TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017 VOL. 95 ISS. 17
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A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.
University answers calls for rape crisis center with hotline Students can call at any time to receive in-person support on Main Campus. By JULIE CHRISTIE News Editor BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS Protesters rallied at Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday against President Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration and some travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries.
STUDENT’S FAMILY SPLIT AS CLASSMATES PROTEST An executive order limiting immigration led to a student’s family being returned to Syria, while Temple advised nationals from 7 countries to delay traveling. By GILLIAN MCGOLDRICK Assistant News Editor
F
or the past year and a half, junior biology major Joey Assali’s father, Ghassan Assali, left his office every day and headed to a townhouse on 2nd Street in Allentown, Pa. He went there to fix-up the six-person home for his two brothers and their families, who live in Syria. He had hoped the house would be a safe place from the violence of the Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011 and has displaced more than 13 million people. But now it will remain vacant longer than he expected. “[The house] was all set up, it was all ready,” Joey said. “Now, the house is just sitting there, empty still.” For more than 13 years, Joey’s extended family had been trying to move to the United States, where his immediate family has lived for his whole life. They began their paperwork for
BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior biology major Joey Assali displays hand-made signs from the Philadelphia International Airport protest on Sunday in the window of his offcampus apartment. Members of his family were detained at the Philadelphia airport, then sent back to Syria on Saturday.
visas and green cards in 2003. But when they landed at Philadelphia International Airport on Saturday, they were detained for three hours. Then, they were sent back on a plane to Doha, Qatar. Assali’s two uncles, two aunts and two cousins were sent back because of President Donald Trump’s executive order “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals” that was signed on Friday. The order prohibits people
AIRPORT | PAGE 6
Women Organized Against Rape, a Philadelphiabased sexual violence crisis center, will open a satellite office on Main Campus on Wednesday to provide 24hour support to survivors of sexual assault and sexual violence, the university announced Tuesday. The service will act as a third party not associated with Temple, where students can report incidents of sexual assault. The location of the office will not be released to prevent students from being targeted or revealing that they have sought out services, said Kelly Dawson, Temple Student Government’s vice president of Internal Services. Instead, students who call the office’s hotline can request an in-person meeting with a trained WOAR representative on Main Campus, at any time, and any day. Dawson acted as a liaison between Temple’s administration and students. When she spoke to administrators about what students wanted, Dawson said the university was already working on creating a center. Concerns about sexual assault resources came up dur-
ing last year’s TSG elections. “For a while, for students, we found through the [Presidential Committee on Sexual Misconduct] that students were asking for something,” said Andrea Seiss, Temple’s Title IX coordinator. “Whether it be a rape crisis center to be on campus or for there to be 24/7 availability of someone who could work with students who are struggling, especially with issues involving sexual violence and dating violence.” Seiss is responsible for ensuring the university complies with Title IX’s stipulations and requirements, which prohibit federally funded education programs from sexual discrimination. She also leads investigations of Title IX complaints. “There can be concerns about the politics of accusing someone,” Dawson said. “It’s important that Temple create a third party.” When students call the WOAR hotline, they will be given access to all of the university’s resources, but WOAR will not release students’ personal information to Temple, Seiss said. “[WOAR] will provide aggregate data,” she added. “They might let [Temple] know they met with 10 students over a one-month period. They’ll let me know if have any type of data that’s useful for patterns.” WOAR has always had some form of partnership with Temple, said Monique
WOAR | PAGE 3
Replacement for South Florida snaps Owls’ win streak Blackboard tested WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Three meetings allowed students to test a new software that could replace Blackboard this summer. By AMANDA LIEN TSG Beat Reporter Computer Services held three town hall-style meetings at Kiva Auditorium between Ritter Hall and Ritter Annex last Wednesday to get feedback on whether the university should switch from Blackboard to Canvas. The meetings included presentations to students, faculty and administration about Canvas, a learning management system for teachers and students to organize classwork and assignments. Computer Services assembled the Learning Management Selection Committee to evaluate Canvas’ viability as a replacement for Blackboard, which students have been using to see grades, access classwork and organize their courses. “It’s a best practice to regularly review technology platforms to ensure the best solutions for the university,” said Mark Haubrich, director of information technology with Computer Services. “The [Learning Management System] hasn’t been evaluated for a number of years. A lot has changed in the higher education
BLACKBOARD | PAGE 3
CHRISTOPHER HOOKS FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior guard Donnaizha Fountain dribbles down the court in Temple’s 55-51 loss to South Florida on Sunday.
The Owls hadn’t lost a game since Dec. 7 before Sunday’s 55-51 loss to South Florida. By KEVIN SCHAEFFER Women’s Basketball Beat Reporter After three missed chances to tie the game with less than 30 seconds left, junior guard Khadijah Berger looked down at the court in disbelief.
Temple had an opportunity to beat its second Top 25 team of the season but fell 5551 to South Florida on Sunday for the Owls’ first loss in the American Athletic Conference. It was an unfamiliar feeling for the Owls, who hadn’t lost since Dec. 7 and came into the matchup on a 12-game win streak. “It was a tough loss,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “I thought we really fought hard in that fourth quarter. But to start the game, I thought we just got caught up in ourselves as individuals, focusing on the shots we weren’t
making.” The Owls (16-4, 6-1 American Athletic Conference) trailed for almost the entire game and faced a double-digit deficit for most of the contest, but made a comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. Cardoza went with five guards to start the quarter in order to give a different look against South Florida. Berger joined senior Feyonda Fitzgerald and juniors Alliya Butts, Tanaya Atkinson and Donnaizha Fountain as the fifth guard on the court. She added instant offense that sparked a comeback. Berger went on a personal 8-0 run to bring Temple within single digits for the first time since the first bucket of the third quarter. Berger hit another three to bring all the fans in McGonigle Hall to their feet and cut the deficit to two points with one minute, 45 seconds left. After a hectic minute and a half, Berger would have two more 3-point attempts — one to give the Owls the lead and then one to tie it. She missed both and Temple missed out on a fourth-quarter comeback. Temple had one of its worst shooting games of the season against South Florida. The Owls shot just 25.8 percent from the floor and 18.5 percent from three. The players Temple leaned on all season had the most evident struggles. Fitzgerald and Butts combined to shoot 8-for-37 from
OWLS | PAGE 15
NEWS | PAGES 2-3, 6
OPINION | PAGES 4-5
FEATURES | PAGES 7-14
SPORTS | PAGES 15-18
If the plan for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act isn’t clear, TUH could lose millions in revenue. Read more on Page 3.
Tuttleman Counseling needs to hire more staff and decrease wait times for the mental health of students. Read more on page 4.
Two film majors traveled to Iceland to produce a film for their senior thesis. Read more on Page 7.
Sophomore guard Shizz Alston Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps by coming to Temple. Read more on Page 18.
NEWS
PAGE 2
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
COMMUNITY
Education leaders unconcerned about Temple ties The university has employees in prominent roles in education throughout the city. By KELLY BRENNAN Community Beat Reporter Officials said they are not concerned about conflict of interest as the university continues to take hold of seats at the top of education leadership in the Philadelphia. In the last four months, two seats on the city’s School Reform Commission, which directs the Philadelphia School District, were filled by Temple employees. Joyce Wilkerson, the senior adviser of community relations and development at Temple, chairs the committee. Two weeks ago, Mayor Jim Kenney appointed Chris McGinley, an associate professor in the College of Education, to also serve on the committee. As of now, Wilkerson and McGinley make up half of the SRC while one seat remains empty and the Pennsylvania state Senate waits to approve Estelle Richman, the state’s former secretary of the Department of Public Welfare. If Temple becomes involved with the SRC before the seat is filled and Wilkerson and McGinley have to remove themselves from the decisionmaking, it would become difficult to conduct business, Wilkerson said. Three members of the SRC are needed to pass “legislation” and two abstentions would prohibit the current four-member committee from taking
any action. Wilkerson said she reached out to the general council to clarify the protocol if this problem should arise. In December, the SRC approved the sale of Roberts Vaux High School to the Philadelphia Housing Authority, which will be managed by Big Picture Schools Philadelphia with the Big Picture Learning Network, a nationwide organization founded in 1995 that has a “student-centered learning design” where students choose their own topics of interest. The SRC approved a $23 million contract with BPSP in conjunction with the school’s sale to PHA. BPSP is led by David Bromley, an adjunct professor for the College of Education. Will Jordan, an associate professor of urban education at Temple, sits on the board of BPSP. Jordan said he and McGinley work closely at Temple. McGinley was not part of SRC when the committee approved the sale and management of Vaux High School. “If the SRC wanted to see certain things happening or not happening ... I kind of feel like I could call Chris and ask him,” Jordan said. “I don’t see it as problematic, in a sense that it would be a road block for any of the work we’re doing, but I do think it’s something that we would sort of have to negotiate and be sensitive to. For example, I wouldn’t want to call in a personal favor.” “I envision putting checks and balances in place that might ask for ‘Who sits on your board?’ so we can easily identify potential conflict,” Wilkerson said. Jordan said he did not know that Wilkerson was the chair of the SRC
GENEVA HEFFERNAN FILE PHOTO Joyce Wilkerson chaired her first School Reform Commission public meeting on Nov. 16. after her appointment by Mayor Jim Kenney.
at the time of the approval of BPSP’s contract. Wilkerson also said she was unaware that there were Temple employees on the board of BPSP. “Temple has thousands of employees,” Wilkerson said. “My guess is that there is probably somebody connected to Temple. … At some point, it becomes so removed, and no one has financial interest, it becomes hard to see any kind of conflict.” Because Jordan and Bromley volunteer for BPSP, neither of them will receive money from the contract. “I’ve served on other boards and committees and advisory groups and
Administrator leaves for politics Ken Lawrence will leave his post in alumni relations to work as a Montgomery County commissioner. By GILLIAN MCGOLDRICK Assistant News Editor Ken Lawrence will leave his position at Temple in March to work as a Montgomery County commissioner. Lawrence, whose last day will be March 15, has served as the university’s vice president of alumni relations since May 2015. He started at Temple in 2008, working for the offices of Government Relations and Community Relations as senior vice president for government, community and public affairs. The Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas unanimously appointed Lawrence, a resident of
Plymouth Meeting, last week to fill the spot of a seat on the Montgomery County commissioner’s three-member board that was left vacant when Josh Shapiro was elected as Attorney General of Pennsylvania. Lawrence, a 1995 political science alumnus, will serve in this position through 2019. Montgomery County Democrats endorsed him for the position. He is the county’s first AfricanAmerican commissioner. Lawrence, who could not be reached for comment, announced his resignation through a Facebook post. “It will be very hard not coming to campus every day,” Lawrence wrote. “I will miss my coffee from Saxbys and my breakfast … lunch … and dinner from Richie’s. But I know to get the opportunity to be here as a student and an employee is a rare gift and I’ve enjoyed every single moment.” Before he worked at Temple, Lawrence founded his own business, Public Affairs Strategies, a public rela-
tions counselor that has served nonprofit and corporate organizations. Lawrence also worked as the public policy representative for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, and was a founding board member of Temple’s Young Alumni Association. Steven Burda, a 2003 economics and finance alumnus, was also in the running for Montgomery County commissioner. Commissioners work as the legislative and executive branch of Montgomery County. In this position, Lawrence will work with chairperson Valerie Arkoosh and commissioner Joseph Gale. The commissioners appoint all county employees and their salaries, manage all county properties and its financials, pass a budget annually and set property taxes for the county. gillian.mcgoldrick@temple.edu
education related issues … and I am resigning from some of those organizations,” McGinley said. He served on the board of directors of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, a group that advocates health care, child care, public education and family stability. “PCCY, because they are an advocacy organization, they don’t want appointed or elected officials on their board,” he added. “It’s been a mutual agreement.” Bromley said he is better known for being a part of Big Picture than for being a professor at Temple and that “there was nothing” that would
be a conflict of interest coming into his role. “Universities have always had close working relationships with the school district, not just Temple, but Temple and other universities,” McGinley said. “Often universities are able to obtain resources that benefit the district and benefit teachers. The relationship between Temple and the school district has a long history of collaboration.” kelly.brennan@temple.edu @_kellybrennan
temple in philadelphia education at a glance Many figureheads in Philadelphia’s public schools have ties to the university and each other.
school reform commisssion
Joyce Wilkerson
William Green
Farah Jimenez
@gill_mcgoldrick
Chris McGinley
Unoccupied
Work closely in College of Education
big picture schools philadelphia
David Bromley Director
ALEX BEAUFORT FILE PHOTO Ken Lawrence, vice president of alumni relations, will leave his position at the university in March to serve as a Montgomery County commissioner.
News Desk 215-204-7419 news@temple-news.com
Will Jordan Board Member
SASHA LASAKOW | THE TEMPLE NEWS
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
PAGE 3
ADMINISTRATION
Officials: Dean searches for Boyer, Tyler on schedule Search committees will interview candidates this semester and select two deans before Fall 2017. By WILL BACHA For The Temple News Two schools at Temple are still in the process of selecting candidates to serve as their deans. Administrators will begin interviews this semester and the schools will have a dean by the time Fall 2017 begins, officials said.
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WOAR Howard, the organization’s executive director. This partnership is an “amped up” version of the services WOAR already provides for the city. This year, Valerie Harrison, Temple’s senior adviser for Title IX compliance, invited WOAR representatives to attend her staff ’s meetings, Seiss added. It was right after Seiss met with Dawson to talk about students’ wish for a crisis center. “We started talking about this 24/7 center and access for students and it led to several follow-up meetings with WOAR … to say, ‘Hey, they can completely work with us to provide this 24/7 access by having this kind of satellite office on our campus that students can get to to reach out to our hotline,’” Seiss said.
