Issue 13

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016 VOL. 95 ISS. 13

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

THEOBALD IS FINALIST FOR TOP JOB AT NORTHERN IOWA Neil Theobald resigned as Temple’s president amid conflict over the university’s merit scholarship program.

READ MORE ON PAGE 6

Men choose to not use walking escorts HOJUN YU FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS The Owls celebrate their second consecutive division title after their 37-10 win against East Carolina on Saturday.

BACK TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP

TUPD officials said there is a misconception about the program and who it is for.

By JULIE CHRISTIE News Editor

o to a bowl game. Compete for a conference championship.

Those have been the goals for the football program for the past two seasons. Coach Matt Rhule has repeated them at almost every press conference since then.

Temple surprised teams by representing the American Athletic Conference East Division in the conference championship game last year, when the conference coaches predicted they’d finish third in the division.

After Saturday night’s 37-10 win against East Carolina,

Despite a spike in the use of walking escort services, Temple Police and Allied Universal are still trying to find a way to encourage male students to use the program.

While officers said they have noticed an increase in male students’ participation, it is drastically less than the amount of female students who use the walking escort program, said Joe Garcia, the deputy chief of administration for TUPD. According to statistics from Gene Cummings, the district manager for Allied Universal at Temple, use of walking escorts more than doubled from September to October this year.

Garcia said the increased use can be attributed to a combination of factors: night beginning earlier due to daylight saving time, students staying late on Main Campus to study for finals and the flash mob in October.

“I’ve had the opportunity to speak with a lot of parents in this last couple of weeks and a lot of it had to do with the flash mob type of incident that we had,” Garcia said. “Some [parents] have sons who attend the school and they’ve confided in their parents that they don’t want to take the escort because they’re afraid they’re

CHAMPIONSHIP | PAGE 15

ESCORT | PAGE 3

The football team’s win against East Carolina on Saturday will send it to a secondstraight American Athletic Conference Championship.

G HOJUN YU FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior quarterback Phillip Walker celebrates the Owls’ second consecutive American Athletic Conference East Division title on Saturday.

TSG Parliament is elected, but turnout falls short The representative body will officially begin its full legislative duties at the beginning of the Spring 2017 semester.

By JULIE CHRISTIE News Editor Temple Student Government announced 36 students elected to serve on Parliament, TSG’s representative body, last Monday.

The 37-seat entity has one vacant spot because no eligible students ran to represent the Boyer College of Music and Dance. According to TSG’s constitution, Parliament will hold open interviews for students who meet the set criteria and from the pool of candidates, select one to hold the position. Applicants for the position must be full-time students enrolled in Boyer and hold at least a 2.5 GPA. TSG fell short of its expectations for voter turnout with almost 3 percent turnout. Earlier this month, TSG’s Elections Commissioner, Noah Goff, said TSG was hoping for 35 to 40 percent voter turnout. In the general elections last spring, 12.72 percent of students voted.

Parliament is the largest initiative put forth by this administration that will go into effect this academic year. In 2011, TSG attempted a similar, unsuccessful structure to represent students.

“I was thrilled with the number of people who ran for Parliament,” Student Body President Aron Cowen said.

He added that some seats would have higher turnout, because more students were eligible to vote for them, like the at-large seats, that any student could cast a vote for.

“We’re planning kind of a soft open. … The next few weeks

PARLIAMENT | PAGE 6

By OWEN MCCUE Sports Editor

Prescribing produce and a healthy diet Organizations have partnered with TUH to address a lack of fresh produce in North Philly.

By MEGHAN COSTA For The Temple News Victoria Vicente remembers a story about a boy from North Philadelphia seeing a banana for the first time.

He picked it up and took a bite, without even bothering to peel it, she said.

This story is one that sticks with Vicente, and it’s why she thinks programs that help provide fresh produce are necessary in North Philadelphia, which lacks easy access to the food group.

Vicente, the associate director for annual giving and special campaigns at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, helped raise funds for Farm to Families, one of the school’s programs to teach healthy eating to North Philadelphia residents.

St. Christopher’s Foundation for Children started Farm to Families in 2010, and partnered with TUH last month. Although the program is primarily for people struggling to afford food, Jamiliyah Foster, the program director for the foundation, said, “anyone who wants a fresh box of produce is welcome to it.”

“One of the most important parts of our program is that we’re not incomebased, in order to maintain dignity for

COURTESY VICTORIA VICENTE Jy’Shair (left), Ty’Heir and Natasha Montgomery receive fresh produce from the Farm to Families program at Temple University Hospital. The program launched last month.

our clients,” Foster said. “It’s important for patients to see their own doctors or nurses buying a box of produce alongside them.”

The Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative packages and delivers produce to TUH and several other community hubs so families can buy affordable, organically grown produce.

As part of the program, physicians at TUH can prescribe patients with coupons to purchase produce from Farm to Families on a weekly basis.

The doctors give the prescription to patients after asking a series of questions to determine if they have sufficient access to healthy foods. The box of produce also comes with information about the health benefits of fruits

and vegetables and the opportunity to observe cooking demonstrations and participate in taste-testing.

Ashleigh Hall, a pediatrician at TUH and a professor of clinical pediatrics, is one of many physicians who writes prescriptions so that her patients can receive the packages.

“Diet and exercise plays a huge role in how healthy we are,” Hall said.

“We’re finding that this is important for children because they need healthy food for their brain to grow. … If we can keep kids healthy at the beginning, then maybe we can prevent them from having health problems later down the road.”

MEDICINE | PAGE 11

NEWS | PAGES 2-3, 6

OPINION | PAGES 4-5

FEATURES | PAGES 7-14

SPORTS | PAGES 15-18

HIV researchers at Temple are hoping to begin using their geneediting technology on patients.

Read more on Page 3.

Temple should require students to take a religion Gen-Ed course to help them learn more about society. Read more on Page 4.

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ ideas on plunder inspired several professors to discuss the topic in their classes.

Read more on Page 9.

The men’s basketball team picked up two Top 25 victories over the Thanksgiving break. Read more on Page 18.

NEWS

PAGE 2

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

COMMUNITY

Temple administrator hosts first SRC meeting

Joyce Wilkerson said she will not vote when the SRC works with Temple.

By KELLY BRENNAN Community Beat Reporter After her first four-hour meeting as chair of the state’s School Reform Commission, which directs the Philadelphia School District, Joyce Wilkerson realized how much extra work the position will be.

“It ran past my bedtime,” Wilkerson said of the Nov. 15 meeting.

Mayor Jim Kenney appointed Wilkerson to the SRC on Nov. 3 after Marjorie Neff, the previous SRC chair and former principal at Masterman High School in Spring Garden, resigned in October. Wilkerson has spent the past two years as Temple’s senior adviser of community relations and development for the university’s presidents.

Wilkerson said her position on the SRC will not affect her position at the university. Her two jobs “run along parallel tracks,” she said, adding, “It all fits together. I don’t see it as an either-or situation.”

To avoid creating a conflict of interest with the SRC, Wilkerson said she will abstain from voting whenever the district and Temple work together, like the College of Education’s partnerships with some of the city’s public and charter schools. The board is developing further protocol to counteract any other potential conflicts of interest, she added.

“Any time Temple tries to strike a deal with the district, I have to abstain,” she said. “I can’t be involved in that.”

Because the issues she deals with at the university and the issues she

will deal with as chair of SRC are consistently centered around community engagement and education, Wilkerson said she doesn’t think balancing the two positions will be too much to handle.

“One [position] helps inform my work in the other,” she said. “So what I’m doing at the district helps inform what I do at Temple.”

During her two years at Temple, Wilkerson worked with the College of Education, nearby public schools and the surrounding community, so she said she is informed about many of the city’s concerns, like funding and access to resources.

The office of community relations and development deals with various community education programs, like the LEAP Project, through the Beasley School of Law, which educates middle school and high school students in the area about law, democracy and citizenship.

Now, Wilkerson is working with the College of Education and the Laborers’ District Council Education and Training Apprenticeship Fund to use the Temple Sports Complex as a

job-training center. An area next to the complex is in the process of becoming a training facility for local union workers and community residents. The facility will also offer gen-

GENEVA HEFFERNAN FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS School Reform Commission meetings are held at the School District of Philadelphia Education

eral education development courses.

Wilkerson has also been a part of Temple’s work on the North Philadelphia Health Enterprise Zone, a collaborative effort among the state’s Department of Human Services, Department of Education and the mayor to improve health care in the area.

Wilkerson’s involvement in HEZ helped her focus on education and community issues in the city, she said.

As chair of SRC, Wilkerson said she wants to “flesh out a fuller plan” for where the district will go in the future by stabilizing its finances and providing teachers with contracts, which they have been without for three years, she said.

SRC Commissioner William Green said Wilkerson’s experience in Philadelphia proves she is qualified for her new position, but they have differing views.

“I think she’s a great addition to the SRC, but we’re just getting to know each other from a policy perspective,” he added. “Based on those conversations, I think we will have some differences.”

Despite those differences, Green said he believes they will be able to work respectfully and in the best interest for the children of Philadelphia.

Commissioner Farah Jimenez said the time Wilkerson spent in the city as former Mayor John Street’s chief of staff will make her a beneficial addition to the SRC. “I’ve known Joyce for a long time,” Jimenez said. “I’ve known her since she was in the Street administration, and what I know about her is that she is a super-committed civil servant who is led by a mission and a desire to have real outcomes.” kelly.brennan@temple.edu @_kellybrennan

GENEVA HEFFERNAN FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Joyce Wilkerson chairs her first School Reform Commission public meeting on Nov. 15.

RESEARCH

Researchers uncover secrets of cell, DNA replication Two papers from the Fox Chase Cancer Center explore how proteins affect DNA coding.

By JACOB GARNJOST For The Temple News Over the last month, doctors at Temple’s Fox Chase Cancer Center published two papers that could impact future cancer research on a

national scale.

The papers explore the structure of DNA and cell replication, which could unlock new information on how cancer cells duplicate and pass on certain traits in proteins, said Dr. Vasily Studitsky, the co-leader of cancer epigenetics at Fox Chase, who worked on both papers.

With this new understanding of how cells replicate, scientists will be able to understand why some cells become cancerous. This research puts the medical field another step closer to finding possible cures.

The second paper featured work from Dr. Han-Wen Chang, a postdoctoral associate at Fox Chase.

The first paper — published on Nature. com, a website that features articles focused on science and medicine — is about a protein that cells use when they duplicate. Studitsky led the team that discovered a new way to determine the impact of FACT, a protein used in DNA. Studitsky said the field of epigenetics — the study of how cells read the change in genes — is a relatively new science. Genes are not just

WENDY VAN FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Dr. Vasily Studitsky (left), the co-leader of cancer epigenetics at Fox Chase Cancer Center, uses a pipet while Dr. Han-Wen Chang looks on in their lab on Nov. 18. Both doctors worked on a paper entitled “Overcoming a nucleosomal barrier to replication,” published in Science Advances Magazine, that has the potential to impact the future of cancer research.

News Desk 215-204-7419 news@temple-news.com

found in DNA, but also in the proteins that surround DNA. Those proteins hold a code used in cellular development, called the histone code.

The research in the second paper, “Overcoming a nucleosomal barrier to replication,” was led by Chang and published in the Nov. 11 issue of Science Advances Magazine.

“What we are studying is what happens to this code when DNA duplicates,” Chang said.

Chang set up a system in her lab to study the DNA “in vitro,” meaning that the tests were done in a petri dish and not on an actual organism. Chang used a simple strand of DNA and moved a piece of the protein to the strand. She then used an enzyme to cause the DNA duplicate.

“For a long time, people believed before this that everything for how cells developed was encoded in DNA,” Studitsky said. “What we know is that all our cells have the same genetic code, but they have different epigenetic codes.”

Studitsky said that the study is important to cancer research because the disease is basically “uncontrolled cellular replication.”

“This is a very fundamental study that will affect all types of cellular biology including that of cancer,” Chang said. “The cancer cells proliferate very quickly and each time they are duplicating, something is messed up. So the question is why all of those [cells] become cancer cells.”

“Going forward, we will try to make this process more physiological to understand more what we did here was very basic,” Chang added.

“And we will look at this with more specific cancer cells.”

The study on the histone code was the culmination of five years of work for Chang and Studitsky, and it’s the first on in vitro replication since 1990. The one prior was a revolutionary paper by Bruce Alberts that Studitsky said “wrote the textbook” on in vitro replication.

“Though we specifically don’t know yet what implication this might have, history has shown that all new discoveries on this kind of level have massive implications on cancer,” Studitsky said. jacob.garnjost@temple.edu

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

NEWS

PAGE 3

RESEARCH

The National Science Foundation granted Temple $1 million.

By AMANDA LIEN Research Beat Reporter The National Science Foundation allocated a $1 million Emerging STEM Scholars grant for Temple two months ago. The program will support academically advanced and economically disadvantaged students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The grant will support between 48 and 60 students at Temple and investigators will follow them from their freshman year to graduation to determine how peer, graduate student and faculty mentoring affects students’ abilities to retain information and graduate on time.

Eric Borguet is the principal investigator and head of The Borguet Group, a research program in Temple’s chemistry department that studies molecular energy. Judith Stull, Peter Jones and Shoreh Amini are co-investigators.

“There are a couple of goals in mind,” said Stull, an associate professor of higher education. “[The grant] is primarily funding student support for students who are majoring in biology, chemistry or biochemistry, that are showing progress, but because of metrics, need some support.”

The project will include Temple’s first science-based learning community for students and faculty. The learning community will place a special focus on teaching and learning about computational science and its applications.

“The underlying theory of learning communities is, especially in a large university, the ability of instructors to get students actively engaged in learning is difficult in the classroom,” said Jones, the senior vice provost for Undergraduate Studies.

