Females face off against gender inequality

Clarkson University became the first non-WCHA team to win the Women’s Frozen Four, but there are obstacles ahead. (Photo courtesy of womenplayball.com)

HAMDEN — For NCAA Division I Women’s Ice Hockey programs, the appearance of expansion might just be smoke and mirrors.
Despite an increase in programs from 20 to 35 since 1999, according to a University of Minnesota study in 2013, 42.9 percent of all Women’s Ice Hockey programs had women on its coaching staff, and only 25 percent of all Women’s Ice Hockey head coaches were women. For Quinnipiac Associate Head Coach Cassandra Turner, she played when things were different.
Turner played college hockey at Brown University from 1999-2003, and during that time, Turner said that the number of female coaches was much higher than it is now. She said that during her first season, 65 percent of all head coaches in Women’s Ice Hockey were women. During the 2000-01 season, the NCAA began sponsoring the sport and hosting a national championship, something Turner got to experience first-hand, playing against Minnesota-Duluth in the national championship in 2002.

When it comes to gender inequality for head coaches, the numbers don’t lie.

Turner left college, but not the sport of hockey. She played semi-professional hockey before she was hired as an assistant coach at Colgate University. However, her experience at Colgate did not go as planned. She left after the first season, and has made Quinnipiac University her home ever since.
“For me, as a female, as I’ve been looking, and making my decision to come to Quinnipiac I wanted to make sure that I was surrounding myself with men who believed in what women could accomplish,” Turner said.
Playing and coaching opportunities tie in very closely with Title IX, which requires that people do not discriminate against anyone in a federally funded program on the basis of sex. Although players are getting opportunities to play, when it comes to female coaches across the country, has Title IX begun to drop the ball?
During her time at Brown, Turner played under Head Coach Margaret “Digit” Murphy, who is arguably one of the best coaches in the sport’s history, as well as one of the advocates that kept pushing for the sport to get sponsored by the NCAA. Unfortunately, Murphy has since retired, and she is not the only one.

Clarkson women's ice hockey wins school's first NCAA title in any sport! http://t.co/nhRe5sV0dt pic.twitter.com/894omDW1RJ

— NCAA (@NCAA) March 23, 2014

(Tweet found via Topsy.com)

News came out on April 24 that Head Coach Shannon Desrosiers, who led the Clarkson Golden Knights to a national championship this year, is stepping away as well. Because of this, Lyneene Richardson, Quinnipiac’s Associate Director of Athletics for Academics fears that Women’s Ice Hockey may be taking a step back.
“A lot of those female coaches … they’re not in coaching anymore,” Richardson said. “They were the ones that started it all, you know. They were the ones that fought to be where they’re at.”
Richardson is a forerunner of her own. She gets up early every Tuesday and Thursday morning to teach “Women In Sports,” a discussion-based course being offered for the first time this spring. For Richardson, it’s her first dabble into teaching. She talks mostly about what has changed over the past 40 years, thanks to both Title IX and its activists like tennis star Billie Jean King or Jackie Robinson. However, Richardson said that unlike King or Robinson’s stories of fighting for equality, not many people know how far a sport like Women’s Ice Hockey has progressed over the years.
“We don’t have the help of the pioneers, and they’re not valued,” Richardson said. “I think the pioneers in women’s sports drop by the wayside and people don’t know their name.”
Turner goes beyond knowing those names, because she has worked with many of them. She talks about her experiences to many of her players, including sophomore Lindsey West, who up until going to Quinnipiac, never played under a female coach.
“If it’s something they know and love and can do to further somebody else’s ability to play hockey, then gender does not matter,” West said.
Coach Turner is not the only person creating good relationships, though. The rest of the team is making names for themselves in the local community. The team has built a strong relationship with the Shoreline Sharks, an all-girls youth hockey team in Guilford. The Women’s Ice Hockey team’s goal is to not only teach the children how to play the game; they aim to make the kids learn to love the sport. When the team is not busy, the Sharks can be found cheering the Bobcats on at the TD Bank Sports Center for games, and even practices. Players like sophomore Nicole Brown have taken notice.
“It means so much to them and it means a lot to us when they come out. I think it’s like a symbiotic relationship almost that we need them as much as they need us,” Brown said.
If the Quinnipiac Women’s Ice Hockey team continues to stay involved by giving to the local community, that same community is going to give back. Behind a record attendance this year, they continue to grow awareness and are pushing for success. Simultaneously, they are working to send a message that when it comes to playing and coaching opportunities, gender should not matter. For Turner, she does not want to just see the change; she wants to be the part of it.
“I don’t know the answer to how women are going to progress,” Turner said. “ … But I want to be there to help figure it out.”

