THE TEMPLE NEWS WE FOUGHT
WE WON
LET’S EAT.
Temple Jewish community stronger after Pittsburgh shooting. Read more on Page 18.
VOL 97 // ISSUE 13 NOVEMBER 27, 2018 temple-news.com @thetemplenews
NEWS, PAGE 2
Temple’s chapter of AEPi was removed from campus and lost its charter for violating alcohol, drug and social event policies.
OPINION, PAGE 10
A student reflects on her 3 a.m. car rides to her summer job with her grandfather.
FEATURES, PAGE 15 A student developed an app and website for “sneaker heads” to resell and purchase authentic designer shoes.
SPORTS, PAGE 24
As Temple football awaits its bowl announcement, national media outlets project where the Owls will play.
NEWS PAGE 2
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
THE TEMPLE NEWS A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921. Gillian McGoldrick Editor in Chief Kelly Brennan Managing Editor Julie Christie Digital Managing Editor Evan Easterling Chief Copy Editor Greta Anderson News Editor Grace Shallow Deputy Investigations Editor Alyssa Biederman Deputy Campus Editor Will Bleier Deputy City Editor Jayna Schaffer Opinion Editor Laura Smythe Features Editor Zari Tarazona Deputy Features Editor Michael Zingrone Co-Sports Editor Sam Neumann Co-Sports Editor Claire Wolters Intersection Editor Shefa Ahsan Multimedia Editor Maria Ribeiro Director of Engagement Siani Colon Asst. Director of Engagement Dylan Long Co-Photography Editor Luke Smith Co-Photography Editor Madison Seitchik Web Editor Ian Walker Visuals Editor Myra Mirza Visuals Specialist Claire Halloran Design Editor Jeremiah Reardon Designer Phuong Tran Advertising Manager Kelsey McGill Advertising Manager Daniel Magras Business Manager
The Temple News is an editorially independent weekly publication serving the Temple University community. Unsigned editorial content represents the opinion of The Temple News. Adjacent commentary is reflective of their authors, not The Temple News. Visit us online at temple-news.com. Send submissions to letters@temple-news.com. The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122
ON THE COVER CLAIRE HALLORAN / THE TEMPLE NEWS
CORRECTIONS Accuracy is our business, so when a mistake is made, we’ll correct it as soon as possible. Anyone with inquiries about content in this newspaper can contact Editor in Chief Gillian McGoldrick at editor@temple-news.com or 215-204-6736.
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CRIME
AEPi chapter removed from Main Campus The chapter was in violation of alcohol, drug and social event policy, a months-long investigation concluded. BY GRETA ANDERSON News Editor
Temple University officially removed the Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter’s affiliation with the university, after finding the fraternity violated alcohol, drug and social event policies. Temple Police’s months-long investigation into the chapter concluded on Oct. 5, said Chris Carey, the senior associate dean of students. The chapter violated the Code of Conduct’s drug and alcohol policy and Greek life’s social event policy, Carey said. Credible reports of “excessive use of alcohol, possibly drugs and sexual misconduct, including sexual assault, during social activities at Alpha Epsilon Pi” spurred the investigation, according to the April announcement. Fraternity and Sorority Life’s Standards and Accountability Page on the Student Activities website published that the fraternity was removed on Oct. 10, Carey said. The public page details that AEPi was removed from campus during Fall 2018 for “alcohol and drug violations,” but not sexual assault. The chapter’s former president, Ari Goldstein, was arrested in May and August on sexual assault-related charges for two alleged incidents. He could stand trial as early as next year for some of the sexual assaultrelated charges, which range from attempted rape to unlawful restraint. Only closed investigations that prompt formal disciplinary action are listed publicly, said Mat
Greer, the program coordinator for fraternity and sorority life. One other fraternity, Beta Pi Phi, was removed from the university in Fall 2016 for hazing violations, according to the website. “The [AEPi] case, as far it was being processed, was related to these [drug, alcohol and social event] issues, not individual investigations or investigations into individuals that may have taken place,” Carey said. Carey added that he did not have information on whether other members were investigated for individual crimes. If a fraternity, sorority or any other university-affiliated group breaks university policy, the reasons for its removal must be made public, according to a state anti-hazing law passed earlier this year. The Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law is named for the 19-year-old Penn State sophomore who died in February 2017 from injuries sustained while being hazed at a fraternity pledging event. AEPi’s international headquarters also revoked the chapter’s charter, wrote Jonathan Pierce, a spokesman for the headquarters in a statement to The Temple News. The AEPi international headquarters worked with the university and local police to remove it, Pierce wrote. “We look forward to having the opportunity to return to campus in the near future with a group of young men who will successfully fulfill our mission of developing the future leaders of the world’s Jewish communities,” Pierce wrote. greta.anderson@temple.edu @gretanderson Issalina Sagad contributed reporting.
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NEWS PAGE 3
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
POLITICS
Title IX investigations could change under DeVos The Department of Education proposed a rule that will change how victims report sexual misconduct. BY COLIN EVANS For The Temple News United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos proposed a Title IX regulation earlier this month that would change the way institutions of higher education handle sexual misconduct accusations and hearings. The proposal, announced on Nov. 16, would change Obama-era policies that require institutions to investigate any sexual misconduct they learn of that affects the victim’s education and narrow the definition of sexual harassment. This month’s proposal would only require investigation of formal reports filed for misconduct within the institution’s programs or activities. The rule also would alter the reporting, investigation and review process for alleged victims of sexual misconduct. It would give schools the option to choose a higher standard of evidence than under the Obama-era regulations when determining whether to reprimand accused students. “Far too many students have been forced to go to court to ensure their rights are protected because the Department [of Education] has not set out legally binding rules that hold schools accountable for responding to allegations of sexual harassment in a supportive, fair manner,” DeVos said in a release. “By following proper legal procedures and receiving input on our proposed rule, we will ultimately have a final regulation that ensures that Title IX protects all students,” she added. The proposal will be open for public comment for 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. The department is required to include public discourse in its final ruling, but it will not change the proposal itself unless the department chooses to do so. The proposed rule has @TheTempleNews
JEREMIAH REARDON / THE TEMPLE NEWS
yet to be published in the register as of Monday. The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape is preparing its public comments for submission, said its policy director Donna Greco. The proposal could disallow universities from protecting victims because it must consider complainant and respondent requests on the same level, she said. In the past, Greco said, universities could determine the victim and the alleged perpetrator in an incident and provide protections from there. “The responding party could just say, ‘Well, I didn’t do it, and I deserve to be in the same class. And if you kick me out, that’s a form of punishment,’” Greco said. “It’s really going to tie the hands of Title IX coordinators, potentially, with putting remedies in place to help students that have come forward after being assaulted.” Temple University currently has three active Title IX investigations, opened in 2013, 2014 and 2017, according to the Chronicle of Higher Educa-
tion. “When we receive reports that any student feels unsafe or threatened, we investigate those reports promptly and take appropriate action as quickly as possible,” wrote Andrea Seiss, the university’s Title IX coordinator in an email to The Temple News. “Our goal is to treat each case with compassion and fairness for all concerned.” Seiss wrote that the university follows its own process for investigating sexual misconduct accusations through the Code of Conduct, in which both parties are heard by the university and an outside adjudicator. The proposed rule would make survivors of sexual assault more afraid to report their experiences, said Shira Freiman, a junior psychology and criminal justice major and president of Temple’s chapter of It’s On Us, a national movement commissioned by the Obama administration to combat sexual violence. “It’s going to increase the fear of, ‘No one cares, no one’s gonna listen, no one’s gonna believe me,’” Freiman said.
The proposed rule details universities’ and colleges’ responsibility to handle sexual harassment cases that occur “under any education program or activity.” According to the department’s summary of the regulation, this would not draw a geographic line between on- and off-campus incidents. Under the rule, the department will categorize sexual misconduct as a sexual act, which eliminates some forms of stalking, Greco said. The proposal more narrowly qualifies harassment in terms of employee exchange of benefit for sexual conduct, harassment that is so “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive” that it prevents equal access to educational programming and assault or rape as a criminal act. “Our concern with that is that so many of the acts and threats and behaviors that may not fall under those three, narrow categories still have the outcome and the impact of disrupting a person’s safety and well-being on campus,” Greco said. TITLE IX | PAGE 4
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NEWS PAGE 4
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
ON CAMPUS
Fox School of Business buys native advertisement The native ads will improve Fox’s Following the school’s falsified data scandal, the school tarnished image, said Ashwani Poonie, a purchased the ad in a business senior actuarial science major. “Given the current situation, this school information site.
The Fox School of Business purchased native advertising on Business Because, a website that provides business school and MBA program information. The sponsored article, titled “What’s Next For Temple University’s Fox School of Business?” is like most native advertisements, labeled as a paid promotion but styled to look like a news article. It features a discussion with Ron Anderson, Fox’s interim dean, and mentions the fraudulent data scandal that hit the business school earlier this year, resulting in the resignation of former Dean Moshe Porat. “Now, after a year that saw the removal of Fox’s previous dean for falsifying data to US News, Ron’s instatement as interim dean — particularly as it coincides with the school’s centennial this year — marks an important new chapter,” according to the native ad. The advertisement comes in the wake of the rankings scandal, in which in the school was found to have submitted falsified data for years to boost its U.S. News & World Report rankings, which reached No. 1 for its Online MBA program. Fox inaccurately reported data for the Online MBA and six other programs. The business school is being sued by several students and is under investigation by several state and federal agencies.
will reinstate trust in people,” she said. “If people ever read about Fox at some point, this will put it in a better light. People will see it as desperate, not dishonest.” The advertisement focuses on the school’s plans to increase its industry ties to connect its graduates with jobs and update its finance program to keep up with changing fields. Chris Vito, a university spokesman, declined to comment on the advertisement. Advertising professor Tracy Agostarola said native advertising is effective at grabbing people’s’ interest. She referenced a 2015 study by the Mobile Marketing Association that found native advertising performs up to 10 times better than traditional mobile advertising. “We are trained to ignore a lot of advertising,” Agostarola said. “Because this looks like content, people are coming and searching for it.” The use of native advertising, however, is often scrutinized for its attempt to disguise itself as traditional news media. These advertisements can confuse readers, journalism professor Aron Pilhofer said. “That is the risk,” Pilhofer said. “In a lot of cases, people don’t know what sponsored means. They don’t understand that this means that this isn’t written by the news organization.” Pilhofer was an editor at the New
York Times when the publication decided to allow native advertising on its online and print platforms for the first time. Publications used to have stricter rules about the overlap of advertising with publication-produced content, he said. “There was a debate,” he added. “Ultimately, the decision was made to do it with some pretty strong guardrails in place.” Fox’s native advertising is a good strategy to rebuild the school’s reputa-
tion after the rankings scandal, said Layal Zuabi, a junior international business administration and real estate major. “It’s a good crisis management technique,” she said. “I personally think it’s fine.”
