Issue 15

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 VOL. 95 ISS. 15

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

Drink tax surprises residents and students

BASKETBALL

A tax on sugary beverages left some customers confused or concerned, though others didn’t mind.

By GILLIAN MCGOLDRICK Assistant News Editor

P

hiladelphia’s sugary beverage tax, levied on all sugar-based or artificially sweetened beverages, came into effect on Jan. 1. The 1.5-cents-per-ounce tax is paid by the distributors of sugary beverages, some chose to pass the price to consumers by charging more for the drinks.

Stores that sold sugary beverages before City Council passed the new tax, including the Fresh Grocer at Broad and Oxford streets, have added signs to the drinks outlining the added price of the tax.

Fresh Grocer also added tags beneath each drink price with how much will be taxed at the register. These grocery stores also placed signs on their entrance doors alerting customers that the tax has gone into effect.

For example, a drink that would cost $1.99 at eight ounces would be labeled as such, with a tag beneath it explaining the price will include an additional 12 cents at the register.

Mayor Jim Kenney accused retailers posting the tax prices as a purposeful attempt to make customers angry about the tax, according to CBS Philly.

Kenney added that retailers spent $10.5 million in an

TAX | PAGE 3

GENEVA HEFFERNAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS Tulsa’s redshirt-junior forward TK Edogi blocks freshman guard Quinton Rose’s dunk attempt in the first half of the Owls’ 70-68 loss Saturday.

Owls facing unfamiliar struggles Temple began conference play 1-5 and lost three games by two-digit margins.

By OWEN MCCUE Sports Editor

BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS A sign at the Fresh Grocer on Broad and Oxford streets warns customers of price increases from the sugary beverage tax that took effect Jan. 1.

Coach Fran Dunphy could have been mistaken for a cartoon character while pacing the sidelines during Temple’s 7068 loss to Tulsa on Saturday.

Each turnover or ill-advised foul seemed to turn Dunphy’s face redder and redder. All that was missing was some steam coming out of his ears.

Saturday’s loss dropped the Owls’ record to 1-5, six games into American Athletic Conference play. The team hasn’t had a worse start to its conference season since losing its first seven conference games during the 2013-14 campaign.

“People know how to play us and are doing some things to us that we have to make better adjustments to, and so we’re struggling right now,” Dunphy said.

Seasons like this have been uncommon in Dunphy’s tenure at Temple.

In Dunphy’s first season in 2006, the Owls went 12-18. During the next nine seasons, Dunphy’s teams only finished with fewer than 20 wins once when the Owls went 9-22 during the 2013-14 season.

Pianist making ‘Mr. Mozart’ proud Sara Davis Buechner became a faculty member at Temple in the fall.

By GRACE SHALLOW Deputy Features Editor The year is 1962: A radio in the living room of a family’s home in Baltimore plays the first stanzas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” as an introduction for a daily program.

Pianist Sara Davis Buechner, then 3 years old, said she felt “electricity” in her chest when she listened to the composition — an experience she turned into a ritual.

When she turned 6, her parents bought her a bust of Mozart as a present.

“Remember to try to make Mr. Mozart proud,” Buechner remembered her mother saying when she opened the gift.

She said it still sits on her Yamaha piano as she practices, but with a chipped nose.

Now, more than 50 years later, Buechner has professionally performed the works of composers like Mozart, Frédéric Chopin and George Gershwin in hundreds of concert halls all over the country and across the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York City. She’s been honored with international awards like a gold medal at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 1984.

Buechner became a piano professor at Temple last semester and will perform with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra on Feb. 10 in the Temple Performing Arts Center.

Sitting at 10-9 with 12 games left before the conference tournament, this year’s group is in danger of finishing below the 20-win mark again if it doesn’t make a late-season push. Temple’s had success down the stretch during its last two seasons.

After a 3-3 start in The American during the 2014-15 season, the Owls won 10 of their last 12 games. Last year, Temple started 4-2 in conference play before winning 10 of 12 league games to finish with a 14-4 record and win the conference’s regular season title. If the Owls can repeat that trend, they’ll end the season 20-11.

BASKETBALL | PAGE 14

TSG

Understanding the rules, role of Parliament Parliament will act as a liaison for students, but TSG maintains all decision-making power.

By AMANDA LIEN TSG Beat Reporter

Of all her success, Buechner said she remembers the performances that didn’t go quite right. One, about 30 years ago, seemed like a typical performance until the pedal assembly fell off her piano and clattered to the floor mid-song at a Massachusetts boarding school.

Buechner asked the crowd to call a janitor to the room with a hammer and set of nails. Side by side, the two laid on their backs underneath the piano, hammered the pedal assembly back in place and she finished the concert.

“That audience of young boys, they

Parliament will hold its first meeting next Monday after its members trained for nearly a month with Temple Student Government during winter break.

While members of Parliament appoint a Speaker of the Parliament and representatives to six committees, a new constitution that was drafted earlier this year will come into effect that outlines the powers that Parliament and TSG do or do not have.

Thomas Roof, the Parliament representative for commuter students, said Parliament will “be on equal standing” with TSG and act as “the legislative branch to [TSG’s] Executive Branch.”

“Right now we’re kind of TSG’s baby,” Roof said. “It’s hard to tell because they wrote the new constitution and we only started training, but we’ll continue it when the semester resumes.”

Although Parliament will discuss relevant issues

BUECHNER | PAGE 12

PARLIAMENT | PAGE 6

GENEVA HEFFERNAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS Sara Davis Buechner, an acclaimed pianist and new Temple faculty member, performs in Rock Hall on Nov. 17.

Buechner said her family was poor growing up, but what the family lacked in money, her mother made up for in cultural exposure. She constantly rented books and paintings from the local library and Baltimore’s classical music station was always playing on the radio.

“My mother was of this generation of Americans who thought … the real American dream was to make sure your kids did better than you did in terms of financial opportunity and in our case, real education,” Buechner said. “My mother felt if she pushed us ... that our world would be bigger than theirs. And to a great extent, I think she was proven right.”

NEWS | PAGES 2-3, 6

OPINION | PAGES 4-5

FEATURES | PAGES 7-12

SPORTS | PAGES 13-16

Aramark’s transition was bumped up by six weeks and TSG is now being included in the process.

Read more on Page 6.

Our columnist reflects on how President Obama has encouraged her and other Black students to lead. Read more on Page 4.

An art exhibit brought together more than 70 women in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s rhetoric. Read more on Page 7.

Coach Tonya Cardoza’s lineup change has the women’s basketball team on a nine-game win streak.

Read more on Page 16.

NEWS

PAGE 2

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

COMMUNITY

Community gardens overcharged for water runoff New ordinances allow gardens to apply for reimbursement and exemption from fees.

By KAIT MOORE For The Temple News Before the open space at Broad and Diamond streets became the Temple Community Garden, it was a parking lot, and according to the Philadelphia Stormwater Billing map, it still is.

Although the lot changed to a green space run by the Temple Garden Club two years ago, the city never updated the map from its status as a storefront property with a parking lot.

The lot was incorrectly documented with an area of 16,289 impervious square feet of the total 23,500-squarefoot lot.

The Philadelphia Water Department determines stormwater fees based on the amount of impervious surface that makes up a lot. Impervious surface is defined by the PWD as non-porous, like a parking lot or a building, because it does not absorb rainwater.

The water department does not update its stormwater billing map whenever a lot changes its status, so organizations like Temple’s community garden and other gardens are overcharged for their monthly stormwater bills.

For the incorrect amount of impervious surface documented on the PWD stormwater billing map, Temple paid nearly $8,700 total in monthly fees for a garden that has been absorbing rainfall since Fall 2014.

In a public testimony to the PWD, Jenny Greenberg, the executive director of the Neighborhood Gardens Trust, said there are more than 500 community gardens throughout the city. “[They] have transformed vacant, trash-filled lots into beautiful and productive spaces,” she said.

Gardens and lots like Temple’s can appeal for reimbursement for incorrect fees by Jan. 1, 2018 for charges that date before Dec. 21, 2016, said Joanne Dahme, the general manager of public affairs at the water department.

The department will determine if a garden can be reimbursed based on how the property is used, she said.

Kurt Bresser, the director of utilities and energy management at Temple, said all stormwater charges, correct or incorrect, were paid through Temple’s central utilities budget, and any money the PWD returned would go back to that account.

The Water, Wastewater and Storm Water Rate Board also passed an ordinance in December which exempts qualifying gardens from stormwater fees starting in 2017. The exemption will not happen automatically. Gardens must file a request for exemption with the water department.

KAIT MOORE FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS The Temple Community Garden, on Diamond and Carlisle streets, has been overcharged for its stormwater bill.

For gardens to qualify for exemption, they must meet certain criteria defined in a memorandum

by Bernard Brunwasser, the chair of the Water Rate Board. These criteria include that gardens applying must use their property for public benefit while growing crops. The property must also absorb at least 80 percent

WHAT TEMPLE’S GARDEN PAID EACH FISCAL YEAR 2017

$1,521.45 June 2016-present

2016

$2,569.20

2015

$2,569.20

$2,033.59

2014

September 2013-June

SOURCE PHILADELPHIA STORMWATER BILLING MAP

COURTNEY REDMON | THE TEMPLE NEWS

of rainfall.

The department estimates that the total lost revenue based on the exemption for the current rate period, which began in July 2016 and will end June 2018, will total $94,864. According to its website, the total loss of revenue is small enough that all other existing stormwater rates will not increase for other customers.

In 2010, the PWD implemented the stormwater fee for all lots in the city for the first time. “[The stormwater fee] worked out really well for a lot of properties,” she added. “[Parking lots] are big properties and completely impervious. … So we are collecting [the water]and cleaning it.”

For nonprofits like the Norris Square Neighborhood Project and the Village of Arts and Humanities, which run urban gardens in North Philadelphia, the new fees added a burden on their budgets.

Community gardens, unlike parking lots, absorb rainfall that would otherwise run into Philadelphia’s combined rainwater and sewer system. The new fee charged them for water runoff that was actually nonexistent.

“Why is this fee being assessed on gardens when gardens are managing the storm waters?” said Amy Laura Cahn, the staff attorney for the Public Interest Law Center who rep-

resented the two gardens while they worked to lower the fees. “These are not easy funds to come by.”

In 2012, Cahn, the Norris Square Neighborhood Project and The Village of Arts and Humanities reached out to PWD explaining they couldn’t afford the fees, Dahme said.

PWD worked closely alongside the two gardens, the Philadelphia Horticulture Society and the Neighborhood Gardens Trust, which both represent small gardens, to suspend those fees.

On June 28, 2016 Mayor Jim Kenney signed an ordinance drafted by the community garden representatives and Councilwoman Maria Sanchez that allows community gardens to be exempt from the stormwater fees if the criteria is met. It passed on Dec. 21.

In the hearing, representatives of community gardens said a 100 percent discount would allow funding to go toward programs that benefit the community while publicly promoting green stormwater management in Philadelphia. kaitlyn.moore@temple.edu

CRIME

Safety-alerts app comes to 3 of Temple’s campuses The app aims to provide “real-time” alerts for dangerous situations nearby.

By JULIE CHRISTIE News Editor Wildfire Safety, an app that first surfaced at the University of California Berkeley, recently announced its launch at Temple. According to its website, the goal of the app is to send “real-time” alerts about nearby crimes or other safety hazards.

As use of the app increases, the developers said they plan to reach out to Philadelphia and Temple Police to make the app more credible.

Hriday Kemburu, the CEO and co-founder of Wildfire, said he decided to create the app after he was nearly mugged near a library at UC Berkeley. When he posted a warning to the school’s Facebook group, he got several messages thanking him for the alert, even though it had reached News Desk 215-204-7419 news@temple-news.com

only several hundred out of about 40,000 graduate and undergraduate students.

Since the app’s launch at UC Berkeley in February 2016, more than 60 percent of students at the school have downloaded the app, said Vinay Ramesh, the app’s co-founder and business leader. He added that when a shooting near UC Berkeley occurred, Wildfire had a warning posted before the campus police, who did not send an alert until the next day.

The app is available throughout Philadelphia and in other major cities like San Francisco and New York City.

“We researched the crime [at Temple] and know students care about the crime that happens and feel that more can be done,” Ramesh said.

“We want this to be a social safety platform,” Kemburu said. “It works well even if there’s only one person using it.”

The developers said the app would be complementary to the university’s established TU Alert system, which is operated by TUPD. TU Alerts are an opt-out program and are sent to between 63,000 to 65,000

students, faculty and workers in the Temple University Health System and Temple’s other Philadelphia campuses, said Charlie Leone, the executive

director of Campus Safety Services.

The TU Alert system has been criticized in recent months after some students said the alert about a violent

October flash mob did not properly warn students of the dangers. In another instance, the description of a robbery in an alert had “insensitive” language describing a suspect, for which Temple Police later apologized.

Leone said over time, the alerts have been sorted into pre-written alerts for armed robberies, assaults and shootings, and “unique” incidents like the flash mob required university officials to work together to “craft the language” for the alert before sending it out. He added that TUPD has to hold a balance between timeliness and accuracy when creating and sending alerts.

‘They’re robust, they’re proven,” Leone said. “We’ve had other apps come by and talk to us.”

He added those apps were not able to reach as many people as TU Alerts.

“I think information is good if it’s keeping people safe,” he said. julie.christie@temple.edu @ChristieJules

COURTESY WILDFIRE Students can post their own alerts to the Wildfire app for “real-time” safety updates.

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

NEWS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

PAGE 3

ADMINISTRATION Continued from Page 1

Lawyers for Dai and Theobald scheduled to meet Former provost Hai-Lung Dai filed suit against former president Neil Theobald, alleging slander and libel.

