2014, Bond said.

“The executive board would like to commend their service and efforts on the Student Government, and they will be missed this semester,” Bond wrote in an email.

By katHerine rojasAssociate News Editor

kAtIE O’brIEN/ChrONIClE

Wikipedia went dark in protest of SOPA and PIPA on Jan. 18.

By MicHele snow & MegHan ParMentier

Three years ago, Quinnipiac University expelled Courtney Stellwag for making a prank phone call which the university deemed racially motivated.

After Quinnipiac’s investigation, the uni-versity decided last month that her three-year-old prank phone call was not intended as a threat, but merely as a joke.

As a senior at Daemen College in New York, and well on her way to a career as a Physician’s Assistant, Stellwag received a let-ter from Quinnipiac regarding her 2008 expul-sion.

In the letter, dated Dec. 7, 2011, Manuel

See expUlsiOn Page 3

See the letter in its entirety from the university to Courtney Stellwag.

OnLinE

Top 11 movies of 2011, pages 6-7

Qu hypnotized,Page 2

Freshman leading the way, page 12

Colbert’s curious case for president, page 4

aRts & LIfENEws OpINION spORts

what’sseehappening

award-winning website since 2009

on

POLL

MULTIMEDIA

What do you think of Student

Programming Board’s choicefor the Spring

Concert?

Scenes from SPB and

QUAD’s Rock ‘n Road Week

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l e2 J a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 22 | N e w s

Many things have been seen on stage at Quinnipiac, but stu-dents acting as the opposite gen-der, making out with chairs and shouting out the sounds of an or-gasm might be the most interest-ing.

The Student Programming Board and the Orientation Pro-gram co-sponsored “Sailesh: The World’s Best Hypnotist” on Mon-day evening. Sailesh has received nominations for America’s Best Campus Entertainer of the Year and America’s Best Campus Live

Novelty Act by bringing a memo-rable experience to his audience.

“Sailesh is always a Quinnip-iac favorite,” Jamie Kloss, SPB’s mainstage chair, said. “We were very happy with the attendance and energy at his show this year.”

Despite the event taking place on the first day of the Spring se-mester, there was still a large turn-out in attendance.

“We didn’t have much time to spread the word,” Erin Hodgson, SPB’s culture and diversity chair, said. “But we were happy with the turnout and enthusiasm of the au-dience.”

An hour into the performance, students were caught off guard when the music stopped and the lights went out in Burt Kahn. When the audience realized it was a power outage, some left, but Sailesh continued with his perfor-mance.

Sailesh’s shows are entertain-ing because of the number of volunteers on stage. According to Sailesh, the volunteers, approxi-mately 20, were the stars of the show.

“There was a good range of students on stage,” sophomore Sarah Dors said. “Most people

were engaged having known someone being hypnotized.”

Many might remember Sailesh as the R-rated hypnotist from freshman orientation, but due to Hurricane Irene, his show was canceled last August. SPB brought the event back as part of its Welcome Back Week, which consists of a week of events to start the semester.

“This event was a great way to kick off the semester,” Kloss said. “It’s a chance to remind students that SPB has fun programs like this every weekend.”

Hypnotist sHines in blackoutBy RoBeRt GRant

Staff Writer

MATT EISENBERG/ChRoNIClE

Hypnotist Sailesh made students do some abnormal things at Burt Kahn Court Monday night.

QU poll leans to GOP

Arnold among most beautiful

libraries

Better book prices

Campus briefs

The Quinnipiac Polling Institute has erred on the side of the Republican party in a Jan. 11 poll of the Florida Senate race, according to Nelson pollster and proclaimed Democrat Dave Beattie. The poll oversampled Republi-cans, giving it a partisan slant toward the right and is “not what the reality will be” on election day. Yet New York Times polling analyst Nate Silver claims that the QU Poll was the “most accurate” poll in predicting the 2010 elections, according to the QU Poll blog. – J.H.

Have you heard any news that you think Quinnipiac students would care about?Please, tell us: tips@quchronicle.com

Money in the books

Moo Bella no more

In a recent email to CAS students, Dr. Allan Smits, associate dean of sciences and graduate programs, announced money is now available to support student/faculty research. According to the email, the funding is available to both undergraduate and graduate students who are conducting research with a faculty member. Applications are available on MyQ and will be accepted by Dr. Smits at any time. – M.P.

Moo Bella, the novelty ice cream with mix and match flavors and toppings, is no longer available in the Mount Carmel dining hall. As a result of low sales and high maintenance the decision was made to remove the machines. A permanent Hersey’s Ice Cream sundae bar has replaced Moo Bella. The build-your-own sundae bar, which Chartwells has found to be popular in the past, contains a variety of unique flavors including pumpkin and oatmeal cookie. Also mentioned was the addition of waffle cones and toppings. – A.B.

In response to Flavorwire.com’s list of 20 Most Beautiful College Libraries from Around the World, readers sent in their own entries. From Around the World, compiled completely from reader comments, Quinnipiac’s Arnold Bernhard Library lands 10th on the list among colleges from Germany, Japan, Hungary, Eng-land, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Mexico, Bel-gium and other parts of the United States. – M.P.

Students who have yet to buy their books for the semester will be happy to learn about a new website. Booksatquinnipiac.com lists subject areas and classes, and based on the student’s schedule, compares the books for the classes with Quinnipiac’s bookstore prices against new and used prices from Amazon. The prices are compared with a bar chart, making it simple to see which site offers the highest and lowest prices for each book. – M.P.

Got issues? So do we. Join us.The Chronicle staff meets Tuesdays at 9:15 p.m. in TH106

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l e 3J a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 2 N e w s | 3

Students can expect a wide va-riety of entertainment for welcome week from the Student Program-ming Board and QU After Dark after their contest win in Campus Activi-ties Magazine.

The magazine has featured many of SPB’s and QUAD’s events, in-cluding reviews of performers, known as artist “report cards.” Those reviews were entered into a raffle called “The Rock ‘n Road” contest with the grand prize being five col-lege artists to perform on campus for free and a four page spread in the magazine.

Steve Pagios, assistant direc-tor of student center & campus life and adviser for SPB and QUAD, wrote reviews and gave ratings with the organizations of each event to submit to Campus Activi-ties Magazine.

Pagios received a call from an editor of the magazine this past sum-mer announcing SPB and QUAD’s win.

“This is programming at its fin-

est,” Pagios said. “This is a lot of programming, it’s not simply the kind of programming we always do. At the back of my mind, what I’m trying to show students, is at the end of the day we need to make our school look good. So we need to make sure we’re at the top of the game because we’re essentially in a national stage for this program-ming.”

Rock ‘n Road week starts Jan. 26 in Burt Kahn Court at 8 p.m. with national guest speaker Marc Elliot’s message of tolerance, acceptance and overcoming challenges. The Dating Doctor David Coleman will be open to students for questions and concerns Friday Jan. 27 in Burt Kahn Court at 8 p.m. Ending the night with a bang, comedian drum-mers, The Bucket Boys, will deliver their performance in Buckman The-ater.