Cases found by institutions to be true would be handled at the discretion of the institution, giving them more flexibility to set disciplinary standards under Title IX, so long as sanctions against the person found responsible attempt to restore victims’ equal access to education. For survivors who choose not to file
formal complaints, the institution would not be responsible for anything except support services, which include deadline extensions for schoolwork and leaves of absences. The proposed rule also makes clear that Title IX provisions exist to hold institutional officials liable for unequal treat-
ment in their educational environments. “The two principal objectives of Title IX are to prevent federal dollars from flowing to schools that deny students access to educational opportunities on the basis of sex and to provide individuals with effective protections against such discriminatory practic-
es,” the proposal’s summary reads.
BY HAL CONTE For The Temple News
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ALYSSA BIEDERMAN/ FILE PHOTO The Fox School of Business adjusted its advertisement methods after it was found to have falsified rankings data earlier this year.
hal.conte@temple.edu
colin.evans@temple.edu @colinpaulevans
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NEWS PAGE 5
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
POLITICS
Ahead of G20 Summit, scholars discuss trade war Several scholars visited the university to debate U.S.-China relations before the countries are on the world stage this week. BY HAL CONTE For The Temple News
Scholars debated the United States-China trade dispute ahead of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, where the leaders of several major world economies will meet this week. The highly anticipated summit, where President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet, is expected to bring deliberation, and a possible resolution, about the ongoing trade war. An American Enterprise Institute scholar and a law professor from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, discussed the issue at Temple’s International Affairs Lecture Series in the Student Center on Nov. 15. Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at AEI, a nonpartisan, nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and Guiguo Wang, the Eason-Weinmann Chair of International and Comparative Law at Tulane University, participated in a two-hour debate and presentation about the current economic divide between the two nations.
The event brought in about 100 students, faculty and others from around the world, including international students from China and Taiwan. The two scholars’ perspectives on Trump’s trade war underscored the differing views on the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese imports. To increase purchases of American goods, Trump placed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports in three separate rounds of tariffs this year, the BBC reported. This led China to retaliate with its own tariff on $60 billion worth of American imports. Chinese retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural and industrial products have hurt America’s businesses in those sectors, forcing them to lower prices to account for China’s reduced purchases of U.S. goods, the New York Times reported. The Trump administration justified many of the tariffs based on the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which permits the U.S. to initiate tariffs on national security grounds. The tariffs contradict a previous agreement the U.S. made within the World Trade Organization, Reuters reported. Trump walked back promises made by prior administrations, which was a violation of the principle of good faith,
Wang said during the debate. The principle is considered international law by the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body, a board that settles trade disputes between nations. Scissors backed the president’s right to use the trade law to level tariffs against China in a conversation with student journalists before the debate. “No international law overrides U.S. law,” Scissors said. “That’s the reality of U.S. politics. [The agreement] was never ratified by the Senate. The U.S. has the right to change its policy.” Wang criticized how Trump is prioritizing an “America First” policy, rather than honoring previous World Trade Organization agreements. “That is exactly U.S. arrogance,” Wang said. “If you won’t follow some common rules, who is going to deal with you?” “The international community’s view is that governments make binding accords,” he added. “Let’s put it this way. If everyone acted like the U.S. was acting, what would be the order of the world?” Scissors said the U.S. is free to withdraw its participation in the World Trade Organization and retaliate against China, but he expects the trade dispute to get worse.
Scissors said that unlike Wang, he was focused on what was happening on the ground, adding that U.S.-China relations are likely to worsen in the future. He outlined the U.S. Trade Representative Office’s findings, which stated China has stolen intellectual property. “China does not believe in open competition,” Scissors added. “There is not a stress on private property rights. The phrase ‘technological Cold War’ has been used. I think that’s accurate. I don’t see that changing with the next administration.” Scissors and Wang both supported free trade and the belief that the World Trade Organization has played an important international role in its history. “I’ve never heard that the trade war might get worse,” said Rico Le, a junior communication and social influence major who attended the talk. “Maybe it’s only the beginning.” Chinese and American leaders, along with the leaders of Canada, Mexico, the European Union and several other nations, will meet at the summit on Friday and Saturday to discuss their economic interests. hal.conte@temple.edu
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NEWS PAGE 6
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
RESEARCH
NIH awards grant for racial disparity research The Fox Chase Cancer Center and Hunter College will examine inequalities in cancer outcomes.
Geographic disparities in cancer rates
BY ISSALINA SAGAD For The Temple News The Lewis Katz School of Medicine and Hunter College in New York City were awarded a $13.5 million grant to reduce cancer disparities in minority groups. The five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, will fund the Temple University/Fox Chase Cancer Center and Hunter College Regional Comprehensive Cancer Health Disparities Partnership. Its efforts will focus on reducing cancer treatment disparities in African-American, Asian-American, Pacific Islander and Hispanic-American communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York City. There are three central goals for the partnership: cancer research, diversifying the medical field and improving community outreach when it comes to cancer diagnoses, said Dr. Grace Ma, the principal investigator at Fox Chase Cancer Center and associate dean for health disparities at the Katz School. Ma said the partnership, announced in late October, has opened about 70 research positions to professionals from minority groups. Fox Chase will add first-generation college students and students who come from immigrant families during their undergraduate and doctoral-level educations. “You need researchers that have lived in these underserved communities, understand the population and who may not have had a high socioeconomic background,” Ma said. The investigators will look at medical, socioeconomic and cultural factors based on molecular, genetic and behavior science, Ma said. Medical research will focus on colorectal, lung and liver cancers. African-Americans have the second News Desk 215.204.7419 news@temple-news.com
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In three city planning districts surrounding Temple, cancer mortality rates in 2014 were higher than all other districts by at least 10 deaths per 100,000 people, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health statistics. IAN WALKER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Source: 2017 Community Health Assessment, Philadelphia Department of Public Health
highest mortality rate of all racial groups for colorectal cancer and the highest incidence of lung cancer. Asian-Americans have incidence rates more than two times higher than those of white people, according to the NCI. The cancer death rate for African-Americans is 25 percent higher than whites, according to the NCI. Michelle Naidoo is a doctoral molecular, cellular and developmental biology student at Hunter College and an investigator in the partnership. Her focus is to develop therapy that specifically targets genes responsible for increased cancer risk among Black men. “There is increasing evidence that racial disparities in cancer can be caused by biological events among minority populations,” Naidoo said, “At the biological standpoint, I work on battling health disparities among Black men with prostate cancer, who are 2.3 times more likely to die from prostate cancer compared to white men.”
Part of the $13.5 million grant will be used to increase cancer screenings, detection, prevention and access to treatment. In the city’s 2017 Community Health Assessment, the Department of Public Health found that there were 216.3 cancer deaths per capita among African-Americans in Philadelphia compared to 201.5 deaths per capita among whites in 2014. The department also reported that the cancer mortality rates in the North, Lower North and River Wards planning districts, which encompass the Temple community, were higher than all other districts by at least 10 deaths per capita. According to the NCI, financial strain prevents those in lower socioeconomic groups, regardless of their ethnicity, from seeking treatment early on in their diagnoses. The NCI found that socioeconomic status-related factors have more association with cancer rates and
chances of survival than race. “There are health system barriers,” Ma said. “There are multilevel barriers that we are trying to tackle, and this is what we’re trying to look at.” Five years is not enough time to solve the racial gaps in cancer diagnosis, treatment and outcomes, Ma said. Both Ma and Dr. Olorunseun Ogunwobi, the director of the Hunter College Center for Cancer Health Disparities Research, however, hope the grant will establish a strong foundation in the two institutions’ disparity research. “Once we understand the causes, we can establish a better-targeted approach and strategy to reduce these hurdles and disparities in these populations,” she said. “In five years, you are not going to reduce all the disparities as we have planned and we will continue this in the long-term effort.” issalina.sagad@temple.edu
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NEWS PAGE 7
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
TSG
Parliament reform committee suggests solutions The committee hopes to increase TSG’s transparency and accountability. BY GRETA ANDERSON AND BLAKE NUTIS For The Temple News Parliament members proposed eight resolutions, some of which are meant to provide solutions to the body’s ineffectiveness, during its meeting Monday. The resolutions count toward the 15 resolutions Temple Student Government’s Ethics Board mandated Parliament propose by the end of the semester after the body failed to introduce any during the last several months. Three of the resolutions, proposed by the Committee on Parliament Reform to improve the effectiveness of the body, were passed. “Never mistake moving for motion...That’s what this committee was created for, to affect change for our constituents,” said Emanuel Wilkerson, a Parliament at-large representative, during a meeting for the Committee on Parliament Reform on Nov. 15. The resolutions created by the reform committee include creating an open records officer for the body, adding new positions that would ensure members are active and designating resolutions as “killed” if no action is taken. Two of the reform committee’s resolutions, the Open-Government Act and TSG Watchdog Act, passed on Monday. The latter would expand Parliament’s ability to compel the Executive Branch and university organizations in requesting documents or testimony. The Open-Government Act makes all Parliament meetings where legislation is deliberated and open to the public and press, Wilkerson said. The Executive Branch would also be required to hold regular open meetings to hear the opinions of the student body and Temple community.