By GILLIAN MCGOLDRICK Assistant News Editor Lawyers representing Temple’s former provost HaiLung Dai and former president Neil Theobald, will meet on Feb. 3 at a case management conference to address Dai’s suit against his former boss.

The conference will discuss the “logistics” of the upcoming case, like the timeline or the potential to settle the case through arbitration, a representative from Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Denis Cohen’s chambers said.

Judge Cohen and Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Arnold New are the two case team leaders who are overseeing the case, but no judge has been assigned to the conference yet.

Dai is suing for at least $50,000 in damages, according to court records.

Dai filed a civil suit against Theobald in September, two months after he was unexpectedly removed from his position as provost in June. Theobald agreed to resign in July after the Board of Trustees voted “no confidence” in his leadership for his handling of Dai’s departure and the university’s merit scholarship program.

Before stepping down from his position as president, Theobald hinted in a letter to the Board that the removal was a result of his refusal to cover up an alleged sexual harassment allegation aimed at the former provost.

Theobald told The Temple News in August that he is still a member of the College of Education’s faculty. He was recently a finalist for the University of Northern Iowa’s search for a president, although he was not offered the position. Dai still serves as the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Chemistry.

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in Room 613 of City Hall. gillian.mcgoldrick@temple.edu @gill_mcgoldrick

TAX advertising campaign against the tax last year.

The sugary beverage tax is expected to generate $400 million over the next five years. An estimated $256 million of the cost will go toward expanding the city’s pre-k education and $56 million will go toward paying back a bond for Kenney’s Rebuild program for recreation centers and parks throughout the city. The $88 million left over will go toward opening 25 community schools, invest in the pension system and pay back a green infrastructure bond.

Some products are excluded from the tax altogether, like baby formula, drinks made from at least 50 percent fresh fruit, vegetables or milk and unsweetened drinks.

“In the interest of transparency, we have decided to show the effect of the Philadelphia Beverage Tax clearly on the store labels,” Fresh Grocer spokeswoman Maureen Gillespie told The Temple News. “The impact of the tax is so significant that it can equal or in some cases exceed the retail price of the product. We believe that a price increase to this magnitude should be clear to customers, especially during this transition period.”

The increase in price has been shocking to some community residents. Mamie Rayford, 82, a resident on 15th Street near Allegheny Avenue, said she went to Fresh Grocer to purchase juice but the new tax discouraged her from buying any.

“It’s really stopping me, because I’m on a fixed income,” she said. “I thought it was just going to be the sodas, but it’s more than that. I’ve been reading about [the tax], and it’s supposed to be helping the schools but I don’t believe that.”

Senior biology major Patrick Bell, who does not often buy soda, said he believes the sugary beverage tax could be helpful for the city.

“If it’s being put toward children and school, I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “It’s a good incentive for people not to buy soda, people already drink it too much. I hate the phrase ‘water is boring,’ you gotta learn how to like water.”

gillian.mcgoldrick@temple.edu @gill_mcgoldrick KARA MILSTEIN FILE PHOTO Former Provost Hai-Lung Dai speaks at the opening of the Science Education and Research Center in 2014.

FOR MORE REACTIONS, READ VOICES ON PAGE 10

First-time renters often unaware of tenant rights Some students living off campus said they did not know about Temple’s resources.

By KELLY BRENNAN Community Beat Reporter Jayme Ziegler, a senior French major, had to vacate her apartment on Jan. 3 after an inspection from the city’s Licenses and Inspections department found her landlord had made unauthorized repairs to the

building which turned it into a fire hazard. It was Ziegler’s first time living off Main Campus, and she said most of her knowledge about renting came from her friends.

Even though there is an increasing number of Temple students choosing to live off campus, renters and landlords said students are unaware of their rights when they move into independent living spaces.

Peter Crawford, the founder of Crawford Development Group, which rents housing around campus, said the challenge in renting to students “comes from inexperience” on their part.

Compared to older tenants, students living independently for the first time may not know how to fix something around the house, remember to pay rent or know how to write a check, he said.

Crawford added if something is bothering his tenants, he wants them to speak up about it. Communication is also an issue, he said, and landlords sometimes learn about problems months after they occur.

“I don’t know how we could have known [about the violations],” Ziegler said. “I don’t even know how I would have been able to see about that ahead of time.”

Doretha Starling, the administrative specialist for Temple’s Off-Campus Living and Conference Services, said there has been an increased use of the office’s resources.

“Basically we try to provide them with everything they would need to have a successful off-campus housing experience,” Starling said. The office also provides contacts to groups that advocate for tenants.

Several students who ran into issues while living off campus said they were not aware of resources the office provides for renters.

Vanessa Gaie, a sophomore communication studies major, said her

apartment was without heat for two weeks in December. She leased her apartment through the realtors MK Management Group, which could not be reached for comment.

Gaie said she reported the issue, but the request took too long to be addressed before it was eventually fixed.

This was the first time Gaie and her roommates were living off campus, and she said she was unaware of the resources offered on campus for renters.

“We weren’t really educated about [our renter’s rights] because it was our first time in our own apartment,” she said. “We didn’t really know that much.”

Although Gaie said she has learned more about renting an apartment, she is still not “100 percent informed” about her rights and responsibilities as a renter.

“The best customer that I can have is somebody who understands their responsibilities, takes their responsibilities seriously and also holds me to my responsibilities,” Crawford said.

Crawford said he believes the university could play a bigger role in educating students about landlordtenant relationships.

The university’s online and print brochure, the Off-Campus Housing Resource Guide, details the various nonwaivable rights that renters have, like the right to a safe home, privacy and to have damages repaired by a landlord.

Tenants also have responsibilities when entering a lease, including abiding by the specifications in the lease, keeping the apartment clean, reporting damages to a landlord and paying rent on time.

The guide also provides students with samples of a maintenance request letter, subleasing form and housing code checklist.

GENEVA HEFFERNAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS An “apartment for rent” sign hangs on a house on Berks Street. Students have faced issues renting when they venture to off-campus housing.

kelly.brennan@temple.edu @_kellybrennan

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

OPINION

PAGE 4

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

POLITICS 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 Linh Than Multimedia Editor Abbie Lee 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 Geneva Heffernan Asst. Photography Editor Finnian Saylor Design Editor Courtney Redmon Designer Sasha Lasakow Designer Garrett Love 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

Student renters: read up Before committing to off-campus housing, students should be aware of all this entails.

As students return from winter break and begin looking for housing for next year, The Temple News would like to remind them that the university provides resources for them during their housing hunt.

As the university’s student population has risen over the last decade or so, so have the number of students looking to live on or near campus. Many turn to offcampus housing like apartment complexes or individual private apartments for a cheaper and more flexible living option to residence halls.

While we understand why many students make the decision to live off campus, they must realize and accept all the responsibilities that come with signing a lease and renting a space. The Office of University Housing and Residential Life offers resources like a “Tenant’s Rights and Responsibilities” and “Understanding Your Lease” pages that explain what most landlords expect from renters.

Students thinking about moving off campus or renewing a lease should take a

few moments to review these procedures and consider the extra responsibilities one has living off campus like paying rent every month, taking care of trash in a timely manner, paying utilities and maintaining the condition of an apartment.

The university, though, should recognize just how many students are seeking off-campus housing — only about 21 percent of undergraduates live in on-campus housing — and make the resources they have more apparent to students.

While off-campus services are available online through University Housing and Residential Life, Temple could be doing more to explain to students why making the move off campus is a mature commitment as much as it is a money-saving measure.

In order to make sure students are getting the most out of their housing experience and are learning to be respectful and responsible tenants, students and the university have to meet in the middle to make living off campus a positive experience.

Keep students involved Negotiations with food service provider Aramark should continue to be influenced by students.

Temple Student Government is rightfully disappointed that none of its members were invited to take part in transition talks with Aramark, the new food service provider that is replacing Sodexo effective this May. The Board of Trustees approved the switch in October and the university has been in contract and transition talks since then.

TSG representatives want a seat at the table because “we’re the ones that are going to end up using the services,” Student Body President Aron Cowen said.

That’s only fair. What good is student representation if they can’t fully represent students?

Aaron Weckstein, another TSG member, said he wants to make sure ongoing sustainability commitments — like composting discarded food and using locally sourced ingredients —

are continued under the new food provider.

Michael Scales, associate vice president of business services, cautioned that students might be given proprietary information if they were present for the negotiations.

The university and Aramark are trying to involve students in other ways, like surveying students and holding separate meetings with TSG. The university is also planning to restart the food service committee, a group of students who met to give feedback to the food service provider on behalf of the student body.

We’d like to stress the importance of keeping students involved in decisions about what they will eat. The best way to satisfy student concerns about sustainability and affordability is to involve students in the decisionmaking process as much as possible.

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

Obama inspires Black students to lead Barack Obama has encouraged Black students to achieve their goals.

I

still remember the excitement in Philadelphia when President Barack Obama visited the city during his 2008 presidential run.

I joined the crowd of Philadelphians at 52nd and Locust streets in the hopes of seeing Obama’s face as he spoke from a podium ahead.

Together we chanted, “Yes We Can!” and “Change!”

I was SIRA SIDIBÉ 13 years old then, and knew very little about politics and the election. Today, at 22 years old, I’m paying attention to the final days of Obama’s second term and the importance of his legacy as the first African-American president.

Obama’s position in office has been significant in empowering young Black Americans like myself to aspire to leadership roles and to picture themselves in positions of power.

Ashlei Gentry, a senior political science major and president of the Black Student Union, has plans to be a school teacher next year after she graduates. She believes that Obama’s presidency has given Black children a visible model of success.

“Teaching Black children ... I can use him as an example that the sky is like the limit,” Gentry said. “Now we have a Black president, so now it’s not like a dream. It’s something that can be accom-

plished.”

The stream of white men who occupied the Oval Office prior to Obama’s election reflects the inequality of representation that Americans of various racial backgrounds have endured for centuries.

For African Americans, our country’s history of slavery in particular has felt like an accusation of Black inferiority, causing children to continually in-

SASHA LASAKOW | THE TEMPLE NEWS

ternalize this idea from their very first American history class.

“In a nation that was founded on the genocide of the native people and the enslavement of the African people, the election of Obama represented a progression, evolution of the democratic process,” said Molefi Kete Asante, chair of the Africology and African American studies department.

Kevin Arceneaux, a political science

professor, said Obama inspired many young, Black Americans to participate in the democratic process.

“We definitely know that Obama’s presidency motivated African Americans to vote at much higher rates than they have in the past, especially including young African Americans,” he said.

Arceneaux said Obama’s presidency may have also encouraged Black students to take on leadership roles.

Nicholas Davis, a senior criminal justice major and president of the PreLaw Division of the Black Law Students Association, said Obama’s presidency and his career as a lawyer personally inspired him.

“When he first got into office, I was in eighth grade and ... [my] first response was like, ‘I can do anything,’” Davis said. “The fact that he’s just a Black person in general in a place where there’s not a lot of Black people, it makes it look more attainable.”

While some critics may argue that Obama did not effectively advocate for African Americans during his tenure, it’s hard to deny the impact his very election has had on many African Americans and our narrative in our country’s history.

There is no going backwards from an Obama presidency, a presidency that has effectively told Black Americans to keep striving no matter what challenges we may face. And this is why Obama’s presidency will forever remain salient in the minds of little Black children whose ancestors were told otherwise. sira.sidibe@temple.edu

RESOURCES

Blockson Collection unsilences Black history Students should utilize the Charles L. Blockson AfroAmerican Collection.

A

s a Black poet, I’m excited that I can view the first edition book of poetry by Phillis Wheatley, the first AfricanAmerican to have a book of poetry published, on Main Campus — at Temple’s Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection.

The Blockson Collection, nestled in Sullivan Hall, commemorates Black history with more than 500,000 artifacts. But BASIA WILSON some students don’t even know it exists.

It is critical that students access and celebrate the history the Blockson Collection has to offer, especially in a climate where Black voices are frequently silenced, both in the Temple community and across the nation.

“There are a lot of times where this is the only space students get to learn about things like race and racism,” said Christopher Roberts, a fourth-year Ph.D. student and professor of Africology and African American studies. Roberts incorporates the Blockson Collection into the syllabi for his classes.

The Blockson Collection demonstrates that Black history is valuable and extensive, and offers students an opportunity to learn about this history firsthand.

Morrease Leftwich, a sophomore political science and African American studies major, recently visited the Blockson Collection to complete a project for Roberts’ Urban Black Politics class. Leftwich explored photographs and books, gathering information on the Great Migration and its impact on Black churches in Philadelphia.

“Black people in the South were used to a more intimate relationship with churchgoers,” Leftwich said. “It was like a family in the church. In Philadelphia after the Great Migration, you saw

a lot more storefront churches because the mega-churches weren’t doing it for them.”

Although Leftwich was required to go to the Blockson Collection for this class project, he said he would visit again, “even if it wasn’t assigned.”

“If I was doing a presentation or research assignment, I could definitely use it for primary sources,” Leftwich said.

Hannah Wallace, a 2016 African American studies alumna, used to work as an assistant archivist at the Blockson Collection. She said the Blockson is valuable because it allows visitors to utilize resources on people affected by the African diaspora — descendants of African people who were dispersed across the Americas during the slave trade.

Wallace said the Blockson Collection continues to be an important part of her studies as a graduate student at University of the Arts, where she is pursuing her master’s degree in museum education.

“I actually chose to live near Temple because I wanted to continue utilizing its resources, such as the Blockson,” Wallace said.

Diane Turner, the curator of the Blockson Collection, said the decision to house such historic artifacts at Temple was very deliberate.