Saturday, Jan. 28, the skilled, multi-neck guitar player, Mark Kroos, will perform at Rocky Top Student Center at 7 p.m. Then the 61Syx Tecknique group will cel-ebrate the end of the week at 10 p.m.

in Burt Kahn Court, with its high en-ergy step-dancing and break dancing routines.

Attendees to at least three events can win a $100 Southwest Airline gift card, and attendees of four or more events will be entered into a second drawing for a $100 South-west Airlines gift card, compliments of SPB.

The first 20 people to attend each event will receive a computer mouse and the first 55 people will receive an ice scraper, compliments of SPB.

Resident Assistants have a com-petition to see who can bring the most residents; the winner gets a $250 gift certificate to Southwest Airlines.

“They’re really awesome events,” SPB Arts & Entertainment Chair Alysse Zaffos said. “I know that I’ve seen three out of the five events before, and I think that they are very inspirational and very help-ful.”

This week of events is just a feel for what the rest of semester will be with SPB and QUAD, SPB Promo-tions Chair Robert Grant said.

A Rock ‘n Road WeekBy katherine rojas

Associate News Editor

ishment Quinnipiac University gave these guys the court was not going to take it lightly,” Lynch said.

Lynch submitted three packets of information in support of James Johnson’s and Jackson’s case for ac-celerated rehabilitation including his transcript, letters of support from his church and a description of Quin-nipiac men’s basketball community service activities. Lynch said John-son earned a 4.0 GPA last spring se-mester.

Johnson had never been arrested before, and since he learned his les-son, it “is unlikely he will ever of-fend again,” Lynch said to the judge.

James Johnson and Jackson ap-plied for accelerated rehabilitation on Dec. 6, 2011. Dave Johnson, Azotam and Gause requested con-tinuances, but today the three ap-plied for accelerated rehabilitation.

“We weren’t prepared to do

that today, because we were still having discussions with the states attorney to see whether or not they would dismiss the case,” Lynch said. “But the state’s attitude was that they wanted to have all the students treated somewhat in a similar way.”

The notice to victims was waived because victims were already noti-fied about today’s appearance.

Six victims were sent court no-tices that James Johnson and Jack-son applied for accelerated reha-bilitation and were invited to come support or object that application. No victims appeared before the court, but some of them submitted their opinions that were read to the court.

At least one victim opposed the application because they “wouldn’t suffer any direct consequence” and he was frustrated with how the uni-versity handled the situation, said the victim in a statement read to the

court. Another victim said that ac-celerated rehabilitation is sufficient and everyone should move on be-cause they all apologized.

The hearing was originally scheduled for Oct. 24 and postponed twice pending an additional police report.

James Johnson, a senior, and Azotam, a sophomore, were charged with assault and breach of peace on Sept. 18. They pleaded not guilty to the charges at their arraignment Sept. 26. The students were sanc-tioned by the university on Oct. 6. The other three players confessed to Hamden Police Dec. 1 to their involvement in the incident. Jack-son was charged with conspiracy to commit assault and assault in the third degree and second-degree breach of peace, while Dave John-son and Gause were charged with third-degree conspiracy to commit assault and second-degree breach of peace.

also refers to Quinnipiac. There has been an increase in complaints re-cently from the residents of north-ern Hamden about students living in their neighborhoods, Kops said. The people have joined together to form the Facebook group “People of Hamden,” in which residents can openly discuss their concerns about Quinnipiac students.

“Almost all complaints we get involves students who attend Quin-

nipiac,” Kops said. “The commis-sion is considering changing the zoning regulations or other possible changes to solve this problem. On Tuesday we will be discussing these possible improvements.

“The issue has really grown. Most students aren’t disruptive to their neighbors, but the few who are cause concern. When people complain publicly, it strikes a nerve with others. We don’t have a college town where there are apartments. Students are spread

throughout the neighborhoods where the lifestyles are very dif-ferent.”

Associate Vice President for Facilities Administration Joseph Rubertone represented the univer-sity at the meeting. He did not wish to comment on student housing.

In addition to the student hous-ing trepidations, the commission also had concerns about the limited parking on the Mount Carmel cam-pus.

“It came to our attention that stu-

dents from York Hill were commut-ing with their cars and it was clearly understood by the commission that this wouldn’t happen,” Kops said. “We do not know what we will be deciding. We are most concerned about the congestion at the intersec-tion at Mt. Carmel, Westwoods and Whitney Ave. that affects the resi-dents of Hamden.”

Rubertone said that he believes the problem has been resolved after security implemented that only se-niors living on York Hill and com-

muters would be allowed to park in North Lot and Hogan Road Lot on the Mount Carmel campus prior to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays.

“The commission is upset be-cause we allowed seniors to drive down to campus from York Hill without going back to get their per-mission,” Rubertone said. “I have no idea if this will be resolved, but we did supply them with a traffic report on the 3rd of December. We will see how they will react to the report to-morrow night.”

postponed, as lawmakers looked to reach an agreement. In the House of Representatives, Texas Representa-tive Lamar Smith, the driving force behind SOPA, killed his own bill last Friday.

Rich Hanley, associate profes-sor of journalism and director of the graduate journalism program, said the bills strayed into areas of prior restraint and censorship, thus freez-ing the free flow of information that is at the core of the Internet.

“Present federal laws regard-ing copyright protection and penal-ties for piracy are sufficient at this point, and effective enforcement rather than new laws that overreach the mark is the way to balance the interests of copyright while keeping knowledge and the creative process thriving online,” Hanley said.

Thousands of websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist went dark on Wednesday, Jan. 18 for 12 hours, in protest of the bills. On Google’s home page, a black box covered the famous logo with a message that said, “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the Web!” According to a re-port in the Washington Post, Google Inc. gathered more that seven mil-lion signatures for its online petition to Congress to reject the bills.

The main supporters of the bills were companies in the music, film

and gaming industry, Student Gov-ernment Association Class of 2012 Representative John Scholl said. Scholl is a firm believer in keeping the Internet “free.”

“Most of the [supporters] were supporting it for their own self-in-terests of profit,” Scholl said. “What they missed was an understanding of the Internet culture.

“If these bills passed, smaller Internet-based companies wouldn’t survive. For example, I work at a small Internet marketing firm which uses Facebook and Google to adver-tise for local businesses in the Boston area. If the bill passed, the company would have to constantly worry about copyright infringement.”

Although the bills in their origi-nal form failed, the fight to keep the Internet open and free is far from over. Congress returned to the draw-ing boards to reach a wider agree-ment on a solution. A PCWorld report projects that SOPA will re-formulate in February and PIPA will include possible amendments within the next weeks.

Last week, a new similar bill has surfaced, according to PCWorld, the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN). This bill would give the International Trade Commission oversight on foreign-based websites and would apply to sites that promote copyright viola-tions.

internet from cover

court from cover

zoning from cover

QU was top priority at town meeting; housing, parking discussed

5 basketball players grantedaccelerated rehabilitation

THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY8 p.m., Burt Kahn Court: speaker Marc Elliot

8 p.m., Burt Kahn Court: Dating Doctor David Coleman

10 p.m., Buckman Theater: Junk Comics, the Bucket Boys

7 p.m., Rocky Top Student Cen-ter: Guitarist/singer Mark Kroos

10 p.m., Burt Kahn Court: Breakdancers 61Syx Teknique

expulsion from cover

Carreiro, Quinnipiac’s vice presi-dent and dean of students, admitted the findings of a “full investigation” showed the number Stellwag and her friend dialed during their prank was done so randomly as part of a Halloween joke. The line said dur-ing the phone call, “You will die in seven days,” which was interpreted as a threat of harm, was a line from the movie, “The Ring.”