@TheTempleNews
HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION on August 29.
“People aren’t aware of us,” said Alex Rosenberg, a reform committee member and Parliament’s junior class representative. “Hopefully, we can get that exposure on campus.” Meetings that involve an internal review of body members would reserve the right to remain private under the proposed act, and the Executive Branch can conduct closed meetings if no specific action is being discussed, Wilkerson said. The Executive Branch and Parliament will be required to make records available from actions or meetings deemed “public” through an appointed open records officer, who has a seven-day window to respond to request. The records will include Parliament votes, committee meeting minutes and any use of funds by the Executive Branch. “Anything you meet on and any-
thing that uses the resources of Temple University should be open to the public,” Wilkerson said. Rosenberg said another goal for Parliament reform is to mandate a 32-member body before the beginning of the academic year once a new Executive Branch administration is elected. This would exclude the four representatives — two freshmen, Residence Hall Association and Greek life — that must be selected during the Fall semester. The body had to focus on filling seats throughout the semester and still has eight vacant spots, which several members said has halted the body’s efficacy. Carmack said he is preparing more “tangible, thoughtful resolutions that will serve the student body” by the end of the semester, and committee members agreed that the body needed to do its job
of enacting students’ interests. Both the TSG Watchdog Act and committee participation resolution would increase interactions and scheduled communication between the Executive Branch and Parliament. The Temple News reported earlier this month that some members felt the Executive Branch did not provide enough oversight of Parliament’s activities, rendering it ineffective for the majority of the semester. The Executive Branch would have more input in Parliament’s resolutions, expressing its initiatives and action on legislation as goals for both bodies. Executive members would also have a seat on Parliament’s six main committees. Parliament passed three additional resolutions at Monday’s meeting. It approved the construction of a dog park to start in Spring 2019. The park will be open for both students and local residents in an effort to increase community interaction. One location suggested for the park is on Diamond Street near 15th. The second resolution gives the student body president seven days to decide whether or not to veto any legislation brought before them. The act hopes to further establish checks and balances between Parliament and the Executive Branch. The third resolution divides ownership of the three TSG private office spaces in the Student Center to the three branches. Currently, all three offices are controlled by the Executive Branch. Xavier Washington, an at-large representative, said the resolution will help define the branches as equal entities. “Even though we have access, with the Executive Branch having control of all three offices, it undermines TSG,” he said. “We need to help build the legitimacy of the co-equal branches as stated in the constitution.” news@temple-news.com
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OPINION PAGE 8
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018 EDITORIAL
Support the Jewish community This week in The Temple News, Intersection explored what it means to be Jewish at Temple University and how the mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue has affected this community. The Oct. 27 shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation that killed 11 people was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in United States history. Even though the Tree of Life Congregation is 300 miles away, the violence and anti-semitism hit close to home for Temple students. For Thanksgiving, senior criminal justice major Ben Slesinger returned to Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, where he was a few miles away from the Tree of Life Congregation. He helped organize deliveries of mitzvah — or good deeds written on pieces of paper — to the Tree of Life Congregation from the Temple community. “It could have been a synagogue in
Nevada,” Slesinger said. “It could have been a synagogue in D.C. [Even if] it didn’t come from your hometown, it was against your people.” While the Jewish community is healing, it is easy for non-Jewish students to forget that Temple isn’t immune to anti-semitism. In February 2016, three men drew a swastika and the N-word in snow on a car near Main Campus. A year later, white supremacist and neo-nazi groups distributed propaganda around campus. It’s important for all students to remember that we can combat hate. If you see something, you can report incidents to the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership or Temple Police. Students should take the time to learn about different groups that are the targets of hate and marginalization and come together to support them not just in times of tragedy, but every day.
EDITORIAL
Title IX changes harm survivors Earlier this month, the United States Department of Education announced proposed regulations to define sexual harassment under Title IX, how students must report misconduct and how educational institutions must respond. The proposal’s summary states Title IX seeks to punish schools receiving federal funding that don’t properly respond to harassment rather than penalizing individual people. But the policy goes out of its way to bolster the rights of the accused and limit institutions’ responsibility to investigate reports, which is dangerous in a country where one in five women in college are sexually assaulted and more than 90 percent of survivors don’t report. Obama-era policies required schools to look at all misconduct allegations. Part of this month’s proposal, however, requires schools to have “actual knowledge” of sexual harassment through a report to a Title IX coordinator or “an official with authority to take corrective action” in order for a school to investigate the claim. But, often, the first person a survivor letters@temple-news.com
of sexual violence confides in is a friend, adviser, faculty mentor or residence assistant, wrote Temple University Title IX Coordinator Andrea Seiss and Dean of Students Stephanie Ives in a letter to the editor earlier this semester. Not all of those people have “authority to take corrective action.” Without a formal complaint, schools are still encouraged to issue no-contact orders, change class schedules and take other actions to ensure survivors can still access their right to an education. But oftentimes, this isn’t enough. Seeing an assailant’s friends or people who look like the assailant can trigger panic attacks. Schools are under Title IX investigation for potentially mishandling sexual assault cases. Narrowing the definition of sexual harassment and giving institutions the power to choose the level of proof in their investigations, shows a measure of trust in people and systems that don’t deserve it and doesn’t give survivors the process they need.
FROM THE ARCHIVES Nov. 23, 1971: Nate Hollander was one of 13 seniors who played in the Owls’ last football game of the season. The Owls tied 13-13 with Villanova. This week, the Owls will receive their bowl invitation after closing the regular season on Saturday with a 57-7 win against Connecticut.
April 6, 2009: Poets, folk musicians and coffee drinkers gathered at Saxbys for an open mic session to commemorate Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This week, our Editorial Board criticized the United States Department of Education’s changes to Title IX, which would change what constitutes sexual harassment, how institutions must respond to sexual misconduct and how students can report misconduct.
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OPINION
PAGE 9
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
NUTRITION
Cinnamon: Not just for pumpkin spice lattes A student argues that cinnamon should be a healthy addition to everyone’s diet.
‘Tis the season for long-awaited seasonal drinks — pumpkin coffees, chai teas, gingerbread lattes and spiced apple ciders. I can’t deny it: these drinks offer me a sense of joy and warmth as the temperature drops. Not much beats slipping on a thick sweater and sipping on a delicious cup of my favorite caffeinated beverages. But I recently realized there’s something even better about seasonal CHRISTINA MITCHELL drinks that go beyond LEAD COLUMNIST the decorated red and green Starbucks cups. Along with nutmeg and ginger, cinnamon is responsible for a lot of the spiced flavor in holiday drinks and foods. And it’s really an underrated healthy substance. While the cinnamon trend definitely increases in the fall and winter months, we should sprinkle it in our diets year round. Gina Tripicchio, a professor in the College of Public Health and a research scientist at the Center for Obesity Research and Education, said cinnamon is filled with more than holiday nostalgia. “Cinnamon and other spices like nutmeg not only add wonderful flavor reminiscent of the holidays to favorite foods and beverages, but they may also add some health benefits,” Tripicchio said. “[These] spices are high in antioxidants, making it helpful for fighting inflammation and potentially reducing risks of certain diseases.” Cinnamon has been prized for its medicinal and preservative value for thousands of years, dating back to Ancient Egypt, according to History.com. Unlike when it was a luxury good in Middle Ages Europe, now it’s inexpensive and can be found in just about any @TheTempleNews
ALI GRAULTY / THE TEMPLE NEWS
grocery store. But that doesn’t mean its remedial value has decreased. Cinnamon has been linked to reducing the risk of the United States’ No. 1 cause of death, heart disease. It even has a powerful anti-diabetic effect, Australian dietitian Joe Leech wrote in Healthline in July. In animal studies, the spice has been shown to combat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Marissa Cloutier, a nutrition professor and registered dietitian, said these advantages come from the chemicals in cinnamon. “The phytochemicals in cinnamon are very powerful in ways beyond simple nutrients,” Cloutier said. “It has been shown to have anti-cancerous properties, regulate blood sugar and insulin production and help our bodies.” Amy Stockert, associate professor of biochemistry at Ohio Northern Univer-
sity Raabe College of Pharmacy found that people who consumed 1 gram a day of cinnamon saw blood sugar reductions comparable to those of prescription drugs, Time Magazine reported. To determine the efficacy of the cinnamon in your cabinet, Cloutier said you can use your senses. “Smell and taste are indicators of the potency of cinnamon since the phytochemicals come directly from the plant,” Cloutier said. “So the properties of cinnamon sitting around your cupboard for years are not as effective as fresh cinnamon from the source.” I always thought the holidays had to be the unhealthiest time of year, but it’s nice to see there’s a health benefit mixed in with all the indulgence. Coffee and tea drinkers should consider adding cinnamon to their drinks during all seasons because the health benefits are extraordinary.