Charles Blockson, the founder of the collection, chose Temple because “Temple focused on diversity, and it was in North Central Philadelphia in the heart of an African-American community,” Turner said.

It is important that students acknowledge the Blockson Collection as a rewarding source of Black history and culture, because to truly appreciate Temple means to acknowledge the historical importance of its predominantly Black home in North Philadelphia.

Many artifacts in the Blockson Collection are particularly relevant to North Philadelphia, like original photographs of the late Cecil B. Moore, the namesake of the avenue on the southern border of Main Campus.

Moore, a civil rights activist and 1953 Temple Law alumnus, advocated for the Black working class. He also led

protests with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965, advocating for the desegregation of Girard College.

“Oftentimes students don’t know who Cecil B. Moore is,” Turner said. “But if they come here, they can find out.”

In addition to learning about Moore at the Blockson Collection, students can also explore other historical information relevant to the community surrounding Temple. Through sermons, news clippings and photographs, students can learn about the legacy of Father Paul Washington, a civil rights activist and the pastor at Church of the Advocate from the early 1960s to the late 1980s.

Students can also read “Boppin’ at Miss Mattie’s Place,” a dissertation by Benita Junette Brown about the dance culture in North Philadelphia during the 1960s.

But students can’t access this history if they aren’t even aware the Blockson Collection exists.

Roberts said most of his students aren’t familiar with the Blockson Collection “unless they’ve had other classes” that have required them to go there.

Turner added that some students might have never found it if not for mistakenly stumbling upon the collection in Sullivan Hall.

While it’s good that students are discovering the Blockson Collection, they shouldn’t have to find it by accident. The university should better publicize the collection to encourage student attendance.

“The Blockson is important for people to attend, support and visit,” Roberts said. “It is really a space where Black people are framing and telling the stories of ourselves.”

The ties between Temple and the historically Black neighborhood in which it exists are important and lasting.

The university has a valuable resource in the Blockson Collection, and it’s crucial that students are familiar with it. Learning about the history of our neighbors will only make students more informed and allow them to better understand the university’s impact on the North Philadelphia community. basia.serafina.wilson@temple.edu

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

OPINION

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

PAGE 5

FROM THE ARCHIVE

CURRICULUM

In defense of the foreign language class: benefits outweigh drawbacks The university should require all students to take at least one foreign language class.

I

t was my first Spanish class, and I was in trouble.

We were learning the word “emocionado,” and the teacher insisted that students pump their fists into the air to remember that the expression meant “excited.”

I found the activity ridiculous.

Mr. Dwyer noticed.

He called me to the front of the classroom to demonstrate the gesture. At 13, I was self-conscious and could feel my face growing red as I acted out “emocionado.”

“You have to do the gestures,” he insisted.

Years later, I’m thankful for that ANGELA GERVASI moment: It was the first of many lessons that made me realize learning a language is about more than memorization.

Sticking with Spanish has been one of my best decisions. It exposed me to a world of cultures and conversations. It allowed me to communicate and establish friendships during a summer studying in Cuba.

It served as a useful tool when I began learning Italian.

While it’s possible to maneuver one’s way through the world in English, knowing another language is a true gift. It leads to more job opportunities, at home and abroad. Studies have shown it can improve memory muscle, decision making skills — it can even improve one’s own English.

Without a doubt, Temple should encourage its students to explore a language, and the cultures that go along with it. To do this, the university should add a foreign language requirement to its General Education Program.

The more people I’ve met from different countries, the more it has dawned on me that being monolingual is unique to native English speakers. More than 1.5 billion people speak the language worldwide — as a result, Americans can often “get by” in foreign countries by counting on the English-speaking ability of everyone around them.

“This is a strength for people in English-speaking countries ... but it is also a weakness, because it doesn’t provide the motivation to learn another language,” said Cristina Gragnani, an Italian professor.

Gragnani, a native of Italy, studied English since middle school. Later, she attended an exchange program at a French university — the experience exposed her to a world of possibilities.

“Learning a foreign language and being curious about foreign cultures was not only fun, but could also open up opportunities: professional opportunities, opportunities for personal growth,” Gragnani said.

Living, studying and working in France paid off: Soon, Gragnani’s French skills had surpassed her knowledge of English. The key to learning French, she said, was her motivation.

This motivation isn’t quite as common in the United States. A Modern Language Association review of 2013 enrollment data revealed only 7 percent of college students are enrolled in a foreign language course.

“I think it’s important, especially at such a diverse university,” said Matt Refford, a junior neuroscience major.

But increasing foreign language education is easier said than done.

I was lucky enough to have incredible language teachers in high school, but many of my peers never got that privilege. While I was gushing over “The Motorcycle Diaries” and Manu Chao songs, other students, like Refford, were met with disappointment in Spanish class.

“Since everyone took a language, the school hired language teachers based on quantity instead of quality,” Refford said.

After two years of watching Spanish instructional YouTube videos in class, he dropped the course altogether.

“Sometimes, the idea that learning a language is difficult or tedious comes from high school experience,” Gragnani said.

For Katia Matychak, a sophomore neuroscience major, foreign language is important, but difficult to squeeze into her schedule.

“As a pre-med science major, it’s pretty hard to take classes that aren’t a major class or a required GenEd,” Matychak said.

Refford and Matychak’s experiences represent very real obstacles between American college students and foreign languages.

If Temple were to implement a foreign language Gen-Ed requirement, students could overcome these obstructions.

Of course, as Gragnani said, motivation is key, and it’s important to be open minded in any foreign language course — to do silly hand gestures, or whatever it takes, to truly understand. Gragnani herself remembers the moments of embarrassment she experienced while learning French and English, but she continued to pursue both languages.

“There will be setbacks, there will be frustrations,” Gragnani said. “It’s really important to understand that it’s part of the game, and language instructors went through that.”

Requiring at least one foreign language course for all university students would allow a busy student to fit foreign language into their schedule. It could allow a second chance for students who’ve had botched high school experiences.

Or, it could lead to a student discovering and loving a new language. Gragnani has seen it happen in her Italian class.

“After day one, [students] can already introduce themselves, ask ‘How are you?’ and can ask about other people’s age or where they are from,” Gragnani said.

“That’s really rewarding.”

And Gragnani was right: when I made that first blunder in Spanish class, I never would have guessed I’d be able to make connections in foreign languages years later.

A language requirement — with proper teaching and open-mindedness — should be instated, to allow all students to reach these rewards. angela.gervasi@temple.edu @AngGervasi

Jan. 26, 1972: Coretta Scott King spoke to Temple University Hospital workers about the importance of union representation. Workers would soon vote on whether to organize under Local 1199C of the National Union of Hospital and Nursing Home Employees. King served as the honorary chairwoman of the union.

For yesterday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, events were held throughout the city, with Girard College serving as the central location. Todd Bernstein, director of Philadelphia’s MLK Day of Service, said volunteers were making bookshelves to fill with books and donate to places where parents often bring their children, like barber shops and health centers.

SODA TAX

CHINEME ANIAGBA FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS

“Now we can feel bad about breaking two different New Year’s Resolutions — saving money and losing weight — with only one Sprite!”

THE ESSAYIST

Seeing Japanese culture through blurred vision A student reflects on the cultural insights she gained while riding the trains of Japan.

By ERIN YODER

T

he first time I rode a train in Tokyo, Japan was a hot and sweaty blur.

It was rush hour in August, and the summer air felt more humid than a sauna. My friend and I had just run up two flights of stairs only to be forced to make a flying leap into the departing train just before getting pinched by the closing doors.

As soon as we got onto the train we were blasted with cold air, but this didn’t seem to help because of the body heat radiating from the hundreds of people jammed into the small space. Despite these inconveniences, I still felt like I was on a big adventure. I felt like a small child with wide eyes, taking in all of the new experiences my senses could handle.

I noted the scent of freshly pressed school uniforms in the air. I listened as passengers quietly whispering among themselves in Japanese. I watched the boarding businessmen cram themselves into the train, looking for a free space to read their newspapers.

The second time on the train wasn’t as mesmerizing.

I realized those pleasant, new smells were also accompanied by that of alcohol and sweat wafting off of salarymen, Japanese men who work long hours for one company their entire lives. And those new sounds seemed like they came from my ribs almost cracking as more people crammed their way through the door.

The scenery was a mass of people trying to balance themselves in no-man’s land in the center of the train where hanging handles and handrails aren’t available.

I was surprised to learn so much about Japanese culture from simply riding the train — an act I never thought would feel new to me again when I first arrived in Japan. Being a commuter student here in Philadelphia, I’m used to public transportation. I ride the train to and from school every day, and that one-hour commute gives me a break from the world around me.

Sometimes on my daily train rides, I’m reminded of my commutes in Japan.

I spent the last academic year studying in Tokyo, and almost every day I stood for my two-hour commute during rush hour. With so many people riding the train, it was near impossible to find a vacant seat, a luxury I took for granted here in America.

Whenever a seat would finally open, there was always a salaryman zooming across the train to take it. And while there are regulations in place to ensure that people like the elderly and those who are pregnant have seats, many riders don’t adhere to these rules. All passengers are on their own.

The Japanese even have a saying for unpleasant occurrences like this that happen in life: “shouganai,” which means “it can’t be helped.” This saying is also used when suicides occur on train lines. Though these occurrences aren’t as common in America, they are quite prevalent in Japan.

Suicides happen so frequently in Tokyo that the city has its own train line known as “the suicide line.” Many suicides are linked to the extreme stresses of work and school in Japan.

Much of what is seen in Tokyo’s train culture reveals even more about its working culture.

Trains are packed during rush hour because Japanese culture stresses punctuality.

Many Japanese people work 12 hours a day, go out drinking with their bosses for a couple more hours and then get home in the early morning.

Many times, my host father would be up working on his laptop until 3 a.m., only to leave for

work at 8 a.m.

The trains in Japan also reveal other societal concerns, like “chikan,” or sexual assault.

During rush hour, many of the trains in Tokyo assign the first car of the train as the “women only” car in an attempt to prevent “chikan.” But oftentimes trains are so packed that it’s still easy for sexual assaults to go unnoticed by other passengers. I learned in my class abroad that Japanese women often don’t alert others of assaults, and so the crime continues.

In Japan, it seems like the train is the place where people defy societal obligations related to politeness and get to be just a little bit more selfish than usual. Whereas, in America, people tend to be a little bit more forgiving on public transportation.

I often think about these social practices and the vast differences between Japanese and American culture during my daily commutes on SEPTA Regional Rail. And sometimes, although it’s hard to believe, I miss getting crushed to bits every morning while on the passenger cars of Tokyo’s train lines. erin.yoder@temple.edu

letters@temple-news.com

NEWS

PAGE 6

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

TSG to join Aramark transition talks

NEWS BRIEFS UNIVERSITY NEWS

Temple tops list for “most sugar babies” Temple has been ranked as the “fastest growing sugar baby school,” increasing by 296 members on SeekingArrangements.com in 2016, the site said in a release.

“Sugar babies” are young women or men that go on dates or find mentorship with “sugar daddies” that help pay for the sugar baby’s tuition.

Temple has 1,068 students registered on the site as sugar babies, looking to earn money toward their tuition bills.

The average student sugar baby earns $2,440 a month toward their tuition, the release read.

Temple outranked New York University, Arizona State University, Georgia State University and Texas State University, the other Top 5 schools with fastest growing sugar baby populations.

- Gillian McGoldrick

Fastest Growing Sugar Baby Universities Temple was ranked as the fastest growing sugar baby university, increasing by 296 students in 2016 to 1096 students total.

296

Temple University

224

New York University

236

Arizona State University

188 Georgia State University 182 Texas State University SOURCE SEEKINGARRANGEMENTS.COM

MBA program takes top rank for third year in a row Temple’s online MBA program was recently ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report for the third year in a row. The annual list ranks the top 20 online MBA programs throughout the country.

Some other university programs were tied for their rankings, but Temple’s program was the sole first rank. It placed above No. 2 MBA program at Carnegie Mellon University. Temple’s online MBA program started in 2009 and enrolls about 350 students.

- Kait Moore

Temple among “best value” colleges

Representatives weren’t included until the end of winter break.

By JULIE CHRISTIE News Editor Temple Student Government, which was closely involved in the selection process for the university’s new food service provider, Aramark, had to wait two and a half months before they were involved in the transition process.

Aramark won the bid to replace Sodexo, which had served the university for 28 years, and now has a 15-year contract with the university. The transition will not only affect which vendors appear on campus, but also meal plans and the sustainability efforts Sodexo, TSG and the Office of Sustainability have put in place.

The transition, originally scheduled to begin July 1, was moved ahead six weeks and will now begin May 13, said Michael Scales, the associate vice president for Business Services at Temple. He said the change was the result of Temple and Aramark’s desire to begin the renovation of the Student Center early.

In December, two months after the Board of Trustees approved Aramark, Student Body President Aron Cowen said TSG had yet to be contacted by the Continued from Page 1

PARLIAMENT to the communities its members represent, the constitution only allows Parliament to act as a go-between for students and TSG with no real power to make decisions.

The constitution outlines that Parliament will be able to “pass resolutions that express the opinions of the student body,” but has no power to implement anything. Instead, that power lies with TSG, which can also take action with initiatives that it develops internally, without consulting Parliament. “[Members of] TSG, in the end, [are] the ones that really make the decisions,” said Jacob Kurtz, the Parliament representative for the Tyler School of Art. “They’re the ones who decide what student government is going to do. Parliament is really just a voice for students who aren’t sure how to interact with TSG.” “If Parliament wanted to look at, say, the [General Education] Program, they’d go the academic affairs committee and … they would say, ‘Here’s the issue and here’s what we think TSG should do,’” said Student Body President Aron Cowen.