Stellwag has been officially ex-onerated of her charges and the let-ter she received from Quinnipiac acknowledged in writing that her actions did not stem from racial-bias and that the university would accept her application for re-admission.

“The University recognizes that your actions on Oct. 28, 2008, were not motivated by hatred or bigotry, and that publications that suggested your conduct was a hate crime or racially motivated hate speech in-cident were not accurate,” Carreiro wrote.

“Courtney is thrilled,” her at-torney, James Burke, said. Though Stellwag declined Quinnipiac’s offer to reapply and will remain at Dae-

man College until graduation, this is the outcome she had been hoping for.

Stellwag and her family have been involved in litigation against Quinnipiac since early 2009.

“We asked very early on for Quinnipiac to retract a number of the statements that had been made con-cerning this incident,” Burke said.

Stellwag’s expulsion received much media attention in 2008. Along with the Quinnipiac Chron-icle, the New Haven Register and NBC Connecticut were among those that published the story of Stell-wag’s charges as well as those of her friend, Emily Loschiavo. According to Burke, a similar letter has been issued to Laschiavo, who was also involved in the phone call.

“Every single person [involved] gave statements and told university officials that this was a joke, that the phrase in question was from The Ring, that it was a random call, that there was no intent to threaten any-one, and the university’s investiga-tor in fact concluded that all of that was true. And it’s very unfortunate that it’s taken three years to set this record straight,” Burke said.

cover continuations

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l e4 J a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 24 | O p i n i o n4

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A couple of Thursday nights ago, Comedy Central comedian Stephen Colbert announced on his nightly talk show “The Colbert Report” his intention to ex-plore a presidential bid in South Carolina. Not an avid Colbert watcher myself, I heard about the curious news the fol-lowing night on “The Daily Show” hosted by Colbert’s bestie and self-proclaimed busi-ness partner, Jon Stewart. I remember thinking “Is he serious?” and searching Google News for the truth.

Let’s face it, sometimes you can’t immediately tell if the Com-edy Central late-night sweethearts are summoning satire if you’re not totally up-to-date with the political coverage of the campaign season that is heating up. After reading more about Colbert’s presidential run (which is fake) and “The Defi-nitely Not Coordinating with Ste-phen Colbert Super PAC” (which is real), it’s hard to discern the come-dians’ wiggling eyebrows as their smirks say “Ha, isn’t this ridiculous

what I am saying to you right now?”This is a case in which King

Colbert has asked for too much of Americans with only a casual or

minimal interest in politics. Colbert’s “campaign” team

can’t assume that the aver-age American will know that Colbert can’t actu-ally run for president in

the correct sense because his pseudo-candidacy came too late (among other things), even

for a write-in ballot. The Unaware of Colbert

population possibly won’t under-stand his mock support of former front-runner Herman Cain, who in fact dropped out of the race in De-cember.

Cain agreed to participate in the “Rock Me like a Herman Cain: South Cain-olina Primary Rally” on Jan. 20, which broadcast Colbert’s apparent support of the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO. According to some, like Mitch Potter of the Washington Bureau, Cain somehow remains unaware that he is the butt of a very clever joke. According to other sources like ABC News, Cain

is apparently in on the joke but is po-litely using the opportunity to show Americans he can “lighten up.”

The gamble, perhaps unsurpris-ingly, failed, when the Cain/Colbert ticket garnered only 1 percent of the vote in the South Carolina pri-mary, according to another Politico.com post. Although I’m still unsure as to whether the Colbert campaign considers this to be a failure, be-cause the actual desired result of the slightly outrageous bid is unknown, at least to me.

One meaty component of Col-bert’s campaign is the “The Defi-nitely Not Coordinating with Ste-phen Colbert Super PAC,” a poke at the fairly new use of Super PACs in election campaigns.

A PAC, or Political Action Com-mittee, is ostensibly a group of peo-ple organized to raise money for an individual candidate’s campaign, ac-cording to the Center for Responsive Politics’s website. The recent rise of the Super PAC means a new kind of group created July 2010 that can raise and spend basically unlimited money for campaigns.

Colbert let his pal Jon Stewart take over, thereby showing how

convenient it can be to sidestep le-gal limitations. Stewart, proclaimed “President For Life For Ever” of the Colbert Super PAC, continues to let air out of the PAC balloon by mak-ing obvious mockeries of the PAC system. His Jan. 17 program showed Stewart sporting a jeweled crown while Mario Batali prepared (and ate) a frittata con le erbe, all in the name of independent campaign ex-penditures.

Colbert is hoping that citizens of the Colbert Nation are educated enough to know that a tiara and fan-cy egg dish represent the ridiculous idea that Stewart, while technically not “coordinating” with Colbert, can spend excessive amounts of cash in the name of the PAC. Viewers are meant to watch and hear this while simultaneously understanding that the self-proclaimed faux newsmen are throwing America a clever lam-poon.

What I don’t think they counted on was that the American public simply isn’t as educated about the political election process as our forefathers once hoped. I’m not saying this applies to everyone, for sure, this is when political science

students have their field day. It’s al-most easier to watch Colbert’s fake run for president and turn that into our reality because he speaks to us in a language we better understand. It is sometimes impossible to follow the Republican presidential nomi-nations as closely as Colbert and Stewart might hope, especially the financial aspects of the campaign processes.

The stint ended Monday night during “The Colbert Report” when the funnyman said, “It is with a heavy heart and a spastic colon that I’m re-suspending Herman Cain’s suspended campaign. Also, I’m hereby officially ending my explor-atory committee to run for the presi-dent of the United States of South Carolina.”

So this pseudo presidential run is more than just a joke. Colbert and Stewart (and the Comedy Central team, I’m sure) have bridged com-edy and a real political process in an unprecedented way to spread knowl-edge to Generation Y. The efforts of the short-lived “Colbert for Presi-dent of the United States of South Carolina” quasi-campaign remain to be seen.

Colbert’s curious case for prez

CorreCtionS

JaMie hillCopy Desk Chief

@magicattic6

In the graph, “Total Compensation for QU’s Top Earners” on the cover of the Dec. 7 issue, Donald Weinbach, Richard Ferguson, Joan Isaac Mohr and Mark Thompson’s titles were incorrectly reported. Weinbach is vice president for development & alumni affairs, Ferguson is senior vice president for administration, Mohr is vice president & dean of ad-missions, and Thompson is senior vice president for academic & student affairs.

The story titled, “Blackboard to get makeover” on page 4 of the Dec. 7 issue incorrectly said Staci Canny and Erica Cirilli wrote the story. In fact, Amy Maciejowski and Erica Cirilli wrote the story. Also on page 4, the story titled, “Online tickets available for winter sports” incorrectly said Staci Canny and Erica Cirilli wrote the story. In fact, Giovanni Mio wrote the story.

Contact editor@quchronicle.com if interested.