Gregory Mandel took over as interim dean for the Beasley School of Law in July 2016, when then-Dean JoAnne Epps became provost. Since September 2015, the Tyler School of Art has been led by interim Dean Hester Stinnett, a printmaking professor. Epps said the “details of searches are confidential, however, the committee is considering a broad range of candidates.” She said she expects the finalists of both searches to visit Main Campus in March and April. When the finalists visit, students, faculty and staff will be able to meet with them and provide feedback to the search com-
“What makes this different is that it’s more for students after hours,” Howard said. “We wanted to make sure students had a place to go.” Seiss said she hopes the partnership with WOAR will help “break down” barriers that keep students from reporting sexual assault. The WOAR collaboration comes 11 days after Temple received a nearly $26,000 grant from Pennsylvania’s “It’s On Us” campaign. Seiss said the grant will fund research on how to increase reporting among underrepresented groups, like international students and students with disabilities. It will also implement an online, anonymous reporting system that goes directly to Temple’s Title IX office, that will be completed and launched by June 1, when the grant ends, she said. Tuttleman Counseling Ser-
mittees. This is a similar process to how the university selected Richard Deeg as dean of the College of Liberal Arts last semester. Beasley’s Search Advisory Committee includes law professors, the president of the Alumni association, and the president of the Student Bar association and will be led by Keya Sadeghipour, the dean of the College of Engineering. Temple hired Heidricks & Struggles, a Philadelphia-based professional search firm, to aid in the hiring for Beasley’s dean. “The search firm works with the search committee and university to identify candidates,” said Jodi Lauf-
vices and Student Health Services only provide support during business hours, and the only other after-hours resource for reporting assault is Temple Police. “This provides them with that third confidential reporting location for them,” Seiss said. “But it also provides them with that 2 a.m. access to help. But sometimes [the police are] not where students want to start because a lot of times they are confused about what happened and so they don’t feel necessarily comfortable going right to the police.” Starting Wednesday, students will be able to call WOAR on Main Campus at 215-9853333. julie.christie@temple.edu @ChristieJules
JENNY CHOI FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Carli Tegtmeier, National Director of the Enterprise Higher Ed Sales at Instructure, Inc., which sells Canvas, introduced the system at a town hall meeting in the Student Center on Jan 25.
Continued from Page 1
BLACKBOARD [Learning Management System] market.” Although Computer Services updated Blackboard, Temple’s current Learning Management System, in August 2016, the university’s contract with Blackboard will expire in Summer 2018, Haubrich said. Canvas is one of the leading Learning Management System providers with Blackboard, which made it appealing to the university, he added. Nicole Westrick, the associate vice provost of University College and a member of the LMS selection committee, is part of a pilot of the Canvas system. She teaches using Canvas in a few of her classes at Temple. Computer Services reached out to faculty members across all schools and selected some to participate in the pilot program by using Canvas in their Spring 2017 classes. Participating professors will fill out surveys about the program as the semester progresses. These surveys will in-
form the Learning Management Selection Committee so the members can choose a learning management system. “We’re in our second week [of the pilot] and we’re trying lots of things, sort of experimenting with the discussion board functionality and taking notes through the Canvas application,” Westrick said. “It’s hard to say right now but so far the feedback’s been very positive.” The university wants to integrate more external tools, like calendars and outside links, into the Learning Management System, Haubrich said. “[Canvas is] integrated so [students] can download a full schedule to their calendars,” Westrick said. “It lets them use contemporary technology, like texting, and the messaging is very useful back and forth. The ease of building your assignments and having students be able to see all at once what the semester looks like is much more effective.” “I am sort of getting tired of Blackboard, so I wouldn’t mind a switch,” said Munjal Mahida, a junior information technol-
ogy major “Sometimes when you drop a class, like, during the first two weeks, it doesn’t automatically drop it from Blackboard so you get grades from it and then you start to get worried that you’re still in the class.” “I use Canvas for my project management class right now and it seems pretty organized,” Mahida said. Computer Services will make a decision about Canvas this summer, Haubrich said “If Canvas [is selected] as a replacement Learning Management System for Blackboard, the migration could start as early as Fall 2018,” Haubrich said. “However, it could take up to two years to completely switch over to the new system.” “It will be a little confusing for some people, but they’ll eventually catch on to it,” Mahida said. “Probably the first year, if they switch over, it’ll probably be annoying, but I’m sure they’ll catch on to it.” amanda.lien@temple.edu @amandajlien
graben, Temple’s vice provost for Academic Affairs, Assessment and Institutional Research. “Building a pool of strong candidates and proven leaders is an important aspect of the search process.” Laufgraben previously oversaw the search for CLA’s dean. “We particularly encourage applicants from traditionally underrepresented groups,” reads the description for the search on the Office of the Provost’s website. David Boardman, the dean for the School of Media and Communication, is in charge of the search for Tyler’s dean. The committee is made up of Tyler professors, students and
faculty members. According to the Office of the Provost’s website, Tyler is looking for “a vision builder who can foster collaboration and innovation within Tyler.” The description adds that “the dean will have the latitude and support to create programs that are sustainable for Tyler and transformative for art, design and architecture.” will.bacha@temple.edu
FINANCE
Repeal of ACA could hurt Temple hospital Officials said without a clear plan in place, the hospital may face consequences. By NOAH TANEN Research Beat Reporter An executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, mandates that health insurance agencies stop implementing policies outlined in the Affordable Care Act. This could impact Temple University Hospital, officials said. If the ACA is completely repealed, the 20 million people for whom it provides insurance would lose their coverage completely and TUH could have losses of $45 million a year, said Robert Lux, the senior vice president and chief financial officer of Temple University Health System. TUH is located in a federally designated “medically underserved” area, a distinction given to neighborhoods that have enough primary care providers or has high infant mortality rates, poverty rates or a large elderly population. This makes the hospital more dependent on Medicaid or the ACA to provide patients with health insurance. Lux told The Temple News on Jan. 23 that he was unsure if TUHS would need to accommodate for the order. Lux said he has trouble identifying exactly how a repeal of the ACA will affect TUH without “a clear path that says, ‘This is what it means to repeal and replace the ACA.’” But John DiLeonardo, an adjunct economics professor, said he doesn’t believe there will be a “significant adverse impact” on health care providers like TUH if ACA is repealed, but other factors might change the landscape. “There will be a lot of forces that are going to impact health care in general and health care providers … like TUH,” he added. DiLeonardo, who has 22 years of experience in healthcare finance and operations, said the post-ACA health care market may be a challenging environment, but the ability of insurance
companies and providers to respond to the different market structure will decide how hospitals’ profits are affected. Regardless, Lux said the situation is unsettling for the TUHS. “It’s just a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to be replacing or augmenting it.” Many experts are warning that the repeal is an impending public health crisis, and many Americans also worry about the consequences of a repeal. DiLeonardo said he thinks there must be a different outlook on the repeal and replacing of the ACA. “Nobody will be left uninsured,” he said. “That’s just hysteria. If we migrate from a mandated program to a consumer-driven, competitive market-
It’s just a lot of uncertainty. We don’t know what’s going to be replacing or augmenting [the Affordable Care Act]. Robert Lux Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Temple University Health System
place, then there will always be insurance companies around.” “Consumers in North Philadelphia will be able to drive better, more accessible, and more timely health care,” DiLeonardo said. But Lux said it’s going to be unsettling to the financial markets. “It’s certainly unsettling to the health care industry, and it’s definitely unsettling to CFOs like me, whose institutions take care of a lot of people who obtain their coverage through the ACA,” he said. “We care for some of society’s poorest and most vulnerable patients,” Lux added. “I would want the policymakers to always be reminded in their deliberations that these people need care.” noah.tanen@temple.edu
BY THE NUMBERS: AFFORDABLE CARE ACT 84,751 13% 46%
Emergency Department visits FY 2015 Uninsured in TUH’s service area Of patients covered by medicaid
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OPINION
PAGE 4
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
ADMINISTRATION 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
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EDITORIAL
Ban challenges our values President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting travel from seven countries necessitates action from students. President Donald Trump’s executive order barring people’s entry to the United States from seven African and Middle Eastern countries could hurt Temple, and should be condemned. The university has students and faculty from several, if not all of the countries affected: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Temple’s president, Richard Englert, advised nationals from these countries to “consider delaying international travel at this time, as it is not clear how re-entry will be affected by the new regulations.” The presidents of other nearby universities, like Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania, have made similar suggestions. Of course, the order should be condemned not simply for the logistical challenges it presents to academia. Temple’s mission leans heavily on the idea that diversity makes the university stronger. Those in positions of power, like President Englert, have the option now, to take a clearer stance against this executive order and others that threaten the constitutional rights of members of the Temple community. The restrictions have already led to the detention, deportation, and denial of entry for families flying in from these countries, including the parents of one Temple student — who were sent back to their home country, Syria, despite their status as legal permanent residents. Furthermore, a university spokesman told The Temple News that 55 students and 10 faculty members are from the affected countries. By Sunday evening, several federal judges had granted temporary stays — rejections of the executive order that allows time for federal judges to review it and determine if it is constitutional. The stays were granted after the American Civil Liberties Union put pressure on federal judges Saturday night. But some U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents continued to defy the
order and detain people at airports at airports across the country, according to the New York Post. The stay, granted by a federal judge in Brooklyn, led to the release of some detainees. But others, particularly at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, were detained long after the stay was granted. The show of support and the work of immigration lawyers helped the stay happen, but more will need to be done to shape more inclusive immigration policies. To do their part, Temple students should continue to exercise their rights to express their views, as shown Sunday in a large turnout at the Philadelphia International Airport to protest the executive order. Besides attending demonstrations, there are also other ways to influence change: Call your representatives. If you are not sure who represents you in Congress, you can visit house.gov and enter your zip code to find out. The phone numbers for the representatives will be listed on their webpages. Donate to an organization that supports your cause. In the case of this ban, the ACLU will continue to be instrumental in litigating the details, along with groups like the National Immigration Law Center and the International Refugee Assistance Project. They accept donations at aclu. org/donate, nilc.org/donate and refugeerights.org/donate. Promote inclusivity. When you hear people share false information about Islam or cultures of the Middle East, correct them. Knowledge is power, and our fellow students who are affected by the ban are counting on us to stand by their side. With elected officials and citizens denouncing this ban, it hopefully won’t be long until it is removed. Until then, we must continue to educate ourselves and others, denounce bigotry and stand up against legislation that attacks the foundation of who we are as a university and as a nation.
CORRECTIONS An article that ran Jan. 24 on Page 2, with the headline “Wait times a concern for Tuttleman counseling,” misstated the number of people working at Tuttleman Counseling Services. The estimated figure “four or five people” applies only to the walk-in clinic. The article also misstated the change in the number of people receiving counseling. This has increased 34 percent since 2012-13, not in the last academic year. An article that ran Jan. 24 on Page 12, with the headline “New club empowers young women of color on campus, beyond,” misstated the country that Bridget Warlea visited. It was Liberia. A photo caption accompanying the article misidentified students in the club.The students were, from left to right, Madina Kora, Danielle Hardy, Shannon Wilson, Bridget Warlea and Faithe Beadle. 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@templenews.com or 215-204-6737.
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Mental health needs to be prioritized Tuttleman Counseling Services needs more staff members to shorten student wait times.
T
he number of student walkins at Tuttleman Counseling Services has risen about 34 percent from 2012-13 to the previous academic year. To address this increase, Tuttleman hired eight full-time counselors since 2013 and also created parttime positions. But problems with long wait times still persist for students trying to access counseling. JAYNA SCHAFFER John DiMino, the director of Tuttleman Counseling Services, said he’s working to decrease wait times and to get more students seen by counselors. He hopes to add more counselors to Tuttleman’s staff this academic year and to increase the number of counselors available during walk-in hours. It’s a relief to hear that Tuttleman is working on its limited staff and issues with wait times, but I hope this change comes quickly. Any inefficiencies in the university’s student counseling services are problematic for the mental health and general well-being of students. David Beebe, a freshman journalism major, tried to go to Tuttleman during walk-in hours, but it didn’t work with his schedule. “It wasn’t until I later saw a doctor at Student Health Services to get a refill on
some medications that I’m taking that he essentially told me, ‘You shouldn’t even really bother. Their waitlist is like three or four weeks long,’” Beebe said. It’s a problem if students are already feeling discouraged from accessing counseling because of the reputation Tuttleman has gotten around campus, especially if such views are coming not only from students, but from other health professionals on campus. Beebe eventually found an off-campus therapist, who suggested Beebe see a psychiatrist at Tuttleman in order to be prescribed new medication. “He contacted Tuttleman for me, to see if there was any possibility of me getting a psychiatrist there,” Beebe said. “And this was back in December, and they told him that I wouldn’t be able to get seen by a psychiatrist until March of this year.” DiMino said long wait periods exist because the number of Temple students who have sought counseling has grown over the years. This past year, the number of walk-in appointments reached 3,334, and DiMino said Tuttleman currently has the equivalent of 20 full-time counselors to see these students. “We’re gonna have another record year,” he said. “Last semester, [the wait time] got up to about five weeks.” While I understand university resources are limited, this wait time is unacceptable. I worry about people who respond to such long wait times by deciding not to get help at all. “If you get people in within two weeks, there’s a 90 percent show rate, but if it’s longer than that, it goes down,” DiMino said. Heera Ramaswamy, a junior biology
major, walked into Tuttleman last school year with a few friends who were also seeking help. “Throughout a large portion of my life, I had a lot of hardships, whether it be from circles of family, eating disorder, mental health struggles, anxiety, sexual assault,” Ramaswamy said, “I had never actually been in for counseling or anything before college.” She was seen by a counselor within 48 hours because her case was labeled “urgent.” But her friends were scheduled for appointments weeks later. I am glad Ramaswamy got the help she needed in a timely manner, but I still can’t help but think about her friends. The student body is always increasing, and so are wait times. Unless students are categorized by a clinician as urgent, they could wait longer than a month. This concerns me because a few weeks is long enough to discourage someone who just recently worked up the courage to seek help in the first place. “I feel like they should just be prepared to handle that volume of patients,” Beebe said. Temple’s counseling services should be properly staffed to treat a larger number of patients, especially given all students pay a fee to access university services, including counseling. It’s a relief to know Tuttleman’s administration is working to make therapy accessible for all students who need it. While problems exist, those in charge seem to understand the need for change, which gives me more hope for students seeking help with their mental health in the future. jayna.alexandra.schaffer@temple.edu
POLITICS
Politicians: Please tweet responsibly Leaders should curb their Twitter use to avoid confusing the public.
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hen President Donald Trump won the 2016 election, I, like many Americans, had hoped he would curb his impulsive and reckless Twitter usage. As I struggled to absorb my shock about his victory, I awoke two days after Election Day to news of him complaining about protesters and attacking news outlets for unfair coverage — ZACH KOCIS all via 140-character blurbs on Twitter. Trump isn’t the only politician to recklessly take to the platform. Recently, Mayor Jim Kenney tweeted his disagreement with a policy put forth by his own administration: a ban on wall-sitting in Rittenhouse Square. His tweets left some Philadelphians confused about the status of the policy. Political leaders should use discretion on Twitter to avoid passing judgment on their constituents or promoting unclear policy. It’s hard for citizens to stay correctly informed when politicians are tweeting opinions rather than making public statements. “You can do things in the moment,” said David Brown, a visiting strategic communication professor. “That’s both the blessing and the curse, because the curse side is that you do things in the moment [and] sometimes you don’t give yourself some opportunity to think about it before you tweet.” In Kenney’s case, his tweets were amiable, with a dash of self-deprecation. The ban in Rittenhouse Square was designed to keep people from sitting on the walls surrounding the fountain, due to an increase in vandalism in recent months. The mayor thought the policy was an overreach. He tweeted, “At times things just get by you. Sit where you want.”
