More QU Students Would Live On Campus Under New Master Plan

Starting next fall, Quinnipiac University will require all students to live on campus for at least three years.

That policy is included in the rough draft of a new master plan for the university called ​“Designing Our Future.”

QU administrators released the draft on Wednesday and presented it Tuesday evening to the Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission. (Read the draft report here.)

The on-campus requirement ​“will bring a level of commitment to the students,” Tom Ellett, chief experience officer at Quinnipiac, told the commission. Ellett said that while this rule will apply to almost all students, students who are married, older than 24, have dependents, are veterans, or live in a permanent residence within 25 miles of campus can be exempt. Additionally, those with ​“demonstrated hardship” such as not being able to afford living on campus will be able to opt out. Ellett said residency requirements are not unheard of at institutions like Quinnipiac.

“This is new to QU, but it is not new to the vast majority of private institutions,” said Ellett, who is working on a dissertation at New York University about the residential experience. ​“If you look at the research on residential students versus commuter students, there are higher persistent rates, higher GPAs, higher relationships with faculty, more affiliation with the college for residential students.”

Ellett said students who live in a permanent residence within 25 miles of campus and opt to commute will still be able to engage in the living learning communities and other opportunities offered to students living on campus.

“We want commuter students to be participating in these residential experiences,” Ellett said. ​“They won’t live there, but we owe it to them. We are going to create a program called ​‘Commuter Assistance.’”

Current students are not required to live on campus for three years. The rule will apply only to future students starting in the fall.

Planning and Zoning commissioners embraced the announcement Tuesday evening.

“This is really encouraging,” said Commissioner Michelle Mastropetre. ​“I have been asking for raising residency requirements since I have been on the commission for the last nine years… I don’t think it is going to be a hard sell.”

Commissioner Joseph McDonagh said he and Quinnipiac’s attorney, Bernard Pellegrino, have been discussing residency requirements for ​“nearly two decades,” but he said it is important to provide a connection between Quinnipiac and Hamden once these requirements are in place.

“You don’t want to end up with them considering themselves a different kind of commuter,” McDonagh said. ​“That is if they want to go somewhere for shopping, for a cup of coffee they have to drive somewhere. We have to create a college atmosphere in that area.”

In 2019, the Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission and Quinnipiac administrators discussed how the town and the university could improve relationships. In October, the commission rejected a plan for the university to use the president’s house for university events because of concerns from residents about transparency. Additionally, the increasing number of students living off campus have raised complaints from Hamden residents about rowdy parties and other nuisances.

Quinnipiac formed the Quinnipiac/Hamden Off-Campus Housing Task Force in October 2019 to discuss these concerns. The master plan the university brought to the commission on Tuesday night showed clear attempts on the part of the university to appease the commission.

“Our goal is to serve as an anchor pillar of the Hamden and North Haven communities to expand the vibrancy, economic, cultural and physical health of the region,” said University President Judy Olian in a letter attached to the master plan.

Filardi discussed the lack of sidewalks connecting Quinnipiac to the community, including Sleeping Giant State Park right across the street from the Mt. Carmel campus.

“We have to create a better pedestrian experience through campus and that kind of dovetails with the strategy to connect the campus to the community,” Filardi said. ​“Not only allowing students to walk to Whitney Ave. from campus and shop at the shops and eat at the eateries, but also allow the community easy access to campus for events.”

The master plan will also include renovations to several residence halls to help lower the number of students per room as well as plans to ​“scope out” a new residence hall, school of business and academic building in 2021.

“We are planning on renovating nearly every residence hall that we have, reducing density — one of the complaints we get is that students don’t want to live on campus because we stick too many in a room,” said Vice President of Facilities and Capital Planning Sal Filardi. ​“Our plan is to renovate and build new buildings to add new beds.”

Outside of residential buildings and renovations the draft includes ​“additional square footage” of academic space.

“There is a lot more experiential learning in our classrooms so we need more room per student,” Filardi said. ​“We need more classrooms and labs for the student body we have today. Even though we are adding buildings and square footage, it’s to satisfy the needs of the current population — not to grow the population.”

Construction for a new recreation and wellness center and adjacent garden, as well as renovations to the ​“Complex” residence hall will begin in 2021.

The plan is drafted as a 10-year plan according to Filardi, but many of the items in the document are expected to take up to 20 years to complete — including a potential development on Whitney Avenue.

“Everything on the plan would probably take 20 years,” Filardi said. ​“We’re not focusing on that right now but it is one of our long-term plans to have a development on Whitney Avenue on some of the property we have.”

While Filardi said the document is not currently finished, a final version will be coming ​“soon.” Quinnipiac partnered with Baltimore-based architectural firm, Ayers Saint Gross on the project, who Olian said will continue to refine the plan.