“Then it goes to the whole of Parliament and then to the Executive Branch.”

university or the company to discuss the transition.

“Given how significant this is to the student experience, we need student representation,” Cowen said in December.

“We’re the ones that are going to end up using the services.”

But now, TSG has scheduled meetings with Business Services at Temple to discuss how TSG will work with Aramark on the transition and set up the “blueprint” for TSG’s involvement, Cowen said on Monday.

“We’re seeing a lot more receptiveness and a lot of willingness to involve students,” he added.

Aaron Weckstein, TSG’s director of grounds and sustainability, said in December he wants to make sure the contract has language that protects sustainability efforts like composting in the Student Center and providing students with locally sourced food.

Scales said a process as large as changing food service providers takes a very long time and has multiple phases.

After the Board announced Aramark as its choice, he said, Temple and Aramark immediately began developing the contract.

“A lot of [the contract negotiating] is sensitive information and we want to keep that as confidential as possible,” he said. He added that many of the meetings between Temple and Aramark took place when students were not around during

winter break.

The Food Service Committee, Cowen said, will be made up of various stakeholders in university dining, which includes TSG as student representatives and caterers for administrative offices. He said the committee would act like a “think-tank” for Aramark to get feedback.

Scales said that in addition to beginning meetings with TSG, Business Services and Aramark are hoping to create a Food Service Committee and Aramark has also been surveying students in dining halls and food courts.

“We’re seeing a good start of our relationship,” Cowen said. “We’re on the right track.”

Scales said that there will not be much “demonstrable change” in the first year of the contract because Temple and Aramark “want stability.” He said that the Fresh To Go stations will change, but students will notice the most widespread changes from Aramark begin in Fall 2018 Weckstein, who said he’s worried that the current sustainability practices in place with Sodexo won’t be upheld with Aramark, said the transition could “change everything.” The Office of Sustainability has also not been invited into the contract talks with Aramark.

“There’s going to be a lot of questions,” he said.

Parliament will be able to pass two kinds of resolutions for TSG to consider: nonbinding and binding. A nonbinding resolution requires a simple majority of the Parliament members attending a meeting, but TSG is not obligated to take any action or further look into the issue.

But when Parliament passes a binding resolution, it requires TSG to “provide regular status updates to the Parliament,” implying that TSG must at least consider the resolution but not necessarily take further action, according to the constitution.

TSG’s former constitution, drafted prior to the formation of Parliament, detailed the power TSG’s General Assembly. According to the old constitution, TSG had the power to “pass resolutions that express the opinions of the General Assembly on behalf of the student body.”

The previous constitution also held TSG responsible for implementing initiatives and programs for the student body and allocating funds for clubs around campus, which it is still responsible for, according to the new constitution.

Parliament and TSG will be on equal footing if either body wants to amend the current constitution. Proposals must be submitted in writing to a body made

up of the Speaker of the Parliament, the Parliament committee leaders and eight representatives of TSG, including the student body president and two vice presidents. The majority of the body has to approve the proposal before it is voted on by the entire Parliament and Executive Branch. Amendments will be passed only if 75 percent of Parliament and TSG members vote to approve it.

Members of Parliament will hold public meetings every other week, directly after TSG’s General Assembly meetings.

Committee meetings for Parliament will be held the weeks when the whole representative body is not meeting, but are not open to the public.

“I don’t necessarily see us having issues with the Executive Branch of student government,” Roof said. “When we started, there were some people in Parliament who expressed wanting to have the control of the TSG budget.

Because we’re new, I don’t think they wanted to give us that power yet. I think it’s too early to tell but, when you’re working with humans, there’s always going to be internal politics. But we can always amend the constitution.”

julie.christie@temple.edu @ChristieJules

amanda.lien@temple.edu @amandajlien

ADVERTISEMENT

A new ranking from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, a national personal finance forecasting magazine, ranked Temple No. 86 for best college value, which is “a quality education at an affordable price,” a university release stated.

The ranking is based on factors including selectivity of admissions, academic support, graduation rates and tuition.

The release credited the high ranking to Temple’s heightening academic standards and the Fly in 4 program.

- Noah Tanen

CITY NEWS

Local health system files for bankruptcy The North Philadelphia Health System, which provides health care and behavioral services for the North Philadelphia community, filed for bankruptcy, the Inquirer reported.

NPHS, founded in 1990, was created to own and operate Girard Medical Center and St. Joseph’s Hospital. The organization has received special state aid since 1993.

After St. Joseph’s closed last year, the city launched the North Philadelphia Health Enterprise Zone, a collaborative effort to improve healthcare in the North Philadelphia community and involves Temple University Health Systems.

NPHS will continue providing drug and alcohol care services at Girard Medical Center but the organization no longer has the means to pay legal fees associated with their short-term care facilities, the Inquirer reported.

Our readers. your customers.

Let’s get down to business.

- Amanda Lien

advertising@temple-news.com | temple-news.com/advertise | (215) 204-9538 News Desk 215-204-7419 news@temple-news.com

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

features TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

F E AT U R E S

PAGE 7

‘Nasty Women’ exhibit shows ‘strength in numbers’ In reaction to President-elect Donald Trump’s rhetoric, more than 70 women artists are showcasing their work.

By ANGELA GERVASI For The Temple News

T

amara Torres knows how art can unite women.

It began six years ago: Torres was working in downtown Trenton, New Jersey when she walked into a clothing store during her lunch break. Fascinated by the Arabic hip-hop music playing inside, she met the owners: two immigrant women who were saving money to bring their daughters to the United States.

Touched by their story, she created “Freedom,” a photograph featuring a wide-eyed girl with tape fastened over her mouth. Their reaction to the picture, Torres remembers, was tearful and appreciative.

“And I said, ‘I hope that your daughters see a bigger world, and I hope they eventually can rip that tape off their mouth,’” Torres said.

In another effort to bring women together in solidarity, one of Torres’ latest works currently hangs over the entrance to “Nasty Women: A Group Exhibition,” at the newly opened ABD Photography & Gallery near 11th and Carlton streets.

EXHIBIT | PAGE 12

ANGELA GERVASI FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Christy O’Connor, a multimedia artist who created the mannequin above curated the exhibit after watching President-elect Donald Trump refer to 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman.”

University hires freshman as first student vlogger A film major shows prospective students campus life through YouTube.

By ERIN MORAN Deputy Features Editor

“I had met a lot of people throughout my undergrad and graduate experience so I wanted to try and include a lot of people,” said Dedecker, who has a concentration in painting. “Initially, it started because I wanted to bring together a bunch of people whose work I really admire and bring it all into the same space.”

Dedecker said he has been trying to curate an exhibit at the school for a year, and he received the approval from Tyler to start planning in August 2016.

There’s no theme for Dedecker’s show, because he prefers to leave the exhibit “openended,” he said, and allow more freedom for

In Brandon Kane’s first vlog for Temple’s YouTube channel, he pans from the “Temple T” atop Morgan Hall to the Center City skyline. Then suddenly, he cuts to his dorm room in 1300 Residence Hall and asks viewers, “What’s up?”

Kane, a freshman film and media arts major, is the university’s first student vlogger — or video blogger — and it all started with a direct message on Twitter.

Kane spent the summer before he came to Temple creating daily vlogs for his personal YouTube channel about his everyday life, so when he started college, he continued to make videos regularly. Eventually, he started getting attention from Temple’s social media accounts, and when the university’s account followed him on Twitter, he took the opportunity to ask for a press pass for a football game.

A month later, he met with Temple’s strategic marketing team and started to vlog for the university. Now, he meets with the team each week to brainstorm ideas for weekly videos about student life as he goes through his first year of college.

“It sort of made [transitioning to college] easier in a way, because I had been vlogging for my other channel over the whole summer, and when I was still in high school, so it was kind of like that stayed the same when I came to Temple,” he said.

“I had gotten used to being the guy with the camera,” he added. “So I was just the guy with the camera in a different place.”

So far, Kane has made seven vlogs for Temple, about everything from finals weeks to Thanksgiving dinner at Johnson & Hardwick cafeteria. Kane’s favorite vlogging experiences so far have been

GALLERY | PAGE 11

VLOGGER | PAGE 10

EMILY SCOTT/THE TEMPLE NEWS Second-year fine arts master’s student Jonathan Dedecker’s exhibit “Ocotillo” features roughly 100 artworks from artists around the world.

Student curates an ‘open-ended’ gallery The opening reception is this Friday in a gallery at the Tyler School of Art.

By EMILY SCOTT Features Editor Jonathan Dedecker took multiple trips up and down elevators in the Tyler School of Art with trolley carts carrying FedEx boxes. The boxes were labeled “fragile” and postmarked from places as far away as Los Angeles and Stockholm.

The second-year fine arts master’s stu-

dent curated the exhibit “Ocotillo,” which features nearly 100 works from artists across the country and world. The opening reception is this Friday in the Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery in the Tyler School of Art. There will be music and performance pieces during the reception.

This is Dedecker’s first curated exhibit at Temple before he graduates in May. Though he has curated shows before, this one is on a larger scale, he said.

Dedecker added that being in several exhibits with other artists he admires, like a larger exhibit in San Luis Obispo, California by artists Ryan Travis Christian and Travis Fish, pushed him to curate a large group show on his own.

STAINED GLASS | PAGE 8

AWARENESS | PAGE 8

RESOURCES | PAGE 9

JEWELRY | PAGE 9

Two alumnae are using stained glass windowmaking to bring art to Philadelphia students.

Five art students hung posters, banners and a sign to raise awareness about sexual assault.

Some professors are working to make the university more inclusive for colleagues with disabilities.

Forge & Finish, a jewelry company started by three alumnae, uses traditional metalsmithing methods.

F E AT U R E S

PAGE 8

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

Giving students ‘legacy’ through stained glass making Since 2006, The Stained Glass Project has donated 115 windows around the world.

By KAIT MOORE For The Temple News After school let out on Jan. 4, the Kendrick Recreation Center in Roxborough filled with the sound of glass grinders and laughter. Andrew Garvey, a freshman at Parkway Northwest High School in the after-school arts program, cut red pieces of glass into the shape of a tire swing for a window he was working to complete.

Paula Mandel, a 1974 fine art and psychology alumna, started The Stained Glass Project with her longtime friend Joan Myerson Shrager, a 1984 psychology alumna, 11 years ago. The program, which teaches stained glass window-making to Philadelphia middle and high school students, meets every Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. “[When] our students come to this program I would say that 99 percent of them have never had an art class,” Shrager said. “So for them, art is a tool to investigate the world and not be criticized all the time. If you want to make a blue elephant with one orange ear, that is fine in our class. There is no wrong answer.”

In 11 years, the program has donated at least 115 stained glass windows around the world to places like a primary school in South Africa, a school in New Orleans and a Native American reservation in Minnesota.

Before the Stained Glass Project began in 2006, Mandel and Shrager formed a co-op art studio called ArtForms Gallery Manayunk.

After she graduated from Temple, Mandel worked as an art therapy intern at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Juniata Park/Feltonville and was looking for a way to use her artistic background to expose Philadelphia students to art.

In 2008, Mandel took a two-week group trip to South Africa to learn about South African history and culture. She met Barbara Mitchell, a retired Philadelphia school administrator and the founder of an afterschool program at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown on Germantown Avenue near High Street. The program was mostly geared toward academics, but Mitchell was looking to expand it with an art program.

When the two met, Mandel explained her art background in painting and glass work as well as her desire to use art as a means to reach inner-city kids. Mitchell then asked Mandel to start a stained glass class for students at the church.

Mitchell felt that stained glass work would benefit her students even more than academic support alone.

“When a student knows that they have made something this fantastic, it does wonders for the mind,” Mitchell said.

The Stained Glass Project began as a small, monthly class for students to learn how to make stained glass necklaces and picture frames. It wasn’t until 2008, when Shrager and Mandel went to a fundraiser with Sharon Katz, a woman Mandel met in South Africa, that the program shifted to window-making.

Katz was fundraising for a school in South Africa called Nsimbini Primary School that serves children impacted by HIV and AIDS. Shrager and Mandel saw an opportunity for their students to feel valued and memorialized in a way that Shrager said they often lacked in their home-life.

“We tell them that stained glass

can last forever if it is well taken care of,” Shrager said. “So they could go with their grandchildren to see the windows that they made. And that really gives them a legacy and a feeling of empowerment in the world.”

The program moved to the Kendrick Recreation Center in 2013, when Germantown High School closed.

Mitchell estimates 150 students have graduated from The Stained Glass Project since it began, and nearly 99 percent of them have also completed high school, Mitchell said.

“And the important thing is: When in [the student’s] lives do they have a chance to do something and ... donate it?” Shrager said. “I think there’s a lot of pride in our students that they have created something very beautiful that they then donate.”

Nada Yaw Effah, a 2012 graduate of the program, credits the support and resources of the volunteers at The Stained Glass Project with his accep-

tance to Bloomsburg University. Effah often comes back to visit Shrager, Mandel and Mitchell.

“It’s much like a mother and son relationship, but they aren’t really mom,” Effah said. “It’s a free type of relationship.”

Shrager said whenever students have any serious problems, she and Mandel try to be there for them every step of the way.

Mandel said the night she got a call that a student had been hit by a car as one of the most meaningful moments during her time with the project.

“He put me down as his emergency contact before his foster moth-

er. I just hadn’t realized how connected he felt.”

As the session on Jan. 4 wrapped up, Schrager looked over at four boys laughing at their reflection in a piece of stained glass.

“Almost every kid in here has had a family member killed,” she said.