But tweeting his disagreement with the policy is where Kenney went wrong. Instead, the mayor should have expressed sympathy for citizens’ negative feelings toward the policy. Better yet, the city could have released an official statement revoking the wall-sitting ban. But this isn’t the strategy Kenney used. At the time of his tweet, the ban was still in effect, which became confusing for both
COURTNEY REDMON| THE TEMPLE NEWS
the public and the police who enforce city laws. Mitchell Sellers, an assistant political science professor, said because the policy came from Kenney’s administration, his contradictory tweet caused confusion. “Especially in this case when people weren’t particularly happy about the rule to begin with, whenever the mayor comes out and says, ‘Well I don’t actually support this policy,’ then that shows that there’s some sort of conflict between people inside the government,” Sellers said. “So it’s not the best face to put on your administration.” Similar dangers of contradiction and confusion are present when the president uses Twitter. On Jan. 22, Trump took to social media to express his displeasure about the Women’s March protests, which took place across the country the day after Trump’s inauguration. In response, he tweeted, “Watched protests yesterday but was un-
der the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote?” Later that day, he tweeted his acceptance of peaceful protests as a “hallmark of our democracy.” His feelings, often expressed through Twitter, are contradictory. All presidents have had an elevated platform on which they can speak about issues. But it seems to me that there has never been a chief executive who has abused it in such a flippant way, and so often. Todd Brewster, a visiting journalism professor, said Trump uses Twitter to shape the messages delivered to the public. “I think that he is able to respond, and one of the rules of politics is that you don’t let a negative image or a negative story sit out there for too long, that you counter it right away,” Brewster said. “And Trump is fearless about countering any story that is contrary to what he sees of himself.” With politicians looking to craft specific messages for the public via Twitter, citizens need to be more diligent about the information they gather online. Unfortunately, you may not be able to take what public figures say on social media at face value. But ultimately, it is also politicians’ responsibility to be clear and accurate with their constituencies, especially on social media. And to be safe, public officials should consider allowing communications specialists to manage their social media profiles. This would allow for a good balance between being authentic and accurate on social media. “It’s not the technology, it’s how you use it,” Brewster said. Public officials must recognize the power of Twitter in helping to shape their messages, but they should tweet with discretion and the guidance of public relations experts. Until public officials overcome this social media learning curve, the people need to do their part, too. zach.kocis@temple.edu
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
OPINION
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
PAGE 5
ENVIRONMENT
The future of the planet lies in the hands of students The university has done its part to act in environmentally conscious ways — now it’s students’ turn.
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oth NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently announced that 2016 was the hottest year on record — surpassing records set in both 2014 and 2015. It seems now that taking care of our planet is more important than ever. As a university, Temple has taken its responsibility to our planet seriously. In 2008, the school signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment and promised carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2015, Temple was named one of the RUTH OSHLAG Princeton Review’s 353 most environmentally responsible colleges in the US and Canada. It is extremely encouraging to see Temple following through on its promise of sustainability. Still, it will take more than the administration to make a difference in the future of our planet. Mobilization of the student body is
also crucial. Students need to make decisions in their daily lives that will protect the earth from further environmental damage. One way students have already gotten involved with environmental initiatives on Main Campus is through Temple Student Government’s environmental task force, which is open to all students. “This is the first time that we could talk about practical solutions,” said Lucas Wozniak, a sophomore film major and a member of the task force’s energy committee. “We are able to learn about real solutions, and we can then tell our peers.” Members of the task force polled students to see how they thought the university could be more environmentally friendly. One of the task force’s initiatives includes installing handdryers on campus in place of paper towels. The task force also hopes to sell discounted SEPTA passes for students in order to promote public transportation. “I feel very inspired by the progress and the movement and the passions of the folks that are involved in the TSG movement,” said Kathleen Grady, Temple’s director of sustainability. “I feel that this has been one of the most proactive TSG administrations on sustainability.” But there’s only so much that a small — albeit impassioned — group of students can do. To see productive change, it’s imperative that all
FROM THE ARCHIVE
Temple students acknowledge the effect their actions have on the environment. “[Think] about yourself as a member of an ecosystem,” said Aaron Weckstein, a junior environmental studies major and TSG director of grounds and sustainability. “You have inputs and you have outputs. [Be] a little bit more conscious about those outputs.” “The first thing that students can do is think about their everyday behavior and ... their consumption practices,” Grady said. “From how you spend your money to what transportation you use, every day is made of choices. Choosing to go green isn’t a one-time choice, but a conscious decision every time.” A change for the better can be as simple as recycling the tinfoil from your lunch or refilling a reusable water-bottle at one of Temple’s water fountains on Main Campus. I’ve started reusing my plastic bags from Fresh Grocer and making sure my apartment lights are off when I go to bed. Of course, there’s always more I can do to help, but I’m starting with these first steps. Students can also take an active role by engaging their peers in discussion about the environment. “A big help can be if you’re interested in the environment and you want to get involved, then one of the best things that you can do is help [spread the] message to other students as well,”
Grady said. With more than 15 organizations on Main Campus devoted to sustainability and the environment, there are plenty of ways for students to make a difference. Ranging from major-specific groups to clubs open to all students, opportunities include planting community gardens and developing sustainable practices abroad. It seems to me that there is something to engage everyone. With more than 38,000 students, Temple is a large school, and many hands can make a difference. “More and more it’s going to become this grassroots movement,” Weckstein said. “Working on a local level to change things that you care about rather than working on a larger scale.” It’s now 2017, and we need to avoid besting last year’s global warming record. The Environmental Protection Agency, recently projected that without significant change, the planet will warm 3 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. And perhaps not all of us are in positions of political power, but each of us still has an opportunity to make responsible choices. Take charge of your actions, and choose to be more environmentally conscious — the future of our planet depends on it. ruth.oshlag@temple.edu
THE ESS AYIS T
Loving a country that doesn’t always love me back A student grapples with her identity as a Black woman in America.
B February 28, 1945: An arts student came to Temple from Utah, where her family was still living in a Japanese internment camp. During World War II, which began with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order that was used for the mass relocation and internment of Japanese Americans. The student’s family was moved to an internment camp from their California home in 1942. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday, banning refugees from entering the country for the next 120 days and blocking any citizens from entering America from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. This ban affected the family ofJoey Assali, a junior biology major. His family was turned back at the Philadelphia International Airport after they arrived from Syria. LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
SAM SANKEY FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS
Earlier in the school year, Temple switched to a new hosting platform for Blackboard, the online learning management service. The university is considering switching to Canvas, a new system.
By CHELSEA WILLIAMS
eing Black in America means I am con- and hatred directed at Obama in his eight years stantly grappling with my race and how was unique to his presidency and fueled by racism. it dictates my place in this country. I’m In recent years, I am reminded that I am livnot just American, I’m African Ameri- ing in a country that doesn’t love me back everycan — these two identities are not separate. They time I see stories on the news about my brothers are very much intertwined. It is because of the and sisters being killed by police — not enough tension between these two identities that I know, a part of this country to be protected by it. From although I love this country, it does not love me Orlando to Cleveland, I have been reminded of back. the threat of violence I first encountered in fifth My experience of being Black in America has grade. I have watched as Trayvon Martin and Eric meant listening to racist babble while Garner were killed in the streets and as keeping a polite smile on my face. It Freddie Gray and Sandra Bland died meant crying to my mom in the in police custody. second grade when a boy said Growing up Black in Amerhe couldn’t be friends with ica, I learned quickly that my a “monkey,” and listening life was treated differently. as another student threatThese lessons have made me ened to kill me in the fifth cautious and scared of the grade because of my race. world around me. InteracIt meant having self-esteem tions with authority figures issues when boys in high leave me with a sense of dread. school told me they couldn’t But the truth is, I am andate “Black girls,” as if I needed gry. I’m angry and I’m scared S EW and I’m tired. Every day I get up another reminder that I don’t fit N E PL SAS the beauty standards adopted by with the intent of making my life, TEM HA LA S A KO W | T H E American society. and the lives around me better, in the For years I was ashamed of my Blackness, country that I love. But it feels like any progress I of my community, of our history. I thought that make is only temporary, sure to be snatched away. if people didn’t know I was Black, I could pass in That is how I have felt particularly following this society as being something different, and I would election cycle. gain more respect. As I’ve gotten older, I’m no lonWith the election of our new president, we’ve ger ashamed of who I am, but of who I was. seen the “hidden” racists come out of the dark. In the past, I allowed myself to succumb to I’ve encountered both subtle and overt racism, the torrent of abuse hurled my way for no other but never in this quantity. His rhetoric has made it reason than the fact that I am a Black woman in seemingly OK to voice hateful speech. We’ve seen America. effigies lynched from trees and racist messages left When “friends” told racist jokes, I forced my- on properties. self to laugh. When people used the “N-word,” I I always knew this hate existed, but suddenly smiled along. With every incident, I found myself it seems more widespread. making excuses for others: “They can’t be racist, And it’s not just the Black community being I’ve known them my whole life,” or “They were just targeted. It’s all communities of color, all commumaking a joke” or better yet, my favorite, “Racism nities that speak differently, that practice religion doesn’t exist anymore.” differently, that dress differently than the stereoIt felt like that might even be true — that typical white American. racism in America didn’t exist anymore — when I now feel afraid and uncertain of where hate Barack Obama was first elected president in 2008. may be lurking — this constant struggle of fear I thought that we, as a community, were finally and uncertainty is my life. But it is also the lives of important, that we would be taken seriously. But I thousands of other Americans of color across this was soon reminded that wasn’t the case. nation. And while I may live in fear, I won’t allow People told my parents they only voted for it to dictate how I live my life. Obama because he was Black and “our people” I will continue to fight, even when this counstick with their own kind. As if my parents would try tells me I’m not good enough, not smart base their judgement not on his proposed policies, enough, not beautiful enough, because if growing but the color of his skin. And with every year of his up Black in America has taught me anything, it’s presidency, I watched as my hopes diminished, as how to survive. But I will do more than survive, I I was reminded I’m living in a country that doesn’t will thrive. I love this country, but my experience love me back. has taught me that this country doesn’t always love I watched as our first Black president and his me back. I hope one day it will. family were ridiculed, even called monkeys — an insult with which I too was familiar. The disrespect chelseawilliams@temple.edu letters@temple-news.com
NEWS
PAGE 6
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
NEWS BRIEFS UNIVERSITY NEWS
Tamron Hall, trustee and alumna, leaving ‘Today’ Tamron Hall, a Temple alumna, trustee and anchor of NBC’s ‘Today’ show, could leave the network when her contract is up next month, Philly.com reported. Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is expected to take a morning slot on NBC, which could replace Hall’s and Al Roker’s hour of the ‘Today’ show. NBC has yet to release news regarding the Sunday night news show the station originally asked Kelly to host. Tucker Carlson took over Kelly’s 9 p.m. slot on Fox News in January. Since taking over, Carlson’s ratings have nearly doubled what Kelly’s were, according to Philly.com and Nielsen Media Research. - Amanda Lien
University partners in resident survey to reach minorities The Temple University Institute for Survey Research and BeHeardPhilly, a survey program, are partnering to re-launch the 2016 Philadelphia Resident Survey, the Philadelphia Tribune reported. The survey did not get enough response from lowincome and minority families at its original release in September. The survey aims to understand the citizens’ opinions on the productivity of Philadelphia’s services and departments, according to the Tribune. The survey will ask for residents’ experiences with the Philadelphia Police Department while also seeking feedback on various city functions like street repairs, garbage collection and recreation center management. The survey will be mailed to homes and will be available online. TUISR will be responsible for managing and analyzing the data that is collected, the Tribune reported. - Kelly Brennan
Temple research group recieves $4 million in grants The National Institutes of Health awarded William Wuest, a chemistry professor, two grants totaling almost $4 million, according to a university news release. Wuest and a team of students and postdoctoral researchers are researching “narrow-spectrum” antibiotics, which only kill bad bacteria, and compounds that contribute to heart disease and cavities, the release read. Both grants are five-year grants, one for $2 million and the other for $1.9 million. - Julie Christie
CITY NEWS
SEPTA changes Regional Rail schedule, stops Changes to SEPTA Regional Rail services took effect on Sunday. The alterations are intended to address congestion, train run times, and the implementation of Positive Train Control, an automatic braking system designed to prevent accidents, according to SEPTA’s website. Some train lines are expected to operate ahead of schedule, like the Media/Elwyn, Trenton and West Trenton lines, while some are expected to run late, like the Wilmington/Newark, Cynwyd and Chestnut Hill East lines. Others are adding or losing stops, like the Lansdale/ Doylestown, in-bound Airport and Warminster lines. Schedule information is posted in Center City stations and on SEPTA’s website.
BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS Sophomore biology students Rabia Ugucu, (left) and Shaffquat Kahn and sophomore finance major Kashif Malik joined the estimated 5,000 protesters at the Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday.
Continued from Page 1
AIRPORT from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen — from entering the United States. Protests against the ban took place across the nation, including one the Philadelphia airport on Sunday. “When the war started and we tried to push for the visas, [my family] insisted that things weren’t as bad as they seemed because they didn’t want us to worry, they said, ‘It could be worse,’” Joey said. “As long as you’re alive, you don’t want to complain too much because people have it much worse. We know people who have had their families who were blown up in front of them, houses targeted by car bombs.” “You never know when the next attack is going to be, if you’re going to get bombed in your sleep, if you can walk through the streets to get groceries,” Joey added. “My heart is always with them.” Since the order was rolled out, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said people from the seven countries who hold a legal permanent resident card (or green card) will be allowed in the U.S., according to a CNN report. The Assalis legally obtained green cards and visas months before their flight on Saturday, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents turned them away, despite having the cards. Joey said his family members were given two options: stay detained and cuffed until the next morning and have their visas thrown away, or fly to Qatar before going back to Damascus, Syria’s capital, and keep their visas to attempt to return to the U.S. at a later date. The family, which was not provided translators, signed paperwork to go home and try again. But once they arrived in Qatar, they learned the paperwork also canceled
their visas, and their 13-year wait to come to the U.S. was wasted. Joey said his family was sent back to a life of uncertainty. To come to America, his family sold all of their belongings and assets, like their cars. Now, his family is back in Damascus, suddenly unsure how to find their next meal. “None of us have had any of those issues in America,” he added. “I was so excited for them to see what it was like for me to live here and finally experience what I get to live through, how lucky I am to have all the opportunities I have.” “But their first impression was to feel unwelcomed and sent back,” Joey said. “I can’t imagine what they must’ve been feeling that whole plane ride back, how heartbroken they must’ve been.” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Mayor Jim Kenney both defended the Assali family at protests Saturday and Sunday at the airport. The Assali family in the U.S. is working with lawyers to file a federal lawsuit. Before the protests began, President Richard Englert issued a statement to all students about the executive order. “Temple prides itself on being a community of diverse scholars, many of whom come to us from foreign nations,” it read. “We are committed to enabling our faculty, students and visitors — both from the U.S. and from locations around the globe — to contribute to the vitality of the education we provide and the role we play in the local, regional and global economy.” Englert provided information about the International Student and Scholar Services and advised students from the seven prohibited countries against traveling outside the U.S. Takiko Goldschneider, an immigration services specialist in ISSS, said only a few students had called or come into the ISSS office with questions since the order was signed.