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l e 5J a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 2 O p i n i o n | 5

What really controls elections

DakOta WieganD/ChrOniCle

I just returned from campaign-ing for Texas Rep. Ron Paul in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primaries as part of PO 362 with Professor Scott McLean. As a self-proclaimed, as well as exter-nally labeled, political junkie, it was a wonderful 10 days.

I noticed two very telling things during my time making phone calls to residents on behalf of the campaign, and knocking on doors to gather voter data and advocate for Paul and waving signs on street cor-ners for the man we like to call “The Good Doctor.”

First, even when some New Hampshire voters do not support Paul, they often say they respect his principled nature and his abil-ity to stay true. That is frequently followed by them saying: “Glad to see you young guys out fighting for something you believe in.” If they do not support Paul, I do not care that they like my enthusiasm.

Alas, we nod and smile at their empty compliment and continue to fight the good fight.

The second thing that struck me was the sentiment from so many Mitt Romney supporters that they would support Paul, but he is “un-electable.” Who determines this tag? It is the cohorts that run the large media corporations who have coronated Mitt Romney as the next in line for the Republican nomina-

tion before any ballot was cast. I jumped on the assumption too, in

an article I penned last semester. I did so as a reaction to the likes of CNN, who were call-ing the race already.

A candidate becomes electable when people cast

votes for them, that is how democracy works. Telling people that somebody is un-electable before any

votes are cast is unjustly influencing the process.

People should be left to decide on their own. Unfortunately, there is a vast number of people who sim-ply want to beat Barack Obama in November, so they go with who the media tells them has the best shot. Even making the assumption that Romney has the best shot of that is not true.

The media bias ranges from sub-tle to blatant.

There are two early voting towns in New Hampshire, which the AP reported the results. The Concord Monitor picked up the story, but cut off the part about the second town which Ron Paul did better in. They did so to be able to run the headline “Huntsman, Romney tied in early voting.”

A local CBS affiliate in New Hampshire showed poll numbers of Romney and described his lead as more than thirty points over his rivals. The problem? Ron Paul was within fifteen points. They did not

even put his name on the graphic.The most egregious offense I

witnessed during my time in New Hampshire was in the debate on Sunday, January 8. The debate was cosponsored by the New Hamp-shire Union Leader newspaper. The paper had endorsed former Speaker of the House, Newt Gin-grich as their choice as the Repub-lican nominee a few weeks prior. The debate’s first question was posed to Gingrich, asking why Mitt Romney should not be the nominee. It did not provide re-ciprocal questions to all the other candidates, nor anything similar to it. Their agenda, as a supposedly objective media outlet and debate moderator, was not even attempted to be hidden.

This list undoubtedly goes on. These are simply three instances that I picked up during my short and somewhat insulated from the normal media time in New Hamp-shire.

At the end of the day, the people who own the media con-glomerates are the same circles of people who run all the special in-terest groups. Romney would pro-tect their money-making schemes, just like every President in our lifetime, while Ron Paul is the last great hope to actually clean up the way the government of this country operates.

That is, until Rand Paul runs in 2016. Hopefully by then, the con-versation will have shifted.

It’s been seven months since I last wrote an article for the Chroni-cle, centered around the disorganiza-tion of the study abroad office.

I’m back to tell you two things. First, the study abroad office will not make or break your semester abroad. Sec-ond, no matter how diffi-cult it may be to navigate the forms and signa-tures and meetings and red tape, your semester will be worth it.

I studied abroad this past fall in Paris, and I can honestly say it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Of course, everybody says those words when they come back: “It was such a great experience!” But rather than just responding with a “That’s nice,” I implore those of you who still have time to study abroad to figure it out. Somehow, whether it’s a semester or a year or a spring break or a month in the sum-mer, go abroad.

Sure, everyone says you’ll gain valuable life experience, make new friends and learn something about yourself. But if you don’t listen to them, listen to me. I’m telling you that all of these will happen and more.

You’ll learn to appreciate your own country and see it as the world sees it. You’ll make some of the best friends of your life, and together, you’ll all ride the ups and downs

of a new city and a new culture. You’ll learn that an enormous, thriv-ing world exists out there, and the

Quinnipiac bubble might actually be holding you back from

living the biggest life you can. You’ll take advantage of every incredible oppor-tunity that falls into your lap. And there will be a lot

of them.For four months,

you’ll be completely independent and navi-gating foreign places

on your own. This might scare you, but by the

end, you’ll realize you might actu-ally be ready for adulthood. You’ll meet people with similar values, people with interests far away from your own, and people you’re in-sanely attracted to, romantically and platonically. You will grow up. You will love. You will live.

When you come back to Quin-nipiac, you’ll be harshly reminded that Hamden is not Paris (or insert your preferred exotic city here). But you’ll have grown. QU will be the same old QU, sending you to get your card reprogrammed at the QCard office, who sends you to Res Life because they don’t think you need a new card, who sends you back to the QCard office because you do in fact need a new card. But you’re not mad, you’ve got a new at-titude. You went abroad.

Jeremy StullOpinion editor

@jpstull

michele SnowManaging editor

@michenator

Go abroadMy granite state experience

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l e J a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 26 | A r t s & L i f e

top 5 highest grossing films of the year

They said it couldn’t be done, but a comedy about cancer proved to be one of the most heart-felt and re-warding films of the year. The movie re-volves around Adam, played with a certain i n t r o v e r t e d

subtle prose by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is diag-nosed with a rare form of cancer and given the odds of a coin flip to live. The film’s immensely personal touch stems from writer Will Reiser’s personal ex-perience with cancer, which Seth Rogen, who co-stars as Adam’s best goofy stoner bud Kyle, helped Reiser through in real life. Many scenes were in-spired by interactions between Reiser and Rogen in real life, which can be seen through the multiple humorous and heart wrenching moments in the film. A comedy treat.

This politi-cal thriller from George C l o o n e y , who serves as writer, director and actor in the film, shows the right way to both entertain and entrance an a u d i e n c e . Each twist and turn adds another layer to this dark drama, and it’s only as successful as the en-semble of skilled actors at the story’s disposal. Ryan Gosling stars as a young campaign worker who ends up too deep within both sides of the political spectrum. Soon enough, Gosling figures out neither side is what it seems and becomes en-grossed in a scandal like no other. It won’t make viewers support America’s political system any further, but “Ides” entertains on all the right notes.

In 2009, “The Hangover” had au-diences crying from laughter, thus dubbing Zach Galifianakis the new king of comedy. Nearly three years later, references to wolf packs and the “three best friends” are still just as funny. Naturally, Hollywood producers wanted to capitalize on the unbelievable hype from the first film, but unfortunately, “The Hang-over Part ll” simply could not mea-sure up to the hysterical and clever original. Consequently, the sequel’s major problems have nothing to do with the cast or its comedic timing. In fact, the film’s sole downfall is

in its utter lack of plot creativity. Although the setting changes from Las Vegas to Bangkok, the entire plot is essentially identical to the original “Hangover.” At least in the first film, it was believable that Alan (Gali-fianakis) slipped roofies into everyone’s drinks. In the sequel, the “wolf pack” members black out once again, after roasting marshmallows which Alan secretly injects with muscle relaxers and ADHD medication. How believable. Despite the sequel’s complete mimicry of the original, “The Hangover Part ll” went on to become one of the highest grossing R-rated comedies. For a film with such high expectations, it may have succeeded in profit but failed in creativity.