“And I just can’t imagine the strength that it takes to keep going. They need love, and it is an absolute love affair in here.” kaitlyn.moore@temple.edu

KAIT MOORE FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Top left: Mark Williams, a student in The Stained Glass Project, grinds a piece of glass. Top right: Lance Lucas creates a design that will be part of his completed work. Bottom left: DaShawn Belser with a piece of a window he is designing. Bottom right: Co-director Paula Mandel instructs Belser as he creates the design for his stained glass window.

Art group addresses sexual assault issues on campus A group of students hung banners and posters in order to start a conversation about sexual assault.

By TAYLOR HORN Online Beat Reporter At the beginning of December, Take the Time, a group of five students in a self-guided community arts class at Temple hung up posters, stickers, banners and a sign that read: “Why don’t men have time to talk about sexual assault?”

The banners were put in seven different spots around Main Campus, including the front of Tomlinson Theater, Ritter Hall, Saxbys on Liacouras Walk and the Bell Tower. Flyers and stickers bearing the same message were also put in the men’s bathrooms of some academic buildings. “[Sexual assault] happens in so many forms and it’s so common that it often flies under the

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radar, but it has a huge bearing on the way that gender and sex are viewed and how people are treated in the workplace, on streets, in their homes and essentially everywhere,” said one of the members of the group, a junior visual studies major. She asked not to be named in this story because she is a victim of sexual assault.

They will not likely hang up any more signs on campus, since the initiative was part of a community arts class that ended last semester. Still, the group member said the group will maintain its email and Facebook page and hopes to host a conversation night at some point in the future, where both men and women could voice their opinions on the issue of sexual assault.

“If I can get my friends who have never been affected by sexual assault to understand how to fight it anyway, if I can get strangers to feel comforted by the thought that other people care and want to change this oppressive force and if I can empower men who feel as though they can’t talk about it to talk about it, that’s a very fine start in my book,” she said.

The original idea for the project was to host an event in which members of a fraternity or a men’s sports team, and volunteers could ask

each other questions about sexual assault, share their experiences and provide support to each other. The goal was to foster an environment in which a taboo subject could be discussed.

The group member said she reached out to nearly 20 officers of fraternities and sports teams, but she received only two responses, both of which were negative.

“This was frustrating to us so our question became, ‘Why don’t men have time to talk about sexual assault?’” she said.

The team members turned to a different strategy, which included creating the stickers, flyers, banners and signs in hopes that people would take it upon themselves to start conversations about sexual assault even without the help of those organizations.

The idea for the project began in September, and the group hung up the signs in November and December.

The group member said most of the reactions she has received have been positive and encouraging, but some other students felt offended because the sign seemed to target men.

The group member said she agrees the language can be problematic, especially for men who are

victims of sexual assault.

“It made me happy to know someone was tackling the problem at hand in their own way,” said Samuel Trilling, a freshman political science and journalism major. “And although the topic is a little more nuanced than the statement makes it seem, it made me look, it made others look and it made us all think.”

The group member said she received emails from other students, including sorority members, who were interested in incorporating the project into their programming.

“This was personal to all of us,” the group member said. “I didn’t understand consent until a few months ago, because no one had ever asked me for it. I never understood until recently how much that had affected me and my relationships.”

“It’s not unique to Temple, but raising awareness here is a start,” she said. taylor.suzanne.horn@temple.edu

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Professor starts committee for faculty with disabilities The committee will begin by conducting a “census” of the faculty.

By ERIN MORAN & ANH NGUYEN For The Temple News Ken Thurman, a special education professor, noticed that although there were resources and committees in place for some of his fellow faculty members, there were few resources for faculty members with disabilities.

Now, Thurman is the chair of the Committee on Faculty Disabilities Concerns. The committee was formed in December 2015 and is responsible for working to improve inclusivity for faculty members with disabilities and help faculty members make classrooms more comprehensive for students with disabilities.

Before Thurman initiated the new committee, there was no similar group to advocate for faculty members with disabilities, despite existing demand.

In 2014, Jeremy Schipper, a He-

brew Bible professor, wrote an editorial about the importance of disability awareness in The Faculty Herald, the newsletter for the Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate is comprised of faculty members from 11 schools and colleges who can voice their visions for Temple and “[act] as advisors to the administration and the Board of Trustees,” according to its mission statement.

“In university culture, we often think of disability as relevant only to matters of accommodations and services for our students, staff, and faculty with disabilities instead of an important aspect of identity and diversity on campus,” he wrote. “Nevertheless, disability is not only related to these very important matters, but also to critically understanding our notions of the self, others, and community as we engage both the people and the texts that play a fundamental role in a liberal arts education at Temple University.”

Thurman recognized that need for awareness and started the committee the following year.

“There was already a Committee on the Status of Women and Faculty

LGBTQ Issues, but none for the disabled,” Thurman said. “So I initiated the establishment of the Committee on Faculty Disabilities Concerns with hopes that we reach out to and assist both Temple faculty and students with disabilities.”

The committee is the newest of the Faculty Senate’s 20 committees.

Thurman said the committee spent most of its first year collecting data to understand the scope and problems facing faculty members with disabilities.

“We’re not even aware of the number of people at Temple, especially on faculty, who live with disabilities,” he said. “Many may not want to disclose that for fear of people discriminating against them, so there’s sort of a Catch-22 legally in that if you want services, you have to disclose, but there’s a potential cost in doing that.”

This semester, the committee’s main goal is to issue a survey to faculty members to create a “census” of how many people at Temple have disabilities so the committee can cater more directly to their needs.

Faculty Senate committees have

advised the Board of Trustees on matters like restructuring the General Education Program, improving community relationships and creating transparency in the university’s budget.

Thurman said his committee still has work to do, but before the committee starts to advocate for faculty members with disabilities, it first must understand their needs.

Outside of the Faculty Senate, Mark Salzer, director of the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion of Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities, supports the initiative to raise awareness for faculty disability concerns, especially mental health concerns.

“When faculty feels discriminated against because of their mental health, students are guaranteed to feel the same way,” he said.

“In general, in any type of employment setting, the first reason for providing people with support is from a civil rights perspective,” he added. “There are legal perspectives, but supports are also helpful just to make sure we have a diverse faculty, a faculty from a variety of different

backgrounds who are able to be employed.”

“We want those people with great skills and experiences and backgrounds to be a part of our university,” he added, “so supports and resources are necessary in making sure that happens.”

Salzer said an important way to ensure faculty members are supported is to make them aware that resources and committees exist. Most universities don’t do enough to raise awareness for faculty members, he said, and in the future, he would like to see more public statements that the university supports both students and faculty with disabilities.

“Of course these resources are important, that is from a broad university standpoint,” Salzer said. “But from an individual person’s perspective, these resources are critical to enable these people to be a part of the university and contribute in their own unique way.” features@temple-news.com

Alumnae ‘forge’ empowerment through jewelry, metalsmithing Forge & Finish’s latest jewelry work “Men’et,” is the company’s first high-end collection.

By MEGHAN COSTA For The Temple News For 2013 jewelry design and metalsmithing alumna Carly Mayer, hammers, anvils, fire and metal are the tools necessary for her trade — and for her sense of empowerment.

Mayer works alongside her friends Emily Kane, a 2008 sculpture and painting alumna, and Desiree Casimiro, a 2007 broadcasting, telecommunications and mass media alumna, at their studio on the corner of Coral and East Hagert streets in Kensington. The three artists create jewelry for their business Forge & Finish, which launched in 2015.

The three friends said they started their business after realizing they could advance a brand much faster if they worked together, rather than trying to promote their own personal brands by themselves. Their jewelry is now featured in independent boutiques throughout Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Missouri, and they also sell their jewelry on their

website.

Forge & Finish’s latest jewelry collection was released in November 2016. While designing jewelry for the collection, Mayer, Casimiro and Kane realized that some of their pieces resembled hieroglyphics. After researching ancient Egyptian culture, they learned that women were treated as equals in ancient Egyptian society.

Casimiro said this inspired them to name the collection after the Egyptian feline goddess Men’et, as a tribute to ancient Egypt’s progressive ideas.

Men’et is the company’s first high-end jewelry collection, available exclusively on their website. The jewelry is made with topaz and tourmaline, and can be ordered in 14-karat gold.

Mayer left Tyler in 2009 and returned in 2013 to complete her degree. She said it took her longer to graduate from Tyler because she disliked most of the jewelry design program at the time. She said she did learn many valuable skills from newer adjunct professors, like jewelry and industrial design professor Doug Bucci.

“Even though I was not always a three-dimensional artist, I’ve always been very physical and very touchy, ” Mayer said.

Mayer decided to major in jewelry, design

and metalsmithing after taking a sculpture class taught by Jude Tallichet, the department head.

Tallichet, who has taught at Tyler since 1987, said misogyny is normalized in today’s society, but artists can “resist and fight back” through their work. She added that art itself is “inherently political, especially in times of government and institutional threat to individual liberties.”

“Bringing ideas into the world through a fusion of thought and craft is, I think, one of the more life-affirming actions any person can take,” Tallichet added.

Although Casimiro did not attend art school, Kane and Mayer said she has always been an artist. Casimiro learned how to make jewelry as an apprentice under Mayer.

“Desiree has always had a drive and a want to make things,” Kane said. She added that Casimiro had many creative hobbies growing up, like photography, piano and dance.

Casimiro said that in the early days of Forge & Finish, the three of them sacrificed their “better health” for the business. They each had day jobs, but they would come to the studio after work every day to work on jewelry, sometimes until 1 or 2 a.m.

“I make stuff because I have to,” Mayer said.

“I can’t live my life at a desk job. If I wanted to do that I’d be making a lot more money, but this is a labor of love.” meghan.caroline.costa@temple.edu

MEGHAN COSTA FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Left: Alumnae Emily Kane, Desiree Casimiro and Carly Mayer embrace Mayer’s dog, Voltaire, in their studio on the corner of Coral and East Hagert streets in Kensington. Right: Two collections on display at Forge & Finish’s studio include the Python and Men’et collections.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS

‘Winter Jawn’ show brings alt-rock to South Philly Concert goers gave out extra tickets before heading into the Radio 104.5 Winter Jawn 2017 on Sunday. The city’s alternative rock radio station curates an annual outdoor music festival at Xfinity Live in South Philadelphia each January, offering all available tickets free of charge.

Jason Roy, the entertainment director of the venue, said Xfinity Live has the capacity to hold nearly 9,000 concertgoers. The all-ages event had an alternative rock lineup this year. On the second stage, Run River North, LP and Philadelphia-based group Civil Youth started the day off. The bands on the main stage included Andorra, Judah and the Lion, Capital Cities, Phantogram and headliners, Grouplove.

The performance at Winter Jawn is Grouplove’s third time in Philadelphia in recent months. After a sold-out show at the Fillmore in Fishtown on their “Big Mess” tour in early November, Grouplove visited the Radio 104.5 station for a studio session on Nov. 8.

“We’re so happy to be back here in the city of brotherly love,” said Christian Zucconi, the band’s guitarist and vocalist, addressing the crowd before playing “Itching on a Photograph” off the band’s 2011 debut album, “Never Trust A Happy Song.” “Thanks for coming back again, so many times.”

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VLOGGER the basketball home opener and the conference championship football game. So far, with more than 1,700 views, his most popular vlog was his “in-game experience” video about the men’s basketball game against La Salle on Nov. 11.

Kane started making daily vlogs to “keep making new things” and to hold himself accountable to make new content every day. Even before he began vlogging for Temple, he consistently made videos about his life in college, often featuring his roommate, Keaton Tauer, a freshman pre-pharmacy student. With both his Temple vlog and his personal channel, he hopes to give his audience an authentic look into college life. “[As a prospective student], I actually looked up to see if there was anyone that made videos at Temple because I just wanted to see what it was like on campus,” he said. “To go on the website and see what the website shows is one thing, but to see what a student has put on the Internet about their school is a lot less filtered.” features@temple-news.com

Gina Benigno, the video production manager for the university’s strategic marketing, and a 2012 journalism alumna, is Kane’s supervisor. She said she is constantly experimenting with different ways to use video on Temple’s social media.

“A big critical part of telling the Temple story is through our student body, so we ask ourselves, ‘What are college-age students watching on YouTube?’” she said. “A lot of students in high school and college are vlogging and watching vloggers, so

this is a more real way to use video for students to find it more authentic.”

“He goes out, he shoots and he turns it around for us pretty quickly,” she added. “We’re here just to support him. It seems to be working really well and I think the reason why

is because it’s giving students a voice and it’s making it that much more relatable. He’s a real student who is just honestly sharing his experiences here, and hopefully he will professionally take something away from this.”

This semester, Kane will continue to create vlogs and hopes to use the “new toy” he got for Christmas — an electric skateboard — to move more quickly around campus and create a tour video for prospective students.

“I’m not sure what else the new semester’s going to bring, but I’ll probably end up in Philly just going to get cheesesteaks and stuff and showing the parts about Temple that students or prospective students would want to see,” he said. “People want to see what they’re getting into.”

“I just want to entertain people,” he added. “I want people to see my videos and want to watch them. This is just another way to get my videos out there for more people to see. I’m glad that I can work with my own school to do that, especially as a freshman.” erin.moran@temple.edu

COURTESY BRANDON KANE Freshman film and media arts major Brandon Kane has become the first student vlogger at Temple, and he makes weekly YouTube videos that document his experiences as a student.

@ernmrntweets

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

F E AT U R E S

Senior cheers for Philadelphia Eagles The senior has performed in all 10 of the preseason and regular-season home games.