Temple has 55 students and 10 faculty from the affected area, but all are in the U.S., said university spokesman Brandon Lausch. Many students and alumni were a part of the estimated 5,000-person protest against the executive order at the Philadelphia airport, on Sunday, after several hundred protested on Saturday night. Sophomore finance major Sayem Rahman brought a sign that displayed a December 2015 tweet from Vice President Mike Pence that read “Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional.” “My parents are immigrants and I’m a first-generation American,” said Rahman, whose family immigrated from Bangladesh. “All my family came from overseas and they went through literal hell and back to give me a stable life. So when I see other immigrants getting affected by it, I don’t stand for it.” “It’s been really frustrating to me being able to see Donald Trump and the policies he’s proposed that are so dangerous and hear people say, ‘Oh he doesn’t mean all of that. He’s just going to do the things that work,’” said Sarah Kim, the Parliament chair for the School of Social Work at the protest. “But really all the horrible things he’s said he’s going to do, he’s doing.” Kim said TSG Parliament will discuss the immigration ban to see what they can do to ensure the students from these countries are supported. “People complain about protests and say, ‘Oh go get a job, this doesn’t do anything,’” she added. “I don’t know what it’s gonna take for people to really hear the message that protesting is making people confront the realities of what’s happening.” gillian.mcgoldrick@temple.edu @gill_mcgoldrick
Check out more photos online at temple-news.com/slideshows
- Noah Tanen
School repairs need billions According to the Facilities Condition Assessment, the Philadelphia School District has an estimated $4.5 billion worth in projects for schools that have fallen into disrepair, NewsWorks reported. If the school district is unable to complete all 12,000 repairs within the next 10 years, then damage costs will go up another $3.2 billion. The school district began the Planning and Construction Workbook process in which schools are reimbursed by the state for capital projects and major repairs. Newsworks reported that the school district hopes the results of the FCA will help convince lawmakers to give the district the money it needs for the repairs. - Diamante Ortiz
News Desk 215-204-7419 news@temple-news.com
BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS Holden, 3, attended the protest inside Terminal A on Sunday during the second day of protests at the Philadelphia International Airport.
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
features
F E AT U R E S
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
PAGE 7
University behind on recovery dorms
Retiring professor receives award
Unlike nearby schools, Temple does not provide sober housing. By MEGHAN COSTA For The Temple News
O
n the morning of his brother’s 29th birthday, Sean Garraty awoke to find two police officers knocking at his door. The police arrested Garraty, then a sophomore social work major, for selling prescription pills to an undercover police officer in Glenolden, Pennsylvania. He had been using pills since high school and stopped using substances before he enrolled at Temple, but he eventually slipped back into addiction during his freshman year. “This was my rock bottom,” Garraty said. “While I sat in jail, I knew that this was not my purpose in life.” Garraty couldn’t complete the Spring 2014 semester because of his arrest. There was only one month of classes left before finals. Many universities like Penn State, Rutgers and Drexel offer recovery housing for students like Garraty. Not all recovery residencies are the same, but most include regular 12-step meetings, live-in recovery support staff, regular drug testing and therapy or counseling services. Temple does not offer a residence specifically for students in recovery, but many students believe the university should. Garraty started using pills again after drinking with friends who lived on Main Campus. Despite the fact that his friends lived in a residence hall, they were still able to sneak in alcohol, and Garraty said it was very easy to get pills. He could walk down any random street off Main Campus and find someone selling drugs, he said. Garraty transferred to Temple from Delaware County Community College in 2013. He had just left rehab at Mirmont Treatment Center in Media, Pennsylvania, where he recovered from an addiction to Percocet, Xanax and Adderall. After he served four months in the George W. Hill Correctional Facility,
RECOVERY | PAGE 13
Marina Angel will retire in June after half a century of fighting for women’s rights. BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS Ben Wong, a 2011 communications alumnus, explores an empty lot at 10th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
HIGHLIGHTING PHILLY THROUGH THE LENS A 2011 communications alumnus’ Instagram “brotherlylost” has more than 16,000 followers. By ALEXIS ANDERSON For The Temple News Ben Wong isn’t interested in taking photos of Boathouse Row or South Street. He said he’d rather take photographs of the “underbelly of Philly.” Wong, a 2011 communications alumnus, hails from Collegeville, Pennsylvania. “I never really had anything interesting out there for me to shoot,” he said. “But living in the city, you’re surrounded by it. You could stand in one spot for an hour and shoot a bunch of different things and get some cool shots.” This is evident in Wong’s popular Instagram account, “brotherlylost.” He posts photographs from obscure areas of the city, like an untended playground at 3rd and Lemon streets, a colorful mural at 8th and Thompson streets or a graffiti-marked payphone just north of Chinatown. “I followed a lot of Philly photographers ... and I felt like they all kind of shoot the same stuff,” Wong said. “I want to show that there’s more to Philly than just the cobblestone and all that.”
PHOTOGRAPHY | PAGE 11
BRIANNA SPAUSE /THE TEMPLE NEWS Wong photographs his reflection in a street art installation at 10th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue..
By PATRICK BILOW For The Temple News As a 20-year-old student at Columbia University Law School in the mid-1960s, Marina Angel stood in the office of Columbia’s Dean of Admissions and demanded the recognition of her female peers. Angel said she saw that women at Columbia University were graduating with less recognition than men despite the fact that they had similar, if not better grades. More than 50 years later, Angel continues to defend equal rights as a professor in the Beasley School of Law. After working for 39 years at the university, she is set to retire in June 2017. During her career, she researched and published more than 40 papers regarding women’s rights and the status of women in the law, some of which have been recognized and presented by the American Bar Association. “I have always fought against the injustice I see around me,” Angel said. Earlier this month, Angel received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award — an honor that recognizes an individual who has had a distinguished career in teaching, service and scholarship for at least 20 years — at the Association of American Law Schools 111th Annual Convention in San Francisco. Angel is a friend of Ginsburg, and they were two of the few women who were law professors in New York City during the 1970s. Angel said she assumed a role as a “troublemaker” early in her career by shining a light on situations of which people were otherwise unaware. She said one of her research papers studied 200 Pennsylvania law firms and concluded that few women become an equity partner at their firm. In a separate study regarding women in legal education, Angel found it was becoming more difficult for women to
LAW | PAGE 12
Students travel to Iceland to shoot senior thesis film Eric Burleson and Conor O’Mara made a short dystopian film together their senior year. By PATRICK BILOW For The Temple News Along a coast dominated by black sand and rugged terrain, two senior film and media arts majors found the
setting for their thesis film: Iceland. Eric Burleson was the film’s writer and director, and Conor O’Mara, who has a concentration in cinematography, was the director of photography. Burleson and O’Mara spent two weeks around Laugarvatn, Iceland shooting scenes for their film, “Return Safely.” Burleson and O’Mara’s film is a fantasy, dystopian piece about a woman’s quest through a strange land. She is traveling to return a mysterious, sacred object to its home while encountering creatures that can not be found
in the real world. Each senior in the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts can produce a film that reflects what they learned during their time at Temple. Over the years, students have done their thesis films around the world, in India, South Africa, China and now Iceland, said Paul Swann, a film and media arts professor. “A thesis film demands vision, discipline and perseverance,” Swann said.
FILM | PAGE 9
COURTESY ERIC BURLESON Emily Ruth Johnson, a 2014 theater alumna, is the sole actress in the film “Return Safely” created by two film and media arts majors in Iceland.
AMBASSADOR | PAGE 8
LGBTQ | PAGE 8
WRITING | PAGE 11
A CAPELLA | PAGE 12
A 1966 accounting alumnus worked as a U.S. ambassador for nearly four decades.
Study abroad programs are working on making the international experience more inclusive for LGBTQ students.
Mary Gaitskill, a new creative writing professor and acclaimed author, will teach MFA writing workshops.
A new a capella group on campus performs a diverse array of music genres during its performances.
F E AT U R E S
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Alumnus traveled the world as U.S. ambassador Johnny Young traveled to countries like Kenya, Barbados and Togo during his career. By JENNY ROBERTS Opinion Editor When Johnny Young found out he was headed to the Malagasy Republic, he didn’t even know where to find the country on a map. “I didn’t know what Malagasy Republic meant,” said Young, a 1966 accounting alumnus who served as a foreign service officer. “I thought initially it was some place in the Philippines.” But Young was actually destined for an island to the east of continental Africa. His first placement by the State Department would be in the country now known as Madagascar. Young went on to work at American embassies in 10 other countries, including Qatar, Kenya, Barbados, Jordan and the Netherlands. During his later placements, he served as ambassador in four countries’ American embassies, promoting American policies and informing the United States of relations with that particular foreign government. Young first became interested in working internationally in 1965 — two years prior to joining the foreign service — while he attended a YMCA-YWCA leadership conference in Beirut, Lebanon. “I had never traveled anywhere of any note,” he said. “And [I] was meeting people from all over the world and learning in such a short time a little bit about their culture
and seeing them in their costumes and their dresses.” “I made up my mind, whatever I do, I want to do that in the international arena,” he added. Young first sought to find international work in the accounting division of an American company abroad. But because of discrimination against African Americans at the time, Young said he wasn’t able to do so. He then turned to the federal government to put his accounting background to use. Young was accepted into the foreign service, which is very selective, he said. He officially joined in 1967, working in finance for the State Department in countries around the world. His most difficult placement he said was his second assignment in Guinea, a country in west Africa. “It was difficult because we were living in a totalitarian regime,” Young said. “It was challenging. We couldn’t even find food in the country.” “The country was very antiWest, particularly anti-American and anti-French,” he added. “I saw contacts I had developed there killed and hanged.” Young himself was even temporarily imprisoned in 1971 while in the country for insulting “the dignity of the government of Guinea,” after a verbal run-in with Guinean armed guards. The guards had trespassed by entering an American-owned apartment, and when Young told them to leave, they arrested him. But the American ambassador in Guinea was able to get Young released. “It was very troublesome,” Young said. “But we came out of it alive, well and more experienced.” After nearly 40 years of traveling
the world, Young retired from the foreign service in 2005, but he continued to work on international issues. In 2005, he joined the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, working as the executive director in the Office of Migration and Refugee Services. “You can see immediately the impact of what you’re doing if you’ve ever met a refugee who has come your way,” Young said. “We offer protection and hope to people who have literally been through hell.”
Jim Kuh, associate director for program development in USCCB’s Office of Migration and Refugee Services, worked in a former position under Young when he was executive director. “[Young] understands the international scene, which is such an important part of our work and the connections on the ground,” Kuh said. Young took delegation trips while at USCCB to regions of the world that have significant popula-
COURTESY RYAN BRANDENBERG Johnny Young, a 1966 accounting alumnus, was a U.S. ambassador for four countries and a diplomat in seven other countries.
tions of refugees fleeing the country. He would then form reports with recommendations for members of Congress. “It really did help move the needle oftentimes when it came to shedding the spotlight on an area, where there was a particularly protracted refugee situation in the world, where long-standing refugees were being basically forgotten,” Kuh said. One such delegation trip was to Bangladesh. There, the Rohingya people, a persecuted Muslim minority, were being threatened with return to their native country, Myanmar. “They languished for many, many years,” Kuh said. “It wasn’t too long after that that we started to see a flow of Rohingya refugees, and I attribute a lot of that to Johnny’s efforts.” Young worked at USCCB until 2015 when he officially retired. But he stays involved with international issues by teaching English as a second language part-time and helping people who have green cards prepare for their civics test to become citizens. Young warned against negative sentiments toward outsiders, like refugees and undocumented immigrants in recent national discourse. “I am really very concerned about where we’re going in this country in terms of how we’re going to treat refugees and how we’re going to treat people who are here in an undocumented status,” Young said. “We’re a country that has always been known for our humane treatment of persons who are basically at the bottom of the list and who have had certain difficulties in their lives.” “We have given them hope.” jennifer.roberts@temple.edu @jennyroberts511
LGBTQ students receive resources at Japan campus Despite cultural differences, LGBTQ students have found resources abroad. By HENRY SAVAGE For The Temple News When Shanel Ledesma was preparing for her current study away program at Temple University Japan, she wondered how the Japanese people would react to her Dominican appearance, and whether she would find a group of people to whom she could relate. “I was mostly concerned about my identity as a Latina,” said Ledesma, who is also a part of the LGBTQ community. “I also wondered about my values of individuality and acceptance, and if it would stand out when I came into contact with other people.” Despite concerns that her identity would keep her from fitting in abroad, Ledesma, a sophomore film and media arts major, found several resources to prepare her for her trip. Her advisers, student blogs and YouTube videos were Ledesma’s greatest tools for preparing to go abroad, she said. For some American LGBTQ students preparing to study abroad, traveling to a country like Japan, where 98.5% of the population is Japanese and same-sex relationships are not particularly accepted outside of Tokyo, it can be difficult to know where to start looking for support. “My advice for LGBT students that are thinking about studying abroad is search for resources,” Ledesma said. “You might think there aren’t any, but you’d be surprised.” Nikolas Kfoury, a senior general studies major with a history concentration, is a full-time student at TUJ. He used online resources to prepare for his travel. features@temple-news.com
COURTNEY SUMMERS FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Students learn about international programs at the study abroad fair on Wednesday afternoon at theTuttleman Learning Center.