Even if you’re not crazy about cinnamon, you should become accustomed to putting just a small teaspoon into your drinks. You’ll barely taste it in such a small amount, and you’ll thank yourself in the future. “For full health benefits with holiday flavor, add real spices to foods like sweet potatoes, or sprinkle them on unsweetened drinks like coffee and lattes,” Tripicchio said. So many people are unaware of this super spice that can make a huge difference in their health. Let’s stop treating cinnamon like a holiday trend and start treating it like it’s a necessary component of our diets. Next time I sprinkle cinnamon into my oatmeal in the morning or order my favorite seasonal drink, I’ll be adding extra. christina.mitchell@temple.edu
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OPINION
PAGE 10
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
THE ESSAYIST
Early morning drives, quality time with Pop
CLAIRE HALLORAN / THE TEMPLE NEWS
A student reminisces on the 3 wasn’t satisfied with that plan. He insist- fill the car with our shared interest: mu- same as hearing Pop say how proud he sic from the 1960s and 70s. is of me. a.m. car rides to her summer ed on driving me there each morning. “Of course, he’ll wake up to drive his After each long day of riding in a No matter where my future as a rejob with her grandfather in the favorite,” my other family members said, news van or helping with in-house proporter takes me, I’ll always look back on driver’s seat. BY JAYNA SCHAFFER Opinion Editor During fall break, I had a little taste of last summer. It wasn’t a beach trip, and it definitely wasn’t a hot, sunny day. It was a ride to work from my Pop. This past summer when I was living at home in Northeast Philly, I had my first morning news show internship. People who work in morning TV news have to be at the studio early — like, 3-a.m. early. Because I don’t have my own car yet, I was satisfied with my plan to take Ubers there. But Pop, my grandfather whom I’ve lived with since I was about 12 years old, letters@temple-news.com
rolling their eyes. Like clockwork, I’d meet Pop in our living room at 2:20 a.m. We’d venture out to our car in the cool, summer night, crickets still chirping and daylight nowhere to be found. Once we got around the corner, we’d stop at the neighborhood Wawa, where I’d get my coffee and an extra sweet iced tea for Pop — a small token of my appreciation. Some days we were more talkative than others, probably depending on how much sleep each of us got before our journey to West Philadelphia. We’d talk about Pop’s glory days and our family’s past and present. I’d giggle at the irony that Pop delivered newspapers before dawn as a kid. All the while, I used an aux cord to
duction, Pop would be right out front, waiting to take me home. When we arrived back at our house, I’d tell him if “we” had work the next day. If I had my own car, I would’ve missed out on the opportunity to spend more time with one of my favorite people in the world. I might not have heard about his friends and his first jobs, and I might not have known that he prefers The Beatles over The Rolling Stones. My fall semester internship is in Old City, about a 10-minute ride from my apartment near Main Campus. So, now I Uber to work. But if it were up to Pop, he’d go completely out of his way to pick me up and drive me there. My Uber drivers are usually good at making small talk, but that sure isn’t the
my first gig with a smile. And that might be because I learned how to shoot my first live shots, wrote my first stories that were read on live television and met some amazing professionals in the field. But it’ll mostly be because I’m Pop’s favorite, and I’m grateful to have spent so much time with him. When I stayed home all week for fall break, I didn’t have to worry about timing my Uber ride just right to get me to work on time. Pop was in the living room, sitting on the recliner, waiting for me to get my coat and shoes on so we could be on our way to Wawa — just like it was summer again. jayna@temple.edu @jaynaalexandra_
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OPINION
PAGE 11
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
THE ESSAYIST
Navigating college friendships as an introvert A student describes her struggle think there is something wrong with me. I said “no,” and they teased me. I always me for me. ‘ Because of the loneliness, I felt at to make friends during her first During those first weeks of college, I felt defended myself by saying, “When I have like I was missing a part of an equation friends, I’ll go.” the beginning of the semester, I turned semester at Temple. BY ALVIRA BONSU For The Temple News I realized I actually don’t have college friends. When I first realized this, I couldn’t help but feel lonely. A few weeks ago, some of my friends from my hometown came to visit me at Temple. It was nice because, like any other Sunday, I wasn’t planning on doing anything except sleeping, going to the gym, listening to a sermon and doing homework. We explored Center City, checked out the Liberty Bell, took pictures in front of the fountain near City Hall and ate at Five Guys. I had so much fun. But when they started telling me I could experience Center City with my new college friends because it’s so easy to get there from Main Campus, I was upset by the realization that I hadn’t made any new friends. During the first two weeks of school, the students who live on my residence hall floor agreed we should keep all of the doors open, which made me optimistic about making friends. But the majority of the doors remained closed, and somehow many of the girls were already bonding behind those closed doors. I talked to some of the girls on my floor, but it seemed like they already made solid relationships with each other. As an introvert, the friendships I make are ones that fall into place naturally. I don’t go out of my way to meet people. Was that going to cripple my college life? Upperclassmen I’ve met and my friends back home say that all the haphazard friendships I’m witnessing now are superficial, but I still can’t help but
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that would get me to feel just a fraction of what others were feeling — happiness. I wondered what it was like to have someone to sit with at the dining hall, people to study with and friends to talk to in a group chat. I thought going to college would help me meet my new group of best friends and become extremely content with my social circle like I saw on social media and in movies. But that isn’t the case. The reality is that college, at least during the first few weeks, is not socially rewarding to introverts and homebodies. I fought an inner battle with myself because I’m not someone who urgently needs to make friends. I just don’t like rushing into friendships. I was overwhelmed when I realized so many people were in solid groups of friends so quickly. There’s so much pressure on college students, especially freshmen, to immediately make lots of friends. And we put this pressure on each other. It’s like we need to instantaneously bond with strangers by going out and partying. I could make friends by doing that. I could make the effort, whatever that means, to make friends. But I’m not going to chase people who won’t make the effort to invite me to events, parties and anything else. I could compromise my morals by smoking, drinking and vaping — things I’ve never done — to make “friends.” I could change myself and become accustomed to these things. But people don’t want to be my friend when I’m sober, and risking my health doesn’t seem like it’s worth a shot at companionship. When my younger brothers asked if I’ve attended a Temple football game yet,
I still haven’t been to a football game. I just want to be with people who I can be myself around, and I haven’t found those people here yet. Do I know who I am? Yes. But am I comfortable with who I am? No. Once I admitted this to myself, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I finally realized to enjoy my college experience and find my people, I need to be happier with myself first. I don’t have to care about what others think or change myself because the right crowd will accept
to student organizations to meet people with similar interests. I joined the Global Studies Society, the Pre-Law Society and the Society of Emerging African Leaders. Because of these clubs, I get to spend a few hours a week surrounded by people who appreciate my intellect. Most importantly, I’m now at peace with being introverted and the way I make friends. abonsu@temple.edu
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OPINION PAGE 12
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
GEOGRAPHY CROSSWORD
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1. Only continent covering parts of all four hemispheres
4. Smallest nation and home of the Catholic pope
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5. Biodiversity hotspot that comprises 40 percent of Brazil’s total area
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3. World’s largest peninsula and home to nine countries 9. One of the smallest states, but the most densely populated 12. Barren land, often misspelled as a food
6. World’s smallest ocean 7. High flat terrain 8. The boundary between the North and the South in the United States 10. The longest river in the world 11. Penguins live here, but not Santa Claus 13. The sun casts no shadows here during the Solstice
Answers from Tuesday, November 13: 1. Halloween, 2. Sweaters, 3. Raking, 4. Football, 5. World Series, 6. Cider, 7. Autumn leaves, 8. Harvest, 9. Plaid, 10. Equinox, 11. Leaf peeping, 12. Apple picking, 13. Corn maze, 14. Scarecrow, 15. Pumpkin spice latte,
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FEATURES
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
PAGE 13
STUDENT LIFE
Students start podcast after meeting on internet Two students’ podcast “Tweet Limit” was inspired by their friendship that started on Twitter. BY MICHELE MENDEZ For The Temple News
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iv Fitzsimons and Natalie Ulloa’s friendship started with a tweet. Fitzsimons, a junior media studies and production major, won tickets to a concert by British pop rock band The Vamps in New York City. Ulloa, a sophomore media studies and production major, congratulated Fitzsimons on Twitter. They then met briefly in person at The Vamps’ autograph signing before attending the concert Fitzsimons won tickets to a few days later. “It wasn’t awkward or anything,” Ulloa said. “We just started talking like how we usually would online.” Last month, the duo launched a bi-weekly podcast “Tweet Limit” and uploaded their fourth episode to Spotify and Soundcloud on Monday. The podcast uses the story of how the hosts met to discuss online friendships and other aspects of social media, like cyberbullying, online dating and “stanning,” when someone idolizes a celebrity. After uploading their first episode, Ulloa sent a Twitter direct message to James McVey, The Vamps’ guitarist, asking him to listen to it. McVey retweeted Ulloa’s tweet with a link to the episode to his 1.7 million followers. Fitzsimons said having a member of the band acknowledge the podcast felt really rewarding since it was the reason she met Ulloa. “I was literally screaming,” said Ulloa, who is from New York City. “Liv and I put a lot of thought and effort into it, and it was really cool that he got to hear it, at least a little bit.” Ulloa said she wanted the name of the podcast to reflect her online friendship with Fitzsimons. @TheTempleNews
LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS Liv Fitzsimons (right), a junior media studies and production major, and Natalie Ulloa (left), a sophomore media studies and production major, record an episode of their podcast “Tweet Limit” on Nov. 5 at the Tuttleman Learning Center.
“Us having a [podcast] discussion on something that you can’t tweet about in 140 or 280 characters was fitting because we came from Twitter,” she added. About 57 percent of teenagers ages 13 to 17 have made friends online, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center report. Ulloa and Fitzsimons were in high school when they met. “A lot of the good stories don’t make it to the public,” said Fitzsimons, who is from northern New Jersey. “It’s a lot more interesting to read some crazy story about someone that’s not who they say they are than two girls who met online and became friends and go to the same college.” Anne Hoffman, a media studies and production instructor who teaches a course on podcasting and radio production, said audio storytelling expresses emotions and topics that can’t be seen or touched, like friendships. Running a podcast is more flexible than a radio
show, she added. Fitzsimons and Ulloa originally planned to start a radio show but decided a podcast created a more casual atmosphere. “Sometimes it’s really hard to get greenlit to do a radio show,” Hoffman said. “Even on community radio, you need to apply, you need to get chosen, you need to show up at the same time.” Still, Fitzsimons and Ulloa diligently prepare for each podcast episode by meeting up to brainstorm topics. “We just jot down ideas, making notes for ourselves so that we don’t go in the studio and have nothing to talk about,” Ulloa added. The two friends write the script, Ulloa edits the episode and then Fitzsimons promotes it on social media. They learned how to produce a podcast from the students who run the podcast studio in the Honors Lounge in the Tuttleman Learning Center.