“The idea behind learning communities is that you get students engaged in one, two or three classes. Then there’s more group work, more interactive work. It’s felt that sort of style will attract more students to early STEM classes.”

Students participating in the program will be given the opportunity to participate in research laboratories, both in Temple and in their respective industries, Jones added.

“The work they’re doing in

the labs won’t necessarily be for credit but research shows that students who, early on in their career, are involved in academic mentorships with the faculty significantly improves retention within STEM disciplines,” Stull said. “They won’t be given active roles. At the beginning it’s more of an induction, but they’ll be encouraged to begin as observers and then, by the time they’re seniors, to have their own opportunities.”

“We have an advising board of faculty and business people in science-related [industries],” he added. “One thing the NSF is particularly interested in is that students will be invited into faculty years during freshman year.”

The grant will be split between the College of Science and Technology and the College of Education, Stull said.

Students who want to enter the program will need to meet several criteria.

“There is an elaborate statement about recruitment in the proposal that has multiple steps in it,” Stull said. “They really have to have financial need and yes, [The NSF] wants to increase what they call the ‘underrepresented minority.’ There’s a metric that’s going to be used to identify students and they will be contacted by admissions and invited into the program. We’d like to fund every student who applies, but we have to figure out how to target our money to make the best use of it for the students.”

The amount of students accepted will be based on the need for financial aid, Stull added.

The bulk of the money will go to the students, who before would often have to work to pay bills, he said.

“One of the nice things about this grant is that it is a collaboration between faculty and administration,” Jones said.

“Whatever success and developments happen during the grant, that’s a 5-year period, can be sustained beyond the grant. [The NSF] wants us to demonstrate that there is an institutional interest in this grant. There’s an absolute expectation from [the] NSF that Temple will continue the grant beyond their funding.”

“This is a competition among a lot of institutions,” Stull said. “Getting these grants is not an easy task. They normally fund about 5 percent of applicants, so this is kind of a coup for Temple.”

ESCORT going to be looked upon as weak or they think that it’s actually geared toward female students and staff.”

“It’s probably a masculinity thing,” said Taylor Robbins, a senior advertising major. “Even just not knowing about it or not thinking about it. I know it’s not the first thing I think about when I’m leaving campus.

It’s just not really on my mind.”

One night in October 2015, Robbins was held at gunpoint by three men on Camac Street near Diamond, who took his money and his phone, while he walked home from the TECH Center. Police arrested two of the assailants, but despite the robbery, he said that he still has not used the walking escort service.

“It made me ride my bike a little bit more often now, but I still walk [without escorts],” Robbins said. He added that TUPD now patrols the block he had been robbed on, which makes him feel safer.

On Nov. 14, officers provided escorts nine times and only one was for a male student, Cummings said.

“Over the week, there might be a couple male students who take an escort,” he said.

“Whether it’s male or female, nobody wants to walk feeling like they’re with armed guards,” Garcia added.

He added that students can ask escorts to “shadow” them, so instead of walking right next to students, the escorts are several paces behind but still there for protection.

Joey Pace, a freshman music education major, said he used a walking escort once when he went to a friend’s house off Main Campus to get a haircut. He added that if men were harassed on the street as much as women, he thinks they would be more likely to use the escort service.

“There’s definitely that safety issue,” he said. “I’ve personally never been catcalled, but my girlfriend has been catcalled almost every day. … I’d feel more comfortable with a walking escort if I were a girl constantly getting catcalled like that.”

Garcia said most crimes against students don’t happen because of gender, but because of opportunity, so both men and women would be equally protected when they use a walking escort.

Other schools throughout the city, like the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University

and the Community College of Philadelphia, have walking escort services almost identical to the one at Temple.

Students near Main Campus can request a walking escort at 215-7779255 any time of the day, every day of the week.

Temple’s service is not limited to Main Campus, Cummings said.

Students can call a walking escort at TUCC during weekdays from 5 to 11 p.m. At the Health Sciences Campus, walking escorts are available throughout the week from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Walking escort services will continue to be offered during winter break. julie.christie@temple.edu @ChristieJules Evan Easterling contributed reporting.

Walking escorts IN fall 2016

658

800

Total student uses per month

Grant will support minorities in STEM

Continued from Page 1

600

400

200

155 198

0

AUG.

SEPT.

OCT.

FINNIAN SAYLOR | THE TEMPLE NEWS

amanda.lien@temple.edu @amandajlien PATRICK CLARK / THE TEMPLE NEWS Despite a spike in the use of the university’s walking escort program, male students are still not using the service as much as female students.

RESEARCH

Temple’s HIV research moves closer to clinical trials A team of researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine seeks approval to open their technology to patients.

By NOAH TANEN For The Temple News After successfully removing the HIV-1 virus from living animals this past spring, researchers plan to test on human subjects.

The technology is being prepared for clinical trials on humans in the next two years.

Neuroscience department Chair Dr. Kamel Khalili is the lead doctor for the technology. He and his team were the first to eliminate the HIV1 virus from cultured human cells in 2014, and

successfully removed HIV-1 DNA from living animals this past spring.

He said his past accomplishments paved “a path toward the clinical trials.”

After several more studies testing the safety of the gene-editing technology, Khalili plans to contact the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health to get approval to open the technology up to patients.

Khalili’s research has demonstrated the technology’s ability to edit human and animal genes and remove HIV-1 DNA, a significant step towards finding a cure for the virus.

“Our next step is to complete our preclinical studies,” Khalili said. “Then I think we may be able to enter into clinical trials, hopefully in less than two years.”

Khalili said when the time comes for clinical trials, the research method will likely be intravenous therapy, or IV injection, but the team

is “still in the midst of developing these basic procedures” for treatment.

Khalili said he is working to ensure the treatment methods are simple and accessible so that in the future, areas of the world lacking access to expensive treatments are able to utilize the necessary HIV treatment.

“It’s becoming easier and easier to imagine a cure for HIV,” said Dr. Robert Bettiker, an associate professor of medicine and infectious diseases and an HIV doctor at Temple University Hospital.

Bettiker is part of Temple’s Comprehensive HIV Program, headed by Dr. Ellen Tedaldi, which provides HIV-related care to more than 1,100 patients, according to the program’s website.

Bettiker added that his HIV patients at TUH are “fired up” about the steps Temple has made in HIV research.

According to the Philadelphia Department of Health, there are about 30,000 people infected with HIV in the Greater Philadelphia Region, and the city has an infection rate five times the national average.

Khaili said the gene-editing systems he and his team have developed are not necessarily HIV-specific, and he has started researching how to adapt the technology for other viruses.

“We are expanding this strategy to go beyond just HIV,” Khalili said. “This is very serious research.”

“These are the kind of results that were a dream to us five years ago,” Khalili said. “But we still have more homework to do.” noah.tanen@temple.edu

News Desk 215-204-7419 news@temple-news.com

OPINION

PAGE 4

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

CLASSROOM A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

Joe Brandt Editor-in-Chief Paige Gross Managing Editor Michaela Winberg Supervising Editor Julie Christie News Editor Jenny Roberts Opinion Editor

The Temple News is an editorially independent weekly publication serving the Temple University community.

Emily Scott Features Editor Owen McCue Sports Editor Gillian McGoldrick Asst. News Editor Evan Easterling Asst. Sports Editor Grace Shallow Deputy Features Editor Erin Moran Deputy Features Editor Rob DiRienzo Multimedia Editor Abbie Lee Asst. Multimedia Editor

Adjacent commentary is reflective of their authors, not The Temple News.

Tom Lee Web Manager Donna Fanelle Web Designer Brianna Spause Photography Editor Patrick Clark Asst. Photography Editor Finnian Saylor Design Editor Courtney Redmon Designer Sasha Lasakow Designer Dan Garges Advertising Manager Jeanie Davey Business & Marketing Manager

Visit us online at temple-news.com.

Send submissions to letters@temple-news.com.

The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122

Unsigned editorial content represents the opinion of The Temple News.

EDITORIALS

Use walking escorts Male students shouldn’t hesitate to use the walking escort program to stay safe.

According to Temple Police, the use of the walking escort program more than doubled from September to October this semester — but only for certain demographics.

The service, which provides students with bike cops to accompany them on their walks home on or around Main Campus, is more popular among female students than male students.

Joe Garcia, TUPD’s deputy chief of administration, said though there has been an increase in the number of male students who use the walking escort program, female students still use the service more.

Garcia attributes the disparity to gender roles. He’s heard from some parents of male Temple students who have confessed their sons fear they’ll appear weak if they take advantage of the service.

“It’s probably a masculinity thing,” said Taylor Robbins, a senior advertising major. “Even just not knowing about it or not thinking about it. I know it’s not the

first thing I think about when I’m leaving campus.”

We’re disappointed to hear that the social construction of masculinity has gotten in the way of student safety.

Even Robbins, who said he’s been mugged once before, has never used the walking escort program.

Crimes against students don’t usually happen because of gender, Garcia said. All students, no matter how they identify, would be equally protected by a walking escort.

Garcia added that if male or female students feel uncomfortable being seen with a walking escort, they can ask the bike cop to “shadow” them, meaning the officer will walk several paces behind them, still ensuring their safety without walking right next to them.

We hope male students can prioritize their safety over the expectations of their gender. Especially now, as it gets darker earlier due to daylight saving time, we encourage students to take advantage of existing programs meant to keep them safe.

Inclusive study abroad Science majors should continue to be welcomed into Temple study abroad programs.

Students with sciencerelated majors often express having difficulty studying abroad due to the rigidity of the course requirements for their majors. These students don’t have many extra electives, compared to students in the College of Liberal Arts or School of Media and Communication.

“Over the past few years, I’ve looked on Temple’s website for study abroad [opportunities],” said Matthew Short, a junior bioengineering major. “There haven’t really been any opportunities for bioengineering specifically. Even engineering is really rare.”

Fortunately, a new Spring 2017 program at Temple Rome will make it easier for engineering students to study abroad.

This program is a positive move for Temple, allowing the opportunities of the university to be more inclusive. Students with more rigid course requirements for their major should be allowed to gain the benefits that come with study-

ing abroad, like a new sense of independence or cultural immersion.

However, even though this new engineering program is a step in the right direction, limitations still exist.

Students can only participate during the spring semester of their sophomore year, and the program is only open to mechanical and civil engineering majors.

But this new program should be applauded. Eventually, the university should look to expand more opportunities for study abroad to other engineering majors and to other science majors, like chemistry and biology. And perhaps, the university could create opportunities in countries other than Italy.

Of course, expansion of any kind will take time, but it is important students do not feel forced to stop growing in ways outside of their area of study simply because of logistics.

CORRECTIONS Accuracy is our business, so when a mistake is made, we’ll correct it as soon as possible. Anyone with inquiries about content in this newspaper can contact Editor-in-Chief Joe Brandt at editor@temple-news.com or 215-204-6737. letters@temple-news.com

Students need religious education A religion Gen-Ed would help students better understand each other and society.

E

arlier in the semester, my roommate and I were hanging out in our dorm like we often do.

She started to say something I found particularly funny, and I wanted to capture the moment on Snapchat.

“No, stop, my hair is out,” she said.

My roommate wears a hijab, a headscarf worn as a sign of modesty by Muslim women in public. She didn’t want the video I took to be shared with others without her hair being covered.

Of course, I told my roommate I wouldn’t post the video and promptly deleted it, but I still JENNY ROBERTS wish I hadn’t taken my OPINION EDITOR phone out in the first place. I wish I were more aware of my new roommate’s religious beliefs from the start.

I’m sure many other students could benefit from being more educated about various world religions, not just for practical purposes as in cases like mine, but also to better understand the society and world in which we live. The university should consider creating a religion General Education Program requirement for all students.

“Religion has shaped the world more so than any other force,” said Terry Rey, an associate professor of religion. “Religion for most people who ever walked on this planet has gone farther in shaping their values and sense of self than anything else.”

If this is the case, it seems all students would benefit from learning about various world religions, since they will inter-

act with a diverse set of belief systems at Temple and in their future career paths.

And while students can currently take courses offered by the religion department to fulfill requirements in the Gen-Ed program, like the race and diversity category, they are not required to do so.

Unfortunately, this could prevent some students from taking a religion class because it doesn’t fit into their schedule, or because they don’t want to learn about religion altogether. I don’t think either of these scenarios are ideal. Religion is not an expendable subject, as people from all fields and walks of life will be confronted with the matter at some point in their lives.

“Religion touches every dimension of our lives,” said Mark Leuchter, an associate professor of religion. “And religion isn’t just about faith.”

“Religion is much more about the structure of society,” he added. “It’s about models of authority, it’s about ways that people communicate ... how using the right word can convince somebody to believe or do something.”

A solid understanding of various religions can allow people to simply better understand the daily happenings in their own lives and the communities in which they live.

Rebecca Alpert, a religion professor and the senior associate dean of academic affairs, said this applies to life right here in Philadelphia, too.

“The Mormon Temple opened and it’s crazy to live in Philadelphia and not know about that,” she said. “Or when ‘Philly Jesus’ was kind of wandering around, well, what is that [about]? It’s getting into those worlds that I think are very helpful.”

A firm understanding of different religious beliefs is also imperative to understand the implications of larger current events and to participate in political discourse.

Rey said a firm understanding of Islam, for example, is necessary to understand the truth of the events that unfolded on 9/11.

“What were the motivations of those terrorists?” Rey said. “They claimed to have been doing this…in the name of Islam, so let’s study Islam and let’s see if this is really something that is embraced in Islam. And well, in fact it is not.”

Rey said the al-Qaeda pilots who crashed planes into the towers of the World Trade Center in 2001 were not acting in line with the teachings of Islam because suicide is banned in the Quran.

“And that’s the only way you’re going to know that, is if you take a religion class,” he added.