Kfoury is the leader of TUJ Pride Alliance, an LGBTQ student organization at TUJ, and he recommends Rachel and Jun’s Adventures, a YouTube channel run by a married couple that tackles different topics about moving to and living in Japan. The channel served as his source for all the LGBTQ-related knowledge he was looking for before temporarily moving to Japan. Once Kfoury moved to Tokyo in August 2014, he quickly made friends who helped introduce him to Japan’s queer community, he said. He suggested watching YouTube videos on LGBTQ culture in Japan or connecting with TUJ for resources before moving. Kfoury said Japan’s culture is generally accepting of the LGTBQ community, but it’s also less visible. “Japan isn’t an individualistic society,” he said. “Anything about an individual that isn’t the standard ‘norm’ is usually kept secret. Many Japanese citizens aren’t open to expressing their true sexual identities outside of the gay district.” Ledesma said the district of
COURTNEY SUMMERS FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Quinn Heath, a junior who is the vice president of Queer Student Union, helps lead the group’s meeting in the Student Center on Jan. 23. At the meeting, many members of Temple University’s Queer Student Union expressed interest in going abroad.
Shinjuku Ni-chome in Tokyo, “is the equivalent of Philadelphia’s Gayborhood with LGBT businesses, bars, and shops.” “Again, Japan has a very community-based culture,” she said. “Where there is a high level of respect, if not tolerance, of the people surrounding them.”
Belinda Christensen, a program manager in the Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses Office, said LGBTQ students planning to travel abroad should embrace the online resources provided on the office’s website’s “Prepare to Go” tab. The office has partnered with programs like Diversity Abroad and
supports organizations like International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, which encourages LGBTQ students, students of color and students with disabilities to travel. ILGA offers detailed maps of sexual orientation laws by country, including the severity of punishments for people who break those laws. In some countries, breaking sexual orientation laws is punishable by life imprisonment or death. Popular study abroad programs for Temple students, like Japan, Rome, London and Spain, are all in countries in which same-sex couples can get married or same-sex sexual acts are decriminalized, or never were criminalized, according to ILGA’s maps. Christensen said while online resources are some of the largest tools for students preparing to travel, advising is equally important. “Not only are we here to talk about academics and student housing, but we’re here for student liferelated questions as well,” she said. “Questions about the student’s identity, that might impact their decision on where to go, whether to study abroad and possibly their experience, and it’s best those discussions happen on a one-on-one basis.” “There’s so many aspects of somebody’s choice on where to study abroad,” she added. “It’s so individualized. We have these general resources, but we invite students to come in and talk to us.” Kfoury said any student should take the opportunity to travel abroad if given the chance. “The development you can make within yourself is completely worth it,” he said. “You’ll be able to experience something completely new, whether it’s the country’s culture itself, or the queer culture within the country. The growth you get from an experience like this is unbelievable.” henry.savage@temple.edu
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FILM “Temple’s thesis films are distinctive in being highly collaborative, drawing on skills and talents of many students.” “It’s no simple matter to arrange an overseas shoot,” he added. “It’s a challenge, but a valuable experience to assemble resources and make contacts from one’s own turf.” The two started planning their thesis film in June, but scratched all of their original ideas, like a film set at a lighthouse, when O’Mara saw that plane tickets to Iceland were relatively cheap. “We realized that we wanted to do something different than what we had been doing,” Burleson said. “I wanted to push a fantasy experience. A lot of the inspiration was Iceland itself.” They said they were stunned by the scenes they found in Iceland. “You could look in any direction and see nothing but views for miles,” O’Mara said. “It’s just unreal.” Those views included signs that warned against volcanic rock and mountains in the distance at every angle, they said. Shooting locations for the film included the site of a World War II plane crash and Thingvellir National Park, which sits on a continental divide between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The setting isn’t the only defining factor of “Return Safely.” The film has no dialogue. “If you do it correctly, the viewer should be able to watch the entire film without realizing that there isn’t any dia-
logue,” Burleson said. The two said they are confident that the viewer will not need dialogue to be captivated by their film because of its setting and the talent of their lead actress, 2014 theater alumna Emily Ruth Johnson. The crew dealt with unpredictable weather, which changed from clear skies to blizzards in a moment, but they said it only added to the wonder of Iceland. “It really is unlike something you can find back in the states,” Burleson said. Burleson and O’Mara said they tried to save money by shopping at “an Icelandic 7-Eleven” while abroad, but the trip was still fairly expensive. They turned to the Greater Philadelphia Film Office for funding and gained nonprofit status through the organization. They were accepted to the organization’s Fiscal Sponsorship program. “We also reached out to friends and family and tried to get people excited about Iceland,” O’Mara said. Burleson and O’Mara have known each other since their freshman year and have produced several short films together, most of them being horror films shot in their homes. O’Mara said he hopes to have the home finished before the end of the year. As they both approach the end of their careers at Temple, Burleson and O’Mara see no end in sight for their collaborations in filmmaking. They said they hope to write and produce a feature film one day. “We absolutely plan on continuing to work together,” O’Mara said.
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BOTTOM LEFT: LINH THAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS AND COURTESY ERIC BURLESON Bottom left: Eric Burleson (left), and Conor O’Mara sit in the School of Media and Communication’s film equipment office. The crew of “Return Safely” had to work quickly to use natural light while they shot the film in Iceland. The sun was only out for about five hours while they were there.
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NICK SEAGREAVES FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS
Chinese New Year celebration lights up Chinatown This past weekend, people in Chinatown celebrated the ancient tradition of Chinese New Year. The blocks bordered by 9th,11th, Race and Vine streets were blocked off and flooded with Philadelphians and tourists looking to get a glimpse of the Lion Dances from the Philadelphia Suns, a nonprofit organization that hosts parades each year to celebrate Chinatown’s cultural heritage. On Friday night, the festivities began with Lion Dance demonstrations and ended with a parade down 10th Street. Some spectators followed the lions around. Mason Cohen, Nico Cohen, Brycen Kan, Brandon Alpert and their uncle Gary Lee, lit firecrackers for the crowds to see. “Our father and uncle have been doing this with us since we were very young,” Mason Cohen said. “We collect the firecrackers throughout the year and enjoy setting them off to put on a show for all to see.” On Sunday, the Suns were back out with another Lion dance parade. This time the firecrackers were tied to a string and set off in front of stores to attract the lions. Legend says that having the lions come to stores scares off bad spirits for the New Year. The events gathered crowds and left behind firecracker remains and confetti for clean-up.
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Novelist joins English faculty Mary Gaitskill will teach creative writing to undergraduate and graduate students. By IAN WALKER Arts Beat Reporter Mary Gaitskill first gained fame for her 1988 short story collection “Bad Behavior,” a provocative exploration of dark sexual relationships in New York City. But her love of writing started decades earlier, as a young child. “I loved reading, and even when I was a kid I wrote stories,” Gaitskill said. “I would kind of draw cartoon comic books.” Gaitskill, who has taught creative writing at several universities since 1992 and was a National Book Award finalist in 2005, joined the English department this semester to teach a fiction workshop in the MFA Creative Writing Program. Her latest novel, “The Mare,” is about Velveteen Vargas, an 11-yearold Dominican girl from Brooklyn. Through the Fresh Air Fund, an organization that provides summer host families to low-income children in New York City, she gets the opportunity to live with a middle-class white couple in upstate New York. The novel was first published in 2015. “It’s about race, but it’s also about a socially unaccepted love or relationship,” Gaitskill said. “I write about that a lot.” While Gaitskill acknowledged the book is not as transgressive as “Bad Behavior,” she said both stories reflect a similar theme. “[They’re] about ambiguity and situations which don’t really belong to one category or another,” Gaitskill said. Don Lee, the director of the MFA Creative Writing Program, read much of Gaitskill’s writing well before he hired her. Prior to her coming to Temple, Lee had only briefly met Gaitskill once at a writer’s conference, but he said he had admired her work for 20 years. “She is a great prose writer in terms of craft, but [also] she’s willing to take risks in terms of her themes and characters,” he said. Lee realized he wanted to hire a fic-
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PHOTOGRAPHY Originally published as a blog in 2014, Wong expanded his project to Facebook and Instagram, where the account now boasts more than 16,000 followers. Though Wong was initially surprised by his account’s popularity, Wong said he thinks Philadelphians personally relate to his photos. “A lot of the compliments that I get are like, ‘Oh, I really like that one photo, I work right there,’ or ‘I lived on that street forever and I just never looked at it that certain way,’” Wong said.
tion workshop professor two years ago when former Provost Hai-Lung Dai, announced that he would entertain proposals from different departments for “star hires.” During her job interview on Main Campus in Spring 2016, Lee said Gaitskill “riveted” the faculty with an excerpt from “The Mare.” She also spoke about her literary influences, which range from Vladimir Nabokov to Flannery O’Connor to Philip Roth. “She was just so obviously intelligent and impassioned and insightful,” he said. “We, the faculty, were inspired, and we knew that she would be doubly inspiring to the students.” Partho Chakrabartty, a firstyear creative writing MFA student in Gaitskill’s workshop, said after only one class, Gaitskill inspired him to develop new approaches to examine his writing. “Most of the time, writing is talked about in terms of its mechanics,” Chakrabartty said. “We will talk about the elements of craft [and] things like point of view and characterization…the nuts and bolts kind of stuff.” Chakrabartty said Gaitskill addressed these writing conventions in a different manner. She guided a discussion on how writers take the mechanical elements of writing and “infuse them with life.” “Something which seems very fleeting when you’re reading, a minor
detail somewhere, a minor anecdote, a throwaway sentence which is not really fully developed in the story, can color the way you read the entire story,” Chakrabartty said. For Gaitskill, workshops are jarringly different from the solitary act of writing, but she appreciates them as a form of “energy exchange.” “It’s talking with a group of people that you wouldn’t normally have this kind of conversation with that can open up your perception about writing,” Gaitskill said. “It’s been interesting over the years to be in this situation which is really unnatural for me. … It’s made me a little more flexible in certain ways as a writer.” In addition to teaching MFA Creative Writing workshops, Lee said Gaitskill will teach an undergraduate literature course, The Art of the Short Story, in Spring 2018. But even as Gaitskill teaches students to analyze the short fiction of other writers, she said she can’t always identify the themes in her own work. “I think [writers] often don’t really understand their themes that fully,” she said. “Because if it’s good, it comes from a pretty deep place, it’s not just about an idea.” ian.walker@temple.edu @ian_walker12
COURTESY IBRAM X. KENDI Alumnus Ibram X. Kendi won the 2016 National Book Award for “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.” Kendi used the stories of five American intellectuals to show the prevalence of racism in America.
Alumnus honored with National Book Award Ibram X. Kendi originally wanted to be a journalist before getting his doctoral degree in African American studies. By JENNY STEIN For The Temple News
COURTESY MARY GAITSKILL Mary Gaitskill, an author of three acclaimed novels, joined the English faculty to teach creative writing. In order to write her most recent book, “The Mare,” Gaitskill spent time studying horses.
In addition to working on Brotherly Lost, Wong is involved in wedding and concert photography. He also shoots band portraits for his blog and for JUMP Philly, a music magazine in the city published by journalism professor George Miller. Wong’s interest in Philadelphia’s music scene made its way into Brotherly Lost. Each photo posted to the blog is named after a song by a local band, and captioned with lyrics from one of their songs. Wong wasn’t interested in photography until his junior year of college, when he bought his first DSLR camera for his Still Photography for Filmmak-
BRIANNA SPAUSE/THE TEMPLE NEWS On his popular Instagram account and project“brotherlylost,” Ben Wong shows forgotten parts of the city, like abandoned lots and playgrounds.
ers class with professor David Freese. “I took mostly film, photography and journalism courses under the communications umbrella,” Wong said. “I sort of veered towards photography because it’s a little bit easier to do with just yourself. … With photography, you can just be in your own creative space.” Wong added that the photography classes at Temple force you to use the “city as a background.” Paul Rider, one of Wong’s former professors who currently teaches at Penn State-Abington and the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, said he always tries to get his students to explore spaces overtime, to look at them with an open mind and new eyes. “I always tell some of my students, [if] they want to go out and make pretty pictures... go down into the city,” Rider said. “There’s lots of wonderful things there for you to photograph, it’s just endless. You’ll continuously be photographing, you’ll never be able to stop.” While Wong doesn’t make a profit from his blog or Instagram account, he does sell prints and showcase his photos in galleries. The exposure he gained from Brotherly Lost opened up a lot of opportunities for him, he said. Apricot Stone, a Mediterranean restaurant in Northern Liberties, showcases Wong’s photography on the walls. “It’s a little crazy how [Brotherly Lost has] blown up. And I never really expected to be a photographer, but now…I feel like I can’t really give that up,” Wong said. “It’s crazy how far I’ve been able to go, and how many people I’ve been able to meet and things I’ve been able to see and do just from being able to use a camera.” alexis.s.anderson@temple.edu
When Ibram X. Kendi was studying for his doctoral degree in African American studies at Temple, he said he asked his professor Ama Mazama, “If we can’t be objective, what can we do?” “We should just tell the truth,” Mazama said. Kendi, a New York Times best-selling author and an African American history professor at the University of Florida, earned his doctorate from Temple in 2010. He said that lessons from Mazama have stuck with him to this day. Kendi’s book, “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” received the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction. In the book, Kendi explores the evolution of racist ideas in American history. “I wanted to chronicle the motives of why people produce these [racist] ideas to show that typically it wasn’t ignorance and hate that was leading to people producing these ideas,” he said. “But oftentimes the need to rationalize racial disparities or the need to defend racist policies that typically benefited the people who were producing these ideas,” he said. Kendi worked on the award-winning novel for three years after he published his first book, “The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, 1965-1972.” Kendi was originally interested in pursuing sports journalism. While an intern at The Mobile Register, a daily newspaper in Mobile, Alabama, Kendi wrote a story about high school football recruits being more willing to play for a Black football coach. The following summer, when Kendi interned at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he wrote a similar story about sports and race. Kendi said those stories excited him, and he decided he wanted to pursue a career as a journalist reporting on racial issues. He attended Florida A&M University, where he received bachelor’s degrees in journalism and African American studies. Before he attended Temple, Kendi planned to pursue his master’s in African American studies, but decided to get his doctoral degree because he thought it would make him a better professor. Kendi studied under Molefi Kete Asante, the chairman of the Africology and African American studies department, when he taught the course “Social and Political Thought” — an experience Kendi said was “crucial” to his experience at Temple. “He’s one of the most prolific African-American scholars and for a very long time he’s challenged racist ideas and neocentric thought,” Kendi said. “He’s certainly served as a role model for me and many scholars who came to Temple University.” “[Kendi’s work] is very important because most people don’t realize that the American society has these incredible, hidden incidents of racism that would help us to explain many of the things that we do and that we see in contemporary society,” Asante said. “The work [Kendi is] doing is extremely important. It’s work that should have been done a long time ago.” Kendi said learning about African-American culture at Temple was essential to his book-writing process. “I take my intellectual work very seriously, and I also am not fearful of criticizing great American figures just as [Ama Mazama] and Molefi Kete Asante,” Kendi said. “I think they trained me in particular ways, but they also gave me the courage to write this type of history.” jenny.stein@temple.edu
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New a capella group offers a ‘diverse repertoire’ of music Temple Ten hopes to perform in different parts of the city. By LILLIAN LEMA For The Temple News While performing, all members of the on-campus a capella group Temple Ten must share the same breath. “In a chamber group you don’t have someone in front of you saying, ‘And start.’ You have us all looking at each other, breathing at the same time and coming in at the same tempo,” said Julia Bokunewicz, a member and senior music education major. “We work on a lot of ensemble work, in terms of who is leading, who is going to start us.” Temple Ten began performing last semester after the group held auditions during Spring 2016. The new a capella group was created so students could participate in a premiere chamber vocal ensemble, said Mitos Andaya Hart, the director of the ensemble and the associate director of choral activities. Temple Ten stands apart from other groups because of its diverse
repertoire of music, Andaya Hart said. She said the group can perform classical music, jazz, pop, music from the Romantic era in the 1800s and pieces by Claudio Monteverdi from the Renaissance era. “We can do music that is 500 years old or a couple years old, but it’s all unaccompanied [by instruments],” Andaya Hart said. The group’s interest in performing different genres of music was evident during its performance honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at Mitten Hall earlier this month, where the members sang U2’s “MLK” and “Walk Together Children,” an African American spiritual. Andaya Hart said the group’s goal is to build knowledge about performing multiple genres. The group meets once a week to rehearse for at least two hours. “Our rehearsal really focuses on fine detail,” Andaya Hart said. “We work on vowel modification, listening for tuning, [which] is called intonation and balance.” Bokunewicz said the group’s rehearsal consists of members trying to “put the meaning of the text on their faces,” since they don’t dance or make instrumental sounds with their voices. “Your job as a performer is to convey meaning of your performance
through voice, eyes and energy,” said Vrushabh Doshi, a Temple Ten member and junior film and media arts major. “Whoever is listening to you perform, it’s your job to make them feel the exact same way as the person who wrote that piece.” Last semester, Temple Ten performed at open houses, audition days for the Boyer College of Music and Dance and at an event for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. This semester, the a capella group will continue to perform at on-campus events like Temple Vocal Arts’ VoCollage and the 6th Annual Women Veterans Forum. The members will also perform for local high school ensembles. The group members hope they aren’t limited to on-campus events, and can perform in the Philadelphia area as well, Doshi said. “We need to find gigs around Philadelphia to get experience in performing in different areas,” Doshi said. Giving an audience a wonderful musical experience is very important for the group, Andaya Hart said. “Our performance should transport them to a place that is appropriate to the piece,” she added. lillian.lema@temple.edu
COURTESY MARINA ANGEL Professor Marina Angel (right), received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award from University of Toledo law professor Rebecca Zietlow.