By ALEXIS ANDERSON For The Temple News Out of 60 finalists competing at the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders final audition in April 2016, Jillian Darrah was one of 35 hopefuls whose dream of becoming a Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleader was realized.

Darrah, a senior middle school math and science education major, has been cheerleading for most of her life.

“My mom was a cheerleader when she was a kid and all through high school, so my mom was actually my first cheer coach when I was 4 years old,” Darrah said. “I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of boys, so I was always going to their football games and cheering them on.”

She cheered in middle and high school, before spending three years with the Temple White Squad, which cheers for men’s and women’s home basketball games.

Since becoming an Eagles cheerleader, Darrah has performed at all 10 of the preseason and regular season home games, the last being the team’s win against the Dallas Cowboys on New Year’s Day. “The first Eagles game [I cheered at] was beyond exciting,” Darrah said.

“Going from the basketball court to the football field was a huge difference, and there were obviously way more fans. The best thing is when you see kids up in the stands and they’re so excited when you wave to them.”

In addition to cheering at the Eagles’ home games, the Eagles Cheerleaders make appearances at fundraisers, community events and corporate gatherings.

One memorable community event Darrah took part in was the 20th Annual Eagles Playground Build in May. Football players, coaches, cheerleaders and staff of the Eagles teamed up with the Mural Arts Program to build a playground and paint a mural at Hamilton Disston Elementary School in Tacony.

“That was an incredible opportunity because all the kids at the school also had a chance to help paint the mural,” Darrah said. “They could not have been more grateful for the Eagles to come to their school.”

Darrah first auditioned for the Eagles Cheerleading Squad during the spring of her sophomore year. After the open call audition, she moved on to the semi-final elimination and the interview rounds, but was cut at the final audition show.

Nicole Tovey, the head coach of Temple cheerleading, said Darrah was always tenacious during her three years on the White Squad. “[Darrah is] not one to give up or quit, and she worked really hard to get where she was last year,” Tovey said. “A lot of girls would get discouraged, they would kind of be down on their confidence, but not Jill. She just got right back

up and did it again, and she made it.”

Tovey said that while the cheerleaders she coaches at Temple do occasionally try out for the Eagles’ squad, they rarely make the team. Still, she wasn’t surprised when Darrah did, because she “is the epitome of a professional cheerleader.”

“She’s got a great personality, she’s very bubbly and positive,” Tovey said.

“She’s a great performer, that’s a big part of it too. She’s just a great role model, a great girl and she’s extremely pretty.”

Darrah had a lot of support during both of her auditions. Many of her family members attended her second audition wearing “Team Jillian” T-shirts, and her teammates on the White Squad had a viewing party.

Caroline Lowndes, a junior mechanical engineering major and current White Squad cheerleader, said she and her teammates chanted “Jilly for Philly” as they waited to hear the audition results.

“The whole team was in one room staring at this tiny little computer screen just celebrating,” she added. “We were all freaking out when she made it, we knew she deserved it.”

“My parents and my brother have been my biggest fans,” Darrah said. “They never missed a dance competition or a cheerleading game, and to have them in the stands at the Eagles stadium, I have been incredibly proud and I’m so thankful for them.” alexis.s.anderson@temple.edu

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EVENTS

Tyler gallery to host event for city’s Women’s March Temple Contemporary will host a gathering on Wednesday from 1 to 5 p.m. to create signs for the Women’s March on Philadelphia. Materials including placards, sharpies, glue and newspapers for collaging will be provided, and participants are asked to bring cutting tools.

The Women’s March on Philadelphia is one of the sister events to the larger Women’s March on Washington, D.C. Both marches will be held on Saturday, the day after the presidential inauguration. The Philadelphia march will start at Logan Square and will be followed by a rally at Eakins Oval.

-Ian Walker

Jazz cafe show in TPAC to feature several alumni On Thursday, the Temple Performing Arts Center will host “The Rite of Swing Jazz Cafe.” Refreshments will be available for purchase while students and faculty from the Boyer College of Music and Dance perform from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m in the TPAC lobby.

The lineup includes 2014 Boyer alumnus Chris Oatts on alto saxophone, 2012 Boyer alumnus and adjunct professor Tim Brey on piano, 2009 Boyer alumnus Justin Sekelewski on bass and 2007 Boyer alumnus Matt Scarano on drums. TPAC plans on hosting the jazz cafe again on select Thursdays throughout this semester.

-Meghan Costa

Week two of Paris Festival begins Thursday On Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m., the Philadelphia Orchestra will perform the second of its three Paris Festival programs at Verizon Hall. Tickets start at $36 per person.

The second program of the Paris Festival will feature Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with a solo performance by pianist and Chopin-specialist Louis Lortie. Conductor and Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick NézetSéguin, focused this program on expatriate composers who both lived and worked in Paris.

-Alexis Anderson

COURTESY BARBARA ZAUN Former Temple cheerleader Jillian Darrah joined the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleading squad in April 2016 and has since performed at all 10 preseason and regular-season home games.

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GALLERY the artists.

“Personally for me, the way that I like to participate in shows is when the imagery isn’t dictated by a theme.”

Although the exhibit is mostly paintings, it also includes ceramics and sculptures.

Dedecker said based on the amount of wall space in the gallery, he felt more comfortable with curating more paintings.

“I knew that from the get-go because I was familiar with the space,” he said, “It was mainly painting because I primarily paint and I wanted to see paintings, talk about paintings and hopefully bring painters here.”

The name of the exhibit, “Ocotillo,” comes from his roots as an Arizona native. An ocotillo is a large, cactus-like desert shrub and he had one in his childhood home backyard.

“It’s this plant that spreads out and when it rains it quickly grows these fourcentimeter leaflets,” Dedecker said. “I just could see that in my brain and have it be a part of this large group show, expanding and sort of giving it an opportunity

to grow.”

Dedecker said he also faced the issue that his opening reception is Jan. 20, the day of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Several local galleries are closing for the day in protest of his inauguration.

But Dedecker said he feels people should be showing their work to protest, rather than having a day of silence.

“I feel like having this show with a lot of people will bring a lot of artists together,” he said. “People want to actually talk about things because the whole idea about art is not just to talk about the work, but to see what other sort of conversations diverge from the individual pieces.”

Although the exhibit is not thematically curated, Dedecker said his own artistic interests and influences, like usage of color, cartoons and comics, played a role in his decisions.

Some of the artists include New York-based David Humphrey, Don Pablo Pedro and Tyler professors Matthew Sepielli, Susan Moore and Marilyn Holsing.

Sepielli, a painting professor, will display his 16-by-20-inch oil-on-canvas painting, “Cluster.” The abstract painting references science fiction, he said.

“It is very layered,” Sepielli said. “I

have been thinking a lot about science fiction and how people develop ideas in science fiction, and that seemed to me to be like a parallel to how artists develop ideas.”

He added that the large exhibit will increase dialogue and give notice to the Tyler School of Art. “Those artists have a reason, coming internationally, even more of a reason to learn about Tyler,” Sepielli said. “It basically creates a network. You find an artist you like in Stockholm and you wonder who the artist is regularly showing with and it gives students and faculty opportunities to do research on the artists we are showing alongside.”

Dedecker added that the exhibit was an “experiment” for future large shows he may curate.

“I think it is really just to develop relationships between the work and to do a large show is to really dive into painting and talk about painting,” he said. “It is not even to make connections between the works, it’s just to see them as a whole.” emily.ivy.scott@temple.edu @emilyivyscott

Last week to visit 2 exhibits at art museum This Sunday is the last day to visit “Threads of Tradition” and “Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage,” two exhibits at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage” displays the design of colorful patterns of Vlisco, a Dutch textile company that is popular in west and central Africa.

“Threads of Tradition” highlights the techniques used to make African patterns. Both exhibits opened in April and are shown at the museum’s Perelman Building near Fairmount and Pennsylvania avenues.

Tickets can be purchased on the museum’s website and they’re open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Monday.

-Grace Shallow

Alumnus discusses covering war and conflict On Monday, 1970 journalism and African studies alumnus David Wood will host a talk and Q&A session from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Annenberg Hall atrium about his experience reporting about war and conflict for more than 35 years in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He will discuss how he thinks soldiers suffer from moral injury, an idea driven by his second book, “What Have We Done: The Moral Injury of Our Longest Wars.”

Wood won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for his work for the Huffington Post in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also worked at Time Magazine, the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun. -Grace Shallow features@temple-news.com

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EXHIBIT

“Has the Philadelphia soda tax affected you?”

ALICE HAKVAAG Sophomore Theater

During the opening reception on Jan. 6, the tiny space overflowed with visitors and work from more than 70 artists. Each piece focused on women’s issues in some way, ranging from body image to reproductive health. The exhibit will end on Jan. 31.

Torres, a survivor of childhood homelessness and sexual abuse, has been using photography as an outlet since she was a teenager. “Freedom” was the first of many political pieces.

As the photograph headed to a UNICEF exhibit in Italy, Torres began to travel with her art, observing the struggles women shared worldwide.

“We’re all trying to, somehow, put our foot down on the ground,” Torres said.

Torres’ collage in the exhibit includes a policeman — a reminder, she said, of ongoing police brutality — as well as an image of a white woman, reminiscent of the 1950s, accented with the word “privileged.” “Poderosa,” the feminine Spanish expression for powerful, graces the work as Torres’ nod to the immigrant community.

“I think that this whole election has been a wake-up call that kind of pushed me to try to be more active politically, because that’s the only way that we can see some change,” said Lil-

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 lian Ham, a junior psychology student who has artwork shown at the gallery.

While Ham’s work has not always been politically charged, that changed when she created the painting “Murdering the Modern Woman.” The piece displays figure drawings of a woman’s head, body and pair of hands, making a statement on women’s healthcare, Ham said. The day before the exhibit opened, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said the GOP would work to take away Planned Parenthood’s federal funding.

“People are actively trying to control the reproductive rights of women, trying to defund Planned Parenthood,” Ham said. “It was kind of upsetting to me that the voices of women who were protesting and who these policies were directly affecting were not being heard.”

Iridescent gold paint poured from the mouth and eyes of the head in Ham’s painting as a representation, Ham said, of women protesting, organizing and dissenting.

For Christy O’Connor and Andrea D’Alessandro, the curators of the exhibit, the goal was empowerment.

“Women are generally underrepresented in the art industry to begin with, and the fact that we’ve pulled all these women in for this statement of this show I think is strong in itself,” O’Connor said.

“So it’s not only a self-empower-

ing thing, but it’s also like empowering women to band together too and show their strength in numbers,” she added.

A mannequin stood in the center of the gallery draped in a bubblegumpink wig and a coat of lime green paint. A pair of headphones dangled from one of its shiny hands, offering listeners a loop of phrases that President-elect Donald Trump has directed at women.

“You can do anything ... grab them by the pussy,” Trump’s voice crackled through the headphones.

O’Connor, the artist behind the mannequin, said her work doesn’t usually get political.

That changed three months ago during the final presidential debate in October.

When Trump referred to his opponent Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman,” O’Connor’s first instinct was to write a Facebook rant. Instead, she created an open art call for fellow female artists that evolved into the current exhibition.

“I hope when people go up to that show, they feel all those emotions and they feel inspired to actually take a stand,” Torres said. “If it’s women, I hope they come out of there feeling like they’re not alone.” angela.gervasi@temple.edu @AngGervasi

I don’t drink soda, so I’m not the one spending the money, but it’s a good idea to me. It’s like if they did that to cigarettes. Either people are willing to pay the money because people are going to keep buying soda obviously, so they get the money, or you’re encouraging a healthier lifestyle I guess. So it’s perfectly fine to me.

JOHN YASAY Freshman Biology

GENEVA HEFFERNAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS Sara Davis Buechner, a piano professor, smiles at the audience in Rock Hall prior to her recital on Nov. 17.

I know with the soda tax you have to pay $6 now at some of the Halal trucks especially. Now it’s $6, but without soda it’s $5. So I’m like, ‘Eh, no soda, no soda.’ I knew about [the soda tax] but I didn’t know when it was going to come into effect. I definitely won’t buy soda for $6, I’ll probably just pay for my meal and get water with it.

ALEX GOLDSTEIN Sophomore Management Information Systems

I had to buy soda from home and bring it here. I’m from New Jersey. It wasn’t a big deal, but I just realized I should buy it there instead of here. I think [the tax] is a good thing because overall people need to stop drinking as much soda as they do, but it also could be an issue because a lot of people will drink it anyway, so it would be positive for the government to get that money anyway.

features@temple-news.com

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BUECHNER cheered like crazy,” Buechner said.

“They thought that was about the best thing they’d ever seen.”

The most troubling parts of her career began in 1998, when she officially transitioned from a man to a woman, and David became Sara — the name of an imaginary friend Buechner had as a child, she said. She lost her job at a conservatory in New York and began teaching at Amadeus Conservatory in Chappaqua, New York, playing only a few concerts per year.

Buechner said she always knew the gender assigned to her at birth wasn’t her true identity, similar to the way she was always intrigued by the piano.

She played jacks and dolls with other girls at school as she got older.

She loved baseball, but preferred to watch on the sidelines rather than play. The disconnect was always there, but she didn’t know resources for transgender people existed until she read books about transitioning during her early 30s.

“I just didn’t realize there were other people [like me],” Buechner said.

“At a certain point, I allowed myself to be who I am and gradually learned to accept and love myself.”

Accepting her own identity didn’t mean outsiders would follow suit. Her

immediate family was “horrified.”

When she attempted to legally change her name to Sara at court in Manhattan, the clerks pointed and laughed. A therapist she was working with wouldn’t allow Buechner to start hormone therapy because the pianist had too much at stake professionally.