Some of the professors who I spoke with told me they see some roadblocks to implementing a religion Gen-Ed requirement, like limited faculty members in the religion department.

But I believe we could find solutions to conflicts like this. Perhaps professors for the religion Gen-Ed requirement could be found in departments like sociology and history.

Plus, as Rey points out, the study of religion lines up quite nicely with the university’s mission statement.

“The last few lines express that our mission here as a community is to create new knowledge that improves the human condition and uplifts the human spirit,” Rey said. “That’s what religion is. Religion should inspire animation and humanity that breeds compassion.”

I hope the university considers more thoroughly integrating religious studies into its General Education Program. Students will then better understand each other and the belief systems that dominate the world they inhabit. jennifer.roberts@temple.edu @jennyroberts511

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Make reporting sexual assault easier Pennsylvania should repeal the statute of limitations for cases of sexual assault.

T

get after a period of time,” said Marina Angel, a law professor. “Witnesses disappear, and it’s hard to have a fair trial.”

But this fairness for the accused should also be extended to survivors.

Giving sexual assault survivors a time limit for reporting a crime may discourage them from coming forward at all.

People take different amounts of time to heal, and statutes of limitations, like the 12-year limit in Pennsylvania, serve as a way of putting an expiration date on the trauma and consequences of rape and assault for survivors.

“If you think about the trauma… maybe they numbed it out, [and] 10 to 11 years later is when they’re looking at [their assault],” Cox said. “They potentially have one year within their own statute of limitations to go through and try and process all of this [and] deal with all these legal details.”

In Pennsylvania, Andrea Constand, a former Temple employee, filed charges

from moving forward, especially if evidence may still exist after the time expires.

“In the cases involving Cosby, witnesses did not disappear, and the women did not forget,” Angel said. “So those two potential problems do not exist in these cases.”

In cases like this where these roadblocks do not exist, statutes of limitations serve to protect nobody but the accused perpetrator.

Laws should instead be enacted to protect those who are harmed in incidents of assault. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center found that between 2 to 10 percent of rape accusations are proven false. Because false accusations rarely occur, statutes of limitations more often benefit the accused perpetrator.

By allowing unfair rules like the statute of limitations to control how society responds to sexual assault, we are propa-

his month, the New York Times reported on activists who are currently calling for the elimination or extension of the statutes of limitations for sexual assault in various states.

Across the country, 34 states, including Pennsylvania, have some sort of statute of limitations, a set time frame during which charges can be filed after a crime is alleged to have occurred.

In Pennsylvania, JASMINE FAHMY the statute of limitations for sexual assault is 12 years for adults bringing charges against someone. Those who are under the age of 18 when assaulted are allowed additional time to file charges after they turn 18.

But with sexual assault being dishave a statute of ma statute of limitations cussed more openly in society, more limitations for filing states are making it easier for survivors to cha in Pennsylvania press charges. Within the last two a years, charge of sexual assault und at least six states have either extended or have a statute of statute of limitations eliminated their statutes of limitations limitations for filing in Pennsylvania for sexual assault. a charge of sexual assault It’s time Pennsylvania follows this trend and eliminates any type of statute SASHA LASAKOW | THE TEMPLE NEWS of limitations for sexual assault.

“If you think about the communal impact, and the familial impact, [the against Bill Cosby for allegedly drugging gating a culture which already doesn’t survivors] are going to need time and and sexually assaulting her in 2004. Her take these cases seriously enough. support,” said Emily Cox, a special proj- case was filed in December 2015, just We can’t tell a survivor that what ects coordinator at Women Organized weeks before the statute of limitations happened to them doesn’t matter after Against Rape, a nonprofit rape crisis would have invalidated her motion. a certain amount of time. It’s time for center in Philadelphia. “And looking at it Of the nearly 60 women who have Pennsylvania to join the group of states from the victim’s perspective, I don’t find accused Cosby of assault in the past few that have stood up against this thinking the statute of limitations to be particu- years, Constand was the only one able to and eliminated statutes of limitations for larly helpful.” press charges because her alleged assault sexual assault.

Of course, statutes of limitations can was the only one that fell within the statjasmine.fahmy@temple.edu serve a useful purpose. ute of limitations.

“The argument is that people forThe law shouldn’t prevent a case

34

12

states

34

states

50

years

12

years

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

OPINION

PAGE 5

COMMUNITY

Gentrification contributes to ‘plunder’ in North Philly The university should recognize how it exploits the surrounding community.

W

hen Ta-Nehisi Coates, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine and author of “Between the World and Me,” came to Temple earlier in the semester to speak about race, inequality and contemporary oppression, he left us with a lot to think about.

In response to a question about the Oct. 21 mob attacks on Temple students, which occurred just a few days before the author came to speak, Coates asked the audience an important question: “What is the relationship with the community?”

Perhaps, the university’s relationship is best defined ALEX VOISINE through a term that Coates writes about: plunder.

“I see [plunder] as the systemic consumption and destruction of bodies,” said Linda Chavers, an Intellectual Heritage professor who teaches about plunder and assigns Coates’ book as a required reading. “And how themes, ideas are used, recycled, reused, subverted in order to exercise power, steal power.”

In his talk, Coates used the word “plunder” to describe the institutions of racism that have severely impacted the lives of people of color.

He defines plunder as a process of exploiting bodies and populations, often with a racial motivation.

Students and the university need to recognize how Temple commits plunder in the form of gentrification in the North Philadelphia community. Only through this recognition can systems of plunder be reversed. Programming in both the IH program and history department will include courses focused specifically on plunder in Spring 2017, and I think that’s a step in the right direction.

“What we want to do is take a set of classes that will loosely fit in the notion of plunder, and let students run with it,” said Bryant Simon, a history professor, who helped create the sevencourse series related to plunder.

As members of the Temple community, we need to acknowledge the plunder we are complicit in as rapid university development continues, and tensions remained strained between students and residents.

“We need to acknowledge plunder,” said Elizabeth Alvarez, an IH professor. “It is present in our society, whether we are trying to close our eyes to it or not.”

Residents are pushed out of homes they have lived in due to rising property values, and houses that may have once been available to

MAIN CAMPUS

Art on campus encourages engagement, communication More public art on campus will allow students to engage with their surroundings.

O

n the corner of 11th Street and Montgomery Avenue, pieces of steel in the shape of clouds hang from the outside of Montgomery Garage. The sculpture, titled “Sky Terrain,” lights up at night in different colors to imitate the various hues of the sky.

“Sky Terrain,” along with the Bell Tower and the bust of Russell Conwell in the Founder’s Garden, are a few pieces of public art on Main Campus. But Verdant Temple, the university’s landscape development plan, will work to incorporate more public art on campus over the next 20 years.

The university should SAMANTHA seize the opportunity to WONG invite residents to use their voices so that they can feel a part of the space they share with students.

“Art is important because it connects us to a consistent view of humanity for a variety of perspectives,” said Robert Blackson, director of exhibitions for Temple Contemporary. “And in so doing, what art does is it challenges us to recognize what it is that we’re actually seeing.”

Public art has the capacity to reach not just students who already appreciate art,

but also those who may not normally have an interest.

“It will cause you to stop and think outside of your normal routine,” James Templeton, the director of architecture for the school’s project delivery group, who will lead with a committee to find spaces for public art on campus, told The Temple News last month.

“We are so structured, we are so in this routine,” he added. “To see something out of the ordinary in places where you don’t expect, or places where you do expect ... it really serves to break up monotony.”

Public art also serves to create unity. The Bell Tower, for example, is where students congregate during the day, celebrate pep rallies before football games and demonstrate in protest. It often serves as a unified, visual representation of the university community.

And as more displays of public art appear on campus, the university has the opportunity to unite and engage, not only with the student body, but also with North Philadelphia residents.

“I think having some public art gives the opportunity to recreate spaces and make them more accessible,” said Cathy Harris, director of community murals at Mural Arts Philadelphia.

Future public artworks should be used strategically to create dialogue with the surrounding community and to improve the university’s relationship with residents.

“People will tend to feel like they’re being pushed out when universities start to grow and take over more space, but there’s a way to have public art work collectively with their communities,” Harris said. “It’s a way that can make art heal and help bridge that gap.”

Part of the Verdant Temple plan includes adding to Columbia Plaza on Polett Walk near Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Perhaps the university could use this opportunity to create public art that could honor Moore, a civil rights activist influential in the desegregation of Girard College. Or, it could include community members in the creation of the artwork.

Ultimately, public art serves to create an open conversation and appreciation for art that may not have previously existed. Main Campus could certainly benefit from this expression and engagement with students and the North Philadelphia community. samantha.wong@temple.edu

SASHA LASAKOW | THE TEMPLE NEWS

families are rented out to college students.

“To some extent, by being displaced, by being physically moved out, ultimately that’s where you get into gentrification issues,” said Conrad Weiler, an associate professor of political science. “It’s been happening in [North Philly] for the past 50 years.”

For those who can afford to remain in the community, they must deal with raising children and living in areas dominated by college

“

We need to acknowledge the plunder we are complicit in.

”

students, who are not always the most considerate of their neighbors.

“In some ways, I can see how students would see Temple as their own site to plunder,” Chavers said. “Because the message from the university is to come here, get your degree and be out.”

And the proposed on-campus stadium is the university’s most recent intent of plunder, which would cause more concerns for residents, like the presence of traffic, trash and rowdy fans

in their neighborhoods.

This type of large-scale development benefits the student population at the expense of the surrounding community. Temple continually treats the surrounding neighborhood as a source of an intrusion and works to separate itself from the community.

“If Temple University were to build a wall so that they can actually reflect how they act when it comes to its relationship with the community, then they should,” Chavers said. “Because that would at least be more honest and transparent.”

For students to better communicate with North Philadelphia residents and fight systems of plunder, they need to learn about plunder in the classroom.

“It’s definitely not enough to teach plunder in Mosaics,” Alvarez said. “That will not be sufficient for really grappling plunder. That needs to happen in other classes.”

Students need to learn about the role of plunder in our nation’s history and society before they are able to recognize the hyperlocal plunder that exists around them.

It’s time for Temple to acknowledge the plunder that’s happening at our very doorstep and give students of all majors the tools that to understand and reverse systems of plunder in our community. alex.voisine@temple.edu

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Jan. 7, 1966: President Millard Gladfelter announced plans for the university’s Rome campus. The campus opened in June of 1966 and began as a branch campus of the Tyler School of Art. It became the first art school set up by an American university in a foreign country for undergraduate and graduate students.

There is a new engineering program running for the Spring 2017 semester at Temple Rome. To qualify for the program, students must be either mechanical and civil engineering students in their sophomore year. Shawn Fagan, the director of the Center of Academic Advising and Student Affairs in the College of Engineering, said the program is limited to civil and mechanical engineering majors, because Temple Rome does not have enough laboratory space to accomodate all types of engineering majors. Fagan said there is a possibility for the program to open up to other engineering majors in the future as the university searches for access to more laboratory space.

POLLING PEOPLE

Do you think TSG’s new Parliament will help better represent the university community?

38%

33%

29%

I’m not sure

Yes - The seats will increase representation

No - There are not enough seats to increase representation Out of 137 votes since Oct. 11

GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? Visit temple-news.com/polls to take our online poll, or send your comments to letters@temple-news.com.

Letters to the editor may regard any current issue but must include your full name, position and location. Students can give year and major. Submissions should be between 200-600 words.

letters@temple-news.com

NEWS

PAGE 6

Theobald named finalist for presidency at Northern Iowa

By OWEN MCCUE Sports Editor Former Temple president Neil Theobald is one of three finalists for the University of Northern Iowa’s presidency, The Iowa Board of Regents announced Monday morning.

Theobald was one of 46 applicants applying for the vacant presidency of the school in Cedar Hills, Iowa. The presidential search committee was keeping the applicants’ names confidential until it announced Theobald as a finalist on Monday.

Temple hired Theobald in September 2012, and he began his presidency in January 2013. He served for more than three years before he resigned on July 21 after Temple’s Board of Trustees voted “no confidence” and planned his dismissal. A Board spokesman said that the dismissal was related to Theobald’s firing of Provost Hai-Lung Dai, and a $22 million deficit in the merit scholarship program.

Dan Power, a Northern Iowa professor chairing the presidential search committee, told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that Theobald addressed the controversy from his Temple presidency in an initial interview for the Northern Iowa job.

“He did address it in a number of ways, and the search consultants have tried to give us some perspective, too,” Power told the Gazette. “We’ll all know better after his visit.”

Theobald told The Temple News in August that he is a faculty member in the College of Education, and that he would be on sabbatical for the next 12 months. He added that a nondisclosure agreement with the university limited what he could tell The Temple News about his removal.

Before arriving at Temple, Theobald was the senior vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University.

The Iowa Board of Regents will announce its choice for Northern Iowa’s new president on Dec. 6. Theobald is scheduled to hold an open forum on Northern Iowa’s campus on Tuesday afternoon. owen.mccue@temple.edu @Owen_McCue

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Continued from Page 1

PARLIAMENT will be us getting to know [Parliament] and them getting to know us,” Cowen said. “We want to walk through everything we’ve done and get their take on it.”

Parliament’s full legislative duties will begin in Spring 2017, when TSG expects Parliament will elect its speaker.

The speaker will work with the TSG representatives that connect TSG to

Parliament — Liaison to the Parliament, Rebecca Gonzalez and Parliamentarian Jemie Fofanah. Cowen said he also anticipates Parliament will organize its six committees and interview students to fill the seat for Boyer.

Students on Parliament are not restricted to term limits by design, Cowen said.

“The year-based seats will always get new blood,” he added. “But we wanted a combination of new blood and people who had been there before.”

Cowen said having new people take

over an administration is a constant problem that many student governments have.

In the coming weeks, Parliament will also work with TSG to set up its bylaws.