OPINION: Why the Malaysia coverage flopped

The news is out that flight MH370 from Malaysia Airlines is gone. There is no reason to believe that there are any survivors, but one thing that did thrive is CNN’s ratings. Unfortunately for CNN, their coverage was bogus.
Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart said that CNN’s mentality behind covering this was, “F#&K it, let’s go nuts.” The news network delivered, focusing more on graphics, conspiracy theories, and telling viewers what a plane looks like, rather than the actual news at hand.
I understand that as a news network, the Malaysia story is something that is going to draw an audience, because people care about it. It may not have an impact on everybody’s everyday life, but the suspense pulls you in.
But to say that the plane was pulled into a black hole? I second Jon Stewart.

Fox News or MSNBC did not seem to do much better. Fox News went on to bash CNN for their news coverage. It seems clear to me that networks are focusing more on making money than actually reporting the news. There are times in the media where no news is no news. In some ways I applaud Fox News for calling CNN out on their nonsense, but also wish they did not over-analyze.
Did Social Media do it right? According to Topsy, from when the news broke that the plane went missing to when we learned of its ultimate demise, there have been nearly four million tweets mentioning Flight MH370. I also noticed a trend. It looks like less people were tweeting or retweeting posts in between the news of it going missing and the announcement that the plane was gone. To me, that shows that people stopped tuning in to theories that they did not believe were reasonable. As a human, I want the facts to come from reliable sources, and try to stay away from listening to 20 different theories. As a prospective journalist, my job as a reporter is to get the news from those sources, and report it. I don’t get paid to broadcast my opinion (nor at all yet, I might add) because I am not an analyst.
One organization that got it right was the Washington Post, who although they gave various possibilities, they did not dumb down their audience by proposing that there’s a black hole somewhere. There are plenty of possibilities, and at the time I post this, we still don’t have the answers.
Overall, many news organizations focused more on theory than reporting on what they knew. It is fine to have theories, but they should not make up the centerpiece of a broadcast news program. Research, interview, and get whatever information is needed to report the facts. Organizations need to realize that hardly anyone cares about who reported the news first. Instead, they want the news to be informative, and not about black hole theories.

One in 8352: Samuel Snow-Cronin

Senior film, video, and interactive media major Samuel Snow-Cronin is the Production Manager for 98.1 WQAQ, and ready for the next phase of his life.

“I’ve taken some of the best things at Quinnipiac that relate best to me. Quinnipiac was a good stepping stone for my independence.”

One in 8352: Farid Ilupeju

Farid Ilupeju, a freshman health sciences major got involved with the radio station on campus.

“I was just bored in my room and decided I’ve got to go do something. Now, I really enjoy it.”

One in 8352: Arthur Bailin

Arthur Bailin, a freshman broadcast journalism major, had his passion for photography heightened by his school choice as well as the Quinnipiac Bobcats Sports Network.

“It’s interesting. Photography is almost therapeutic really, to be alone with the camera. I’m always running around, and it’s fun. I’m glad QBSN has that opportunity to really develop my skills in that regard.”

One in 8352: Taylor Gartner

Taylor Gartner, a sophomore legal studies major has no regrets in her school choice.

“[Quinnipiac] was actually one of the first schools I visited, and I took a tour here and fell in love with the school. Nothing else compares. People always ask me if I like it and I think it’s one of the best colleges out there.”

One in 8352: Matt Francia

Matt Francia, a junior social services major is the Culture and Diversity chair for SPB.