“We’re heavily involved in everything, and I think the best way to learn is to be super involved in the process,” Fitzsimons said. “That allows us to grow our skills and learn from our mistakes.” The first episode of their podcast, titled “Don’t Mind All My Friends,” touches on how their friendship developed from online to living on the same college campus. “It’s transformed into a huge part of both of our lives, whether or not we see each other all the time,” Fitzsimons said. For Ulloa, the internet’s power lies in connecting people. “It’s cool to be able to get to experience, get to know different people that you would have never met, literally across the world,” Ulloa said. michelemendez@temple.edu @michmendezmedia
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FEATURES PAGE 14
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
LIVE IN PHILLY
Holiday light show brightens up Center City
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS
The second annual Deck The Hall Light Show returned to Dilworth Park this month. The light show, produced by the Center City District in collaboration with 6ABC, displays on the west side of City Hall and features holiday visuals projected onto the building. It runs every night through Jan. 1, with shows starting at 5:30 p.m and ending at 8:30 p.m. After viewing a show on Sunday, junior education major Antonia Wrona, who is an exchange student from Germany, said it could have been better. “It was pretty,” she said. “But to me it was a bit too much, a bit cheesy.” Pete and Terry Walsh, both 62, attend holiday events in the city, like Sunday’s light show, regularly throughout the holidays. “Events like this and the tree lightings are all free, so we like to come out and enjoy them,” Terry Walsh said. “We were here last year,” Pete Walsh said. “It’s a nice way to enjoy the holidays.”
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FEATURES PAGE 15
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
TECHNOLOGY
Website verifies shoes’ authenticity for collectors A student created Plug, an e-commerce website and app for shoe enthusiasts. BY MARY DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA For The Temple News It all began with a driveway, a hoop and a basketball in Santa Ana, California. Alfonso Corona would spend hours shooting hoops with his middle and high school teams. But what basketball icons wore on the court spurred another interest: performance sneakers. “There’s definitely a really big tie between basketball and shoes,” said Corona, a junior marketing major. “I wouldn’t be one to buy a lot of shoes, but when I did, I would want them to be unique.” Years later, Corona created Plug, an e-commerce app and website that provides “sneaker heads,” or sneaker enthusiasts, with an online marketplace for vendors to resell designer sneakers originally purchased from large retailers like Foot Locker or Champs Sports. Buyers bid on shoes until they settle on a price with the seller, and Plug verifies the shoes’ authenticity. Plug provides a greater sense of security between the seller, marketplace and buyer than other e-commerce sites where it’s the seller’s responsibility to verify shoes’ authenticity, Corona said. The Plug website is active, and its app will launch in December. Plug has seven processing centers across the country, including in New Jersey, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Southern California. When a buyer purchases shoes from Plug, they are sent to a processing center for verification before being shipped to the customer. The centers employ sneaker experts with at least two years of experience to inspect the shoes, Corona said. They constantly update a database with information on how to differentiate between fake and real shoes based on color, material texture and logo placement. Having several verification centers allows Plug to make deliveries in two to six days, while competitors typically of@TheTempleNews
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior marketing major Alfonso Corona created Plug, an e-commerce website and app that verifies the authenticity of designer sneakers and delivers expedited orders to customers for cheaper prices.
fer five to 10-day shipping, Corona said. He has also partnered with UPS Inc. to ship shoes at half the price of other marketplaces. Millennials fuel the designer sneaker market, which was valued at $55 million in 2016, Forbes reported. Market research organization Transparency Market Research predicts the global footwear market will be worth $220.2 billion by 2020. Many counterfeit shoes come from countries like China, according to the Los Angeles Times. In 2016, United States Customs and Border Protection agents seized about $1.38 billion worth of counterfeit sneakers. Junior management information systems major Steven Natto liked the idea of Plug from its start. Natto resold designer shoes himself before Plug. The two lived on the same floor of Morgan Hall South during their fresh-
man years and bonded over designer sneakers. Corona said Natto taught him everything he knows. “He was just like, ‘All right, man, I’ve got to learn how to do this, teach me what you know,’” Natto said. Natto was originally part of the Plug team, and now he helps advise Corona on how to operate Plug. “[Corona] constantly shows me what he’s working on,” Natto said. “He’s always doing anything and everything. A different day he’s working on social media stuff, another day it’s design stuff.” Corona also credits his digital marketing class this fall, taught by strategic management professor Shreeram Mudambi, with making Plug a reality. Students in the class represent fake companies that come up with marketing and communications strategies for real businesses. Mudumbi assigned three students to help Corona actualize Plug.
Senior accounting major Jennifer Serafino represents the fictional company, which helps Corona better connect with his target demographic of “sneaker heads” ages 18 to 30. FFA is devising short-and-long term plans to help Corona brand Plug. “He has a really solid base right now,” Serafino said. “He just needs to build brand awareness, and he’ll be in a really solid position.” The Plug app has a waitlist of about 150 people, while its website receives about 100 visitors every month, Corona said. Corona hopes to expand Plug overseas by 2020 and provide his customers with accurate verification and quick-shipping. “You’re going to get your shoes fast, and you’ll be taken care of,” he said. mary.diazdlp@temple.edu
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FEATURES PAGE 16
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Doctoral biology student Gerard Smith is a researcher in the Spigler Lab. He studies pollination videos in his office at the College of Science and Technology.
COURTESY / ADAM ZAJAC Rachel Spigler, a biology professor, runs the Spigler Lab, which allows students to research the sustainability of plants and how people interact with plants.
RESEARCH
Students, professor research plant sustainability The Spigler Lab team researches plant life on campus and throughout Philadelphia. BY MICHAELA ALTHOUSE For The Temple News
Roasting coffee. Growing psychedelics. Eating chocolate. These are some of the ways humans interact with plants on a daily basis — sometimes without even realizing it. The Spigler Lab, run by Temple University biology professor Rachel Spigler, examines the evolutionary ecology of plant reproduction and the ways people utilize plants. To do so, a team of seven undergraduate and graduate students conduct research in the lab and the forest areas in Philadelphia and surrounding places like Harrisburg, West Chester and Lancaster. “I just got so fascinated by how reliant humans are on plants, so I started to geek out on plants,” said Spigler, who first became interested in the topic after taking a course on human-plant interactions at Rutgers University. “I just fundamentally want to understand the world and why it is the way it is,” she added. Spigler’s undergraduate students are features@temple-news.com
currently analyzing whether plants get the pollen they need for reproduction by using microscopes to count the pollen grains on stigmas, the sticky part of flowers where seeds germinate. The team also grows inbred plants, meaning plants produced from the same genetics, indoors before moving them into the natural environment to determine whether inbreeding causes populations to grow or go extinct. Doctoral biology student Gerard Smith joined the Spigler Lab in 2017 as a researcher. Last summer, he observed changes in interactions among pollinators in a butterfly land preserve and is now processing thousands of hours of video footage he collected of their behavior. Smith said the lab’s research applies to other areas, like technology and website traffic. “It’s something that is a network of people interacting with websites, and you tend to see the same pattern that you would in a plant-pollinator community,” he added. The lab, which launched in 2013, is located in the Biology-Life Sciences Building. The space doesn’t have a greenhouse, so lab plants are housed in growth chambers where students trans-
plant and measure them. Students study thousands of plants and measure aspects like how many flowers are open on a given day, flowering rates and sizes, flower colors and life spans, the rates of pollen deposition and flowers’ self-pollination abilities, Spigler said. They also count seeds to estimate plants’ fitness levels. Spigler’s goal is to understand factors that lead to healthy plant populations which can sustain themselves, and others that cause populations to decline. She also wants to understand plant development through natural selection, or how plants adapt to changing environments. Her work with inbred plant populations tackles these questions in fragmented habitats, meaning larger environments damaged by humans. These habitats threaten the plants’ genetic varieties, increasing inbreeding. Through their research, lab participants study whether these inbred populations can survive. Spigler is a tenure-track professor, which requires her to start a research project. She created her lab with the idea of working on local field sites so undergraduate students could get hands-on experience — something she said she
didn’t have in college. “I always wanted that experience,” Spigler said. “I enjoy giving it to other students and having them participate in the lab.” Senior biology major Paige Pammer worked at the lab from May 2017 to January 2018. She said the experience encouraged her to pursue upper-level ecology and evolution courses because Spigler made science engaging. “In science, a lot of times you’re bogged down by the old, white guy,” Pammer said. “[Spigler] is young, she’s cool, she’s fun. She’s excited about what she does, she pushes you to be the best you can be.” Though much of the research is small-scale, Spigler stresses the importance of plants in everyday life as the primary producers of food, fuel and fibers. “A lot of people want to know why I would devote my life to studying plants when I could be studying important diseases, which is also really important,” Spigler said. “But for me, it’s because I’m interested and driven by how the world works.” michaela.althouse@temple.edu
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FEATURES PAGE 17
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
RESEARCH
Grant funds research on new transplant method Gardiner and Siminoff are also cre- like hands, feet, reproductive organs and The Department of Defense gave ating a research-based training program faces, she added. $1.5 million to study an emerging to help organ procurement organizaThere are only about 90 documentmethod of organ donation.