These laws will outline how Parliament works internally, like its debate style. Once the bylaws have been set, Parliament will be able to pass resolutions and “set the agenda” for the issues TSG’s Executive Branch is responsible for examining. julie.christie@temple.edu

TSG Parliament Seats On Nov. 21, Temple Student Government announced 36 of the 37 people that will make up Parliament.

A representative for the Boyer College of Music and Dance will be selected through open interviews, which Parliament is likely to hold once it begins its full legislative duties in the beginning of the Spring Semester.

SCHOOL SEATS Alexandra Abruzzo

Anthony Henderson

Ari Abramson

Jacob Kurtz

College of Engineering

College of Education

Fox School of Business

Tyler School of Art

Kamal Jain

Keeley Murphy

Keith Hudock

College of Liberal Arts College of Public Health

Ryan Frascella

Sarah Kim

School of Media and Communication

School of Social Work

College of Science and Technology

Vincent Limon

Matthew Janis School of Theater, Film and Media Arts

vacant

School of Sport, Tourism Boyer College of Music and Hospitality Management and Dance

NEWS BRIEFS UNIVERSITY NEWS

Epps in business hall of fame The Philadelphia Media Network — which owns The Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com — inducted Provost JoAnne Epps into the The Philadelphia Inquirer Business Hall of Fame. Epps is one of five inductees in the inaugural class of the Hall.

Epps was celebrated for her career as a lawyer before coming to Temple, her time at the Beasley School of Law and her position as provost, according to a university news release.

Along with the input of senior editors and executives at the Inquirer and PMN, Temple trustee Gerry Lenfest selected the inductees for the hall of fame.

In her acceptance speech, Epps thanked the Inquirer and said that the university was “a centerpiece” of who she is.

YEAR-BASED SEATS Jonathon DeLouis

Alex Mark

Rebecca Cave

Emily Wolak

Freshman

Freshman

Sophomore

Sophomore

Joseph Basile

Sarah Levine

Patrick Ardis

Alex Waldron

Junior

Junior

Senior

Senior

Nancy Allen

Jeff Fonda

Transfer

Graduate

- Kelly Brennan

CITY NEWS

SEPTA workers’ union ratifies contract SEPTA employees from Transit Workers Union Local 234 signed a contract that promises a more than $3 per hour wage increase by the end of the contract.

The contract, signed Nov. 18, comes two weeks after a seven-day strike of the nearly 6,000 bus, trolley and subway workers.

A new formula for calculating pensions will increase pensions, according to a news release from TWU Local 234.

An employee of 30 years will now receive a monthly pension of $2,820 per month using the new formula, an increase from $2,500 determined by the old formula.

Employees will also contribute more toward their health care beginning in December 2018.

The contract will last five years.

ISSUES-BASED SEATS Abby DeVore

Alfonso Corona

Bridget Warlea

Carmella Hall

Greek Life

Multicultural

Multicultural

LGBTQIA+

David Rivenbark

Fan Ting

Janine Simmons

Luke Tomczuk

Honors

International

Athletics

Disability Resource Services / Academy for Adult Learning

Thomas Roof

Alexis Culp

Commuters

Residence Hall Association

- Gillian McGoldrick

City’s tax disadvantage shrinks The tax gap between living in Philadelphia versus the surrounding suburbs is shrinking, meaning the city is a more affordable place to live, according to a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

In 2015, a middle-income family living in the city on average spent 12.4 percent of their income on state taxes, while an equivalent family living in the suburbs spent 11.8 percent, .6 percentage points less. The gap is a drastic decrease from the 3.7 percent gap in 2000.

The study did not include information on taxes outside of wage, property and sales tax and did not reflect residents’ opinions on government spending. Tax gaps are considered a useful measurement of tax competitiveness and the attractiveness of a place to live and work, according to Pew.

AT-LARGE SEATS Jacob Cheeseborough

Jeremy Goodman

Jordan Laslett

Olivia Farkas

At-Large

At-Large

At-Large

At-Large

Varun Sivakumar At-Large

- Noah Tanen News Desk 215-204-7419 news@temple-news.com

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

features

F E AT U R E S

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

PAGE 7

Former lacrosse goalie doesn’t let injury ‘define’ her

PATRICK CLARK / THE TEMPLE NEWS Rachel Hall came to watch the Owls compete at Geasey Field whenever she had the chance. The former women’s lacrosse goaltender went into intensive care after she was injured in a crash last year.

After suffering critical injuries in a hit-and-run in April 2015, Rachel Hall is still recovering.

By TAYLOR HORN Online Beat Reporter

I

n April 2015, former lacrosse goalie Rachel Hall was riding her bike on campus when she was struck by a car and critically injured in a hit-and-run

shortly before her graduation. A year later, she was finally able to walk at the ceremony.

“It was a big day,” said Hall, a 2016 sociology and criminal justice alumna. “I’m just going further and further.”

Kathy Hall, Rachel’s mother, visited her at the hospital every day at the beginning of her recovery and is proud of her progress and “determination.”

“I was just really, really happy and I stood up and was clapping and cheering for her because I knew she had really worked hard to achieve that one goal of walking at graduation a year later after her accident,” she said.

Kaitlin Suzuki, a teammate who was a freshman when Rachel was a senior, decorated Rachel’s graduation cap with symbols she thought best represented her, like stars and stripes because of her love for the American flag, a shark and the number on her lacrosse jersey: 16.

“She knew my personality and we were very close,” Rachel said. “She had an art background, but I didn’t know how good of an artist she was. She went a lot further with it and made it a lot more special to me.”

Rachel still keeps in contact with her lacrosse friends by attending games or go-

ing out to eat with them.

“I’ve been in therapy, so it’s hard to see them in [lacrosse] season, but I try to see them frequently,” she said.

Rachel is still recovering from the accident in physical, occupational, speech and cognitive therapy.

Every weekday, Rachel goes to Independence Rehab Services in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, for five hours of therapy. After that, Kathy picks her up and takes her to Magee Rehabilitation Health and Wellness Center in Philadelphia to work on her bal-

RECOVERY | PAGE 13

For some students, running becomes philanthropy Students see physical and social benefits from competing in charitable races around the city.

By ALEXIS ANDERSON For The Temple News

For Dan Varnis, charity races are as beneficial as the causes for which he runs.

Varnis, a junior legal studies major, is one of several students who participates in charity races around Philadelphia. On Nov. 19, Varnis ran the Rothman Institute 8K, a five-mile race beginning at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and ending at Kelly Drive, for the third time.

“I’m spending all these weeks running and training, and it’s like, ‘I don’t feel like doing this anymore,’” Varnis said. “But then once I’m in the race and I know I’m two miles away from the finish line, it takes on a whole new meaning.”

Varnis said there is an “intrinsic reward that comes along with finishing a race.” That — along with health benefits and the knowledge that his registration fees are helping a nonprofit organization — is why he loves to run charity races.

RUNS | PAGE 12

Students mentor special-needs athletes GENEVA HEFFERNAN FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Meghan Sears (right), vice president of Temple’s Athlete Helping Athletes takes a selfie with athlete Amanda Reilly and other members of the club at the final home football game this season at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday.

READ MORE ON PAGE 12

FILM | PAGE 8

LIVE IN PHILLY | PAGE 10

HACKNEY | PAGE 11

ROME | PAGE 14

Media In Neighborhoods Group aims to use media to change the culture of crime.

The Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House opened its doors one last time for a jazz show.

An alumnus joined Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration as the chief education officer.

A new study abroad program allows some engineering majors to travel to Temple Rome, but leaves some behind.

F E AT U R E S

PAGE 8

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Capturing the human process of re-entry after prison An alumnus helped create an organization that works on social justice documentaries.

By MORIAH THOMAN For The Temple News When Aaron “El” Sawyer came home after spending eight years of his life in prison for a drug-related shooting, he was 25 years old. Then, he faced the daunting process of re-entering society.

“I was going to a foreign place after being institutionalized, and very used to growing up in prison,” Sawyer said. “So I had to take on a new everything, a new language, a new way of being with people, a new way of looking at life.”

He knew that he didn’t want to be sent back to prison, and he said his “life preserver” came as an unlikely opportunity: filmmaking.

Sawyer co-founded the Media In Neighborhoods Group with Jon Kaufman, a 2009 Latin American studies alumnus.

MING is a film production company that specializes in social justice documentaries and uses media to change the culture of crime, according to its website.

Media In Neighborhoods Group won a Philly Geek Award for Multimedia Project of the Year last month for its work in bringing social justice issues to mainstream conversations through film.

During Kaufman’s time at Temple, he took a class that led him to the Village of Arts and Humanities, a group based out of the Hartranft neighborhood of Philadelphia. The North Philadelphia nonprofit provides arts education and a film program for teens — and it’s also where he met Sawyer in 2007.

“I just thought it was really cool to see how a medium like video, which I had never really been exposed to before, could give a platform for storytelling and self-awareness ... and create careers for people who normally can’t necessarily get traditional work,” Kaufman said. “It was really interesting to be exposed to

that.”

Kaufman and Sawyer founded MING in 2014 using a combination of their work, including a documentary they started together in 2011 called “Pull of Gravity.”

The title refers to the gravity that pulls former inmates back to prison in a cycle of incarceration.

Prisoners like these men have to face the statistic that 67 percent of ex-offenders are sent back to prison within three years.

The documentary, which was completed in 2014, tells the stories of three Philadelphia men named Kev, Andy and Sawyer himself, who return home after prison.

“It was El’s idea to create a film that he wishes that he had been able to see when he was in prison, that would’ve helped him come out,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman said the goal of the film was to capture the challenging human process of re-entry

and present it to government agencies, prisons and anyone who could benefit from learning about the experience.

“There’s nothing really like that to show you what the reality is of the transition process,” Kaufman said.

Recently, the group has been developing a curriculum and a new film project about employment for formerly incarcerated people, meant to expand on “Pull of Gravity.”

“I think we’re going to continue to do great film work, moving into doing fewer. but bigger projects and focusing on really creating more bridges between worlds that don’t communicate with each other using film,” Kaufman said. “[We’re] doing bigger, better and more impactful work, and getting more international work.” moriah.thoman@temple.edu

ANTIONETTE LEE FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Jon Kaufman, a 2009 Latin American studies alumnus and co-founder of Media in Neighborhoods Group, works at the organization’s production studio on Nov. 18.

ANTIONETTE LEE FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Aaron “El” Sawyer, a co-founder of Media in Neighborhoods Group, works at the organization’s production studio on Nov. 18. MING won a Philly Geek Award for Multimedia Project of the Year last month for its work in bringing social justice issues to light through film.

ADVERTISEMENT

features@temple-news.com

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

F E AT U R E S

PAGE 9

Professors raise awareness of plunder through programming Two history professors planned courses on the concept which Ta-Nehisi Coates often discusses.

By PATRICK BILOW For The Temple News Ta-Nehisi Coates, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, visited Temple in October and started a campus-wide conversation about plunder.

Benjamin Talton, a history professor at Temple and friend of Coates from their time at Howard University, invited the journalist to speak at the university.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, plunder is stealing goods from a place or person, but Talton defines plunder on a much deeper level.

“Plunder is very similar to theft, but it is more than just stealing materials,” Talton said. “You strip someone of humanity and you take from them a sense of being when you plunder them.”

“Coates’ critical thinking inspired us to start thinking about the theme of plunder,” said Bryant Simon, who is also a history professor.

During an informal conversation at a meeting of history professors in Fall 2015, Talton suggested the theme for future programming. Since then, he has worked with Simon to develop a series of courses and events on the topic.

In Coates’ public lecture in the Liacouras Center, “A Deeper Black:

Race in America,” he spoke about the plunder of the Black body in American history.

Coates’ book, “Between the World and Me,” reflects his work addressing racial injustice in America.

In articles like “The Case for Reparations” and “The Enduring Solidarity of Whiteness” — both published in The Atlantic — he discussed plunder of African Americans.

Coates asked the audience a question during his talk: “What is the relationship of the university to the community?”

“This is a huge issue,” Talton said.

“We first need to ask ourselves, how did this community get this way, then we need to address the problem and fix it.”

By raising awareness of plunder, Talton thinks that the university may better understand the community and be more sensitive.

“Coates is not wrong,” Simon said. “Plunder is about race, but there are other ways to frame it in order to start a broader conversation.”

With this program, Talton and Simon have invited professors from

other departments to incorporate the idea of plunder into their classes and to have an open discussion with their students about how it affects their studies at Temple.

“We wanted to start thinking about the collateral damage that comes with the advancement of society,” Talton said. “How are people affected? How are they plundered?”

Classes like World Economy since 1945, 20th Century American Drug Wars, Seminar on Plunder: A.O. Scott’s Top Plunder Films and several other courses will be offered

HOJUN YU FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Ta-Nehisi Coates, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, visited Temple as part of a new program in the College of Liberal Arts for the Spring 2017 semester. Last month, Coates spoke on Main Campus about plunder, which he often writes about.

in Spring 2017 in the history department and the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts.

“Essentially what we have done is given the subject of plunder to a host of professors and asked them, ‘what will you do with this?’” Talton said.

“Students that put the most into classes like these will get from them a much more involved conversation,” Simon said.

Next semester, A.O. Scott, an author and chief movie critic at the New York Times, will speak at Temple.

Scott will work with the plunder classes within TFMA. He has worked in collaboration with Talton and Bryant to suggest and develop a list of films that explore plunder.

Students who choose to take a plunder course in the film and media arts department can watch a film about the topic each week.

The idea of a themed semester is one that Simon believes can be exposed to the whole university. He hopes the programming can be used as a template for further discussions on various topics like food or religion.