“What do you have to lose if you can’t be who you are? Everything.

Your life,” Buechner said.

She sought acceptance in Vancouver, Canada, where her “true persona, not new persona” was welcomed, she said. She started teaching at the University of British Columbia and married musician Kayoko Segawa, whom she met in Japan more than 20 years ago. This year, the couple will celebrate their 12th anniversary.

Sophomore piano performance major Evelyn Tjiandri was a student of Buechner’s at the University of British Columbia. When she heard Dr. B, as she calls her, was coming to Temple, she transferred to accompany her.

She said her parents were shocked when she told them her plans, but she was stubborn.

Tjiandri said in her home country of Indonesia, teachers are focused on technicalities like how fast a student’s fingers can move, but Buechner doesn’t follow that same teaching style.

“We should not lose our own integrity as pianists,” Tjiandri said.

“That’s what I get from her.”

Buechner’s restlessness is what

landed her in Philadelphia after 13 years of living in Canada — as well as an open position at the university.

As a new faculty member, she purchased a copy of Russell Conwell’s “Acres of Diamonds” speech. But the founder’s vision of equal access to education wasn’t the deciding factor.

It was the food trucks.

“A fabulous array of trash and junk, I love it,” she said. “That’s America, isn’t it?”

As she sat in her apartment near 17th and Walnut streets, Buechner wondered out loud about the big and small compromises that people make, whether it be a job, marriage or coming out.

She said transitioning showed her the good and bad of humanity. One of the lessons that stood out the most was humans’ hatred for complication on any scale.

The next day, she applied makeup and put on a red dress for a performance in New York to make others feel more comfortable. But that night, wearing no makeup and layers of thick, downy clothing, she said she felt comfortable as herself.

“To me, complications of culture and language and color and all those things make the word really wonderful,” Buechner said. grace.shallow@temple.edu @grace_shallow

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

S P O RT S

SPORTS BRIEFS

Continued from Page 16

ROBBINS lege experience. He wanted to be entirely focused on basketball Robbins didn’t paint at all in the fall semester. He wasn’t himself. He picked up the brush again during winter break and said he felt less stressed and more free on the basketball court.

Robbins’ best scoring game came before winter break on Dec. 10 when he scored a career-high eight points against DePaul University, but he had a careerhigh three assists in 14 minutes against Central Florida on Dec. 31.

“I think the balance of both of them is what keeps me at my best on the court,” he said.

Robbins and his older brother Greg both played basketball at Lower Merion High School. Mike had a three-year varsity career, which included leading the Aces in scoring in the 2012 state championship.

When former Owls assistant coach Dwayne Killings told Robbins he had to switch from the No. 11 he wore in his first season, Robbins chose No. 22, the number Greg wore in high school and his four years at the University of Richmond and the number his dad Carl wore when he played at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1960s.

Unlike Greg, who graduated as Lower Merion’s second all-time leading scorer behind 18-time NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant, Mike wasn’t signed out of high school.

St. John’s University in Queens, New York was the only school Robbins applied to out of high school and only because he received an email that allowed him to apply without writing an essay, he said. He spent one semester there, sharing a room with his best friend, but wasn’t sure what he wanted to pursue academically.

He returned to Philadelphia to take a semester off, then he took classes at the Community College of Philadelphia in Summer and Fall 2013 before enrolling at Temple in Spring 2014.

Before he tried out for the basketball team in the following semester, Robbins worked the night shift at a hookah bar near Villanova’s campus in Spring and Summer 2014. From about 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. he prepared hookahs and cleaned the bathrooms.

“I kind of felt normal when I was

PAGE 13

FOOTBALL

Collins’ chopper touches down at high schools

COURTESY RICH BURG/TEMPLE FOOTBALL Football coach Geoff Collins used a helicopter to visit recruits.

BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS An old basketball shoe holds paint brushes in senior guard Mike Robbins’ bedroom studio.

working there, like I wasn’t anybody special,” Robbins said. “And then once I made the team, it was like I was living the dream.”

Robbins loved to draw in middle school, but decided he wanted to paint when he made the Owls’ roster.

“I went from not playing basketball to being a Division I athlete,” he said. “I kind of felt like anything was possible in all aspects of my life. ... I said, ‘Why not go to the next level?’ Because I felt like painting was the ultimate proof that you’re an artist.

So I wanted to take my drawings from my notebooks onto canvases and see if I could really be an artist as well.”

Robbins is an accounting major and said he’ll likely get an accounting job and paint on the side once he graduates. He said he wants to turn his paintings into a source of income between season’s end and graduation.

He has plenty of family members to ask for help when he needs it. Two of his cousins are artists, one in fibers and knitting and the other in painting, illustration and graphic design, and his half sister Trilby is a painter.

But he leans on his 30-year-old sister Lindsay, who learned how to weave at the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers and is a 2012 printmaking alumna of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She

was working at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, New York until she moved back to West Philadelphia last month. She now teaches after-school sewing classes at Butcher’s Sew Shop in Center City.

Lindsay is Mike’s “professor,” who answers his technical questions like how to make earth-toned browns and helps with the perspective on figures in his work, like a person’s hand. She said Mike doesn’t ask much about subject matter, which often includes Black identity that comes from being mixed race.

Mike Robbins the painter is “more vulnerable” and “in tune with his surroundings,” while Mike Robbins the basketball player is “a jock” who is “likable,” “sociable” and “does what he’s supposed to do.” Both coexist within the same person.

“I’m like so impressed that he’s been able to find the balance between the both and still make time for things that mean the most to him, which is like going home and painting after he’s been practicing forever and lifting weights and all that,” Lindsay said. “It’s kind of crazy that he’s able to find that balance but he does completely.” evan.easterling@temple.edu @Evan_Easterling

Coach Geoff Collins came to Temple with a reputation for recruiting. When he was the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State University, he sent recruits drawings and handwritten notes with messages like, “You’re a baller.”

He was a second-hand witness to Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin’s use of the “Swaggercopter,” a helicopter paid for by a university donor that Sumlin flew to high schools as part of a recruiting tour.

Last week, Collins and his staff toured several area high schools in a helicopter to open the recruiting season.

Use of the helicopter was offered by a university donor.

The recruiting staff took off from Chodoff Field and stopped at high schools like Neshaminy in Bucks County and as far as Manheim Township in Lancaster County.

The helicopter wasn’t the only transportation the staff used for recruiting. Recruiting Coordinator EJ Barthel tweeted out a picture of a line of sleek black SUVs the coaches used to visit recruits.

Collins and his staff currently have 17 commitments for the 2017 recruiting class, including Florida quarterback Todd Centeio, who is rated as a three-star recruit by Rivals. com. Recruits can officially sign their National Letters of Intent during National Signing Day on Feb. 1.

-Owen McCue MEN’S BASKETBALL

Chaney inducted into new Philly hall of fame The Philadelphia Black Basketball Hall of Fame inducted its inaugural class on Dec. 26 and three former members of the Temple basketball program were part of it, the Philadelphia Tribune reported.

Among the 18 inductees was former Temple men’s basketball coach John Chaney, who coached the Owls from 1982-2006. He won 516 games in 24 seasons at Temple, leading his teams to the NCAA tournament 17 times.

Former Temple players Guy Rodgers and Hal Lear were also inducted. Rodgers and Lear played together in the 1950s and are both members of the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame.

Current men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy presented at the ceremony.

-Owen McCue MEN’S TENNIS

Kapshuk ranked among best in the region Sophomore Artem Kapshuk is ranked No. 17 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I Atlantic Regional Rankings.

Kapshuk posted a 22-7 record last year, tying his classmate Uladzimir Dorash for second most wins as a freshman. He advanced to the Round of 16 at the ITA Regional Championships in the fall.

-Evan Easterling MEN’S SOCCER

GENEVA HEFFERNAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior guard Donnaizha Fountain prepares to drive to the net in the second half of the Owls’ 78-47 win against East Carolina Wednesday.

Continued from Page 16

STREAK head up,” Fitzgerald said. “My teammates really do the rest, they make the shots when I give them the ball.”

In the midst of their winning streak, the Owls have achieved several milestones.

Junior guard Alliya Butts made her 172nd career 3-pointer on Dec. 22 against Fairfield University to break Temple’s alltime record. In the team’s next game, an overtime win against Memphis, Cardoza won her 173rd career game to pass Dawn Staley for first place on the Owls’ all-time wins list.

One week later, Atkinson joined Butts and Fitzgerald as members of the 1,000-point club with a layup against Tulane. The most recent record fell on Wednesday against East Carolina. Fitzgerald’s first assist of the night gave her sole possession of the Owls’ all-time assists record.

The Owls have been blowing out opponents in their streak. They have won seven of the nine games by double digits, and three by at least 30 points. These margins of victory have pushed Temple to the 44th best scoring margin in Division I. The Owls are outscoring opponents by an average of 12.3 points per game.

The only two teams in The American

with better scoring margins than Temple are South Florida and Connecticut, which is ranked No. 1 and on a historic 91-game winning streak, beating a stretch of 90 wins by the Huskies from 2008-10 for the most consecutive wins in Division I history. Both teams are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.

Temple will play both teams in two straight home games on Jan. 29 and Feb. 1. kevinschaeffer@temple.edu @_kevinschaeffer

Conference has 5 players drafted to MLS teams Five players from the American Athletic Conference heard their names called on Friday in the first and second rounds of the MLS SuperDraft in Los Angeles.

Two players from Connecticut got selected in the first round for the fourth time in school history, increasing the school’s number of drafted players to 36 since the league began in 1997. Jake Nerwinski, a two-time firstteam all conference defender, was taken by the Vancouver Whitecaps with the seventh pick. Midfielder Kwame Awuah got selected by New York City FC with the 16th pick.

Two players from South Florida and one from Tulsa got selected in the second round. The San Jose Earthquakes took South Florida midfielder Lindo Mfeka with the 28th pick. His teammate, forward Marcus Epps, was selected by the Philadelphia Union three picks earlier. Tulsa goalkeeper Jake McGuire was the final pick from The American, selected with the 30th pick by the Houston Dynamo.

-Evan Easterling sports@temple-news.com

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

Continued from Page 16

MLS the MLS era. Midfielder Tony Donatelli was the last Temple player drafted when he was selected in the supplemental draft in 2006.

“All the players are nervous because you don’t know the future,” Gomez Sanchez said.

“Being in the combine doesn’t mean you have to be drafted.”

Gomez Sanchez felt his goal during the combine made a good initial impression with the scouts. He wanted to project that he would be a reliable goal scorer at the professional level.

All the players are nervous because you don’t know the future. Being in the combine doesn’t mean you have to be drafted.

Jorge Gomez Sanchez Senior forward

“I think the biggest advantage will be that I am a goal scorer,” Gomez Sanchez said. “If you can have the numbers, if you have guys that can score goals, then it gives you an advantage.”

If scouts aren’t convinced of Gomez Sanchez’s scoring prowess after his combine performance, his stats while playing as an Owl will help. The forward finished his two years at Temple with 27 goals, which ties him for fifth in Temple’s all-time records.

In 2016, Gomez Sanchez accounted for more than half of Temple’s points with 31 points.

Gomez Sanchez was also among the Division I leaders in goals and goals per game throughout the season, finishing tied for seventh in goals.

“I think I can compete there and I think I’m on a good level,” Gomez Sanchez said. “I can compete with all them and I feel good. I’m happy with the opportunity to turn this into a pro career.”

GENEVA HEEFERNAN FILE PHOTO Senior midfielder Jorge Gomez Sanchez dribbles ball in Owls’ 3-2 overtime loss against Drexel University at Vidas Athletic Complex on Sept. 13, 2016.

Once Gomez Sanchez made it back to his hometown of Talavera De La Reina, Spain after the semester ended, he trained with his brother, Guillermo. The two often ran together.

Having the opportunity to be drafted in the United States means Gomez Sanchez would have to leave his home country behind, but he’s willing to do it.

“I have my family, I have a girlfriend there, it’s really hard for me to leave them there,” Gomez Sanchez said. “But I might have the opportunity to bring some of my family here, so I

don’t lose much, and I think it’s a great opportunity.”

If Temple sends Gomez Sanchez to the MLS, it could potentially help its soccer program, especially from a recruiting standpoint.

“When kids are coming out of high school, they look for a place with good players and it would be a great thing for Temple having a guy who can play professionally,” Gomez Sanchez said.

Gomez Sanchez hopes to stay involved with Temple soccer and wants to remain on the

East Coast if possible, so he is a little closer to Spain. But when it comes down to it, he won’t be too picky.

“I don’t know which team will choose me,” Gomez Sanchez said. “But I will take it.” maura.razanauskas@temple.edu @CaptainAMAURAca

Continued from Page 1

WOMEN’S TENNIS

BASKETBALL

BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior Alina Abdurakhimova volleys at practice on Jan. 11 at the Legacy Youth Tennis and Education Center.

Owls eye finish near top of conference The team started its spring season with a loss on Saturday.

By GRAHAM FOLEY For The Temple News After a 2016 season in which the Owls finished with a 20-6 overall record, an upperclassman-heavy lineup is ready to aim for the top of the American Athletic Conference.

“We have a very strong team this year,” coach Steve Mauro said. “So if we can finish in the top-two, top-three in the conference it will be great.”

The Owls have already had a bit of experience this season.

In September and October, Temple played in the Princeton Invitational, the Cissie Leary Invitational and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional tournaments. In the Princeton Invitational, Temple won three doubles matches and four singles matches against players from Princeton University and Cornell Universports@temple-news.com

sity. Temple kicked off its spring season on Saturday with a 6-1 loss against Old Dominion University.

The Owls only lost one senior to graduation last year and added two new players.

