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Chairman of the Quinnipiac University Board of Trustees, William Weldon, visited with the Student Government Association earlier this evening during this week’s general board meeting.

“He just reached out to Monique Drucker, who’s the VP [vice president] and dean of students and just asked if he could come in and talk to us,” Austin Calvo, SGA president, said. “Monique’s been here for 24 years, and she said in her 24 years, that has never happened.”

The overall meeting consisted of Weldon giving an overview of the Board of Trustees and his role. Members of SGA were then allowed to ask him questions, in which he addressed.

“He was incredibly receptive to ideas that we had,” Calvo said. “He seems like he’s very open and willing to work with SGA along with other board members and President Olian.”

Calvo asked Weldon if there is a chance that one or two members of SGA could have seats as voters on the Board of Trustees to advocate on behalf of the student body. SGA previously had two seats on the Board of Trustees.

“One of the things that Chairman Weldon said that he wanted to do was to work to establish town halls that are open to the entire university with members of the board or coming into SGA more regularly or having SGA members sit in committee meetings,” Calvo said. “The Board of Trustees is broken down into several committees as well, and that’s something that he opened up to the possibility of us coming in and sitting in on those meetings.”

Earlier this semester, a Quinnipiac alum created a petition to remove Weldon from his position as Chair of the Board of Trustees due to his potential involvement with Johnson & Johnson’s role in Oklahoma’s opioid crisis. Weldon worked his way up in the pharmaceutical company and eventually became CEO in 2002. He remained in that position until he retired in 2012.

Some students at Quinnipiac do not think this is a great look for the university in terms of being a health science driven school. Luke Ahearn, a senior class senator, was particularly interested in the situation.

“I would say that we don’t agree on where some of the responsibility lies,” Ahearn said. “However, he is somebody who’s working hard to improve the lives of many people that have been affected by opioids, and he has a lot of charitable ventures.”

Ahearn and Weldon had a private meeting together where they discussed some ways that his position with Johnson & Johnson could impact the university.

“I think that with his position in Johnson & Johnson, Quinnipiac can benefit from his leadership with the university to make, especially our medical students, aware of the dangers of opioids,” Ahearn said. “I think that maybe we can even start a program in our med[ical] school that ethical prescriptions and practices and ethical research… I think that’s the direction to move forward with this issue.”

Ahearn explained that he has a different outlook on the situation now than he did prior to meeting with Weldon.

“I don’t think that this still is not an issue. I think it still is an issue,” Ahearn said. “However, I think that there’s different ways to address it and go forward and make change now, knowing what we have.”

Tina Asfaw, SGA multicultural and identity senator, has a different view on the situation. She interned at Johnson & Johnson and has formed a personal connection with Weldon.

“Mr. Weldon is a big supporter of my high school, so there is a scholarship program that is connected with that,” Asfaw said.

Asfaw enjoyed her experience working at Johnson & Johnson and thinks that all factors should be considered in the situation.

“I think it’s very important to consider that there are many people that played a part in the opioid crisis, starting with the doctors that are prescribing the drugs to the people who are manufacturing it,” Asfaw said. “It’s very important to consider those before casting blame on whoever it may be.”

Moving forward, SGA looks forward to working closer with the Board of Trustees.

“The board is very receptive to our ideas and wants to hear from the students, especially the chairman, Mr. Weldon,” Calvo said.

Calvo encourages all students who have any ideas or concerns that they think should be brought to the Board of Trustees to meet with him.