The Intellectual Heritage department also plans to devote their spring semester theme to issues related to Coates’ book, going off the current theme of race, but more focused on social justice and civic engagement, said Douglas Greenfield, the associate director of IH. “The discussion part is key,” Talton said. “It would be nice to develop an intellectual conversation and a sense of community throughout the university.” patrick.timothy.bilow@temple.edu

ADVERTISEMENT

:

JULIUS CAESAR & MEASURE FOR MEASURE Directed by Elizabeth Carlson and Noah Herman

DECEMBER 2 - 10 Randall Theater

2020 N. 13th Street, Phila. PA 19122

Tickets $10 TU Students $20 TU Employees

Temple Theaters Plus Half-Price Box Office Previews 215.204.1122 tfma.temple.edu/events

features@temple-news.com

PAGE 10

F E AT U R E S

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

MARGO REED FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS

‘Jazz at the Met’ brings opera house to life one last time The Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House on Broad and Poplar streets closed its doors to the public more than 20 years ago, but opened them one last time for “Jazz at the Met” on Saturday before renovations begin in December.

Jazz Lives Philadelphia, a nonprofit aiming to increase the number of jazz performances in the city, hosted the show, with only three weeks to prepare.

“I’m really proud of everybody that was involved with this event to make it happen because it was so much work in such a short amount of time,” said Sarah Leonard, the nonprofit’s executive and co-artistic director and a senior finance major. Leonard and the five other members of the organization were Temple students when they started the group. She added that the permit for the building was only approved the morning of the show because everything came together at such short notice.

VIPs were given a tour of the ground level of the building before the show. Angela Hankins-Simpson came to see her son, Fareed Hankins-Simpson, perform in the Jazz Lives Philadelphia Big Band, which accompanied vocalist Laura Lizcano and saxophonist Ted Nash. Hankins-Simpson was the last one seen clapping in the crowd at the end of the performance. “They were off the hook,” Angela said.

ADVERTISEMENT

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF INTEGRATIVE SCIENCES, ST. MAARTEN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

AUIS is recognized internationally for its innovative Allopathic MD with Integrative Medicine sub-curriculum.

Pre-Med: 7 year High School to Residency. Pre-Med taught at a an accredited US University. Financial aid available for qualified students. Assistance with VISA requirements!

Basic Sciences: 4 terms on beautiful St. Maarten. 5th term taught in Atlanta GA. MD/MS with Integrative Medicine. Classes start January, May and September.

Clinical Sciences: NO WAITING!

Complete all clinical rotations within two years. Clinical clerkships US and Canada.

REASONS TO ATTEND AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF INTEGRATIVE SCIENCES, ST. MAARTEN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: • • • • •

Healing The World, One Student At A Time, One Dream At A Time

features@temple-news.com

Innovative technology-enriched classrooms and labs.

Financial Aid and Loan Options for qualified students Small classes with 1:11 ratio professor to students.

Affordable fees. Academic excellence rewarded with tuition reductions.

No MCAT required; however, Basic Science Scholarships available for high MCAT scores.

4426 Hugh Howell Rd., Suite B176 Tucker, GA 30084 678.269.4707 www.auis.edu info@auis.edu

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

F E AT U R E S

PAGE 11

Alumnus minimizes barriers through education Otis Hackney was appointed to the Mayor’s Office of Education last year.

By ERIN MORAN Deputy Features Editor School never came easy for Otis Hackney, but struggling as a student gave the “kid from 56th Street” a deeper appreciation for education.

Now, the 1998 secondary education and mathematics alumnus is the chief education officer for the City of Philadelphia.

Hackney was appointed by Mayor Jim Kenney last year after he successfully transformed South Philadelphia High School — a school that made national headlines in 2010 due to racial violence among students — into a “community school” during his time as principal.

During the rest of his first term as the chief education officer, he said he will create 25 more community schools, which double as hubs within the community to provide families with resources. He also hopes to open 2,000 new pre-kindergarten seats for Philadelphia children.

“Our children have challenges that negatively impact their learning every day,” Hackney said. “If we figure out ways to diminish some of those barriers for children, then they can focus on learning, teachers can focus on teaching, principals can focus on supporting teachers and students.”

One way to accomplish this is by providing resources like social services, health information and recreational opportunities to both children and their families in order to engage students and the community with their school, he said. Hackney and his team send surveys to families to gauge their wants and needs for their schools “Those things could be helping social, emotional needs, expanding learning opportunities, after-school programs, but also seeing them as a center within a community to provide access to different programs to support children and families with different services that they ask for or need,” Hackney said.

“But it’s a process,” he added. “It’s not something that you do overnight.

Continued from Page 1

MEDICINE TUH also participates in the four-year Good Food, Healthy Hospitals initiative, which is designed to bring healthier options to Philadel-

It’s something that you do by learning to engage the community.”

Hackney said the community schools instill a new sense of pride and engagement in the school that leads to a better environment for students and teachers, higher attendance rates, lower suspension rates and often better grades.

Hackney said he didn’t get the best grades in school, which helped him relate to students when he was a math teacher and basketball coach at Germantown High School, and later the principal of South Philadelphia High School.

Most teachers he has worked with were once excellent students, he said, so it’s hard for many teachers to understand students who aren’t engaged. They often write them off instead of trying to relate to the barriers that may affect their learning.

“[But my teaching style was] being the kid that wasn’t much different than some of the kids in the classroom,” he said. “You can do some of those things you want to do as a kid — not all of them, but some — and still be educated and smart.”

Tionna Miller, one of Hackney’s former students and basketball players at Germantown High School, is now his assistant in the Mayor’s Office. She said Hackney always protected his students as though they were his own children.

“He comes in and he checks on everyone,” she said. “Even though we should be the ones checking on him.”

Miller and Hackney lost touch after she graduated, but they reconnected just as Hackney was looking for a new assistant. Miller said she feels just as supported as his employee as she did when she was his student.

“I feel like this position has allowed him to flourish,” Miller said.

“It involves the community and the children.”

After dropping out of Hampton University in southern Virginia, Hackney returned home and began installing heating systems for his father’s business and taking classes at the Community College of Philadelphia.

He said he “really hit [his] stride” when he transferred to Temple.

“I didn’t always get the highest grade in the class, but I was ready to be a student,” he said. “There were gaps in my learning, so I had to learn information that I should have learned back in high school. Sometimes I don’t know how I got through.

I had no idea how hard it was, I was just doing it.”

His professors at Temple chal-

lenged him and cared about his success, he said, which he didn’t expect to find at a big school. By the time he got to Temple, he knew he “wanted to be a teacher and needed to help other people in the city to appreciate education.”

“Growing up, it wasn’t anything I ever thought I could do,” he said. “I just want kids to know how much it can change your situation. One way that’s not a guarantee but definitely increases your chances is just getting your education.”

“You might not be able to change your childhood,” he added, “but you can definitely change your adulthood.” erin.moran@temple.edu @ernmrntweets

BRIANNA SPAUSE / THE TEMPLE NEWS 1998 alumnus Otis Hackney became the chief education officer for the School District of Philadelphia in January after spending five years as the principal of South Philadelphia High School.

phia hospitals and develop nutritional standards for patients’ meals.

In September, the city’s public health department announced that TUH was the first hospital in Philadelphia to complete the basic requirements for the program. The hospital now offers more vegetarian options,

along with beverages and desserts that are low in sugar and sodium.

Catherine Bartoli, a 2005 master’s of urban studies alumna, is the healthy food procurement coordinator for the department.

“Temple has been really wellengaged and they are continuously

working toward achieving more guidelines,” Bartoli said. “It is a continuous process, so we’re still working with them to achieve more guidelines and further standards. We try to really enhance the work they’ve already done.”

Bartoli said she thinks ensuring

COURTESY VICTORIA VICENTE Farm to Families offers affordable, organically grown produce from the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative to North Philadelphia families. The program has pickup hours at the Temple Pediatric Care on Thursdays from noon to 4 p.m

overall health equity is important, especially in North Philadelphia.

According to the Center for Disease Control, nearly 70 percent of kids living in North Philadelphia are overweight or obese.

“In the realm of nutrition, I look at food as being really fundamental to our health and wellbeing,” she said.

Patients are not the only ones encouraged by TUH to treat food as medicine. Maureen Fitzgerald, food editor at the Inquirer, teaches cooking classes to medical students at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine.

The classes are an extension of My Daughter’s Kitchen, an eightweek, after-school cooking program that Fitzgerald started with the Vetri Community Partnership, a non-profit that encourages healthy eating in Philadelphia with several programs.

Fitzgerald’s cooking classes at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine began earlier this semester. So far, Fitzgerald said she has noticed her students becoming “more comfortable in the kitchen.”

David Pioquinto, one of five students taking Fitzgerald’s cooking class, said he’s always struggled to eat healthy. But the cooking classes have shown him how easy it is to make healthy recipes at home.

“Before taking the class I would have thought it too difficult and time consuming to cook a holistic meal that is filling and healthy,” Pioquinto added. “Now I am more inclined to cook these meals on my own.” meghan.caroline.costa@temple.edu

features@temple-news.com

F E AT U R E S

PAGE 12

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Providing ‘joy and union’ through sports, activities The Temple chapter of Athletes Helping Athletes works to mentor people with special needs.

By MADISON HALL For The Temple News Jennifer Baumher missed her subway ride to the Owls’ football game against University of Southern Florida, which only made her more nervous for the Oct. 21 game.

“I had field passes and was supposed to be at the stadium by 6:30 [p.m.] and ended up missing the subway,” she said. “By the time we got there, we took off running and arrived on the field out of breath and sweaty.”

The junior nursing major is the registration chair for Temple’s chapter of Athletes Helping Athletes, which works to provide mentorship to athletes with special needs. The chapter’s first event was held before the USF football game.

The organization was founded in Bucks County in 2001 to provide awareness and community support for athletes with special needs in the region, according to its website. In September, Temple became an official university chapter and now has 35 members.

“Athletes Helping Athletes is an opportunity for athletes to see how much joy and union their talents can bring as well as provide a safe, friendly environment for the special needs community,” said Brittany Worthington, a junior psychology major and treasurer of AHA. Temple AHA is working with students referred to them by the Bucks County chapter.

“I had no idea what to expect, but the moment I got to the stadium I realized I shouldn’t

Continued from Page 7

RUNS To prepare for his first charity race, Varnis joined Students Run Philly Style, a program that places students ages 12-18 with volunteer “running leaders.” The running leaders mentor and train students from March to November two or three times per week to prepare for local charity runs.

Varnis has lost 60 pounds since joining the program.

“I [also] found that I was more energetic, I was more personable, I was more eager to go out and do things and my grades definitely were reflected highly of me performing well on the team,” he said.

Megan George, a junior international business major and race director for Temple University Running Club, said running is especially healthy for college students because it helps relieve stress.

George’s first charity run was the Pittsburgh Marathon, which she ran the summer after her freshman year.

This year, she ran the Ocean Drive Marathon in Cape May, New Jersey, in March.

George said running 26.2 miles is both physically and mentally demanding.

“When you run a marathon, you go through the biggest mental challenge you could go through,” she said.

“Around mile 18 to 22 is when your muscles basically stop working, and it’s really hard to keep moving...but

have been hesitant,” Baumher said. “They were just as close to being somebody I bond with every day.”

Despite her concern over being late to the October football game, Baumher said her good feelings were reinforced after she met the four athletes that night: TJ, Matt, Ryan and Mike, who all enjoy football, soccer and basketball.

The group of athletes ranged from 18-30 years old and were from Philadelphia and Bucks County.

“They were so excited, every little thing meant so much to them and their families,” Baumher said. “I wanted to cheer more because they were so excited and grateful.”

In high school, AHA President and junior human development and community engagement major Katie Chiodo was involved with the

organization and saw a need to bring its work to Temple’s athletics program.

“She saw how much joy it brought her, the other volunteers and the kids with special needs,” Worthington said. “She has a passion for the special needs community and knew she had to bring the program to Temple.”

Penn State University, Villanova University and St. Joseph’s University also have chapters of AHA. “The program already exists in high schools and other universities to break the stereotype among the special needs community and form interactions among athletes,” Baumher said.

“We are working on incorporating students from surrounding high schools and Temple special needs students,” Worthington said. “Temple University Athletes Helping Athletes is a pro-

GENEVA HEFFERNAN FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Michael Haegele, a participant in Temple Athletes Helping Athletes, guesses the number of the Helmet Shuffle at the final home Temple football game this season at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday.

there’s also people around you encouraging you.”

There were more than 20 charity races in Philadelphia in November, including the 23rd annual Philadelphia Marathon on Nov. 20, which boasted 36 charity partners.

Some upcoming races are the Schuylkill River Loop Race on Dec. 4, the Jack Daniels Hot Toddy 5K on Dec. 17 and the Homeless for the Holidays 5K Run/2.5K Walk on Dec. 18.

Runners planning to take part in these races have likely been training for weeks. Varnis suggests beginners train for at least a month to prepare for a 5K run.

No matter the distance, preparing for a charity race takes discipline.

George said a full marathon takes about four months of preparation and training.

Ashton Dunkley, a sophomore anthropology and Italian major and a distance runner for the women’s track and field team, said although there is a competitive aspect among serious runners, what has stuck out to her most is the “community aspect” of charity runs.

“Afterwards when [the race organizers] have a barbecue or a picnic where everyone gets together and eats, I think there’s a really good sense of community and everybody gets excited telling you you did a really good job,” she said. “Running is hard work and it’s tough, but the fact that everyone is going through the toughness together inspires a lot of respect for the people around you.”

Dunkley encourages more students to participate in charity runs, even if they aren’t runners, because they have the opportunity to both improve their fitness and help their

gram that wants to include as many people as possible, regardless of age, school or location.”

Baumher said AHA members hope to reach out to other local organizations including the Academy for Adult Learning — which is run by Temple’s Institute on Disabilities — and host a “fun day” on Main Campus in December.