BY CARLEE CUNNINGHAM For The Temple News Heather Gardiner hopes her newly received research grant will help more people receive organs. In the United States, 95 percent of adults support organ donation, but only 54 percent are registered organ donors, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Gardiner, the director of the Health Disparities Research Lab, and Laura Siminoff, the dean of the College of Public Health, received a three-year $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense in September to study vascularized composite allograft, an emerging type of organ transplantation that involves transplanting external body parts and systems of bone, nerves, skin and tissue. Traditional solid organ transplantation involves internal organs like kidneys and hearts, according to the American Society of Transplantation. Gardiner and Siminoff are now examining how organ procurement organizations, like the Gift of Life Donor Program, develop protocols to explain VCA.
tions better discuss VCA donation with patients and their families. The Department of Defense is specifically investing in VCA research to benefit veterans who have suffered injuries in combat. In 2012, the department launched the Reconstructive Transplant Research Program, which furthers research on VCA procedures and aims to help veterans overcome injuries. During the 2018 fiscal year, the Department of Defense Reconstructive Transplant Research Program had $12 million to allocate to funding VCA research projects. “For military men and women who have been deployed in active duty and have stepped on these landmines, [the transplants] are invaluable,” Gardiner said. “They may not always restore full functioning, but you get mobility and you get a better self-esteem and quality of life.” Patients and families may be more reluctant to donate organs using the new procedure because people are more emotionally attached to the organs involved in VCA, Siminoff said. Certain donations affect the possibility of an open-casket funeral. VCA transplants include body parts
ed cases worldwide of VCA transplantation in the past decade, as it’s a relatively new technology, according to the AST. “These are things that are culturally and symbolically highly personal,” Siminoff said. “There are sometimes you can really know somebody by their hands.” One notable VCA transplant occurred last year when 21-year-old Katie Stubblefield became the youngest fact transplant recipient in U.S. history after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound that severely disfigured her face, CNN reported. Stubblefield’s transplant was funded by the Department of Defense due to the similarity of her injuries to those sustained by veterans. “Obviously, people want their appearance to improve from these injuries, but it’s so that people can talk again so that they can breathe properly, so they can eat properly,” Siminoff said. “Some of these injuries...you can’t imagine how anyone could have even survived an injury like that. It’s really the technology that we have that drives this, which has driven the entire field of organ donation.” Gerard Alolod, the director of research operations at the Siminoff Re-
KIM NGUYEN Graduate marketing student
VOICES
Do you think making friends online is good? Why or why not?
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I’m not a big fan of making friends online. I just prefer meeting people in person. A lot of the time I can read their body language and facial expressions to figure out if they’re nice people or not.
AAYUSH GEHLOT Graduate business analytics student Making friends online is good because I’m an international student, so that’s one of the ways we can make friends. Of course, meeting one-on-one is a good thing, but...for an initial start, it’s a way to go forward.
search Group in the College of Public Health, is organizing the research effort. The first step is that researchers will conduct phone interviews and focus groups to collect data from the public, previous donors’ families and organ procurement organizations about their perceptions of VCA donations. “Our hope is to really understand what they find beneficial,” Alolod said. “Do they see any difference between this new type of transplant versus what they have done, or the types of organs or tissues that they’ve asked for in the past?” Using this feedback, the research team will develop training strategies for family support coordinators, who work at organ procurement organizations and assist grieving families with the organ donation process. “We want to actually develop something that is useful and accepted by the organ request community, and hopefully have something that can be disseminated more broadly,” Gardiner said. “My perspective is either, regardless of if I’m cremated or in the ground, the organs are going to be wasted if they don’t go to somebody who can use them,” she added. carlee.cunningham@temple.edu @carleeinthelab
EMMA GIBNEY Sophomore communication studies major
Having friends online, it can be a pretty good thing. ... Sometimes dealing with people [in real life] and facing and talking about stuff can be really hard.
MATTHEW RICHARD Sophomore undeclared major Making friends online is good because I feel like in today’s society that it’s not even that reckless. It’s like honestly a good way to meet people. There’s good people out there. features@temple-news.com
INTERSECTION PAGE 18
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
RELIGION
Jewish students find empowerment after tragedy Jewish students and faculty respond to last month’s shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. BY CLAIRE WOLTERS Intersection Editor
“W
e fought, we won, let’s eat.” The three-part saying is somewhat of a rallying cry in the Jewish community, said Ben Slesinger, a senior criminal justice major who returned to his home in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, to share a Thanksgiving meal with his family last week. The holiday marked his first time in the area since August, and the first time Slesinger, who is Jewish, saw his town in the aftermath of the tragedy at the Tree of Life Congregation, where a gunman killed 11 people and injured six others last month. “We’re always going to come through in the face of hatred and anti-Semitism just because we know how,” Slesinger said. “We have, unfortunately, too much experience knowing how to combat people that hate,” he added, noting the long history of persecution against Jewish people. Slesinger attended and continues to attend Temple Sinai, a synagogue about one mile from Tree of Life. His former memories of the synagogue were of positive events like attending his friends’ Bar mitzvahs — “momentous, joyous occasions,” he said. “I’ve walked those streets,” Slesinger said, “I’ve been in that sanctuary. My idea of that synagogue will just…it will never be the same.” When Slesinger first heard about the shooting, he was eating breakfast in Morgan Hall. His dad called him with the news that an armed gunman had entered Tree of Life and said he would share updates as he learned more. “I really didn’t know how to react,” intersection@temple-news.com
Slesinger said. “As the day progressed and we started to find out more information, I realized that the possibility of [a victim] being one of my friends, one of my relatives, was relatively high… so I went into panic mode.” Slesinger then called all of his friends and relatives he knew in the area. While he is lucky none of his direct acquaintances were victims of the shooting, he felt the same hurt, pain, grief and anger as if he had known the people who were, he said. Driving by the synagogue during fall break, he said these emotions flooded back. Slesinger delivered mitzvahs to the Tree of Life community when he returned, as part of the nationwide campaign #Mitzvah4Pittsburgh. People wrote down mitzvah’s — good deeds — on small slips of paper to give to Tree of Life. Slesinger was in charge of mitzvahs from contributors at Temple. He is not the only member of Temple’s Jewish community that has taken it upon himself to respond to this tragedy through good works. Susan Becker, the director of Jewish Life Director at Hillel at Temple, commended students for taking the initiative to organize a vigil at the Bell Tower on Oct. 30. Nearly 200 people paid their respects to the 11 victims of the shooting. “They didn’t want to just go to other things in the community,” said Becker, who mentioned vigils on Broad Street and in Rittenhouse Square. “They wanted to build something in this community.” Ben Herstig, a freshman music education major, was one of the main organizers of the vigil at the Bell Tower. Herstig was born in Squirrel Hill and his family attended the Tree of Life Congregation until they moved to Minnesota when he was about 4 years old. “When I heard about the shooting, I needed to do something,” Herstig said. To take action, he and about 12
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior communications studies and English major Ruth Oshlag speaks at the Bell Tower during a vigil held days after the Tree of Life Congregation shooting in Pittsburgh. This week, several students discussed what it means to be a Jewish student at Temple.
other students, including Slessinger and freshman English major Valerie Levy, organized the vigil. The group met up on Oct. 29 to come up with ideas and the vigil took place the following evening. “There was no practicing or anything,” Herstig said. “It was not easy, but it happened.” “It was important to bring the issue onto campus because the Jewish population is so small,” said Levy, whose home synagogue is in Kensington, Maryland. “If we held this big vigil, it might make people who aren’t Jewish aware of how this affects people in general.” She added that while it was great to see people attend the vigil, she feels support has since dwindled. The most important thing for Jewish students is to continue to stay open and visible, Levy said. Levy is on the Shabbat and Holidays board of Hillel at Temple, which organizes Friday night Shabbat dinners, events and educational programming. Shabbat is the Jewish Sabbath, which the Hillel Center observes each Friday night with a service and communal meal. Jewish community members
and allies observed a “Solidarity Shabbat” on Nov. 2 after the shooting. Becker, who worked at a synagogue in New Jersey for three years before coming to Temple, said this is the first major tragedy she experienced and added that the shooting affected both staff members and students. “When we’re here at work, we’re ‘on,’” she said. “It’s important that we all take the time to care for ourselves outside of work too. …That first Monday back, we were all still so shocked.” “It was still hard to process, but we had to be there for everybody else,” she added. The tragedy affects the entire Jewish community — not just people from Squirrel Hill, Slessinger said. “It could have been a synagogue in Nevada,” Slesinger said. “It could have been a synagogue in D.C. [Even if] it didn’t come from your hometown, it was against your people.” “It’s not just a Jewish thing,” he added. “It’s a humanity thing.” clairewolters@temple.edu ClaireWolters
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INTERSECTION PAGE 19
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
RELIGION
Maintaining a kosher lifestyle on Main Campus Jewish students discuss how they keep kosher on campus and the difficulties they face. BY ALLEH NAQVI For The Temple News For some Jewish students keeping kosher on campus, options can be limited. Temple University offers kosher options, mainly through Zaydees, an on-campus kosher restaurant at Hillel at Temple University on 15th and Norris streets. To follow religious guidelines, students may need to cook and eat from home or eat vegetarian.
Kashrut is the body of Jewish law outlining what foods can and can’t be eaten and preparation standards, and kosher food meets kashrut standards.
Jewish students account for 5 percent of the undergraduate population, and 17 percent of graduate students are Jewish, according to self-reported statistics from Temple’s Hillel chapter to the international organization. Kashrut is the body of Jewish law outlining what foods can and can’t be eaten and preparation standards, and kosher food meets kashrut stipulations. Keeping kosher on campus is difficult, said Ellen Taraskiewicz, a junior history major who recently converted to Judaism. Taraskiewicz is a commuter and said she packs her lunches from home because Zaydees is too far away from her classes. “I can’t really observe kosher on campus as well as I would like to unless I bring my own food,” Taraskiewicz said. Today, kosher is practiced as the separation of milk and meat, said Rabbi Daniel Levitt, the executive director of Hillel at
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Temple. It also includes keeping a kosher kitchen, which means that the utensils and appliances can only cook kosher food and not be mixed with non-kosher food. The Bible lists specific animals, like pork and shrimp, Jewish people should not eat, Levitt added. “The Bible basically says do not cook a kid, a baby calf, in his mother’s milk,” Levitt said. “You are what you eat, so there is a mindfulness when it comes to your identity when you make choices around it.” Vegan or vegetarian diets reduce the chances of combining meat and dairy while eating meals. A vegan or vegetarian diet, however, may not fit into certain students’ lifestyles and does not ensure that plates and silverware are kosher. Kosher foods are labeled as either meat, dairy or pareve, which is the distinction for foods like vegetables and pasta. But if processed on meat or dairy equipment, pareve foods can lose their status, according to The OK Kosher Certification, an independent kosher services agency based in New York. This means vegan and vegetarian food cannot be guaranteed as kosher unless prepared and processed, according to kashrut. When cleaned in a certain way, non-kosher kitchenware can be made kosher again. One of these processes is called hag’alah and involves boiling water and submerging silverware in it. Different rabbis may have different standards for this, according to nonprofit media organization My Jewish Learning. Susan Becker, the director of Jewish life at Hillel at Temple, said while some sects of Judaism consider keeping kosher a requirement in the Jewish faith, Hillel is flexible. “At Hillel, we are open to multiple ways of being Jewish,” Becker said. “You certainly don’t have to keep kosher to be Jewish.”