2011 was a solid year for comedies in film. Whether we were singing along to Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On” with the women of “Brides-maids” or gawking at the sizzling chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” Hollywood didn’t disappoint. That is, until the disappointing Anna Faris-fronted comedy “What’s Your Number?” premiered in September. Ally Darling (Faris) questions her num-

ber of sexual partners and if any of them would have worked out as true, long-lasting love. Faris is a natural comedienne. Her performance in 2007’s “Smiley Face” is one of the great unheralded comedic performances of the last decade. However, Faris’s talents cannot save this mostly boring and uninteresting comedy. It does not help that the funniest moments in the film were previously shown in the trailer. Ari Graynor, hysterical in “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” is given almost nothing to do here. Despite a premise with promise, “What’s Your Num-ber?” prevents audiences from actually caring.

Director Gary Mar-shall has experi-enced a case of déjà vu. Despite casting multiple Hollywood hunks and leading actresses in one film, 2010’s romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” was welcomed to theaters by poor critic reviews. Fast forward to 2011, and Marshall’s “New Year’s Eve” experi-enced the same fate

as its predecessor. While the film’s plot may be appealing to those who place excessive hype on the unofficial De-cember holiday, the incessant examples of corny, mushy dialogue are almost too much to bear. Abigail Breslin’s character adds an enjoyable youth element to the plot, a role more enjoyable to watch than Taylor Swift’s im-mature cameo in “Valentine’s Day.” While all success-ful romantic comedies must include some elements of lovey-dovey sentiment, Marshall’s latest flick simply takes it too far.FL

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Looking back on 2011, I never would have thought an Ira-nian foreign film would be my pick for film of the year. Lo and behold, I have been proven wrong: “A Separation” beat anything Hollywood put out this past year – and by a landslide to boot. There’s no real violence, action or Oscar bait of any kind here. All that audiences have is raw and real dialogue: a drama between two families that conveys more emotion than most films in the past decade. You could wait for the inevitable American remake that brain-dead Holly-wood will churn out in a year or two, or you can see a mas-terpiece of cinema that touches the humanity of all viewers.

This one oozes style and depraved sophistication. Everything from the direction by David Fincher of “Fight Club” and “The Social Network” fame, to the soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, to the dark and provoking themes surrounding a journalist hired to solve a murder, pro-pels the story to mystifying depths. I have not read the book nor seen the highly acclaimed Swedish version of “Tattoo,” but Rooney Mara’s por-trayal as Lisbeth Salander, the story’s protagonist, is one of the darkest, yet most addictive characters of the year, entrancing viewers with an un-matched draw.

Unlike Ryan Gosling’s other movie on this list, audiences see a much more reserved and poignant perfor-mance from the unnamed stunt driver he plays in the best indie film of the year. From the opening scene, which I would argue as the most suspense-ful sequence of the year, “Drive” suc-ceeds as a low budget film with high budget thrills. There’s some of the best action of the year in this one, al-beit slipped between a slow-moving love story. The few violent moments in the film come in gratuitous and terrifying bursts, leaving the viewer in shock. This is one drive you don’t want to miss.

In a time where blockbuster bud-gets top $100 million and Hol-lywood studios churn out 3-D replays of old films, a silent film made from a largely unknown cast and crew takes the cake for this year’s best in class. The acting by Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo is truly exemplary, considering the lack of spoken dialogue and the emphasis on facial expression. Each emotion displayed, from love to despair, is shown beauti-fully behind the added film grain and black & white style for au-thenticity. The film’s original score serves as possibly the most impor-tant actor in the film, with Ludovic Bource’s work carrying the film.

Harry POTTEr and THE dEaTHLy HaLLOwS - ParT 2 $1,328,111,219TranSFOrMErS: dark OF THE MOOn $1,123,746,996PIraTES OF THE CarIBBEan: On STrangEr TIdES $1,043,871,802THE TwILIgHT Saga: BrEakIng dawn - ParT 1 $701,271,000kung Fu Panda 2 $665,692,281None of these f lms made any appearances on our Top List or our Flop List. All of them are sequels or part of a series.

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l eJ a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 2 A r t s & L i f e | 7

top 5 highest grossing films of the year

George Clooney has starred in many films over the past few decades, in-cluding another on this list. But his acting in Al-exander Payne’s “The De-scendants” truly shines, and could potentially nab him this year’s best ac-tor award. Clooney stars as Matt King, a man with a plethora of problems. While attempting to satisfy his cousins and other fam-ily members with a money-making settlement on some Hawaiian land, Clooney struggles when his wife is put on life support. King attempts to reconcile his children, only to find out more and more about his estranged wife. While it does lean towards the melodramatic, the movie succeeds on Payne’s witty and convincing writing.

In 2009, “The Hangover” had au-diences crying from laughter, thus dubbing Zach Galifianakis the new king of comedy. Nearly three years later, references to wolf packs and the “three best friends” are still just as funny. Naturally, Hollywood producers wanted to capitalize on the unbelievable hype from the first film, but unfortunately, “The Hang-over Part ll” simply could not mea-sure up to the hysterical and clever original. Consequently, the sequel’s major problems have nothing to do with the cast or its comedic timing. In fact, the film’s sole downfall is

in its utter lack of plot creativity. Although the setting changes from Las Vegas to Bangkok, the entire plot is essentially identical to the original “Hangover.” At least in the first film, it was believable that Alan (Gali-fianakis) slipped roofies into everyone’s drinks. In the sequel, the “wolf pack” members black out once again, after roasting marshmallows which Alan secretly injects with muscle relaxers and ADHD medication. How believable. Despite the sequel’s complete mimicry of the original, “The Hangover Part ll” went on to become one of the highest grossing R-rated comedies. For a film with such high expectations, it may have succeeded in profit but failed in creativity.

Superhero flicks such as “Iron Man,” “The Dark Knight” and “Thor” have certainly raised the bar for future portrayals of comic book icons. While Ryan Reynolds looks good in al-most anything, he proves that green is not his best color in the sci-fi action film “Green Lantern.” Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a test pilot who becomes a green, glow-ing superhero who must save the universe. While the film’s visual effects are ad-

mirable, the plot is inconsistent in tone. Reynolds jumps back and forth between real-life problems on Earth and fighting villains in outer space. Acting performances by Reynolds, Blake Lively and Peter Sarsgaard, however, do not contribute to “Lantern’s” downfall. While Reynolds’ superhero performance did not earn him the same praise that Robert Downey, Jr. or Christian Bale re-ceived, one thing he did gain from the film was his new girlfriend, Blake Lively. With Reynolds’ “Safe House” releasing in theaters Feb. 10, he should certainly be able to redeem himself alongside Denzel Washington.