The event, which Baumher hopes to host in the Student Pavilion on Broad Street near Berks, would include sports scrimmages and face-painting stations for athletes, volunteers, kids with special needs and their families.

Baumher has worked with the special needs community before. During her senior year at Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School, Baumher was a soccer buddy through Upper Dublin soccer club’s outreach program. She taught special needs children how to play soccer and volunteered with the Special Olympics at Villanova.

Colin Thompson, a tight end for the football team who is also an AHA mentor, gave Baumher the field passes for the four athletes that night.

“It is not just a club, but a group of friends and family trying to better the lives of all people,” said Thompson, a senior communication studies major.

Along with the fun day, Temple’s AHA chapter is looking for spring sports to incorporate into its organization. The members also plan to attend five basketball games this season with the special needs athletes.

“We want this organization to be yearround,” Worthington said. “We don’t want to limit it to just fall sports, but get as many sports involved as possible.” madison.hall@temple.edu

communities.

“I know a lot of people don’t like running,” she said. “But once you’re in a race with the adrenaline and the momentum and all the excitement

of people cheering, that pretty much takes you anywhere else you need to go at that point.” alexis.s.anderson@temple.edu

HOJUN YU FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Megan George (left), and Dan Varnis train for and participate in local Philadelphia charity runs.

ADVERTISEMENT

TUESDAYs in print. daily online. /thetemplenews @TheTempleNews @TheTempleNews features@temple-news.com

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

F E AT U R E S

Research a ‘stepping off point’ for university Temple’s research centers make up some of the top public university research programs in the country.

By EMILY THOMAS For The Temple News Before coming to Temple to conduct research in sociology, Keith McIntosh studied at both Grand Valley State University, a school “in the middle of a cornfield, out in the country” in his home state of Michigan, and the University of York in the United Kingdom.

Grand Valley State University’s remote location made McIntosh feel separated from the outside world as he studied sociology and art history, two majors that required him to think about others and their different experiences.

“A lot of the issues we discussed weren’t really relevant to our lives,” he said. “The placement of Temple in North Philly forces everyone to confront a lot of these issues.”

Even compared to his time studying social research at the University of York, McIntosh said he prefers Temple’s research facilities because he feels like he’s “part of a team” in the school’s tight-knit sociology department, as he pursues his Ph.D. in sociology.

Temple is one of the nation’s top public research universities, supported by the recent elevation of the university to the top tier of Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, a ranking of institutions based on empirical data.

This status puts Temple among the top 4 percent of any four-year public university.

One of the university’s strong suits is biomedical research.

“I’ve found [research] better here because [Temple] takes so many things into account when they do research,” said Tariem Burroughs, the community engagement specialist at the Center for Bioethics, Urban Health and Policy in the Lewis Katz School of Medicine. “They really see how it affects the individual ... and how they can possibly be an improvement to their life.”

Burroughs said the connection between Temple and the surrounding community is not only positive but necessary, considering Temple University Hospital is “right in the heart of a community.”

“It’s important that [Temple] continues to have that relationship ... so more people can access care from the hospital, and our medical students can see that Temple in itself is not a bubble and that it actually exists in the real world,” Burroughs added. “By doing that, we’re able to continue finding new ways to help and promote wellness in the community by actually having them be active partners in it.”

Burroughs, along with the center, works to conduct research projects that also serve the community. Burroughs currently serves as program director for Bridging the Gaps, a program that helps medical students connect the skills they learn in school to the world around them.

Within the program, he runs an interdisciplinary summer program that works with students in health and social service fields to give them more experience in community clinical service in distressed

areas.

The center also works with Philadelphia CeaseFire, a violence intervention program originally started in Chicago that works with the Philadelphia Police Department’s 22nd District to spread awareness about gun violence to reduce the amount of youth homicides, among various other research projects.

McIntosh said that while the STEM research programs at Temple have contributed greatly to the community, social science research is equally as important.

McIntosh said he loves sociology because it is “fiercely relevant to the real world” — sociological issues like racism, sexism and class affect many North Philadelphia residents.

“The hope for most social scientists is the knowledge they gain isn’t regulated to the ivy tower or to a dusty book in the library,” he said. “But one way or another it finds its way into the real world to make a change.”

It’s important for STEM researchers and social science researchers to work together, McIntosh said, but it’s equally important for researchers at Temple to work with the world around them.

There’s no “template” for enacting change, McIntosh said, but Temple’s research is a good “stepping off point for building a better relationship between the community and the university.”

“You can’t exist in this bubble,” Burroughs added. “You’re in the heart of North Philadelphia, you need to have a partnership with the community.” emily.ralsten.thomas@temple.edu

PAGE 13

EVENTS

The Macy’s Christmas Light Show returns Until Dec. 31, Macy’s at 13th and Market streets is putting on its annual Christmas Light Show. For more than 50 years the show has been displayed in Macy’s Grand Court.

It includes more than 99,000 LED lights depicting holiday icons like reindeer, candy canes and Frosty the Snowman.

The show is set to classic holiday musical numbers including selections from “The Nutcracker,” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and “Jingle Bell Rock.”

Excluding Christmas Day, the light show lasts 45 minutes and will run daily every two hours from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. During select shows, there will be live performances of “Deck the Halls” on the Wanamaker Organ.

-Alexis Anderson

Temple Press holds annual holiday book sale, signing From Wednesday to Friday, Temple University Press will hold its annual Holiday Book Sale. All of their titles will be discounted from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and authors will stop by for book signings. The book sale will take place in the Diamond Club Lobby on the lower level of Mitten Hall.

On the first day, author Dotty Brown, who recently wrote “Boathouse Row: Waves of Change in the Birthplace of American Rowing” will visit Main Campus. Other authors who are coming to Temple include Ray Didinger, a 1968 alumnus, who wrote “The New Eagles Encyclopedia” and “One Last Read.”

-Taylor Horn

Fox Student Philanthropic Society to host pizza party The Fox Student Philanthropic Society is hosting the Ultimate Pizza Taste Test on Wednesday from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Alter Hall Atrium. Visitors will sample slices from pizzerias around campus and vote for their favorites.

The event will teach students how the cost of a slice of pizza can affect a student, according to the university’s events calendar. The Fox Student Emergency Fund is used to aid students in the business school who are going through hardships so they can continue their studies. Pizza at the event is free and all students are encouraged to attend.

-Devon Lamb

Filmmaker to teach master class as part of series

PATRICK CLARK / THE TEMPLE NEWS Rachel Hall walked at graduation in May after earning degrees in sociology and criminal justice after being struck by a car in April 2015. She is still in recovery.

Continued from Page 7

RECOVERY ance and coordination, and to help her get her athletic body back.

Rachel said she and her doctors aren’t sure how much longer she will need physical therapy.

When Rachel was at Temple University Hospital and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital immediately after the crash, she said she was surrounded by supportive friends and family.

“I had friends always offering me support,” Rachel said. “They would come almost every single day. I also had professors who wanted to make sure I was OK.” Kathy said the majority of people

who visited Rachel were from her lacrosse team, but she also had friends from her sociology and criminal justice classes and friends from home visit. Some of her criminal justice professors even visited her, and her sociology professors sent letters.

Since Rachel is focused on her recovery, she has not been able to pursue a career in the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. as she had originally hoped.

“She decided not to become a police officer because of the physical demands of it,” Kathy said. “She doesn’t know if she could really acquire that level of ability anymore.”

Instead of joining the police force, Rachel is trying to figure out a new career

path that combines her sociology and criminal justice degrees.

“I want to do something with human trafficking and probably more of the victim’s side of it,” she said.

Through therapy, continued support from friends and family and new career goals, Rachel is making progress in her recovery.

“With a brain injury you have to work harder in life, but that doesn’t define you, you can keep going forward,” Rachel said.

“I don’t want to let that define me,” she added. “I want to get back to who I was and be seen as a strong person.” taylor.suzanne.horn@temple.edu

Filmmaker Portia Cobb will teach a master class as part of the FMA Visiting Artist Series, a program started by the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts. The master class will be held on Wednesday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Scribe Video Center on Chestnut Street near 42nd. Cobb will discuss how documents, like photographs or family keepsakes, can “add to a collective cultural experience of history and place,” according to the Scribe Video Center’s website. Attendees are also encouraged to bring their own archival documents to share.

Cobb is a film professor at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee and a documentary producer. Her work focuses on urban and rural communities in America and West Africa.

-Ian Walker

Temple Agni holding open tryouts on Thursday Temple Agni, an all-female dance troupe, will host open tryouts for their upcoming competition season on Thursday in Pearson and Mcgonigle Halls from 8 to 10:30 p.m. No previous experience is necessary to try out for the team.

Temple Agni’s dance routines are a fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. The routines are created by fusing Indian classical dance with hip-hop, contemporary and jazz dance styles. Dancers from all backgrounds and ethnicities are welcome to try out for the team.

-Meghan Costa features@temple-news.com

F E AT U R E S

PAGE 14

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Rome campus adds engineering program Temple University Rome is offering a new program to civil and mechanical engineering students.

By KIMBERLY BURTON For The Temple News

“Why do you think football game attendance is lowe?”

“

SHARMILA CHOUDHURY Graduate student Psychology

As far as general turn-out for the football games, I think Philadelphia is somewhat in a different, kind of strange energy at the moment because of the election of Donald Trump as president and because of the feeling of not being quite safe anymore. I think it’s not even just personal to Temple or personal to the football games.

I think yes, we are having a good football season and there’s no doubt in my mind that that exists. But I think in general people going out at a football game where there is a lot of passion, a lot of energy, that sometimes that energy can be negative.

Salman Alotaibi will have travelled more than 10,000 miles across the world by the end of this year.

Alotaibi, an international student from Kuwait and sophomore mechanical engineering major, is one of the 11 engineering students who will study on Temple’s Rome campus during Spring 2017 as part of a new engineering program at the campus.

“When I found there is engineering course right [at Temple University Rome], I [thought] it was awesome because I can take classes that actually relate to my major,” Alotaibi said.

The program will only be offered to sophomore mechanical and civil engineering students.

Matthew Short, a junior bioengineering major, said he is happy the university is starting a study abroad program specific to engineering — but it’s too late for him to enroll.

“Over the past few years, I’ve looked on Temple’s website for study abroad [opportunities],” Short said.

“There haven’t really been any opportunities for bioengineering specifically.

Even engineering is really rare, unless it’s through an external program, although those are few and far between unfortunately.”

Short said if there were more prac-

tical offerings for his major, he would have studied abroad.

Shawn Fagan, the director of the Center of Academic Advising and Student Affairs in the College of Engineering, said the program is only offered to sophomore civil and mechanical engineering majors during the spring semester, since the two majors have “almost identical” curricula during that time, Fagan said.

The program is also limited to specific engineering majors due to the Rome campus’ lack of laboratory space, Fagan said. He said they are exploring laboratory options at Italian institutions near Temple Rome to expand the program in the future.

“Traditionally with majors such as engineering, the majors are so sequential, and in a way so structured, that I think it’s always been difficult for students to find appropriate classes abroad so that they wouldn’t get behind in their degree progress,” said Hilary Link, the dean of Temple University Rome.

The program brings a new variety of classes to the campus, which usually focuses more on liberal arts than the sciences, Link said. “[The program] really is a departure for us,” Link added. “It’s an enhancement for us. It’s giving different types of students a chance to experience Rome. I think that’s a lot of what the future will hold.”

Other universities like The College of New Jersey, University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University have exchange programs set up so engineering students can go abroad. According to their websites, these programs require students to directly enroll in universi-

ties overseas and transfer their credits back to their home universities.

Temple’s program allows engineering students to study abroad during the regular school year without worrying about transferring credits from a foreign institution, Fagan said.

Fagan added that students will be able to apply their pre-existing financial aid and scholarships, since the program will be offered during the spring semester. He hopes this will make studying abroad more affordable for students.

“The engineering department reported to us that 80 to 90 percent of incoming students expressed interest in study abroad, but not many were able to do it,” said Katie Ryan, the Rome program manager for the Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses Office. “We’re really focused on this program [growing] at the moment.”

Fagan said in the future, he hopes to expand the program to include other engineering majors and offer internship opportunities. He has also spoken with the dean of Temple Japan about creating a program there.

Alotaibi is excited the program was able to launch sooner rather than later so he could experience another study abroad opportunity.

“From my experience in other countries, six weeks is not like living there five months or four months,” Alotaibi said. “There is a huge difference. If you spend more time there, you will be exploring more, gaining new culture, learning a new language and basically taking a class in things not in a textbook.” kimberly.burton@temple.edu

”

NIJO JACOB

“

Junior Biology

If [the football team] has a high winning status then I would definitely go to the football game. This year I’ve gone to one or two so far, but recently I haven’t because compared to last year Temple hadn’t been doing well.

But now since they won [against East Carolina on Saturday] and they have I think 9 wins so far, so maybe I might watch depending on how far they go. If they’re doing better, that’s when you get more students coming to the games. It gives you the feeling of having a lot of other Temple students around you.

Sophomore Mechanical engineering

get published.

Join Temple’s award-winning, editorially independent newspaper.

The Temple News offers student journalists the opportunity to: • •

I’m in the band, so I’m there every week. I think there’s definitely been a lot less buzz around campus about [football] because I guess last year being a good football team was such a new thing. This year we’re sort of getting used to it and we’re not quite good enough to have a really big buzz going, especially after their first loss to Army was a pretty big loss, pretty big moralebreaker. And then also the weather hasn’t been great the past couple games. Our band director does push to make sure we keep the energy high, especially when we have low-crowd games.

features@temple-news.com

ADVERTISEMENT

” get experience.

CHRISTIAN WANAMAKER

“

COURTNEY REDMON | THE TEMPLE NEWS

”

report on and off campus work with our editors

• •

shoot photos film video packages

Prior experience is helpful, but not necessary. We can train you!