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LAW reach tenure, she said. “Professor Angel has spent her career criticizing discrimination against women,” Provost JoAnne Epps said. Epps has known Angel since 1985 as a colleague at the Beasley School of Law. Epps has also worked with Angel at the professor’s annual Feminist Law Professor conferences. These conferences are held at different universities throughout Pennsylvania and address issues that women face in the legal environment. “There are many women who feel their careers were made possible because of Professor Angel’s encouragement either directly to them or on behalf of societal change from which they benefitted,” Epps said. During the 1990s, Angel also helped draft a law for the Temple Faculty Senate called “No Sexual Harassment, No Sexual Assault,” which addressed a scandal at Temple where certain male professors were acting inappropriately toward female students, she said. “A lot of my work has been to shockingly point out the facts,” Angel said. But before pointing out the facts in these publications, Angel had a successful two-year career as a lawyer at Gordon & Shectman, P.C., in New York during the mid-1970s.
She worked in many cases for equality, but was looking for a more effective way to make others more aware of injustice. She said she remembered the way professors at Columbia Law School connected with students, and decided to join the school’s faculty in 1979. “I felt like I could make more of an impact through my writing and research,” Angel said. “I teach an enormous amount of people and I’d like to deliver to them an important message.” The lifetime achievement award adds to a list of awards she won last year that have been presented to her by organizations like the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania bar associations. “It’s validating to receive these awards,” Angel said. “It’s not always the best being the troublemaker because people don’t want to hear about the problems.” On Feb. 22, Angel will receive another award: the Penn State Dickinson Law School’s Rambo Award, which recognizes leaders in education. As she reflects on her career, Angel said she didn’t intentionally focus on women’s rights, but rather those who were affected by the injustice she saw. “I have always been able to recognize what is wrong,” Angel said. “And I have always been able to fight against it.” patrick.bilow@temple.edu
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DANELL WORRELL FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Top: Mitos Andaya Hart, the associate director of choral activities, instructs at a recent Temple Ten rehearsal. Bottom: Senior Megan Cullinane reads music during a recent rehearsal for the Temple Ten a capella group.
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EVENTS
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ASH LAVACCA FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Tyler Hurst, a fourth-year master’s of social work student, discussed sober living in Ritter Hall on Jan. 26. Hurst started an on-campus support group called Unicovery in 2015.
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RECOVERY he returned to Temple and graduated in 2016 with a bachelor’s of social work. He then enrolled in the Advanced Standing Master’s of Social Work program, which he started in July. “I was very open about my life history, but I still felt alone.” Garraty said. “I still struggled with my addictive behaviors until I started to educate myself more.” Through the social work program, Garraty met Tyler Hurst, a fourth-year master’s of social work student who started an on-campus addiction support group called Unicovery in 2015. Garraty said he finally felt understood and supported after meeting Hurst and the rest of the group members, but Unicovery dissolved in 2016 due to scheduling conflicts. Hurst started the program in hopes it would convince Temple administrators to implement a collegiate recovery program on campus, including a residence hall specifically for recovering students. To fund this program, Hurst applied for a $10,000 grant from the Stacie Mathewson Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on addiction recovery. However, the grant required a university signature before the money was doled out. Hurst said he believes Temple’s administration did not want to support drug and alcohol recovery services because then “the public will believe that the school has a problem with drug and alcohol use.” Kate Schaeffer was Unicovery’s faculty adviser at the time that Hurst secured the grant, but she now works for the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Schaeffer was also the program coordi-
nator of alcohol and drugs, interpersonal violence and mental health at the Wellness Resource Center, until July 2015. She said a grant must be approved by several departments, and that approval can take up to six months. “Unfortunately, it’s not something that a person who had my position could just sign for and have that be good to go,” she said. “I didn’t have budgetary oversight in my position.” Although the Wellness Resource Center provides students on Main Campus with information about drugs and alcohol, peer-facilitated programs and the “Think About It” online program, the center is not making steps toward recovery housing. “Discussing the need for recovery housing would be an issue much larger than the Wellness Resource Center,” said Samantha Tatulli, the healthy lifestyles program coordinator at the WRC and the administrator of the Healthy Lifestyles Living Learning Community, an LLC for students who want to live with healthy and active people. “This would need to be addressed with senior administrators and housing.” “We are certainly open to meeting with students to discuss this possibility,” Laura Randolph, the associate director of residential life, wrote in an email. “But it would need to be a larger initiative beyond just providing a residential space. Many other successful campus programs partner with resources to provide that additional support.” Most collegiate recovery housing is implemented when a university partners with a separate organization that specializes in addiction recovery. Drexel partnered with The Haven at College, a national collegiate recovery residence that opened a branch on Drexel’s campus in 2012. The organization helps provide on-
campus addiction treatment services. “When a college student decides to get sober, often one of their most urgent questions is where to live,” said Rosalie Genova, the director of Drexel’s Haven program. “We believe we’ve added greatly to addiction resources at Drexel, in that the university has one place to refer students who are considering sobriety.” Kat, who is now a freshman neuroscience major at Temple, lived at the Haven when she was a Drexel student in recovery from heroin addiction in 2015. She asked to keep her last name out of this story because of the stigma surrounding addiction. Kat said the best part about living at the Haven was the sense of community it created. “There was a lot of people living in a small space and sometimes it felt like we were on top of each other,” Kat said. “But that was also what I liked about living there, because I was never alone.” Kat eventually started using heroin again in December of that year. After telling the staff at the Haven, they told her to seek treatment or she would not be allowed to live there anymore. “They helped me a lot,” she said. “I don’t think I would’ve gone [to treatment] otherwise.” After finishing rehab last year, Kat started school at Temple instead of returning to Drexel. “Drexel was very high-paced, and I don’t think I was ready for that,” she said. “If there is a presence of sober students living in residential recovery that are not afraid or ashamed to admit that they used drugs, it could inspire other students to get clean and start doing what they can to keep themselves healthy and safe,” Kat said. meghan.caroline.costa@temple.edu
@Meg_costa19
The Philadelphia Auto Show, which began on Saturday, will showcase more than 700 concept, classic, luxury and exotic cars at the Pennsylvania Convention Center at Broad and Race streets until Feb. 5. Cars on display this year feature environmentally friendly technology and design. Interactive opportunities like driving games and performance simulators, are also available. Tickets can be purchased on the auto show’s website. The show is open on weekdays from noon to 10 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Sunday, the show will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. -Patrick Bilow
Chinese New Year to be celebrated on campus A celebration of the upcoming Chinese Year of the Rooster will be held in Room 200BC of the Student Center from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The event features performances, food and games. Attendees can also make their own spring couplets and rooster paper cuttings as part of the tradition. The Chinese New Year began on Saturday. The holiday is celebrated for two weeks and ends with the Lantern Festival on Feb. 11. Common activities associated with the new year include spring cleaning, giving out lucky money and getting together with family for a reunion dinner. -Grace Shallow
‘Moana’ screening in Student Center Starting on Thursday, “Moana,” a film about a Polynesian girl fighting a curse, will be screened at The Reel at 7 and 10 p.m. every night until Sunday. Tickets for the show are $2 for those with OWLcards and $4 for people without. All tickets can be purchased at the theater’s box office, on the lower level of the Student Center. Drinks and snacks, like popcorn, candy and nachos, are also available for purchase. -Grace Shallow
Student club hosts guest speaker on Friday On Friday at noon, the Temple University Venture Club will host Raj Singh as a guest speaker in Room 113 of Speakman Hall to discuss his experience in the technology business. Singh is the founder of two Philadelphia-based technology companies, Dronecast — which uses dronebased technology for healthcare, marketing, advertising and wearable technologies — and NoMoCab, a company similar to Uber and Lyft. The company allows free cab service for brand ambassadors and makes money through immersive advertising experiences. -Taylor Horn
Community arts initiative co-hosted by Temple
ASH LAVACCA FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Sean Garraty, a first-year master’s of social work student, said he suffered from addiction in his time at Temple.
On Saturday, representatives from the Land Arts Generator Initiative — a Pittsburgh-based operation that combines art and sustainable design for urban structures — will visit the Village of Arts and Humanities on Germantown Avenue near Alder Street at 10 a.m. Participants will discuss building a “solar tapestry mural” in North Philadelphia to power a public space, like a community center or library. Fundraising for the project and conceptual design of the structure will also be addressed. The event is co-hosted by Temple and the Village of Arts and Humanities, an organization dedicated to “artist-facilitated community building,” according to its website. -Grace Shallow features@temple-news.com
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Changing a ‘dominating culture’ David Brown is the only living person of color in the Public Relations Hall of Fame. By MADISON HALL For The Temple News
How do you feel about the executive order banning some refugees and immigrants?
FADIEL RADITYO Freshman Business
As the only living person of color inducted into the Public Relations Hall of Fame by the Philadelphia Public Relations Association, David Brown feels both pride and disappointment. “The organization is the oldest in the country and the fact that I’m the only one, that means that there are so many other people who should have been acknowledged,” said Brown, a public relations professor at Temple. Now, Brown is hoping to get more people of color inducted into the Hall of Fame as the faculty advisor for the Black Public Relations Society. “The dominating culture will be the ones that make the rules unless people like me get involved,” Brown said. Growing up, Brown saw the impact public relations had on his community, so he decided to work with organizations that rarely had enough money to stand out in a broad market. He said public relations can also raise awareness about social issues, like immigration reform and affordable healthcare, as well as help communities. “Not just a community in the sense of geography, but people who are vul-
nerable, at risk and in trouble,” he added. Since then, Brown has had an interest in the field, specifically in the nonprofit sector, rather than working in corporate or agency settings. Early in his career after he graduated from Duquesne University in 1984, Brown had the opportunity to either work for an alcoholic beverage company, or to work with people suffering from addiction. He worked for an agency who was working to market a new malt liquor product. The agency focused specifically on marketing to the African-American community, which the agency saw as the target audience for the product. “I have people in my family and in my circle who have been afflicted by alcoholism,” he said. “It just didn’t feel right for me and that for me was the beginning of my journey.” Brown left the agency to start his own company, the Marketing Collaborative, an agency for nonprofits that focuses on issues like health care, smoking and gambling addiction. Acting as a mentor for nonprofits including Philadelphia Academy and Lancaster General Health System, Brown uses his skills to help nonprofits. He also holds community workshops to teach members about public relations and advertising. “Since they are a nonprofit, they already have a social mission built in, but I also guide them because sometimes you receive big grants that can compromise that,” he said. Asha Wescott, a senior public rela-
tions major and president of Temple’s Black Public Relations Society believes it’s important to give students the opportunity to be in a professional setting. “It gives students who feel overlooked in the industry a chance to stand out and their voice be heard,” Wescott said. “Professor Brown is amazing, he has given the organization a whole new platform, we are now nationally known because of him.” As part his Public Relations Management and Case Problems class, Brown has his students work with local nonprofits by assigning them each an organization. “I want them to be able to develop a proficiency in writing, but find a way to develop their own moral compass in what they are doing once they leave here,” he said. Brown said he hopes to help create a diverse public relations industry that reflects the diversity of the city, because growing up he didn’t have many role models of color. “More students are going into it now with a much different view of what diversity is and are more comfortable in their own skin,” Brown said. “When I was coming up I was very aware that I was the only African American in the room.” “Because I am conscious about it I want to make sure other people know how to have these other experiences and be forced out of their comfort zone,” he added. “I want to be able to mentor different types of people.” madison.hall@temple.edu
I have a couple friends that come from the countries that are banned, so they were concerned about their study and stuff like that. I’m from Indonesia myself and there are a lot of Muslims in my country so I don’t know, my country might get banned from the United States. I’m thinking about myself, I’m thinking about what will happen to my country. To be honest, it’s not bothering me yet, but I keep on thinking about that. But it doesn’t really bother me.