BEST OF THE BEST

Judging from his recent film flops such as “Jack and Jill” and “Grown Ups,” it is clear that Adam Sandler’s humor has taken a noticeable dive since his “Happy Gilmore” and “Billy Madison” days. In “Just Go with It,” Jenni-fer Aniston plays Sandler’s work assistant who agrees to act as his ex-wife to keep up a lie Sandler’s character told his pretty blond girlfriend (Brooklyn Decker). The film is predictable, unoriginal and unbelievable. At 45, it is time

for Sandler to stop playing the immature bachelor who miracu-lously attracts a beautiful 20-something. The film’s saving grace proves to be a few scenes that feature Eddie (Nick Swardson), Sandler’s comedic childhood friend. Most disappointing is Os-car winner Nicole Kidman’s role as Aniston’s high school rival. Kidman successfully portrays a rude one-upper, but the film’s utter stupidity overshadows her A-List acting skills. Films such as “Spanglish” and “Reign Over Me” showcased Sandler’s dra-matic acting skills, so perhaps it’s time the funnyman finally re-alized and embraced his middle age.

Looking back on 2011, I never would have thought an Ira-nian foreign film would be my pick for film of the year. Lo and behold, I have been proven wrong: “A Separation” beat anything Hollywood put out this past year – and by a landslide to boot. There’s no real violence, action or Oscar bait of any kind here. All that audiences have is raw and real dialogue: a drama between two families that conveys more emotion than most films in the past decade. You could wait for the inevitable American remake that brain-dead Holly-wood will churn out in a year or two, or you can see a mas-terpiece of cinema that touches the humanity of all viewers.

While this condensed version of the John le Carré trilogy takes the cake for the most complicated film of 2011, it is also a damn good one. Gary Oldman stars as George Smiley, a re-tired British secret service agent who is called back into duty after learning of a spy deep within the organiza-tion. The movie goes back and forth, between numerous montages and sequences, often coming off highly confusing. But the film keeps view-ers guessing, and most importantly, interested. The desire to learn the mole’s identity is what makes “Tinker Tailor” such a well-crafted and well-executed drama.

A Parisian gem from Woody Allen, a writer/director notorious for the cute, yet the absurd. “Midnight” is a unique rom-com starring Owen Wilson, a conflicted writer who wanders the streets of Paris while visiting with his fiancee. What he finds instead of scenic views is a deep journey into the depths of his own personal problems and ques-tions of life. Wilson’s character, Gil, is pragmatic yet deprived: an uneven blend of blissfully con-tent and deficient of self-purpose. “Midnight” is by far Wilson’s best role to date and one of Allen’s best films in recent memory.

Expanding far beyond his traditional style of film, writer/director Kevin Smith gives a sinister vision into the mind of kooky right wing extremists with disturbing realism. Don’t expect any ston-er or comic humor here. Smith creates arguably his best film yet, filled with everything from sadistic scenes of vio-lence to intense action sequences that fixate the audience.

It isn’t easy creating an Oscar-caliber sports film, but with the help of Brad Pitt’s strong act-ing chops and intense dialogue, “Moneyball” accomplishes the feat in more ways than one. The movie revolves around the real life story of Oakland A’s man-ager Billy Beane, who is faced with monetary and internal is-sues after the A’s best players leave the team. Jonah Hill also shines here. Although he does serve primarily as the comic relief audiences have come to know and love, he is able to keep up with Pitt in every scene, and is excellent as the young, yet knowledgeable assistant.

Harry POTTEr and THE dEaTHly HallOwS - ParT 2 $1,328,111,219TranSFOrmErS: dark OF THE mOOn $1,123,746,996PiraTES OF THE CariBBEan: On STrangEr TidES $1,043,871,802THE TwiligHT Saga: BrEaking dawn - ParT 1 $701,271,000kung Fu Panda 2 $665,692,281None of these f lms made any appearances on our Top List or our Flop List. All of them are sequels or part of a series.

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l e J a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 28 | A r t s & L i f e

By SARAH ROSENBERGAssociate Arts & Life Editor

Sh*t My iPhone

Says

MYLIFETIME.COM MYLIFETIME.COM

Project Runway Allstars Dance Moms: Second Season SpotlightRave WReck

BoBcat tWeet oF tHe Week

saRaH’s style

Abby Lee Miller hits the small screen again with her army of mili-tary-like trained 12-year-old dancers on Lifetime’s second season of the trashy hit, “Dance Moms.” However, we know that the girls’ outrageous ability is not really what this show is about, hence the title. The mothers of these dancers are also back, and they have more energy and enthusi-asm than their daughters.

However, they don’t need music to perform. It’s the drama that drives these middle-aged mean girls. Arguing and conniving over dance posi-tions, costumes and who’s on the top of the competitive weekly pyramid, these moms can’t seem to get enough of their lives in the Pennsylvania studio. Abby, the head of the Abby Lee Dance Company and creator of these petty situations, does anything but dance around the drama with her loud and outrageous remarks. In the second season’s first episode, the drama surrounding solo performances and bumping up the girls’ ages to qualify in a competition is just the beginning. The newest mom added to the crew definitely doesn’t know what she’s in for. Dancing for Abby Lee may be a great opportunity, and the experience will be unforgettable, especially for the viewers at home, depending on who your mother is. – C. Burroni

The only thing familiar about “Project Runway All Stars” is the contes-tants’ faces. Everything else has been revamped on this top-rated Lifetime show. In its tenth season, 13 designers who came close to winning the top designer title have been brought back for another chance to win.

However, designers have to impress an entirely new set of judges, com-prised of Isaac Mizrahi, Georgina Chapman, co-founder of the fashion label Marchesa, and host Angela Lindvall, who lends an entirely new accent to former host Heidi Klum’s famous phrase, “auf wiedersehen.” For Lindvall, a simple “you’re out” suffices. The mentor for the designers is no longer Tim Gunn, but Joanna Cole, Marie Claire magazine’s editor-in-chief. As opposed to Gunn’s moral support and hugs, Cole doles out serious con-structive criticism.

The changes are refreshing and bring an entirely new vibe to the com-petition. In last week’s episode, contestants were asked to design an outfit for Miss Piggy to wear during “The Muppets” premiere. These designers know what they are doing, which eliminates the catty workroom drama and leaves viewers in awe of the amazing clothes constructed despite the always unconventional challenges. Tune in to “Project Runway All Stars” on Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Lifetime. – C. Boudreau

Considering the fact that acquiring an iPhone was a 24-hour process (for-gotten credit cards, Apple-hungry mall mobs, misplaced driver’s licenses, you know, the usual) I hoped that my transi-tion from the BlackBerry to the iPhone would be smooth. So far, I would say I am a pretty satisfied customer. Autocor-rect is a savior, Instagram helps me pre-tend I am a burgeoning photographer and the maps application for the direc-tionally-impaired makes navigation a lot simpler. But then, there are those classic moments when technology be-comes too much for itself, specifically in the case of an electronic female slave with a foreign name – Siri.

Her name is eerily similar to that of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s daugh-ter, but it isn’t shocking. Siri is a celebrity, Steve Jobs’ love child with Apple before his premature death. This chick means business. Case in point: When I asked Siri if Cheez-its were the next solution to world peace, she brilliantly told me that she found three cheese shops near me. One of these “cheese shops” happened to be Caseus, a cheese and a restaurant in New Haven that one will notice on a shut-tle ride to Toad’s. Now, thanks to Siri, I am hungry and craving cheese. There-fore, I will go to Caseus and indulge in an overpriced meal of dairy finger foods. Isn’t that Siri just a genius? With the click of a button, I am not only feeding my ap-petite but mobilizing the economy. World peace or not, I, along with the owner of Caseus, am a very happy camper.