Plus, you’ll make $10 per assignment for us.

Visit us in Room 243 of the Student Center.

Questions? Reach us at info@temple-news.com.

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

S P O RT S

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

PAGE 15

FOOTBALL

Owls headed to back-to-back conference championships Continued from Page 18

EAST CAROLINA ter,” defensive coordinator Phil Snow said.

“We didn’t have a lot of energy and so the guys started to play better as the game went. It’s just some days you come out a little slow and they did [Saturday].”

After the touchdown, Temple’s defense held East Carolina scoreless for more than 42 minutes and only allowed two total yards in the second quarter in Saturday’s 37-10 win.

The Pirates only had 183 passing yards and Jones, who had a school-record 22 catches against the University of South Carolina in September, only had seven catches for 61 yards. He broke the single-season receptions record Saturday, but was held to less than 10 catches for only the second time this year.

Redshirt-senior linebacker Avery Williams said redshirt-senior defensive back Nate Hairston shut Jones down every time they lined up man-to-man. Last season, Hairston moved from wide receiver to cornerback with defensive backs coach Francis Brown’s guidance. He won the team’s most improved defensive player award in April for his work during the spring training camp.

Redshirt-sophomore defensive back Derrek Thomas also made the switch from wide receiver to cornerback and junior defensive back Sean Chandler moved from cornerback to safety.

Temple’s defense lost seven of its 11 starters from last season, including NFL draft picks Tyler Matakevich, Tavon Young and Matt Ioannidis. Some of the inexperience showed early in the season. In its four games from Sept. 24 to Oct. 15, the team allowed 13 plays of 20 yards or more.

“I thought by game seven or eight we would be better than we were a year ago and I told the

players that all year and we are better statistically,” Snow said. “We just got off to a slow start and we had some guys in critical spots that hadn’t played much and we kept getting better and better so here we are.”

Temple’s defense has played some tough offenses in its six-game winning streak. Led by juniors quarterback Quinton Flowers and running back Marlon Mack, South Florida ranked in the Top 10 in scoring and rushing leading up to its matchup with Temple. The Owls held Tulane’s Top 20 rushing offense scoreless to get the fifth win in the streak.

Central Florida was averaging more than 35 points per game in the week leading up to its contest with Temple on Oct. 15. The Owls’ defense held the Knights scoreless for the final 42:34 to earn a one-point comeback victory on a last second touchdown and start the streak.

“After the Central Florida game we met as seniors and as a team,” Hairston said. “These seniors and these coaches, we decided we were going to put the team on our back and we were going to carry the rest of the team, and the leadership that stepped up since then has been tremendous.”

The defense’s next test is Navy, the No. 20 team in the Associated Press Top 25. Navy is on a four-game winning streak, most recently beating Southern Methodist 75-31 on Saturday.

The Midshipmen’s only conference loss came to South Florida, which finished second in the East Division and is ranked No. 24 in the AP poll.

The last time Temple played Navy was in 2014, when the Owls lost 31-24 at Lincoln Financial Field. The Midshipmen’s option offense rushed for 487 yards and four touchdowns.

The option has given Temple trouble in the past. Army West Point ran for 329 yards in the Owls’ season-opening loss. Temple showed improvement against Tulane’s option, only allowing 142 yards of offense in a shutout victory on

CHRISTOPHER HOOKS FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Redshirt-senior defensive lineman Praise Martin-Oguike (right) and redshirt-junior offensive lineman Leon Johnson celebrate in the Owls’ 37-10 victory against East Carolina on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.

Nov. 19.

Temple’s 17.8 points allowed per game is tied for 10th in Division I. The Owls are second in passing yards allowed and third in total defense. Coach Matt Rhule didn’t want to disrespect any of his former players that were on the sideline to watch Saturday’s game, like Matakevich, by calling this year’s defense the best he’s ever coached, but said it’s a talented group.

“For what they were able to do against the run and the pass, they’ve played really really well,” he said. “We’ll find out how special they probably are next week.”

Redshirt-senior defensive lineman Praise Martin-Oguike was a freshman in 2011 when the team won nine games including a bowl game. After being expelled from the school and dismissed from the team because of a 2012

football program ‘risen from the dead’ Temple has earned bowl eligibility three years in a row after posting a 42-66 record from 2005-13.

10

8 Rhule takes over

Wins

6

4

2

0 2012

2014

2016

COURTNEY REDMON | THE TEMPLE NEWS

Continued from Page 1

CHAMPIONSHIP the Owls are in the same position again. But this time, the back-to-back East division champions didn’t sneak up on anybody.

“It’s hard to repeat when everyone is kind of aiming at you,” Rhule said. “While I’d love to go undefeated in the conference, I think going 7-1 both years, I think that’s a challenge and that shows that our players got better.”

The Owls enter the American Athletic Conference title game much differently this year.

Last year, Temple got out to a 7-0 start before finishing the season regular season 3-2. The Owls lost 24-13 to Houston in the conference championship game and lost to the University of Toledo 32-17 in the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl to finish their season.

This year, the Owls got off to a 3-3 start before winning their last six games to clinch the division. They’re playing their best football of the season, having outscored opponents 123-23 in their past four contests.

“It’s like the season flip-flopped,” redshirt-

senior defensive lineman Haason Reddick said.

“Last year we were on a roll and toward the end it got shaky. This year, it was shaky at first and we got better as the season went on. That’s the best thing about it. Any time a team is getting better throughout the season, you know that you got something special.”

The trip to Houston was unkind to the Owls last year. Houston, which later defeated Florida State University in the Chik-fil-A Peach Bowl, ran for 233 yards and three touchdowns in the win. Cougars quarterback Greg Ward Jr. finished with 148 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns.

Temple outgained Houston 385-339 but turnovers on its first two drives of the game dug Temple a hole. Senior quarterback Phillip Walker, then a junior, tossed an interception on the fourth play from scrimmage and Robby Anderson fumbled on the next drive.

“I don’t think last year we weren’t ready to play,” Rhule said. “If you look at what we did against Houston compared to everybody else at the time, that Houston team was unreal.

They did it to Florida State, they did it to Navy the week before. We played them as well as anybody.”

There will be no chance at revenge against the Cougars, but facing Navy presents another shot at redemption.

The Midshipmen ran for 487 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-24 win against Temple in September 2014.

Navy, which runs a triple-option offense, has the No. 2 rushing offense in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season at 342 yards per game. The Midshipmen have won four games in a row, including a 66-31 win against East Carolina and a 75-31 romp of Southern Methodist in their past two contests.

The Owls struggled with the triple-option in their season-opening game against Army.

The Black Knights ran for 329 yards and four touchdowns in Temple’s 28-13 loss.

“It’s like a second chance to redeem ourselves against a triple-option team,” Reddick said. “Next week we’ll be preparing for that. As of right now, we just want to soak in that win, enjoy it until it’s time to start getting ready for next week. East champions, two times, back-toback is a great feeling.” owen.mccue@temple.edu @Owen_McCue

rape charge for which he was later cleared, he watched from afar as Temple went 6-17 in its next two seasons. He’s excited to return to the conference championship for back-to-back years.

“I love how far we’ve come as a university,” Martin-Oguike said. “Temple has really like risen from the dead, you could say. … It’s just amazing to watch like a school that was a laughingstock, especially in football, like we’re a basketball school, and now it’s just everybody’s talking about football. And even this season we didn’t start off too well, but we just kept growing and it’s just good to see how everything is coming together for the school.” evan.easterling@temple.edu @Evan_Easterling

Continued from Page 18

SENIORS Dawkins and running back Jahad Thomas, who all came to Temple as 2-star recruits.

Now, Walker is the most decorated quarterback in program history—he became the first Temple quarterback to pass for more than 10,000 career yards on Saturday.

Thomas is one of the most versatile players in the Football Bowl Subdivision with at least two total receiving or rushing touchdowns in nine games this year, and Dawkins is a likely selection in next June’s NFL Draft.

“Everything in our program is about player development,” Rhule said after Saturday’s win. “We’re trying to get them to be the best student that they can be, the best man that they can be and the best player that they can be. … You see guys go from walk-ons or no-star recruits to guys that are going to play in the NFL. That’s just the whole point of the program is to just develop every guy.”

Aside from the familiar names, there are other players from the 2013 recruiting class who have played a role in the best two-year stretch in Temple history.

Playing in the shadow of former AllAmerican Tyler Matakevich for three years, linebacker Jarred Alwan has put together a solid career in his own right, totaling 149 tackles in 48 career games.

Defensive lineman Averee Robinson has been a staple of Temple’s defensive line, nicknamed the ‘Wild Boys,’ for the past two seasons. He has 10 tackles for loss over the past two years, including three sacks this season.

This year’s senior class also includes the redshirt-seniors like linebacker Avery Williams and defensive lineman Haason Reddick who bought into Rhule’s process and progressed each year throughout their careers.

This senior class went 2-10 in its first year with Rhule, then 6-6 the next season before going 10-4 last year. Winning the American Athletic Conference Championship would be the next step for this group.

“The progress we’ve made as a team is having the will to not lose,” Walker said.

“We knew it would take everybody on our team and every coach to play for one another. We knew what was at stake and we played for one another.” owen.mccue@temple.edu @Owen_McCue

sports@temple-news.com

S P O RT S

PAGE 16

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Dingle using brother’s lessons to succeed in new role Fifth-year senior Daniel Dingle is averaging career-highs in points, rebounds and assists.

By OWEN MCCUE Sports Editor Since he could pick up a basketball, redshirt-senior guard and forward Daniel Dingle has had his own personal tutor.

When Daniel was two years old, his brother Dana Dingle was a starter on the University of Massachusetts's Final Four team in 1996.

After Daniel began to pick up the sport seriously around 8 years old, Dana, who is 20 years older, started grooming his younger brother to follow in his footsteps.

“Pretty much his whole career I’ve been there,” Dana told The Temple News last week.

“I’m his biggest fan, but also his biggest critic.”

As a junior last season, Daniel averaged 4.4 points, 1.5 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game, but he flashed some signs that something bigger was coming. He scored in double digits in three of the Owls’ biggest wins last season against Connecticut, Cincinnati and Southern Methodist, including 14 points in Temple’s upset of the then-undefeated Mustangs.

This offseason, he was prepping for a larger role. Temple’s leading scorer Quenton DeCosey graduated. Senior guard Josh Brown was out indefinitely with an injured Achilles tendon, and besides junior forward Obi Enechionyia, Daniel was the only player returning player who had started 10 or more games in 2015-16.

Daniel is currently averaging 13.5 points, three assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. They’re all career-highs. He scored a career-best 22 points against Manhattan College on Nov. 20, and he made the all-tournament team during Temple’s two wins in the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off win last week.

“I earned it,” Daniel said. “I worked for this position. I’m the leader. Just showing the young guys what it takes to get to this position. I was poised and I was patient. This is my fifth year. It didn’t happen right away.”

He put in a lot of work with Dana. When Daniel was in fourth grade, Dana started an Amateur Athletic Union team and coached Continued from Page 18

ENECHIONYIA scoring opportunities after he scored 18 first-half points. He didn’t make his first shot in the second half until the 5:25-mark.

“The game was so crazed in that second half,” said coach Fran Dunphy.

“They don’t let you run any kind of offense so you’re not saying to yourself, ‘OK, let’s put Obi here. We’ll get the stagnant screen for him and he can come off and get a look.’ That wasn’t the way the game was starting to unfold.”

Teams have keyed on Enechionyia throughout the season. After the game against the University of New Hampshire on Nov. 14, Wildcats’ coach Bill Herrion said Enechionyia was a tough matchup because “he’s so skilled” as a 6-foot-10 forward.

The Owls shot 30.3 percent against New Hampshire, but Enechionyia scored 20 points on 8-of-17 attempts from the field.

In the game against Florida State on Thanksgiving, the Seminoles held Enechionyia to 2-for-8 from the field in the first half. Enechionyia played the entire second half and only took five

EVAN EASTERLING / THE TEMPLE NEWS Redshirt-senior guard and forward Daniel Dingle attempts a jumper from the top of the key in the first half of the Owls’ 81-77 win against West Virginia University at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Friday.

Daniel on it. He continued to coach his little brother through high school.

When he got to college, Daniel came back and worked out with Dana, who gave him drills to test him mentally and physically.

During the season, Dana gives Daniel instant feedback on his performances. Whether it's on TV or a live stream on his computer, Dana tries to watch every one of his younger brother’s games.

Each lesson was to prepare him for a season like the one he’s having this year.

“Every year he’s shown steady improvement, and this is the year I expected the breakout year,” Dana said. “He kind of sacrificed a lot for the better of the team because he didn’t feel

shots, but made all of them to score 11 points.

“We tried to play good defense on him, but because we did a very good job he was extremely patient,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said of Enechionyia. “I thought that he played like a very mature senior should. He didn’t force anything. He moved the ball. He accepted what the defense gave him. When he had his opportunity, he took it.”

When Enechionyia isn’t scoring, he’s still making an impact on the game. He’s increased his rebounding average from 3.8 last year to nine, which leads the team.

Enechionyia is also becoming a rim protector, Dunphy said. He leads the team with 18 blocks. He had five of his six blocks against Florida State in the second half as the Owls made their comeback from an 18-point deficit. He had five blocks on Friday.

“I think he’s really stepped his game up tremendously, to get 12 rebounds, he had five blocks,” Dunphy said. “He was there for us.” evan.easterling@temple.edu

like they needed him to do a lot of stuff. Now, he has the opportunity to showcase everything he can do on a bigger scale.”

Dana’s playing style was a little bit different from Daniel’s, despite both players standing at 6-foot-7.

He weighed about 30 pounds more than Daniel and he used his size down low. He averaged 8.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game at UMass, including 10.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game during the Minutemen’s Final Four run.