BAILEY WOODRUFF Freshman Tourism & Hospitality Management
BRIDGET O’HARA FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Public relations professor David Brown is in his second year at Temple and already making a huge mark. He was recently inducted into the Public Relations Hall of Fame, becoming the first person of color honored with the title.
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I think it’s pretty ridiculous and also I saw something that’s like, the countries that he excluded were a part of his business plan which I’m pretty sure is illegal, like you can’t do that anyway. But it’s really just harsh, like it’s unreasonable I think. I have a lot of friends from back home [in Maryland] who are Muslim and I’ve talk to them since then. It’s just a lot going on. They have family that travels back and forth so they’re trying to figure out what they’re going to do with that situation.
SERGIO AGUILAR Junior Glassblowing
Honestly, I’m pretty mad. I’m part from Mexico, part from Colombia, so I’m all for foreign people and immigration and I think people should be openminded in terms of that. [President Donald Trump] just did exactly what everyone would have expected him to and that was pretty bad. I moved here when I was 9. I actually couldn’t even vote. This whole election time was really scary honestly, like people were just showing their ugliest colors and ... the inflammatory things that were said were kind of eye-opening to see and we couldn’t even vote, so it was just like, ‘Alright, let’s watch this all unfold.’ features@temple-news.com
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OWLS
LACROSSE
the floor and 2-for-17 from three. “My midrange jumper just wasn’t falling,” Fitzgerald said. “I was trying to attack the basket and shoot from the midrange if they wouldn’t let me get to the basket, but I just couldn’t get my shot to fall.” For the first time in almost two months, Temple will go into its next game after a loss. Next up for the Owls is another Top 25 team: Connecticut. The Huskies are currently in the middle of the longest winning streak in Division I basketball history. They have won 95 consecutive games since last losing to Stanford University in November 2014. UConn is the only undefeated team in Division I and the only undefeated team in the American Athletic Conference during conference play. UConn has the second-best scoring margin in Division I behind Baylor University. The Huskies are outscoring their opponents by 31.6 points per game. The Owls’ game against the Huskies tips off on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Liacouras Center. “I know [Connecticut] is gonna look at the film and use a lot of the things that we did against [South Florida],” Cardoza said. “Not to take anything away from South Florida, but we made a lot of mistakes that prevented us from winning that game.” kevinschaeffer@temple.edu
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Glassford, McDermott earn preseason honors
CHRISTOPHER HOOKS FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior guard Feyonda Fitzgerald goes for a layup in the Owls’ 55-51 loss to South Florida at McGonigle Hall on Sunday.
Senior midfielder Morgan Glassford and graduate attacker Brenda McDermott are among the 15 players on the Preseason All-Big East Team. Glassford earned Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association all-region second-team honors last season. She set a Temple single-season record with 78 draw controls, which also led the Big East Conference. Glassford also scored 23 goals and earned first-team all-conference honors. McDermott led the team with 22 assists last year, notched four hat tricks and finished with 48 points. She played seven games combined in 2014 and 2015 but played in 17 of the Owls’ 19 games last year. Temple was picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches’ poll. The Big East added two schools, the University of Denver and Butler University, to increase its total to 10, but will still have a four-team postseason tournament. The University of Florida, which beat the Owls in last year’s Big East final to claim its second consecutive Big East title, was picked to win the league. Temple begins its season on the road against Rutgers University on Feb. 11. -Evan Easterling
@_kevinschaeffer
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ATKINSON were going well for us, but she accepted that. It’s almost a good thing because you have someone that has a lot of talent, who can do a lot of things, as your sixth man.” Instead of viewing the change as a negative, Atkinson, who averages 28.8 minutes per game, has taken on the role and created advantages for both herself and her team. She found that by sitting for the first few minutes of the game, she has an opportunity to note the mistakes her teammates make and avoid them when she gets into the game. “I mean, I’m not saying I’m ecstatic to come off the bench, but I just feel as though it helps me at the same time from
the coaching aspect when I’m hearing what they think is going on in the game,” Atkinson said. “So I just feel like me being a spark off the bench, scoring, rebounding. I think it’s really going to be cool.” She found another way to make the best of her role as sixth woman in that she can do just about anything coming off the bench, an asset a lot of teams don’t have. Atkinson can score, rebound, steal and block. Atkinson averages 11.8 points per game and has recorded 19 steals in the 18 games she’s played. Her most valuable asset to the Owls may be her rebounding ability. She has pulled in 149 rebounds, including 79 on the offensive glass. She sits atop the American Athletic Conference with 4.4 offensive rebounds per game. “Especially if we’re in a slump, come off the bench, usually people are tired,
stuff like that,” Atkinson said. “I come off the bench, that’s a whole lot of energy right there because I’m fresh off the bench, fresh legs and everything.” Atkinson has pulled in 646 rebounds in her career, and Cardoza said she can reach 1,000 rebounds by the end of her senior year if she continues to post similar statistics. Currently, Atkinson averages 8.3 rebounds per game. “Even though she’s a guard, she can play the post position, too,” senior guard Feyonda Fitzgerald said. “She rebounds the heck out of the ball. She just goes and gets it. She’s just an awesome player. I think she’s going to give you her best effort every time she steps on the court.” maura.razanauskas@temple.edu @CaptainAMAURAca
ZACH FISCHER FILE PHOTO Senior midfielder Morgan Glassford was one of 15 players named to the Preseason All-Big East team.
FOOTBALL
Reddick, Dawkins impress at Senior Bowl Redshirt-senior defensive lineman Haason Reddick and senior offensive lineman Dion Dawkins competed for the North team in Saturday’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. Reddick tied for a game-high nine tackles in the North team’s 16-15 loss. He had 65 tackles for the Owls in 2016, including 22.5 for loss. He also had 9.5 sacks and three forced fumbles. Reddick’s 46 career tackles for loss ranks second in program history. NFL draft analyst Mike Mayock selected Reddick as one of the players who stood out in Senior Bowl practices. As of Saturday, Fox Sports projected Reddick to be selected by the Oakland Raiders with the 56th pick of the upcoming draft. Dawkins was a four-year starter at left tackle and earned all-conference honors twice. CBS Sports projected Dawkins as a second round pick. The NFL Draft will be held from April 27-29 on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. -Evan Easterling
Walk-on earns scholarship
KIERAN LYONS FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Seniors Simone Brownlee, (right) and Kenya Gaston have competed on the same track team for the past eight years.
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TRACK Brownlee convinced Gaston to join the team during the spring of their sophomore years. “She just told me to come out and run and it would be a good idea,” Gaston said. “She had to explain to me what every event was.” During her senior year of high school, Brownlee placed seventh in the 55-meter dash and fourth in the 55-meter hurdles at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Indoor Section Championships. Gaston also competed in the NJSIAA Championships, finishing second in the 55-meter dash, fifth in the 400-meter run, and fifth in the 55-meter hurdles. Three years after joining the team, they both received offers from Temple, and without planning it, they both ended
up as Owls. Though Gaston and Brownlee compete in different events, when one of them is running, the other is always nearby, yelling and screaming. “They are like peas in a pod, that’s for sure,” coach Elvis Forde said. “I saw that bond from the first time I arrived here, if they could be inseparable, they probably would be that.” “Before our races we will tell each other what to say,” Brownlee said. “When I’m about to do the hurdles I’ll tell her to yell at me to drive out before I get in the blocks. It’s really just about supporting each other as best as we can.” That support has helped contribute to their successful track & field careers at Temple. Brownlee finished 21st out of 28 competitors in the 100 meter hurdles at the 2015 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, but set personal records in the 60 hurdles, 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles in 2016.
Gaston helped the distance medley relay team place second and the 4x400 relay team place fourth at the 2016 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships. She also competed at the Penn State University Invitational on Jan. 28. Gaston got an invitation to compete in the 400, where she finished sixth with a time of 57.73 seconds. “When I’m having difficulties or I’m having a bad performance, she’s the one who is there to say, ‘Well look where you’ve came from. You’ve been through this before you know you can do better,’” Brownlee said. “And I do the same thing for her.” teresa.sayers@temple.edu
Sophomore walk-on kicker Aaron Boumerhi received a scholarship from the university earlier this week. Boumerhi took over Temple’s kicking duties during Temple’s 34-27 loss to Memphis after then-junior Austin Jones went down with an ACL injury. Boumerhi finished the season 15-of-17 on field goals and made 29-of-30 extra point attempts. The young kicker’s performance earned him second team All-American Athletic Conference honors. -Owen McCue
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Temple Hall of Famer to join Big 5 Hall of Fame Lynn Greer, who was inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame in September, will receive another honor in April. Greer and six others will be inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame at the Palestra on April 17. The class includes former St. Joseph’s guard and current Denver Nuggets guard Jameer Nelson and former Villanova guard and current Brooklyn Net Randy Foye. Greer played for the Owls from 1997-02, a span that included four NCAA Tournament appearances, two of which in the Elite Eight. He is one of four Owls to score 2,000 or more career points. -Evan Easterling sports@temple-news.com
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MEN’S BASKETBALL
Despite quality wins, Owls’ NCAA chances are fading Temple’s lost nine of its last 14 games after two Top 25 wins early this season. By OWEN MCCUE Sports Editor Temple fans were quite optimistic for the Owls’ season after the Preseason National Invitation Tournament back in November. Temple beat Top 25 opponents Florida State University and West Virginia University at the Barclays Center on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25 to win the Preseason NIT. After a 1-2 start the Owls were 5-2 and proved they were capable of beating some of the top teams in the country. But coach Fran Dunphy wasn’t quite sure yet what to expect from his team. “I hope we have grown a lot, but it’s not going to mean anything when we go to play in Philadelphia next week,” Dunphy said on Nov. 25. Temple beat Saint Joseph’s and the University of Pennsylvania upon its return from New York, but Dunphy was right. Those wins in New York weren’t any indicator of the direction the Owls’ season was heading. Temple’s gone 5-9 in its 14 games since Dec. 7. After winning the regular-season American Athletic Conference championship last season, Dunphy’s team sits in eighth place in the 11-team league with a 2-7 record. The marquee wins likely won’t be enough to get the Owls — who own an 11-11 overall record and rank No. 81 in the Ratings Percentage Index — into the NCAA tournament. The Owls broke up a three-game losing streak with a home win against Memphis on Wednesday, which the team hoped would be a “statement game.” But Temple couldn’t capitalize on the momentum, and lost to Houston 79-66 late Saturday night. So how did Temple beat West Virginia and Florida State? That’s the question Owls’ fans have asked themselves during the past two months while their team has struggled. With each Temple loss, those wins seem more and more like a fluke. Temple shot better than 50 percent from 3-point range and averaged 85 points per game in the wins
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ALSTON He can really shoot some deep threes, he’s got a nice hesitation crossover jumper there and he can get by you. He’s got the full package. I’m impressed with him.” Alston’s three-game streak of
HOJUN YU FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Coach Fran Dunphy waits as Owls gather for a timeout in the second half of Temple’s 77-66 win last Wednesday against Memphis at the Liacouras Center.
against the Seminoles and Mountaineers. The Owls are shooting 35.3 percent from behind the arc this season and haven’t made more than 43 percent of their threes in any game since the Preseason NIT. They’ve only shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range three other times this season. Temple’s problems have come on both sides of the floor. After nine conference games, the Owls rank among the bottom four teams in The American in points scored per game and points allowed per game. The Owls are averaging 70.9 points per game and allowing 71.6 points per game, which rank No. 242 and No. 169 in Division I, respectively. The scoring problems are no stranger to the Owls. They averaged 68.7 points per game
20-point games ended Saturday when he scored nine points against Houston. Alston has always had a taste for big moments. He remembers watching the Owls’ Jan. 2, 2010 game against the University of Kansas. A sold-out crowd filed into the Liacouras Center to watch Temple try for its eighth
last season, which ranked No. 266 in Division I, and 65.8 points per game in 2014-15, which ranked No. 211. Temple still won more than 20 games both seasons, however, the Owls’ defense was much better. The Owls ranked No. 45 in scoring defense in 2014-15 and No. 70 in 2015-16. The team’s fortune could turn around next week. Temple’s road trip continues with a game on Tuesday against Tulane, which is 1-8 in The American, followed by a home game on Sunday against South Florida, which has yet to win a conference game.
BY THE NUMBERS TOURNAMENT RESUME 81 Ratings Percentage Index
17 Strength of Schedule
1-5 Record against RPI 101-150.
