The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Volume 94, Issue 9

NOVEMBER 1, 2023 • VOLUME 94 • ISSUE 9

The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929

Annual report details five oncampus sex crimes in 2022

A look at the vandalism behind the Ledges guest ban

By CAT MURPHY News Editor

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PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

PA program put on accreditation probation By CAT MURPHY News Editor

Quinnipiac University’s nationally ranked physician assistant program will be on probation through at least September 2025 after its accreditation review revealed several areas of noncompliance with the accrediting body’s standards. The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant — the national body responsible for accrediting PA schools — determined following a three-year reaccreditation review that Quinnipiac’s PA program did not properly comply with nearly onequarter of its 102 standards. At the ARC-PA’s meeting in September, the body downgraded the Quinnipiac PA program’s continued accreditation status to accreditationprobation for a two-year period. “Our program remains accredited,” said Janelle Chiasera, dean of the School of Health Sciences. “This temporary status allows us time to make program improvements, and to make sure that we are doing things in alignment with what the ARC-PA expects us to do.” Accreditation, per an FAQ published on Quinnipiac’s website in the wake of the decision, is a “voluntary process academic programs engage in to assure they are offering high quality education as defined by the standards set forth by the accrediting body.” The ARC-PA first accredited Quinnipiac’s PA program — which is currently ranked No. 1 in Connecticut and No. 16 in the nation — in 1995. “This is a strong and impressive program, and it remains that way,” Chiasera said. Although PA programs submit regular selfreports to the body, accredited programs must

undergo comprehensive evaluations every 10 years to maintain their accreditation statuses. Quinnipiac’s September 2023 review was its first since 2013. “The standards that we had 10 years ago are different from the standards that we have today,” Chiasera said. Chiasera said the ARC-PA’s most recent evaluation of the university’s PA program detailed 25 areas of noncompliance pertaining to faculty sufficiency, instructor certification, clinical practice learning outcomes and self-reporting. “This temporary accreditation status is not going to affect the ability of our students to complete the program,” Chiasera said. “It does not mean that our students are receiving any less quality education than we’ve ever delivered.” Chiasera said Quinnipiac officials have already addressed approximately 75% of the ARC-PA’s citations, particularly those concerning faculty sufficiency. “The program has experienced turnover over the last four years, and that included the threeyear reporting period for ARC-PA,” Chiasera said. “I am happy to say at this point that all of those positions have been filled.” Chiasera emphasized that university officials plan to continue monitoring “what the program needs are from a faculty perspective and a support perspective.” “We are still planning on getting them more faculty even though we have filled our vacancies,” she said. “We are committed to making sure that they have the faculty there that they need.” To address citations pertaining to the program’s self-reporting process, for instance, Chia-

sera said officials hope to hire a full-time staff member “to help with the nuances of assessment.” “I’ll be honest, I would argue that our PA program is quite sophisticated in what they do when they look at assessment and outcomes,” she said. “We realize that in order for us to advance the program’s analysis process, we really need a dedicated person to work with the program on a full-time basis.” This is not the first time in recent years the university’s PA program has come under fire. In March 2022, a former PA student filed a lawsuit accusing program faculty of discrimination. Accreditors will assess the program’s progress in September 2025. “This time, they said, ‘We’re going to see in two years, we’d like you to make progress on this,’” Chiasera said. “We are committed to making those changes and we’re really confident that we are going to meet what the ARC-PA needs.” Chiasera said program officials have begun outlining timelines for addressing the remaining citations. Come 2025, the ARC-PA will do one of three things: reinstate the Quinnipiac PA program’s full accreditation, extend its accreditation-probation by two years or suspend its accreditation altogether. “Is there the potential that we could get to a point where the ARC-PA says, ‘You didn’t meet it’?” Chiasera said. “We could, but we are not going to let that happen.” The Chronicle was unable to independently verify the contents of the ARC-PA’s report, which had not been released online as of publication.

Quinnipiac University’s annual security and fire safety report revealed a slight increase in oncampus sexual violence in calendar year 2022. University officials filed the report in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act, often referred to simply as the Clery Act. Signed into law in 1990, the act is named for Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old first-year student at Lehigh University who was raped and murdered by another student in her on-campus dorm room in 1986. Following Clery’s murder, her parents lobbied lawmakers to pass federal legislation requiring all federally funded universities to report all crimes committed within their Clery geography. Joe Dease, Quinnipiac’s Clery compliance officer and investigator, noted that the university’s Clery report details all crimes that occurred on the Mount Carmel, York Hill and North Haven campuses, as well as 86 off-campus properties. Here’s an overview of the university’s most recent campus safety report: There were no reported burglaries, robberies or motor vehicle thefts at Quinnipiac in 2022. There were also no murders, aggravated assaults or arsons last year. However, Quinnipiac’s annual security and fire safety report revealed slight increases in rapes and sexual assaults in 2022. Two rapes occurred in the university’s Clery geography between January and December 2022, up from one in 2021. Each of the six on-campus rapes reported since 2020 occurred in the Mount Carmel Campus student residences. There were also three sexual assaults reported within Quinnipiac’s Clery geography in 2022 — as many as in 2020 and 2021 combined. Of the three sexual assaults, one occurred in a Mount Carmel Campus student residence, another occurred elsewhere on Quinnipiac’s main campus and the third occurred in a York Hill Campus student residence. Tony Reyes, chief of public safety, cautioned that a spike in sexual violence could have many root causes. “You may get a spike, not necessarily because we’re having more (sexual assaults) year over year, but that there might be a willingness to report more so than the previous year,” Reyes said, noting that the vast majority of sexual assaults go unreported. Reyes also emphasized the importance of education and awareness, noting that Public Safety’s community education tactics are designed to be “educationally based and really empowering to the victims.” “Some of our complaints in terms of sexual assaults might be strangers, but some of them have to do with just sort of unwanted behavior among students,” Reyes said. “We really emphatically talk about that and highlight what acceptable behavior is and what it isn’t, and what we will tolerate and what we won’t.” The Clery Act also requires universities to report violations of the Violence Against Women Act, including domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. There were no instances of domestic violence for the third consecutive year. However, three reported incidents of dating violence — abuse that can take place only in a See CAMPUS CRIME Page 3