Dana helped Daniel develop a similar wellrounded skillset. Daniel said he can play all five positions on the court from point guard to center.

“It’s a privilege,” Daniel said. “Everybody can’t do what I do. That’s because of my brother. My brother Dana worked me out and did a good job of helping me develop all those skills.”

If Daniel’s numbers start to dip or his shots stop falling, he’ll give Dana a call to help figure out what’s wrong, whether that might be him finishing short on his shot, not boxing out or something else.

“When I’m watching the game, I’m just watching him,” Dana said. owen.mccue@temple.edu @Owen_McCue

An all-around player Through six games, junior forward Obi Enechionyia leads the team with 20.2 points per game, nine rebounds per game and three blocks per game.

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Blocks per game

Rebounds per game

Points per game

0

6

@Evan_Easterling

12

18

24

COURTNEY REDMON | THE TEMPLE NEWS

SPORTS BRIEFS FOOTBALL

National polls taking notice of Temple’s performance

Martin-Oguike wins defensive player award

Former Owl wins Canadian Football League title

The Owls received 26 votes in the Nov. 27 Coaches Poll and 21 votes in the Week 14 Associated Press Top 25 after their 37-10 win against East Carolina on Saturday night.

Temple received one vote in the Week 13 AP poll. After a 3-3 start, Temple has won its last six games to reach the conference championship for the second straight year.

Temple is one of five teams in the American Athletic Conference getting attention in the polls. South Florida is ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll and Navy is No. 20.

Redshirt-senior defensive lineman Praise Martin-Oguike was named the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Saturday’s division-clinching win against East Carolina.

Martin-Oguike had two sacks, including a forced fumble that helped the Owls build up a two-touchdown lead before halftime.

Henry Burris, who was Temple’s quarterback from 199396, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass in overtime to give the Ottawa Redblacks a 39-33 win in the Grey Cup on Sunday.

He accounted for five total touchdowns to earn the MVP award. Burris was Temple’s career leader in passing touchdowns before senior quarterback Phillip Walker broke his mark last year.

-Owen McCue

-Evan Easterling

-Evan Easterling sports@temple-news.com

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

S P O RT S

PAGE 17

VOLLEYBALL

On the outside looking in: Owls miss tournament The team’s third straight 20-win season wasn’t enough to make the NCAA tournament.

By KEVIN SCHAEFFER Volleyball Beat Reporter

HOJUN YU FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior middle blocker Kirsten Overton pauses on the court after a lost point during Wednesday’s four-set loss to Southern Methodist.

Everyone on the team huddled around the TV to see what its future would hold.

The players watched 64 other schools get picked to play in the NCAA tournament during the NCAA selection show Sunday night, and they found out their season was officially over.

“It would’ve been great to get to play in the postseason for us seniors and for the program,” senior middle blocker Kirsten Overton said. “But we accomplished so much this season and even in our four years helping build this program back up.”

Temple finished the season with a 22-8 record, and a 15-5 record in the American Athletic Conference. Over the course of the season, Temple played three teams that made the tournament: Cleveland State University, Southern Methodist and Cincinnati. The Owls went 2-3 in five games against those teams.

The Owls finished No. 47 in the Ratings Percentage Index, breaking the Top 50 in the RPI for the first time since 2002, when they finished the season ranked No. 37. The 2002 season was the last time the Owls made the NCAA tournament.

“This season has definitely felt different,” junior middle blocker Janine Simmons said. “We had a tough preseason, and we played well in conference play. We just thought we had a good enough resume to get in, but we know we have to work harder next season.”

Temple will lose two starters next

season with Overton and senior outside hitter Tyler Davis graduating. Davis and Overton finished the season third and fourth on the team in total kills, and Overton led the team in blocks.

In their careers at Temple, the pair combined for more than 1,000 kills. Davis was just seven kills shy of the mark alone, and had almost 150 blocks.

“I’ve had a great time in the last four years here, I put everything on the court,” Davis said. “I’m glad because I think that I’ll have a lasting impact on the team, whether it be the new locker rooms, or just building the program to where it is now.”

Though it is losing two starters, Temple is also returning many key players.

Junior outside hitters Irem Asci and Izzy Rapacz have been the focal points of Temple’s offense this season. Asci led the team in kills for the second straight season with 504. Also returning is sophomore libero Mia Heirakuji, who accumulated 375 digs in her first season as a starter.

This season ended just as it did last year, outside the tournament. On the year, Temple only had one loss to a team that finished with an RPI worse than 150. That loss was in the third game of the season against junior setter Kyra Coundourides’ old team, Virginia Tech.

Overall, this season was big for The American. In the final RPI rankings, the conference had six teams break the Top 100. That tied The American with the Mountain West Conference for the sixth most out of every conference. The Power 5 conferences were the only leagues to have more teams represented in the Top 100. As well as being represented well in the rankings, The American also sent two teams to the NCAA tournament. kevinschaeffer@temple.edu @_kevinschaeffer

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Fountain says being on the court gives her ‘peace of mind’ Junior guard Donnaizha Fountain got into the sport by playing with her cousins.

By MAURA RAZANAUSKAS Women’s Basketball Beat Reporter When junior guard Donnaizha Fountain was younger, she remembers crying when it rained. A rainy day meant she wasn’t allowed to go outside and play basketball.

When the weather was nice, Fountain played basketball with her cousins at the court behind her housing complex in Roxbury, Massachusetts. As a 10-year-old girl competing against her older cousins, all boys, Fountain had to fight for her place and she began to develop a love for basketball.

“I was always in love with them and the game,” Fountain said. “I was always in love with whatever they were in love with. It grew on me.

My cousins definitely had a big influence on my decision to play basketball.”

Initially, Fountain said she wasn’t very good at basketball and she wasn’t sure she wanted to pursue it until her final years of high school and when she started playing college ball.

“I was actually terrible until I got to college,” Fountain said. “I mean I wasn’t necessarily terrible, I just always had a lot of energy and a lot of heart, and I was tough out there. As a kid, I loved driving to the basket. I didn’t shoot at all because I was tough and I loved the contact. So as I got older, I learned the game, and I became better at it.”

Fountain transferred from Georgia Tech to Temple in 2014. With a stronger understanding of the game, she averaged 10.4 points per game in her first season as an Owl. In the 2015-16 season, she started in 29 of her 34 games.

This season, Fountain hopes to average a double-double and improve her consistency between games. She scored double figures in six straight games from Dec. 2 to Dec. 30, 2015, but followed a 16-point game against Memphis with only one point against Houston on Jan. 2.

Despite some inconsistency, coach Tonya Cardoza sees Fountain’s play as an asset.

“She has a strong personality,” Cardoza said. “She can be super emotional and sometimes it gets our team going when she’s really into it. She can bring a lot of life to our team.”

GENEVA HEFFERNAN FILE PHOTO Junior guard Donnaizha Fountain has scored an average of 13.3 points per game this season. Fountain said she wasn’t much of a shooter when she started playing, but led the team in 3-point percentage last year.

For Fountain, playing with emotion and passion has been part of her style since she was a kid. Fountain remembers watching NBA players Kevin Garnett and LeBron James and wanting to channel their passion into her own game.

“It’s an emotional game,” Fountain said.

“You can block shots and you can get steals and get fast break lay-ups. I just love the feeling it gives you. It just gives you the feeling that nothing else matters.”

One of the downsides to playing with such a high emotional intensity is the letdown Fountain feels when the team loses or she has a bad game.

“I know it comes with the game, but it’s never a feeling you get used to, losing,” Fountain said. “The game is unpredictable. You never know what you’re going to get from the team.

You can work your hardest and shoot the best percentage out there, but it doesn’t mean you’ll

come out with the win.”

Fountain is willing to do whatever is necessary to get a win and worked over the summer to improve her passing and 3-point shot. Fountain led the Owls in 3-point percentage last season, making 37.2 percent of the shots she took beyond the arc.

This season, she’s made five out of 15 3-point shots in three games, which puts her on pace to beat her career-high 35 3-pointers last year.

Fountain’s focused mindset has helped her average 13.3 points per game this season. She scored 20 points in the first game of the season against St. Joseph’s. To prepare for games, Fountain likes to listen to gospel and R&B. She also calls her mom for a little pep talk before she goes on the court.

Fountain’s mother and grandmother are part of a strong support system for her through-

out her basketball career, and they attend as many games as possible. Even her cousins she played with when she was younger come and watch her compete at Temple.

Years after she played on the concrete courts at the local playground, Fountain is still thankful for the role her cousins played in getting her started with basketball. She tried soccer and volleyball, but neither was as good a fit.

“Basketball was just always an outlet for me and every time I stepped on the court, everything off the court no longer mattered,” Fountain said. “It was my peace of mind. It’s always been great to me and great for me.” maura.razanauskas@temple.edu @CaptainAMAURAca

sports@temple-news.com

SPORTS

S P O RT S

PAGE 18

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016

FOOTBALL

Owls rout East Carolina, defend East division title Temple advanced to the conference championship with a 37-10 win Saturday.

By EVAN EASTERLING Assistant Sports Editor

I

t was simple. Temple needed to win Saturday’s game at Lincoln Financial Field to clinch the American Athletic Conference’s East Division and reach the conference championship game for back-to-back years.

East Carolina entered the game on a threegame losing streak and with only one conference win, but also with one of the best passing offenses in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Pirates’ 348.5 passing yards per game ranked fifth and senior wide receiver Zay Jones’ 13.7 catches per game led all players in the FBS. The Pirates’ offense drove down the field on its first possession Saturday, converting all three third down opportunities. Jones caught a 13yard pass to set up a 13-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jimmy Williams with nine minutes, 52 seconds left.

It was the first score allowed by the Owls’ defense since the second quarter against Cincinnati on Oct. 29, breaking a 10-quarter shutout streak.

“We didn’t play very good in the first quar-

EAST CAROLINA | PAGE 15

CHRISTOPHER HOOKS FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Redshirt-senior defensive lineman Praise Martin-Oguike sacks East Carolina sophomore quarterback Gardner Minshew in the Owls’ 37-10 victory against the Pirates on Saturday.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

FOOTBALL

Seniors’ trust in Rhule pays off 4 years later The Owls’ 2013 recruiting class has developed into one of the best groups in program history.

By OWEN MCCUE Sports Editor

seven boards in the Owls’ win against Manhattan College on Nov. 20. He has averaged more than 18 points per game in the team’s three-game winning streak.

Enechionyia leads the team with 20.2 points per game, and he’s made 56.3 percent of his 3-point shots. He made 4-of-5 first-half threes against West Virginia, which entered Friday’s game averaging 26.3 forced turnovers per game.

The Mountaineers are nicknamed “Press Virginia” because of coach Bob Huggins’ constant full-court press throughout games.

Enechionyia’s corner threes helped Temple beat the press and get a 20-point halftime lead.

Huggins’ defense limited Enechionyia’s

Four years ago, Matt Rhule took over Temple’s football program and had to convince a group of high school seniors to take a leap of faith in him and become his first recruiting class.

The Owls were coming off a 4-7 season and Rhule had never been the head coach of a college team before. He signed 21 recruits from the Class of 2013, which Rivals.com ranked No. 84 in the country. Not one player was rated better than a 3-star recruit.

The group’s 27 victories during the past four seasons are the ninth most wins by a senior class in program history, including a 19-7 record over the past two seasons.

The seniors will play in back-to-back bowl games for the first time in program history and compete for a conference championship for the second year in a row when they take on Navy on Saturday. They can move into third all-time with wins in the conference championship and bowl game.

“For the guys who came in here with coach Rhule, it’s very special to us because this is exactly what he said would happen,” senior offensive lineman Dion Dawkins said. “We just had to trust and believe.”

“He told me, it would be a rough start, but at some point we will be good,” senior quarterback Phillip Walker said. “I trusted him and what he said.”

Of the 21 players Rhule signed in 2013, five played their last home games on Saturday in Temple’s 37-10 win against East Carolina.

That group includes quarterback Walker,

ENECHIONYIA | PAGE 16

SENIORS | PAGE 15

EVAN EASTERLING / THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior forward Obi Enechionyia blocks a shot in the first half of the Owls’ 89-86 victory against Florida State University on Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Enechionyia stars in two Top 25 wins The junior was the MVP of the NIT Season Tip-Off in Brooklyn last week.

By EVAN EASTERLING Assistant Sports Editor Junior forward Obi Enechionyia stopped to sign autographs for a few kids leaning over the railing near the tunnel at the Barclays Center on his way back to the locker room after the Owls’ upset win against West Virginia University Friday.

Before last week, Enechionyia hadn’t been on the court in Brooklyn, New York since the Owls’ NCAA tournament game against the University of Iowa. He went 2-for-

7 from the field and scored four points in Temple’s overtime loss.

Last Friday, Enechionyia earned the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off Most Outstanding Player Award for his performance in the Owls’ two wins, both against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.

He was also named the NCAA.com Player of the Week.

He had eight rebounds and scored 16 points in the team’s win against then-No. 25 Florida State University on Thanksgiving and followed it up with a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds against then-No. 19 West Virginia. It was the first time the Owls beat back-to-back ranked opponents since the 2001 NCAA tournament, when Temple reached the Elite Eight.

Enechionyia also had 17 points and

BASKETBALL | PAGE 16

BASKETBALL | PAGE 17

VOLLEYBALL | PAGE 17

BRIEFS | PAGE 16

Fifth-year senior swingman Daniel Dingle has been a leader on the Owls this season after years of training with his older brother.

Junior guard Donnaizha Fountain grew a passion for the game playing with her older cousins on the playground as a kid.

Despite another top-three finish in their conference, the Owls were left out of the NCAA tournament for the 14th straight season.

The football team received votes for the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. Other news and notes.