Nick Ciampanelli will serve as the next Student Government Association’s 2021-2022 President. He has been a part of SGA since his first year at Quinnipiac and is thrilled to be elected as the next President. 

“It feels fantastic to finally be elected after a week of campaigning,” Ciampanelli said. “I’m very excited to now be elected in this role and best serve the student body along with really trying to work and improve inclusion on campus, school spirit… along with addressing other needs the student body has and depends on.”

Ciampanelli’s two most important goals are creating more inclusivity on campus along with more school spirit.

During his sophomore year, he worked as the Title IX assistant for former Title IX coordinator, Catlin Wells, to advocate for sexual assault awareness. He also promoted gender inclusivity on campus while working with the Gender Student Alliance.

Ciampanelli is also the Treasurer for the Turkish Student Association, where he learned and heard some of the challenges minorities face. His experiences in working with these organizations is what lured him into promoting inclusivity on campus. 

“I identify as a straight, white male so I come from a very, very strong position of privilege and being exposed to these stories and learning about these experiences is heartbreaking,” Ciampanelli said. “I know I will not experience nearly those same struggles, and no one should have to. Really trying to work on equity and inclusion and liberation goes a long way towards making sure that people feel like they’re people and feel like they’re valued, that they belong here at Quinnipiac as a part of this Bobcat Nation.” 

Ciampanelli is also striving towards more school spirit on campus. After visiting his first Yale hockey game, Ciampanelli was yearning for more of the same energy and pride that took place at the game to be on campus more frequently.

However, he also noticed how there are some events students are more excited about than others. He will work towards making more consistent events and traditions students can be eager towards. 

“You kind of see that it comes and goes [the excitement] and that it’s often like a hotspot, in that it’s concentrated in a very short time frame and nowhere else,” he said. “Trying to create traditions and celebrations that we can just engage in, whether it’s a daily basis, a weekly basis, something more consistent that students really look forward to is very important.” 

Ciampanelli is determined to push and advocate for students’ needs. His plan is to respectively collaborate with the Quinnipiac administration in order to make students’ voices heard and take action to it by providing evidence, letting the administration know how students feel and explain what needs to be done in order to make a change. 

Ciampanelli explains his experience of working with the administration in the past. 

“I’m not a one man army. No one really is. That’s something I’ve realized throughout my term as Vice President for Student Experiences as well as working with the Student Experiences Committee… We pulled a lot of different data and information and peer research in order to come up with the best proposal possible. We kept bouncing ideas off of the administration… making sure we’re putting the best product forward. We’ve done all the work as a team collectively with various resources, feedback and whatnot and give the best proposal we possibly can where it’s almost an offer that’s too good to ignore.”

The new SGA Executive Board consists of all white-males this year. Ciampanelli firmly believes it’s important the Executive Board takes a “step back” and makes sure they have a deeper understanding of the struggles minorities face, along with working with minority students to ensure the SGA properly fulfills the needs of students and reflects students. 

“Allyship is not something that you give to yourself, it’s something that’s earned,” Ciampanelli said. 

Ciampanelli is actively evaluating different ways more students can become involved in SGA and provide more solidarity with the organization and student body. 

A unique goal of Ciampanelli is to reconstruct the “Legend of the Bobcat.” He believes it’s important to “start from scratch.” Researching the history of Hobbamock, the tribe described in the “Legend of the Bobcat,” and removing the concept of any Quinnipiac lure is important to Ciampanelli. 

“That’s not ours to celebrate,” he said. “That’s what cultural appropriation is. We’re taking it and repurposing it. No where in the actual legend of Hobbamock is the mention of a bobcat. We just copied and pasted what we wanted our mascot to be in, called it a day, and just said ‘this is ours now.’ That’s not ok.”

He will be working with other student leaders in various organizations to have the “Legend of the Bobcat” rewritten. 

Something that Ciampanelli takes seriously is making sure students’ voices are being heard and understood.

“At the of the day, I may be SGA President, but I’m also a student,” he said. “I walk the same campus, I eat the same food, I go to the same classrooms, I’ve been in the same isolation room with some people. It’s important to keep that in mind and know your roots. Try to stay connected with the students because that’s who I am at the end of the day and it’s who I work for. Students are my boss.”