Alas, in the most hysterical fashion, Siri gives the worst directions. For a smart phone, she really does not know how to delegate a map when given a spe-cific address. Maybe there’s something wrong with my pronunciation and diction when speaking into the microphone, as I don’t recall using expletives when asking for directions to Wallingford. That’s the thing about Siri—she won’t tolerate foul play, bad words or a rude tone. Be clear and respectful, and then she’ll be happy to be at your service.

Thus, Siri is not a deep thinker. She cannot tell you the meaning of life, nor can she give you self-help advice. When asked where I can find my inner spirit, she replied, “I don’t know who you are, but you can tell me!” See, she’s always so supportive! But, she can point you in the right direction to discovering what’s in your future – astrology, horoscopes, local psychics. If I am lucky, she’ll lead me to someone who can predict what the conse-quences will be for asking my phone such asinine questions.

IDo sPotlIGHt

Nicole MisencikSenior, IDD Major, Shelton

Christian Hensen, Freshman, IDD Major, Long Island, N.Y.

Nick Baldoni, Sophomore, IDD Major, San Antonio, Texas

First day back at school and Quinnipiac is already asking me for $500 for my next year

housing deposit?

@SeaMeade

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l eJ a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 2 C r o s s w o r d | 9

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T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l e J a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 21 0 | S p o r t s

MEN’S BASKETBALLQU 78, Bryant 71 – SaturdayJames Johnson: 23 pointsSacred Heart 78, QU 75 – ThursdayDave Johnson: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assistsWOMEN’S BASKETBALLQU 71, Sacred Heart 34 – MondayFelicia Barron: 26 pointsBrittany McQuain: 9 points, 11 reboundsQU 84, Bryant 47 – SaturdayJasmine Martin: 13 points

MEN’S BASKETBALLQU (10-9, 3-5) vs. Mount St. Mary’s (4-15, 2-6) – Thursday, 7 p.m.QU (10-9, 3-5) vs. Wagner (15-4, 6-2) – Saturday, 2 p.m.WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEYQU (14-9-2) vs. Syracuse (8-15-3) – Friday, 7 p.m.WOMEN’S BASKETBALLQU (14-5, 6-2) vs. Wagner (2-17, 1-7) – Saturday, noon

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Coxon: ‘We felt the time was right’start a new team and new program,” Coxon said. “We are ready to do that now with our infrastructure and setup.”

Coxon has found out that start-ing a new franchise from the ground up is no easy task.

“It’s a lot more work than I ever expected,” Coxon said. “Initially I thought I could do a lot of the work and get some help but it has come to the point where we have a full-time office, full-time general manager and we’re hiring four or five interns. It’s a big task and we haven’t even kicked a ball yet, so there’s a lot more work ahead.”

Other than the initial struggles, the team is still looking for a field to play its home games on.

“We’re probably going to be playing at various college campus-es,” Coxon said. “It’s hard to say be-cause we don’t have anything con-firmed yet but we’re talking about going down to Yale, playing some games in the Hartford area and play-ing in Fairfield County so we still haven’t got it all locked in yet.”

CFC Azul has been holding try-outs at an indoor facility owned by Coxon.

The team has held two tryouts, which have been attended by 187 players. It intends to lower this num-ber to 25 to 30 and then begin to train and get ready for its first game on May 5.

Quinnipiac players Will Daniels, Marijan Jurac, Brett Uttley, Kyle Moscovics, Tim Quigley, Durval

Pereira and Sean McGarrity were among the players to try out.

Coxon’s role with Quinnipiac as an assistant coach is considered a part-time role, which allows him to focus some time on CFC Azul.

“The heavy-duty work for me is in the fall, starting mid-August, and this team is a May, June, July team,” Coxon said. “So there should be no conflicts.”

Clarke also said that there would be no issues with the two teams’ schedules.

“By the time the league is in full swing it’s the summer so there are no areas of conflict,” Clarke said.

Clarke will enter his 14th season of coaching at Quinnipiac in the fall and has had no trouble adjusting to a more laid back role on the team.

“It’s good to be involved in another aspect of the game, but I don’t have to be a head coach from an egotistical standpoint,” Clarke

said. “I just want to be around good coaches and good players. You learn to view the game from a different perspective.”

Schuppert, who worked with the women’s soccer team his senior year, said he is honored to be working with Coxon and Clarke on the team.

“It’s not work to me; it’s living a dream,” Schuppert said.

Schuppert, who was born in Ger-many, moved to California when he was 13 and then moved to Hamden to attend Quinnipiac when he was 17.

“I’ve always been into soccer,” Schuppert said. “It’s a bit different for Europeans. Growing up, soccer is in your blood. I don’t know how to put it into words. It’s surreal.”

Coxon and Clarke knew Schup-pert possessed the necessary skills for the modern-day media after he worked closely with them during his senior year. He was originally asked to help out with the team as the me-dia guy, but his role has evolved into that of the general manager.

“There’s a great deal of impor-tance with electronic media, social media, marketing, video technology and the ability to stream in video and interviews,” Clarke said. “Robin has all that experience. Someone in his role maybe 20 years ago did it all in news print and now he doesn’t have to rely on the old media. He can be very proactive with Facebook, video

and streaming, and I think Robin will be at the forefront of that.”

Apart from starting up the soccer franchise that is only a few miles away from Quinnipiac, Coxon was recently accepted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame. He will be officially in-ducted on Jan. 28 in Farmington.

“It’s nice to get in there,” Coxon said. “There are a lot of my peers in there, guys I played soccer with in the pro leagues, guys I’ve coached with over the years. I’ve been around the game in Connecticut since 1987, when I came over to play. Connecti-cut has been my whole playing and coaching existence so it’s very nice.”

Schuppert understands the com-pany he’s surrounded by and has great respect for his boss.

“He’s (Steve) another guy who knows a ton of guys in soccer and whatever Steve does or touches usu-ally translates into bigger and bet-ter,” Schuppert said. “If you look at what he’s done with the youth pro-gram CFC. He’s a co-owner of that, has over 50 girls teams and over 40 guys teams.”

Schuppert believes CFC Azul could quickly turn into a great soc-cer franchise if Coxon can continue his success in the sport.

“He’s a co-owner of this arena, has his own soccer website,” Schup-pert said. “He’s a businessman who has a passion for soccer.”

“It’s a lot more work than I ever expected. ... It’s a big task and we haven’t even kicked a ball yet, so there’s a lot more work ahead.”

— STEvE COxONCFC Azul President, QuinniPiAC women’s soCCer AssistAnt

CoACh

“It’s not work to me; it’s living a dream.”— ROBIN SCHuppERT

CFC Azul GenerAl mAnAGer, QuinniPiAC Alum 2011

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l eJ a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 2 S p o r t s | 1 1

Al VAlerio/ChroniCle MAtt eiSenberg/ChroniCle

MAtt eiSenberg, Al VAlerio/ChroniCle

Clockwise from left: Zaid Hearst goes up for a shot in Thursday’s men’s basketball game vs. Sacred Heart; Matthew Peca skates along the boards in the men’s ice hockey game vs. Cornell Jan. 14.; Shaina Earle drives to the hoop in the women’s basketball game vs. Yale Dec. 20.; Bethany Dymarczyk passes the puck in the women’s ice hockey game vs. Cornell Jan. 7.