Cecilia Castelli, a freshman from Vercelli, Italy, is the only underclassman on the squad. Mauro said she is a “very strong player” who will help the team achieve its goals, even though she doesn’t have much Division I experience.

Mauro said Galina Chernykh, a graduate student who transferred from the University of Rhode Island, succeeded in the fall tournaments and is expected to be a major contributor, especially in doubles.

“We’re experimenting with different combinations, but one of the combinations we like is the transfer from Rhode Island and [senior Dina] Karina,” Mauro said. “They played well in the fall.”

Chernykh and Karina are among the seven upperclassmen on the eight-woman roster. Seniors Anais Nussaume and Mariana Bedon will be a doubles pair for the first time since the 2014-15 season when they won two of their three matches. The

pair lost its match 6-3 against Old Dominion.

Junior Alina Abdurakhimova, who has played since her freshman year, should see a lot of time on the court with her fellow Uzbekistani teammate Yana Khon in doubles matches. The two juniors are both from Tashkent, Uzbekistan and played doubles together as freshmen. The pair lost its match 6-2 on Saturday.

“She has the potential to be one of the top players in our conference,” Mauro said of Abdurakhimova.

Mauro hopes the team will be at the top of the conference as well. The Owls will also have plenty of chances to prove themselves as the best team in the area when they take on La Salle, Villanova and the University of Pennsylvania in the spring.

“Last year we had a good year, but I think with the addition of the two players I think we’re working a little more on fitness and consistency,” Mauro said. “I think those are the things that are going to help us do well this year.”

“I think that just comes from the leadership, guys that have been here before and have made that comeback in conference play,” junior forward Obi Enechionyia said. “I think it’s just about leading the freshman and the other guys, letting them know it’s not over. We still have a lot of time.”

The Owls’ season has been a bit unusual in the opponents they’ve lost to and beaten. During its five-game win streak in late November and early December, Temple took down West Virginia University and Florida State University, which are both ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

The Owls also have losses to Connecticut, George Washington University and the University of New Hampshire, which are all ranked outside the top 130 teams in the Ratings Percentage Index.

Aided by their five-game win streak, the Owls came into American Athletic Conference play with a 9-4 mark.

They’re now 10-9 after losing five of their first six conference games.

“We didn’t expect to start off this slow, but like Obi said we have time,” sophomore guard Shizz Alston Jr. said.

“I know last year we put together like six straight wins. I feel like this team can do it now, seeing them play well in non-conference play. I think that we can get on a run now, make a push.”

Before Saturday’s two-point loss, the average scoring

Last year we put together like six straight wins. I feel like this team can do it now. ... I think we can get on a run now, make a push.

Shizz Alston Jr. Sophomore guard

margin in Temple’s conference games was 15.4 points per game. Three of the Owls’ five conference losses have been by 14 or more points. Temple’s only win was a 19-point victory against East Carolina.

Temple only had two double-digit losses in regular season conference play last year, and only three of the team’s 14 wins were by double digits.

Enechionyia said he expects more close games like Saturday as the team closes out its season.

“I’d like to win every game by a huge margin, but that’s not the type of team we are,” Enechionyia said. “It’s going to go down to the wire more times than not. We just have to learn to play with the pressure, pull through with the win.” owen.mccue@temple.edu @Owen_McCue

graham.foley@temple.edu

temple-news.com @TTN_Sports

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PAGE 15

TRACK & FIELD

Late-bloomer McCluskey ready for breakout senior season

GENEVA HEFFERNAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior sprinter and jumper Jimmia McCluskey switched from basketball to track & field as a freshman in high school. She now hopes to compete at the NCAA Championships during her final college season.

After a late start to the sport and an injury-riddled career, she has the NCAA Championship on her mind.

By TESSA SAYERS For The Temple News When she was a freshman in high school, Jimmia McCluskey had a false start in her first race at the conference meet.

“At first I was angry with her for false starting,” said John Mobley, McCluskey’s coach at Aberdeen High School in Maryland. “But then I had to think about the fact that her freshman year, she didn’t start running until the middle of April and it was two weeks before our championship and she had not only qualified, but she was in the finals. That wowed me.”

McCluskey was the first athlete Mobley coached to make the finals after training and competing in an event for only two weeks. He remembers that moment because he knew then that she was someone special.

In 2008, two years before that false start, McCluskey was first encouraged to try out for her school’s track & field team.

“I was playing basketball at the time but the track coaches were like, ‘Oh, you seem fast, you should try out for track,’” McCluskey said. “And from then on I did track.”

At first, she wasn’t sold on the sport. McCluskey didn’t see track & field as a realistic, competitive sport for her until she attended the Junior Olympics with her Amateur Athletic Union team in 2009 and compared her abilities to the other athletes.

Now, in her last season as an Owl, McCluskey is again looking at the possibilities track & field can bring her, this time on a larger scale.

With her eyes set on competing at the 2017 NCAA Championship and setting personal records in all of her events, McCluskey is on the right track. For the first time in her collegiate career, she started the season on the active roster without an injury. McCluskey had to deal with hamstring injuries during her first three years at Temple.

While her body is in good shape, in order to accomplish her goals, McCluskey will have to overcome her mind.

“I knew I was able to do certain things, but sometimes my nerves and confidence would hold me back from actually doing what I knew my standards were and what I could be doing,” McCluskey said. “That is one of the things I’ve been trying to build on over the years.”

In the only meet she’s competed in this sea-

She didn’t start running until the middle of April and it was two weeks before our championship and she had not only qualified, but she was in the finals. That wowed me.

John Mobley Track & Field coach, Aberdeen High School

son, McCluskey got first place in the 60-meter dash and missed her personal record by .03 seconds. That finish has assistant coach Tramaine Ellison excited about what McCluskey could be able to accomplish this season.

“At the meet she competed at she said

something that every coach wants to hear,” Ellison said. “She said she was upset, and I asked, ‘Why?’ And she said because she wanted a chance to run again so she could fix her mistakes. The fact that she knew if she had a chance to run another round that she could have bettered tells me that she is very tuned into her training and she knows where she is in her season.”

In addition to the 60, McCluskey will also compete in the long jump, the 100 meter and the 200 meter for the Owls.

After she graduates, McCluskey plans to pursue a career in recreational therapy and continue to compete in track & field. McCluskey wants to be sure she will be remembered before she leaves.

“I want to make my mark here at Temple,” she said. “I want to have something good next to my name and I want to represent Temple in a good way as far as athleticism and academics.” teresa.sayers@temple.edu

MEN’S TENNIS

Naran visits White House for ‘It’s On Us’ summit The senior spoke on two panels about sexual assault prevention.

By DAN WILSON For The Temple News Senior men’s tennis player Vineet Naran found himself in awe as he walked through the White House.

Naran was there as one of 15 college students selected nationwide to attend and participate in the “It’s On Us” summit at the White House on Jan. 5.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Naran said. “Just to be able to walk around, and then to be able to speak, it’s kind of mind blowing at first.”

The “It’s On Us” initiative was started by Vice President Joe Biden and the Obama administration in 2014. It is an organized effort to take a stand against sexual assault, particularly on college campuses. This year was the first time students were invited to the White House.

Naran, a philosophy major on the pre-med track, was selected based on his prior work with the initiative, including appearances in numerous public service announcement videos.

He also participated in pledge drives at Temple football, basketball and soccer games where he tried to

get people to “take the pledge” by committing themselves to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault, as well as a promise not to be a bystander.

Students who were chosen spoke on different panels about sexual assault.

“During the summit, I spoke on two panels,” Naran said. “The first panel discussed the work Pennsylvania has been doing with the initiative.

My responses focused largely on the student perspective, and what students have been doing with ‘It’s On Us.’” The second panel discussed the prevalence of sexual assault with student athletes in both college and professional sports, and how sports can be used as a platform to stop sexual assault.

“I spoke about my experiences as a student-athlete and how I believe sport can be used to raise awareness of the issue,” Naran said.

When the day was over, the summit participants gathered in a room in anticipation of a special speaker.

Biden surprised Naran and the other students with an appearance.

“I think the coolest part of the experience was to hear Vice President Biden speak,” Naran said. “He mainly talked about how he started his work on this issue over 30 to 40 years ago, and how no women’s group at the

BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior Vineet Naran attended the first “It’s On Us” Summit at the White House earlier this month.

time wanted to join his initiative. He had a lot of passion [when he spoke].”

Along with the students, panel speakers included NCAA coaches and NCAA representatives. One of MLB’s brand managers spoke about the league’s new sexual assault pre-

vention program it puts rookie players through.

“One thing I learned was that we can use the ‘It’s On Us’ Initiative and the knowledge it has brought to us and use that to educate children grades K through 12,” Naran said.

“The education can start early and the goal is to start this education as soon as possible.” danielwilson20@temple.edu

sports@temple-news.com

SPORTS

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Robbins ‘living the dream’ as painter and hoops player The senior found a balance between art and basketball when he transferred to Temple.

By EVAN EASTERLING Assistant Sports Editor

M

ike Robbins’ apartment bedroom looks more like an artist’s studio than a place to sleep.

He has blank canvases in one corner of the room, a section of a wall for unfinished canvases and another section for finished canvases.

He also an easel and two desks, one with paint and another with sketchbooks and notebooks.

“My bed is the thing that just looks like it doesn’t belong,” Robbins said.

When Robbins, now a senior guard on scholarship, joined the Owls as a sophomore walk-on for the 2014-15 season, he painted every day, except for when the team traveled, and he continued to do so last season.

He only had 18 career minutes entering this season but knew he’d have a chance for more playing time. Sophomore guard Trey Lowe was redshirting the season, senior guard Josh Brown was recovering from an Achilles tendon injury and freshman guards Quinton Rose and Alani Moore II didn’t have any colBRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS

ROBBINS | PAGE 13

Senior guard Mike Robbins puts days of work into each of his large, acrylic paintings when he’s not on the court.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Cardoza’s lineup change sends team on 9-game streak The Owls have garnered national attention during their recent win streak.

By KEVIN SCHAEFFER Women’s Basketball Beat Reporter

GENEVA HEFFERNAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS Coach Tonya Cardoza consoles junior guard Alliya Butts in the third quarter of the Owls’ 78-47 win against East Carolina on Wednesday.

After the Owls’ loss to Hampton University on Dec. 7, coach Tonya Cardoza made a lineup change, replacing junior guards Tanaya Atkinson and Khadijah Berger with senior forward Ruth Sherrill and junior guard Donnaizha Fountain in the starting five.

The Owls haven’t lost a game since.

Temple’s offense has been hot in its ninegame win streak, which includes beating a ranked DePaul University squad and four American Athletic Conference wins. The Owls have scored at least 73 points in seven of the games and at least 80 points three times.

Temple is averaging 73.6 points per game

in its streak. Temple received two votes in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

“We’re just taking every game one game at a time,” Cardoza said. “We’re not looking forward to [games against South Florida and Connecticut], we’re not worried about them at all.

We just look at who we are playing next and get focused on that.”

Senior guard Feyonda Fitzgerald took over as the Owls’ predominant ball handler in the team’s first four games in The American. So far in conference play, Fitzgerald is the Owls’ leading scorer with 20 points per game and is setting up her teammates by averaging 8.5 assists per game.

She also recorded a career-high 13 assists on Jan. 8 against Tulane. Fitzgerald is averaging 7.2 assists per game this season, which ranks seventh in Division I. “Whenever my shot isn’t falling I’m always looking for my teammates, I always have my

STREAK | PAGE 13

MEN’S SOCCER

Gomez Sanchez dreams of MLS after combine invite The Spanish forward is hoping to become the third Temple player ever drafted.

By MAURA RAZANAUSKAS Men’s Soccer Beat Reporter Jorge Gomez Sanchez received a lead pass from his teammate, maneuvered around a defender and launched a left-footed shot that found the upper left corner of the goal.

The senior forward scored Team Chaos’ only goal in its 3-1 loss on the first day of the 2017 MLS Player Combine in Los Angeles.

Even though the men’s soccer season is over, Gomez Sanchez can’t get away from the game. The Owls’ leading striker received an invitation to compete for a spot on a professional soccer team. The athletes were split into four teams that played each other, totaling three

games for each team. Scouts and coaches from MLS teams watched and took notes during the games.

“The best part for me has been the first game when I scored a goal,” Gomez Sanchez said. “I played good even though we have lost both games so far. It’s looking good for me so I don’t know what will happen in the next two days, but I’ve been pretty happy with the days I’ve been already here.”

Gomez Sanchez and 73 other college players were selected to participate in the combine with hopes of proving themselves worthy of a selection in the MLS SuperDraft. Gomez Sanchez wasn’t drafted in the first two rounds of the MLS SuperDraft on Friday. The third and fourth rounds will be held on Tuesday at 2 p.m. via conference call.

If he is drafted, Gomez Sanchez will be the third person from Temple to be drafted during

MLS | PAGE 14

HOJUN YU FILE PHOTO Senior midfielder Jorge Gomez Sanchez attempts a volley shot in the second half of Temple’s 3-0 win against Manhattan College on Friday Aug. 26, 2016.

TRACK & FIELD | PAGE 15

WOMEN’S TENNIS | PAGE 14

MEN’S TENNIS | PAGE 15

BRIEFS | PAGE 13

Senior Jimmia McCluskey is aiming for the NCAA Championship to finish out her Temple career.

The Owls started their spring season with a road loss to Old Dominion University on Saturday.

Senior Vineet Naran visited the White House to speak on multiple panels during the “It’s On Us” summit on Jan. 5.

New football coach Geoff Collins used a helicopter to start off the recruiting signing period, other news and notes.