KOSHER
NONKOSHER
alleh.naqvi@temple.edu
EMMA STEVENS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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INTERSECTION PAGE 20
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
THE ESSAYIST
Observing Shabbat: My weekly day of rest A student reflects on her world.” This can mean helping our certain things I will not do. I do not take own choices. This tradition is part of who I am. I traditional observance of the friends and neighbors and performing this for granted, because it is not a given. small acts of kindness to bring a little In a world where religious people look forward to shutting down my phone weekly Jewish holiday. BY RUTH OSHLAC For The Temple News Six days of the week, I navigate college life at full speed, balancing work, classes and extracurriculars. I say six days because on Saturday I take a complete day of rest. I choose to observe Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, for a full day each week. As a senior at Temple University, I’d be lying if I said has always been easy. It is hard to say no to seeing my favorite band on Friday night or miss out on dinner in Center City with friends. But, since I took on this tradition roughly 12 years ago, it has become the one closest to my heart. Shabbat begins with sundown on Friday night and ends roughly an hour after sundown on Saturday. It is traditionally calculated by the presence of three stars in the sky. Observance of the day can mean many things to many people, but I choose to follow the traditional observances of the day. This includes “negative commandments” of the day, refraining from certain actions, like using electricity, driving or riding in any vehicle, personally purchasing goods, writing or drawing. At school, this means I do not use my computer to write papers or to copy down notes for a test. Together, the observances of Shabbat relate to the story of creation: G-d worked and created six days of the week, and on the seventh day, he rested. On Shabbat, we refrain from constitute actions of “creation,” which throughout the other days of the week are not only permitted but also encouraged if they may help someone. Six days of the week, we are tasked with “Tikkun Olam,” or “repairing the
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light into the world. can be seen as fanatics or imposing ideas When Shabbat begins, a bubble of on others, my observance of Shabbat is rejuvenation expands around me. This sometimes met with resistance. I have is created by the amazing feeling of re- had peers think I am purposely being difprieve from apps, messages and emails ficult or receiving special treatment for all vying for my attention, and the mind- classes. I learned when to be open about set that I have set this day aside to rest. this part of myself and when to be more While I come from a tradition- discreet. Generally, my peers accept and al Jewish family, I did not practice the support my traditions and remind me full, traditional observance of Shabbat that it is OK to be different and make my while growing up. I decided to practice a more traditional observance of Shab- ADVERTISEMENT bat around the time of my bat mitzvah. One of my brothers had begun to experiment with different traditions, and I was curious, too. Joining him for walks to synagogue was anything but a chore. I decided that observing the “negative” commandments was a positive experience. Some of my friends and family traditionally commemorate Shabbat through customs like Friday night dinner. My immediate family recognizes the importance of Shabbat, but the specific traditions we chose to observe varies from person to person. I never label people who uphold different customs than me as “bad Jews.” With the exception of those who choose to convert — whose souls we actually believe have always been part of the Jewish people — Judaism is something you are born into. As a explore my own faith, I know it is not something so easily changed as clothing. Jewish and non-Jewish people alike are in different stages of our personal journeys, with different goals. When a friend goes out of their way to include me on Shabbat, their acceptance of my traditions are meaningful. I’m lucky to have both Jewish and non-Jewish friends who remember there are certain times I won’t be available and
at sundown on Fridays. Once Shabbat starts, I can feel a warm blanket descend around me. I take a deep breath and my shoulders relax. The next 25 hours could include dinner and lunch with friends or relaxing at home with family. For one day each week, I am allowed to let my mind, body and spirit rest and rejuvenate. ruth.oshlag@temple.eduu
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INTERSECTION PAGE 21
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
RELIGION
Bringing different religions into relationships Several students discuss their experiences with interfaith dating in college. BY ALESIA BANI For The Temple News When Simone Allegra Lavine started dating her current partner, she said one of the first questions her parents asked her was, “Is he Jewish?” Lavine is a senior human development and community engagement major who was raised by two Jewish parents. “I said, ‘No,’” said Lavine, whose partner was raised Catholic. “It wasn’t a big deal, but they wouldn’t have asked if they didn’t care.” Interfaith marriages in the Jewish community were historically viewed as “taboo,” or even shunned, according to My Jewish Learning, a nonprofit Jewish media organization. Now, some studies show they are growing in American society. According to the Jewish People Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank based in Israel, about half of non-Haredi Jewish people ages 25 to 29 in America are married to a non-Jewish spouse. Additionally, a 2015 study by the Pew Research Center found that nearly half of unmarried American couples lived with someone of a different faith. “I would never not date someone because they had a different religion, race or background than me,” Lavine said. “But in our parents’ generation, it’s something that comes up.” Lavine invites her partner to participate in Jewish holidays and traditions and they both enjoy learning about their different customs, she said. She invited him to a Hanukkah party and to participate in Tashlikh, a customary Jewish atonement ritual performed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Ashley Bryant, a senior information science and technology major, experienced interfaith dating from the other side of the relationship. Bryant practices Catholicism with Italian traditions and @TheTempleNews
ALI GRUALTY / THE TEMPLE NEWS
had a Jewish partner. Both of their families respected the other’s beliefs, she said. “It was really cool to experience that culture because it was very similar to my upbringing,” Bryant said. “It seemed like there were a lot of morals and family values that mirrored each other.” In 2000, an American Jewish Committee survey of 254 people in mixed married, inmarried and conversionary households found 63 percent of children in mixed-married homes being raised Jewish and 19 percent raised in two religions. History and Jewish Studies professor Lila Corwin Berman said many rabbis will not perform intermarriages because it is contrary to Judaic principles. Some Jews worry intermarriage will erode the stability of Jewish life and result in raising non-Jewish children, Berman added. Anna Bywater, a sophomore international business major, made the personal choice to identify as Jewish within her interfaith upbringing. She is cur-
rently on the board of MEOR, a Jewish organization at Temple that provides “innovative Jewish learning and experiences,” according to the organization’s Facebook page. Bywater has relatives on both sides of her family who converted to from Catholicism to Judaism after marrying Jewish spouses. Her father is the only one who did not convert after marrying a Jewish woman. Bywater is in an interfaith relationship and introduced her partner to Jewish traditions like Passover seders, which is a lesson of Jewish history, literature and religion, and Shabbat, a day of rest and spiritual enrichment. Her partner took an interest in Judaism through this, she said. Intermarriage rates have increased in the past 50 years, according to the Pew Research Center. Younger generations witness more acceptance for interfaith relationships, and more Jewish institutions have cre-
ated programs that specifically engage interfaith couples and families, Berman said. Ande Silverman is a senior psychology major whose mother is ordained as a rabbi and practicing cantor, an ordained clergy position responsible for the musical expression of Jewish prayer, was raised in an all-Jewish household. While her parents did not pressure her into dating another Jewish person, Silverman considers incorporating her religion into her relationships important. “I feel a responsibility to continue practicing the Jewish religion and Jewish traditions,” she said. “Even if I marry someone who is not Jewish, it would still be very important to me that they would agree to raise a family that’s at least half Jewish, half whatever religion.” alesiabani1@temple.edu
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SPORTS PAGE 22
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
FENCING
Upperclassman epee nears return from torn ACL handed, coach Nikki Franke said. “From the time she was injured, she’s just worked relentlessly,” Franke said. “Hopefully, that hard work is going to pay off.” Duwelius is expected to return in January. She is practicing intermittently with the team, while still completing the rehabilitation process for her knee. “It’s kind of hard to be always sitting on the sidelines,” Duwelius said. “I try to keep myself as positive as possible. It’s hard to see them go off to competitions. I’m there, but I just can’t compete with them. I’m so close, yet so far away.” Temple’s epee squad won 63.2 percent of its bouts in its six dual meets last season. The epee squad’s 24-14 record was its worst since the 2012-13 season. Duwelius went 5-4 in her only dual meet last season at Vassar’s Traditional Meet
in December 2017. The epees amassed a 28-17 record, its third best of the season. “It changed the depth we had,” Franke said. “[Duwelius] is a great leader. Not having her in there definitely weakened our epee squad.” She feels she has been consistently improving since her arrival at Temple, despite the injury. Duwelius kicked off her junior year by finishing in a tie for third in the epee competition at the Temple Open and followed it with a 17th-place result at the Penn State Garret Open. “I feel like a lot of people had a lot of high hopes for me going into the season because I finished the last season really strong,” Duwelius said. “I just try to keep a really positive outlook in it.” Duwelius hasn’t fenced in competition since her injury. Despite this, she
travels to competitions with the team and helps her teammates by being vocal on the sideline. “They feed off my support a lot,” Duwelius said. “It’s been an adjustment period with me stepping off the strip and onto the sidelines. But I feel like with support I give, it helps keep my teammates going.” Though Duwelius is going to return this season, she won’t have a chance to participate in a full season until 2019-20. “This season is not my comeback season,” Duwelius said. “I don’t view it that way because I’m still delayed in the process. I’m still missing a huge chunk of the season. I’m just excited to see what I can do next year with the full opportunity.”