37AverAge mArgin of victory in the women’s

bAsketbAll roAd wins vs. bryAnt And sAcred heArt.

12senior guArd JAmes Johnson’s rAnk in the

QuinnipiAc All-time scoring list.

43.8 rebounds per gAme for the men’s bAsketbAll teAm, second in the nAtion only to north cArolinA.

11 rebounds brittAny mcQuAin

recorded in mondAy’s 71-34 win AgAinst sAcred heArt.

15 points scored by the men’s bAsketbAll teAm

in overtime in sAturdAy’s gAme vs. bryAnt. QuinnipiAc won 78-71.

What you missed

Felicia BarronWomen’s basketballGuard

JuniorSpringfield, Mass.

Men’s basketballGuard

SeniorQueens, N.Y.

After scoring 10 points in Saturdays 84-47 victory over Bryant, Barron tied a career-high with 26 points in Monday night’s win over Sacred Heart. Barron is the team’s leading scorer, as she averages 17.5 points per game. She also leads the team with 4.5 steals per game, which ranks first in the country.

After a 16-point performance on the losing end against Sacred Heart Thursday night, Johnson totaled 23 points against Bryant in an overtime win on Saturday. He also moved past Justin Rutty with 1,526 points in his career, which is good for 12th on the all-time Quinnipiac scoring list.

by the numbers AthLetes OF the WeeK

James Johnson

T h e Q u i n n i p i a c C h r o n i c l e J a n u a r y 2 5 , 2 0 1 21 2 | S p o r t s1 2

After 10 years without a profes-sional soccer team in Connecticut, Quinnipiac women’s soccer assis-tant coach Steve Coxon decided it had been long enough. Coxon, with the help of women’s head coach Dave Clarke, has created CFC Azu, “Connecticut’s newest and ONLY soccer franchise,” according to its Facebook page. The team is based out of Hamden.

CFC Azul will play in the Pre-mier Development League of the United Soccer Leagues. The PDL is the top developmental men’s league in North America. Each team plays 16 matches and the majority of the rosters are filled with collegiate players. The league enables these players to participate in higher com-petition while retaining their colle-giate eligibility.

Coxon serves as the team’s pres-ident and is also a majority owner while Clarke serves on the board of advisors. Quinnipiac alumnus Robin Schuppert also joined the Quinnipiac coaches and is the gen-eral manager of the team. Schuppert graduated last year with a degree in broadcast journalism and is also the former sports editor of the Quinni-piac Chronicle.

Clarke brings immense knowl-edge of the game having coached the Bobcats for 13 years. He has also assisted with the Irish national wom-en’s soccer team in the “Achieve Your Gold” tournament and is a licensed instructor for the United

States Soccer Federation.Over the past three years, 111

players have been drafted in the MLS SuperDraft out of the PDL, which is

more than 70 percent of the selections.Coxon is familiar with the PDL

having played for the last soccer franchise in Connecticut, the Con-

necticut Wolves, from 1993 to 1999. But the franchise based out of New Britain folded in 2002 and no pro-fessional soccer team has existed in

Connecticut since.“We felt the time was right to

Sportscoach’s corner“We’ve really turned into some road warriors. The team worked together and there’s a real trust there on the defensive end.”

— Tricia FaBBriWOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACH

quCHrONiCLE.COM/SpOrTSSpOrTS@quCHrONiCLE.COM

@quCHrONSpOrTS

See coxon Page 10

bobcat blue to azul2 coaches, alum lead startup of local soccer franchise

By joe addonizioAssociate Sports Editor

The Quinnipiac women’s bas-ketball team proved that despite the amount of young players on the court, youth is not a factor in win-ning games. The freshman players are contributing just as much as the veterans and Jasmine Martin has led this youth movement as a spark off the bench, averaging 11.2 points per game.

“Her presence has been an im-mediate lift to the entire team and what we are able to accomplish this year. She is just such a dynamic player coming into the program,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “It really has been so beneficial to just have her ability, athleticism, strength and skill to do great things for us this year.”

Martin’s hard work ethic has paid off as she averages 20.1 min-utes per game, the second-most on the team for freshmen. Martin was also named Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week for Nov. 28

and received the NEC Player of the Week honors on Jan. 18 alongside teammate Felicia Barron.

“Individually I am happy with myself,” Martin said. “I’ve been getting to the gym and working on my shot. “They told me to get to the gym and work on it, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”

Martin’s shot never seemed to be an issue though, as she scored 20 points against James Madison dur-ing her collegiate debut. She set her career high on Jan. 16 in a win over Robert Morris with 22 points.

Martin also ranks fifth in the NEC in best free-throw percentage, as she is shooting 78.7 percent from the line.

Martin explained the transition to college is never easy as an athlete.

She found high school sports to be more simplistic and she domi-nated in the environment, only hav-ing to play the role of an offensive threat. Martin learned that she need-ed to become a defensive threat for Quinnipiac as well.

“Coming into college I wasn’t much of a defender. I had to teach myself to stay determined on de-fense,” Martin said. “It’s really easy to get out of focus.”

Fabbri echoed the difficulties for a normal freshman making the transi-tion from high school to college and said that Martin is adapting well.

“I think for any freshman, the adjustment of the first semester with going through classes, the demands on your time, and how physical the game is at this level,” Fabbri said. “She has it all under her belt. We have all the confidence in the world when she’s in the game to do what she’s got to do both offensive and defensively.”

As for being a young team, Fab-bri said this is a non-existent issue. With a record of 18-5, 5-2 in the NEC, she said the team is really working hard and most importantly working hard together.

“All the players have really blended and meshed together. The chemistry has been phenomenal,”

Fabbri said. “Even though we are young, our lone championship ap-pearance was with all freshmen. And at this point in the season, no one’s a freshman. We are all expe-rienced, but in terms of years we might be young.”

Fabbri said one of the best things about Martin is the fact that she is only a freshman because she still has a lot of time to develop as a player and as a team leader.

“I just think the best thing about [Jasmine] is she has such a positive outlook and a big positive attitude,” Fabbri said. “She is just so fun loving off the court and wants to have a good time and when she walks in the room people want to follow her. She’s going to develop into a tremendous leader in this program, on this team, and over the course of her career.”

Martin and the team’s play will need to be at its best as the team pre-pares for more NEC matchups, as the Bobcats are tied for second place with Monmouth University and are one game behind Sacred Heart.

Martin makes quick mark in team’s successBy Kerry Healy

Staff Writer

AnnA brundAgE/ChroniClE

Robin Schuppert (left) and Steve Coxon are two of the three people with ties to Quinnipiac University who have led the startup of Connecticut’s new soccer franchise.

mATT EiSEnbErg/ChroniClE

Jasmine Martin is second on the team in scoring, as she averages 11.2 points through 19 games in her freshman season.