“I believe that my position has gotten people who wouldn’t necessarily be engulfed into a culture-related event will come and learn something from it.”

One in 8352: Connor Rice

Connor Rice, a junior economics major and Business Manager for 98.1 WQAQ.

“Any person can find their role in WQAQ. I think it allows me to be who I am.”

Quinnipiac professor slips up; Dies

The following factionalized obituary was written for a journalism assignment.

Part-time Quinnipiac professor Jamie Deloma was found dead alongside the Lookout Tower at Sleeping Giant State Park Monday afternoon.

Hamden Police report that a hiker found the body in the early afternoon and tried to revive him, but it was too late.

Alongside the body, the hiker found a phone connected to Instagram, with a draft of a post reportedly saying, “The view from the Lookout Tower is amazing #window.”

Jamie Deloma passed away on his hike at Sleeping Giant State Park. Photo courtesy of Quinnipiac University.

Police are still awaiting an autopsy, but on top of the tower, they discovered footprints that suspect he slipped and fell on the ice. They do not believe that this was an act of foul play.

Deloma earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Print Journalism in 2006 from Quinnipiac University, and within months Deloma began working for the university specifically in social media and public relations. Many students on campus reflected on the impact he had.

“The work he’s done behind Quinnipiac’s social media accounts has been punctual, artistic, and easily captures the story of Quinnipiac throughout the semesters. He’s done a wonderful job with setting the foundations with professional journalism, reporting, and social media usage,” said Stephanie Griffin, who graduated from Quinnipiac in December.

Deloma became an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac 2010, and students instantly saw his passion for media, and encouraged others to share it.

“He expressed to my class his love for news, which encouraged me to start becoming more media literate,” said Griffin.

When Deloma was not on campus, students and faculty said that he was an avid pizza lover, and could be found at Famous Pizza or playing with his dog Charles, who he raised since he was a puppy. At 29, Deloma is survived by his mother, father, and younger brother, none of who were available for comment.

OPINION: Social media journalism not efficient

Social media platforms such as Twitter make sports journalism more interactive.

Social media has exploded in popularity over the years, but it has caused big issues in the journalism world.

False information in the media has always been around, but with the ability to tweet or share to Facebook in a matter of seconds, many journalists have rushed to be the first to get their information out there.

“I generally hear about news on Twitter before anywhere else,” said sophomore Meghan Prevost via Twitter.

The issue it raises is are they focusing more on getting information out first than the real issues at hand?

Throughout my time in college, I was always told that nobody remembers who got the information out first. However, everyone remembers the news organization that got it wrong. It’s not as much about fact checking and getting it right anymore, and it’s diminishing the trust that people have for the media.

“Social media often screws up the accuracy of reporting. Most news outlets are more interested in being “the first on scene” or whatever than ensuring their info is right. So, they post whatever little findings they have on their social media pages to keep the people going and make it seem like there’s a real scoop. Take the Sandy Hook shooting, for instance. The media was so anxious to put a name and face to who did it that they actually gave the wrong Lanza brother,” says Catherine Cappucci via Facebook.

The Sandy Hook incident ties into Quinnipiac, as the wrong Lanza brother happened to be an alum, sending the Mt. Carmel campus into a frenzy. The rush to get information out first causes credibility to be lost, and unless journalists get back to back-checking all of the information, users will only find it tougher to put their trust in them.

So, what can a social media site like Twitter be used for? Personally, I think sports, specifically NASCAR have utilized social media perfectly since 2012. In February 2012 during the Daytona 500, when part of the car broke, causing calamity on the track, a new era for the sport was born.

There was a two hour delay in the race trying to put the fire out and repair the track, and during that time, racer Brad Keselowski happened to have his phone on him, and tweeted a photo from the seat of his car. Overnight, Keselowski gained over 100,000 followers on Twitter, and set the stage for NASCAR to get more involved in social media. It made the sport more interactive and entertaining to watch.

Ultimately, news organizations still have some work to do in order to get new information out correctly. For now, sports like NASCAR have taken the driver’s seat in ushering in a new era of journalism.