2-4
owen.mccue@temple.edu @Owen_McCue
straight win against the top team in Division I. Six years later, Alston Jr. was in the starting lineup for the Owls’ game against No. 1 Villanova in front of a sold-out home crowd. He was fulfilling a dream. He started another Big 5 game in front of an electric Liacouras Center crowd in Temple’s season-opening
Record against RPI Top 50
win against La Salle on Nov. 11. Two weeks later, the Owls defeated West Virginia University, currently No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, to win the Preseason National Invitation Tournament. Alston Jr. had eight points, six assists, two blocks and three steals against the Mountaineers after scoring a then career-high 22 points the day before against a ranked Florida State University team. He said he felt like he could handle anything on the basketball court after playing against West Virginia’s press defense. Coach Fran Dunphy said Alston “came of age” during the tournament. “Shizz is a player who constantly is growing,” senior forward Mark Williams said. “He’s growing right in front of all our eyes. … Whenever we get down in the shot clock or even down in games, Shizz is managing games for us, making huge shots, shooting the ball really well so you know he’s playing huge for us.” Alston came to Temple last sea-
Shizz is a player who constantly is growing. He’s growing right in front of all our eyes. Mark Williams Senior forward
HOJUN YU FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Sophomore guard Shizz Alston Jr. dribbles through the defense in the first half of Temple’s 77-66 win on Wednesday against Memphis.
sports@temple-news.com
son as a four-star recruit ranked No. 96 in the ESPN 100. He received 16 offers in high school but chose to follow in his father’s footsteps. Levan Alston Sr. averaged 9.3 points and 3.3 assists in 63 games for the Owls from 1994-96 to help Temple reach the first round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament and the second round in 1996. After his career ended, Alston Sr. became a mentor to players like Lynn Greer and Dionte Christmas, both of whom finished their careers among the top five scorers in
program history. Alston Jr. only averaged 10.1 minutes per game in 2015-16 but leads the team with 35.7 minutes per game this season. He said that playing at the same school his father played at doesn’t add any pressure. “I just try to go out there and be better than him, so that’s my only thing, is trying to be better than him,” Alston Jr. said. “And he did some great things here and I just want to do great things too.” Alston and sophomore guard Trey Lowe played Amateur Athletic Union basketball on Team Final as high school juniors. St. Joseph’s sophomore guard Lamarr Kimble, Villanova redshirt-freshman Donte DiVincenzo and Sacramento Kings rookie shooting guard Malachi Richardson also played on the team. Each tried to prove they were the best guard in the country in practices against each other. At the end of the season, Alston led the team in steals per game and was second in points, rebounds and assists per game. Alston also played with Milwaukee Bucks first-year power forward Thon Maker at a basketball camp and against Brooklyn Nets rookie Isaiah Whitehead. Alston wants to play professionally, too. McKie, who played in the NBA from 1994-2007 after three seasons with the Owls, wants Alston to perfect his midrange and 3-point jumpers, so he can succeed at the next level. In his three-game streak of scoring 20 or more points, Alston shot 45.2 percent from 3-point range. “I just feel like I’m a great shooter, so whenever I see the ball go in I feel like I can have a great night,” Alston said. “So whenever I hit one three, I know I can make another one after that.” evan.easterling@temple.edu @Evan_Easterling
temple-news.com @TheTempleNews
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
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GOLF
Former golfer takes first step toward PGA Tour Brandon Matthews earned full status on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. By GREG FRANK Golf Beat Reporter Since he graduated in May, former Temple golfer Brandon Matthews’ sole focus has been on his golf game in hopes of playing on the PGA Tour some day. Earlier this month, he took a step toward achieving that goal. Matthews wrapped up PGA Tour Latinoamérica qualifying school on Jan. 20 and his score was good enough to earn full status on the PGA Tour’s Latinoamérica circuit for 2017. “Putting in time is the biggest thing in any sport,” Matthews said. “If you practice enough, you get luckier.” Matthews needed to finish in the Top 30 at the PTLA Qualifying Tournament to earn membership on the PGA Latinoamérica circuit. He shot a five-under-par 67 on the last day of the event to cement his status on the tour. The top five players on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica circuit money list by the end of the fall schedule are au-
tomatically placed into the Web.com tour. Golfers who finish six through 15th on the circuit’s money list are exempt to the final stage of Web.com qualifying school. The Web.com tour is a direct springboard into the PGA Tour and is comparable to the top minor leagues of baseball. Matthews’ 2017 schedule in Latin America will mirror a college schedule. There are several events on the tour in the spring, the first of which is in late February. Then, players on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica circuit get the summer off before they return to the golf course in the fall. Matthews has been training in Jupiter, Florida since November, a big change from his previous winters at Temple. He said he’s happy the climate permits practice rounds at this time of year. “It’s great,” Matthews said. “You’re not locked up inside or hitting off of a mat or anything.” Matthews won eight tournaments in his first three years as an Owl which tied 1987 alumnus Geoffrey Sisk’s program record. However, due to some injuries and other qualifying school obligations, Matthews’ senior year ended without him capturing his ninth win. Despite an up-and-down senior
season, Temple coach Brian Quinn said when it was over that Matthews was “the best player in Temple history.” Quinn said that while he and Matthews have not talked much since Matthews’ graduation, he be-
lieves Matthews is a good example for collegiate golfers throughout the Northeast. “Brandon has definitely shown kids from our area that if you have the right work ethic you have a chance at
becoming an All-American,” Quinn said. “He certainly opened that door to all players from Maryland to Maine.” greg.frank@temple.edu
COURTESY BRANDON MATTHEWS Former Temple golfer Brandon Matthews putts during the 2014 Dixie Amateur. Matthews recently qualified for full status on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica.
CLUB ICE HOCKEY
FENCING
Sophomore foil excited for homecoming meet Auset Muhammad will fence near her hometown of Chicago this week. By TOM IGNUDO Fencing Beat Reporter COURTESY SNAPSHOT ACTION SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY Freshman goalie Ben Auerbach played nine games with the Eastern Hockey League’s Connecticut Nighthawks in 2015. He has played in four of Temple’s seven wins this season.
Freshman shines in the net Ben Auerbach has a .927 save percentage in 17 games. By JAY NEEMEYER For The Temple News The shots kept coming and coming at freshman goalie Ben Auerbach as he did his best to keep them from getting into the net. Auerbach saved 63 shots in Temple’s game against Drexel University on Jan. 22. Normally that would be a fine showing for a goaltender and enough to win the game. But Auerbach faced 69 shots — the most he’s seen so far this season — and the Owls lost 6-1. “You don’t really plan on facing 70 shots, but I just have to take it as it comes,” Auerbach said after the game. During his first year with the Temple ice hockey club, Auerbach’s been kept busy by opposing offenses. Last season, all Temple goalies faced an average of 34.75 shots per game. Auerbach has seen an average of 44.9 shots in the 17 games he’s played for Temple (7-23, 3-9 Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association). “It’s quite a few shots, but I think that’s nothing out of the ordinary for him,” junior defenseman Ryan Dumbach said after the Drexel game. “He’s pretty well-adjusted to standing on his head.” “He’s kept us in a lot of games,” Dumbach added.
Though Auerbach has a 4-12 record, his .927 save percentage is second in the ECHA, going into the weekend of Jan. 29. He is only one of two ECHA goalkeepers to face more than 700 shots so far. Lehigh University sophomore Andrew Carlin has saved 728 shots in 20 games, compared to Auerbach’s 707 stops in 17 games. “I think we owe him,” Dumbach said. “We should take him out to dinner or something, because he’s been that good for us.” The team started the season with four goalies on its roster, including two returning players, but Auerbach distinguished himself as the team’s primary netminder. He has played in 17 of the team’s 30 games and played 48.8 percent of the Owls’ minutes in between the pipes. Auerbach was in net for four of the team’s seven wins. “The team seems to play better in front of him,” coach Roman Bussetti said. “He’s a freshman, so anything he does is going to be above and beyond what we would expect or anticipate coming in as a freshman.” Auerbach spent time with three Eastern Hockey League teams during the 2015-16 season. In 13 EHL games, he posted a .894 save percentage on 255 shots. In his under-18 seasons with Skipjacks Hockey Club and Team Comcast, he had .893 and .908 save percentages, respectively. This year marks his highest lifetime save percentage, other than a .957 save percentage in two playoff games in 2014-15.
Auerbach considers himself a reactive goalkeeper with a strong base. He said he tries to model his game after Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, who won the 2015-16 Vezina Trophy, which goes to the NHL’s best goaltender as voted by the league’s general managers. “He doesn’t get rattled too much, he communicates well with the team and talks to them, lets them know what’s going on,” Bussetti said. “He stays focused on the game, stays focused on the puck.” In Auerbach’s first game for the Owls, he faced 45 shots in a 3-2 loss to Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Sept. 16. His first win came on Oct. 10 against Villanova. Auerbach earned the team’s only shutout win on Nov. 11, when he made 44 saves in a 9-0 home victory against Penn State Berks. “I’ve been fortunate to have a few good bounces come my way, and it’s been a good year,” Auerbach said. Last season, Temple goalie Scott Salamon played 968 minutes in 18 games. Auerbach has played 889 minutes with four regular season games left. “All the coaching staff agrees, he’s our number one as far as overall productivity and overall play,” Busetti said. “Where we’re at in the whole building process, he’s a nice piece to have for the next couple years.” jay.neemeyer@temple.edu
As Auset Muhammad’s father Malcolm surfed the web, he called her over to his seat at the computer. “‘Hey Auset, do you want to do fencing?’” Malcolm said to then 8-year-old Auset. Immediately, Muhammad thought she was going to be driving around the southside of Chicago to build fences. Her father then pulled up an image of two fencers in the middle of an exchange from the 2004 Olympics. The image sparked her interest and led to her pursuing a career in the sport. “After my first couple fencing classes, I was just like ‘Wow, I absolutely love this sport,’” Muhammad said. Muhammad’s family lives in Chicago, but they won’t have to travel far this weekend for the Northwestern Duals in Evanston, Illinois. Her family traveled to Philadelphia for the Temple Open in 2015 to watch her compete in her first meet as a freshman. “I know they’re just itching for Northwestern Duals right now, because they haven’t physically been there and watched me fence in about a year and a half,” Muhammad said. Muhammad’s father isn’t shy while he watches his daughter fence. He lets his voice be heard, motivates and often attempts to help Muhammad with some of their own codewords during a match. “K.I.S.S.!,” which stands for “Keep It Simple, Stupid” is one of the sayings he screams from the crowd during the matches. While coach Nikki Franke handles Muhammad’s form and technique as a fencer, her father keeps her motivated. Early in Muhammad’s career, she faced a lot of adversity and went
through three different coaches who all attempted to change her fencing style. Muhammad’s style was based on footwork, while fencers in the Midwest predominantly based their styles on bladework, she said. Muhammad changed her technique with her second coach, but noticed a regression in her fencing ability, so went back to what was natural for her. “My dad was really my main coach throughout my fencing career,” Muhammad said. “Despite all the coaches I’ve been to and worked with, he was the one person that was with me throughout my whole fencing career. And honestly, I very much believe without him I would not be fencing at a D-I school.” Prior to fencing, Muhammad practiced jiu-jitsu for a year, which she said jumpstarted her fencing career. As a 12-year-old, Muhammad competed against fencers her own age, but was not challenged. Her parents sent her to Northwestern University women’s fencing camps, where she fenced against college competitors as a teenager. As a freshman at Temple, Muhammad won more than 65 percent of her dual meet matches and posted an overall record of 28-15. She’ll return to Northwestern on Saturday and Sunday for the Owls’ next dual meet, where she’ll be in a comfortable environment. “It’s always nice to be close to home and to have family and friends there to support you,” Franke said. “We travel all over the country competing, so when we do have either a home meet or a meet in one of the girl’s homes it’s great to have that extra support.” “It’s not just good for Auset, but it’s good for her parents to be able to see her compete because they don’t get to see her very often,” she added. thomas.ignudo@temple.edu @Ignudo5
sports@temple-news.com @TTN_sports
SPORTS PAGE 18
S P O RT S
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Atkinson’s versatile game is a weapon off the bench Junior guard Tanaya Atkinson is the team’s leading rebounder. By MAURA RAZANAUSKAS Women’s Beat Reporter
A
t the start of games, junior guard Tanaya Atkinson finds herself in an unfamiliar position. She started all 37 games as a freshman, all 35 games in the 2015-16 season and the first six games of this season, but now Atkinson comes off the bench later to contribute during Temple’s games. The change in the starting lineup came after Atkinson suffered a concussion during Temple’s game against the University of Vermont on Dec. 4. “It was a screen, somebody didn’t call out the screen and my head ran into her shoulder,” Atkinson said. “It just caught me off guard, and I just got a little dizzy, and then I was pulled out of the game.” Atkinson missed two games in a 10-day period as she recovered. Coach Tonya Cardoza assigned senior forward Ruth Sherrill to the starting lineup to replace Atkinson. While Sherrill started and Atkinson worked to get back to the court, Temple (16-4, 6-1 The American) began its 12-game win streak, which ended after Sunday’s loss to South Florida. “Her role is the same as if she was a starter,” Cardoza said of Atkinson. “She plays starter minutes and the thing is, usually you don’t lose your starting spot to an injury, but it just so happened that things JENNY CHOI FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior guard Tanaya Atkinson attempts to block a shot against University of Pennsylvania’s sophomore forward Princess Aghayere during Temple’s 63-53 win on Wednesday at the Palestra.
ATKINSON | PAGE 15
TRACK & FIELD
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Alston trying to steady Owls The former Top 100 recruit is leading the team in scoring. By EVAN EASTERLING Assistant Sports Editor After every practice, sophomore guard Shizz Alston Jr. works on his jump shooting with assistant coach Aaron McKie. He takes 3-point shots at five different spots, both corners and wings and the top of the key, and doesn’t stop until he makes five in a row from each spot. Alston spent more time in the left corner than any other spot on Jan. 24, so he could improve where he said he struggles. Earlier that day, he talked to former Owls’ guard Will Cummings, who finished his career in 2015 as a 1,000-point scorer. Alston was coming off of two 25-point games in a row, but he said Cummings told him the team had to start winning some games. Alston delivered the next day with a 22-point performance in a win against Memphis that ended the Owls’ three-game losing streak and stopped the Owls (11-11, 2-7 American Athletic Conference) from falling below .500 for the first time since their 1-2 start. He also passed junior forward Obi Enechionyia as the team’s leading scorer at 14.2 points per game. “He’s pretty talented now,” Memphis coach Tubby Smith said.
ALSTON | PAGE 16
KIERAN LYONS FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Seniors Simone Brownlee and Kenya Gaston practice at the Student Pavilion last week.
Running ‘sisters’
Two Owls have competed with each other for eight years. By TESSA SAYERS For The Temple News
GENEVA HEFFERNAN/THE TEMPLE NEWS Sophomore guard Shizz Alston Jr. takes a shot in a 70-68 loss to Tulsa on Jan. 14.
Before every race, senior hurdler Simone Brownlee and senior sprinter Kenya Gaston do the same handshake they have been doing since high school. That handshake not only gets them motivated for their race, but also reminds them where they came from. After meeting in a sewing class in elementary school, Brownlee and Gaston lost contact when they went to separate middle schools, but they reconnected in their freshman year at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey as soccer teammates.
They grew even closer during their sophomore years when they both joined their high school’s track & field team. Eight years later, they are getting ready to graduate college together. “It’s nice to have someone who feels like they’re your sister and your family still here with you, literally until the end,” Brownlee said. The duo’s track & field journey began at the end of their freshman year of high school when Brownlee had the idea to join the team. “I had always been interested in track, but I had never really had the confidence to try it because I didn’t want to be the slow outsider,” Brownlee said. “But then one of my friends told me that Coach [Lisa] Morgan doesn’t make cuts, so if you show up, you’re on the team. So I said, ‘OK, fine. I’ll give it a try.’”
TRACK | PAGE 15
FENCING | PAGE 17
GOLF | PAGE 17
MEN’S BBALL | PAGE 16
BRIEFS | PAGES 15
Sophomore foil Auset Muhammad will return to her hometown of Chicago at the Northwestern Duals this weekend.
Former golfer Brandon Matthews took the first step in paving his path to the PGA Tour earlier this month.
After a hot start to the season, Temple now sits close to the bottom of the American Athletic Conference standings.
Former football players Dion Dawkins and Haason Reddick impressed at the Senior Bowl, other news and notes.