Limiting turnovers will be key for both offenses in this potential matchup. The Owls and the Aggies are tied for third in forced turnovers with 28 in 12 games. Temple leads the FBS with seven defensive touchdowns. Utah State is tied for second in the nation with six defensive scores, all of which are interception returns. The Owls’ quarterbacks have thrown 18 interceptions this season.
third-best defense the Owls have faced this season behind UCF and Cincinnati. Temple scored 40 points against UCF and 24 in an overtime win against Cincinnati on Oct. 20. The Tigers have only turned the ball over once in their past five games, with a total of 13 all season. Both Temple and Auburn’s sacks per game rank in the top 30 of the FBS. The Tigers have recorded 35 sacks compared to the Owls’ 33. The Tigers are undefeated in non-conference games this season.
Birmingham Bowl
Military Bowl
the programs averaging 35.6 points per game, which ranks 24th in the FBS. The Yellow Jackets possess the No. 1 rushing offense in the FBS, averaging 334.9 yards on the ground. In 12 games, Georgia Tech ranks third in rushing attempts with 701. The potential matchup would be Temple’s second against a triple-option offense this season. The Owls held Navy to 17 points, which is below the Midshipmen 26.3 average points per game. The Owls have a 3-2 record in their games against triple-option offenses since 2016.
The American and Big 12 have primary tie-ins to the Armed Forces Bowl this season. The Big 12 may not be able to send a representative to the Armed Forces Bowl if the University of Oklahoma wins the Big 12 Championship game on Saturday and make the College Football Playoff. This would leave six-teams from the conference for seven bowl selections. The Armed Forces Bowl is the only of the seven bowl tie-ins for the Big 12 that is against a Group of Five school. The means either Baylor, Oklahoma State University, or Texas Christian University, who each have 6 wins, will likely be selected for the bowl if the Sooners miss the playoffs. Conference-USA would send a representative to the Armed Forces Bowl if the Big 12 is unable to. Bowl games will be announced on Sunday starting at 3:30 p.m.
Quinn Duwelius is recovering from a knee injury she suffered during competition in January. BY ALEX McGINLEY Fencing Beat Reporter Quinn Duwelius took a step backward during a bout, like fencing players do. This time, she was immediately in pain. The redshirt-junior epee tore her left ACL at the North American Cup in January and had to miss the rest of the season. Duwelius has a 77-35 dual meet record at Temple, and once tied with the program’s all-time wins leader epee Safa Ibrahim during her sophomore year. When Owls lost Duwelius — one of their top epee fencers from the 2016-17 season — the epee squad was left shortCONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 BOWL BOUND
The Birmingham Bowl has featured a matchup between a school from The American and a Power Five team, since the conference’s inaugural season in 2013. Teams from the American are 2-3 in the Birmingham Bowl. College Football News predicts Temple will square off against Auburn University (7-5, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) on Dec. 22 in Birmingham, Alabama. Auburn’s defense allowed 19.6 points per game, which would be the sports@temple-news.com
Three of the previous four Military Bowl games featured a school from The American that finished 7-1 in conference play. CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm predicts Temple to return to Annapolis, Maryland, for the second time in three seasons to play an ACC opponent. Palm projects the Owls to play Georgia Tech (7-5, 5-3 ACC) on Dec. 31. In 2016, Temple lost to Wake Forest University, 34-26, at the Military Bowl. Georgia Tech and Temple would both enter the first meeting between
Armed Forces Bowl
Temple has a small chance it could play its former coach Matt Rhule, who now leads Baylor University’s team, according to Bleacher Report. The Owls could face Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 22 in Fort Worth, Texas. Baylor (6-6, 4-5 Big 12 Conference) is bowl eligible for the first time in Rhule’s two seasons as coach. From 2013-16, Rhule totaled 28 wins and led the Owls to bowl eligibility three of his four seasons at Temple.
alex.mcginley@temple.edu @mcginley_alex
michael.zingrone@temple.edu @mjzingrone
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SPORTS PAGE 23
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Determined center sets career best in first games Shannen Atkinson has started in each of the Owls six games, after an injury limited her last season. BY MAURA RAZANAUSKAS Women’s Basketball Beat Reporter Shannen Atkinson didn’t start playing basketball until eighth grade. And she felt like she’d fallen behind. To catch up to girls who had played the sport longer than her, she took extra shots in the gym and played pickup games at a local YMCA. In her senior year of high school, the extra work helped Atkinson earn a McDonald’s All-American nomination. Her determination stuck with her: Now, the junior center has earned a starting role in the Owls’ frontcourt, already recording career highs in total points and rebounds in season’s first six games. “Shannen has been showing me every day, every game, every practice, that she wants to be out there and contribute and help us win,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “She has put in a lot of time in the gym and it is showing in the games.” Last season, Atkinson missed 18 games of her sophomore year due to a hip injury. In the Owls’ 74-68 loss to Marist College on Nov. 18, Atkinson recorded her first double-double. On Friday against Radford University, she grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds in Temple’s 56-50 loss. After her injury, Atkinson had surgery and then completed approximately six months of physical therapy. She was just cleared to play again in the second week of September. “I missed a lot of time especially in the offseason, which is the time where you can get better,” Atkinson said. “But I’m just happy to be on the floor and being able to help my team win because we had a losing season last year, so I just
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JUSTIN OAKES / THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior center Shannen Atkinson shoots during the Owls’ 58-52 win against Saint Joseph’s on Nov. 9 at Hagan Arena in Overbrook. Atkinson has set career highs in total points and rebounds in the first six games.
want to contribute whatever I can.” Atkinson leads Temple with one block per game. Last season, despite playing in just 13 games, Atkinson led the team with 12 blocks in total. She is averaging 6.3 rebounds per game this year, with a 2.6 career average. “She brings determination, and she just doesn’t give up at all,” junior forward Shantay Taylor said. “She works really hard and she makes you push yourself and she doesn’t give up, so it’s great playing with her.” Atkinson is a vocal player who likes to encourage the team, even when trailing in games, Taylor added. Throughout her time at Temple,
Atkinson found her voice. During her freshman year, Atkinson was intimidated to talk during games, she said. As her confidence has grown, so have her communication abilities. “I feel like now, I’m really good at talking, it’s just like second nature to me,” Atkinson said. “I was uncomfortable talking, so maybe the freshmen that we have not might not be comfortable talking, so I just have to make sure the older voice is still heard.” Now, as one of the Owls’ four upperclassmen, Atkinson is a leader on the team who has strong relationships with her teammates, Taylor said. Because the two have played togeth-
er since joining the team in 2016, Atkinson’s injury last season was difficult for Taylor, too. “It was a little rough since we kind of fed off each other,” Taylor said. “But then I just started to think about her and try to play for her and keep positive for her.” Cardoza expects Atkinson to continue growing and improving as an important player in the lineup. She is encouraged that she’ll stand out as a defender. The Owls will play No. 16 DePaul University in Chicago on Dec. 3. maura.razanauskas@temple.edu @captainAMAURAca
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SPORTS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
PAGE 24
FOOTBALL
GOING BOWLING
After an 8-4 season, the Owls’ bowl opponent will be announced on Sunday. BY MICHAEL ZINGRONE Co-Sports Editor Temple University is playing its best football at the end of its season, with only one thing remaining: a bowl game. The Owls closed the regular season on Saturday with a 57-7 road win against Connecticut, recording their largest margin of victory against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in program history. Temple will play in a bowl game for a program-record fourth consecutive season. The American Athletic Conference has first priority in seven bowl games — the Armed Forces, Birmingham, Boca Raton, Cure, Frisco, Gasparilla and Military bowls. A school from The American could also play in either the Liberty Bowl or Independence Bowl through the conference’s secondary affiliations. The Owls (8-4, 7-1 The American) sports@temple-news.com
DESIGN BY CLAIRE HALLORAN / THE TEMPLE NEWS PHOTO BY LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS Temple celebrates after junior safety Benny Walls (center) intercepted a pass in the third quarter of the Owls’ 57-7 win against UConn on Saturday at Rentschler Field in Hartford, Connecticut.
will participate in one of those games. The earliest the Owls could play in a bowl is on Dec. 15 in the Cure Bowl. The FBS hosts bowls from Dec. 15 through Jan. 1. “I’m just happy we get to develop the young guys even more and spend more quality time with these seniors and really enjoy the moments being with them and being able to coach them because it’s a special group,” coach Geoff Collins said on Saturday. Temple’s offense has recorded at least 500 yards and scored 40 or more points in three of its final four games. Defensively, the Owls have forced 12 turnovers in their past three games. “[The bowl game] is the last game of the season, so it should be your best,” redshirt-sophomore center Matt Hennessy said. Temple will have 15 practices over the next few weeks to prepare for its bowl game.
The time before the Owls’ postseason game will give players like Hennessy, senior running back Ryquell Armstead and redshirt-sophomore quarterback Anthony Russo, who missed Saturday’s game with an injury, an opportunity to rest. Hennessy returned to the lineup against UConn after missing two games with an injury. The Owls will most likely play a Power Five school after finishing the season with the second-best record in conference play. If Central Florida beats Memphis in the conference championship game on Saturday, UCF will likely play in a New Year’s Six Bowl instead of an American-affiliated game. Here are four projections of possible bowl matchups for Temple, after the last week of regular-season action.
Frisco Bowl
Sports Illustrated’s Eric Single projects Temple will play Utah State Univer-
sity, the No. 24 team in the Coaches Poll, for the first time in program history on Dec. 19 in Frisco, Texas. While Utah State (10-2, 7-1 Mountain West Conference) isn’t a Power Five school, the Aggies are tied for second-best record of any Group of Five school behind UCF (11-0, 8-0 The American). Utah State’s offense averages 47.2 points per game, which is third in the FBS. If the Owls play the Aggies, they’ll face their third opponent with a top-10 scoring offense. The Owls conceded 52 points to UCF in their loss on Nov. 1 and allowed 49 points to Houston in their win on Nov. 10. On defense, the Aggies rank 38th, conceding 23 points per game. They had a five-game streak nearing the end of the season where they held their opponents to less than 25 points, except in their final game where they conceded 33 points. BOWL BOUND | PAGE 22 temple-news.com