THE TEMPLE NEWS
FIGHTING FOR A
SPOT
WHAT’S INSIDE NEWS, PAGE 6 TUPD has reported an increase in taser usage in the last four years.
Temple’s Muslim Students Association continues to campaign for a new prayer space on campus. Read more on Page 3.
VOL 100 // ISSUE 6 NOV. 9, 2021
2021
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The Temple News
THE TEMPLE NEWS A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.
Lawrence Ukenye Editor-in-Chief Amelia Winger Digital Managing Editor Jack Danz Print Managing Editor Dante Collinelli Chief Digital Copy Editor Natalie Kerr Chief Print Copy Editor Haajrah Gilani Assignments Editor Fallon Roth News Editor Micah Zimmerman Assistant News Editor Monica Constable Assistant News Editor Julia Merola Opinion Editor Mary Rose Leonard Features Editor Eden MacDougall Assistant Features Editor Matthew Aquino Assistant Features Editor Isabella DiAmore Sports Editor Nick Gangewere Assistant Sports Editor Victoria Ayala Assistant Sports Editor Emerson Marchese Longform Editor Maggie Fitzgerald Audience Engagement Editor Emily Lewis Assistant Engagement Editor Amber Ritson Co-Photo Editor Noel Chacko Co-Photo Editor Erik Coombs Multimedia Editor Allison Silibovsky Assistant Multimedia Editor Sarah Walters Design Editor Ethan Carroll Assistant Design Editor Gracie Heim Web Editor Olivia Hall Podcast Editor Scarlett Catalfamo Advertising Manager Luke Smith 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. The Editorial Board is made up of The Temple News’ Editor-inChief, Managing Editor, Digital Managing Editor, Chief Copy Editor, Assignments Editor, News Editor and Opinion Editor. The views expressed in editorials only reflect those of the Board, and not of the entire Temple News staff.
ON THE COVER Members of the Muslim Students Association stand in front of the Bell Tower for a group photo on Nov.8. | AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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CORRECTIONS A story that ran on 10.26 on pages 14 and 15 misquoted what socialist policies Stanton Young said students want in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests. The policies students want are universal healthcare and a higher minimum wage. 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 Lawrence Ukenye at editor@temple-news.com.
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NEWS
PAGE 3
INTERSECTION
Muslim Students Association campaigns for space The organization wants a new space in the Paley Building that will accommodate more people. BY JOCELYN HOCKADAY For The Temple News
A
fter trying to get a new prayer room for several years, Temple University’s Muslim Students Association announced a campaign on Oct. 26 to move the organization’s prayer space to a bigger location in the Paley Building that will accomodate more students, faculty and staff and connect student and academic life to their prayer sessions. MSA is gathering data to track attendees by checking people in at the beginning of Friday prayer sessions and organizing meetings with Temple’s administration to discuss MSA’s concerns regarding prayer spaces, said Hamza Asif, a senior neuroscience major and the vice president of MSA. The organization reached out to President Jason Wingard’s office to see if he would meet with them and are currently communicating about the best day to meet, wrote Kubarah Ghias, a junior neuroscience and psychology major and MSA events coordinator, in an email to The Temple News. “MSA is looking for more than just a new space and financial support,” wrote Syed Waseem, the Islamic education chair for MSA, in an email to The Temple News. “We are looking for recognition. We are looking for support. We are looking for people to see us as part of the community that makes up Temple University.” The Division of Student Affairs and Planning and Design work together to “satisfy student space needs” on campus, wrote Stephen Orbanek, a university spokesperson, in an email to The Temple News. “Many groups have expressed a desire for additional space, and the two departments continue to work to maximize existing spaces and also identify potential new spaces,” Orbanek wrote. Currently, MSA uses the Underground in Howard Gittis Student Center South for Jummah, which is Friday prayer, and a designated prayer area on the third floor of the Tuttleman Learning Center that often becomes crowded, said Waseem, a senior neu-
AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS Members of the Muslim Students Association stand in front of the Bell Tower on Polett Walk for a group photo on Nov. 8. Recently, the association has announced a campaign to move their current prayer space to a bigger location in the Paley Building.
roscience and mathematics and computer science double major. When the space in Tuttleman becomes crowded for daily praying, Muslim students can use the space under two staircases located on the first floor of Tuttleman, one for women and another for men, said Muna Herzi, a junior biology major and MSA community service chair. Before prayer, Muslims wash themselves in a traditional ritual called wudu, but there are no convenient wash stations in any of their prayer locations, Waseem said. The wash stations are inconvenient because they are dirty and provide no hooks for Muslim sisters to place their scarfs on for wudu, Waseem wrote. Depending on what is available, MSA members travel to other on-campus locations to accommodate groups ranging from 40 to 100 people convening for prayer every Friday at 1 p.m., Waseem said. MSA desires a room to accommodate at least 100 people, the expected attendance for weekly Friday prayer, and wants a men’s
and women’s washing station near the prayer room to reduce walking distance for wudu, Waseem wrote. A move to Paley, located at the center of campus, would also provide a more prominent spiritual and religious safe-space for Muslim students on campus, Asif said. “In essence, having a bigger prayer space in Paley would entail not only spiritual, religious and cultural safety for Muslims, those seeking information about Islam and non-Muslims, but bridge the gap between academic and student life,” Asif wrote in an email to The Temple News. A prayer room in Paley would show Muslim prospective Temple students and their parents that they would have a prominent space on campus, Asif wrote. “Muslim parents want their children to have a safe place at college,” Asif wrote. The University of Pennsylvania offers about 14 different prayer spots, while Drexel University offers prayer spaces for Muslim students in the university’s Intercultural Center and are available at an “at-will” basis.
MSA is a part of the STARS Program, a voluntary program for incentivizing student organization leaders, and has used the student center for more than 15 years, said Jason Levy, senior director of Student Center Operations. Student Activities has no responsibility for funding student organizations, said Phillip Smith, director of Student Activities. MSA receives their funding from alumni and events, like their annual bonfire where they charge an entrance fee and more than 200 students from various universities attend, Waseem wrote. Student Activities has no control over a transition to a new space, but will support MSA through any transition process that may occur and keep its space in Tuttleman, Levy said. “A permanent prayer space is not just a prayer space,” Waseem wrote. “It symbolizes so much more.” jocelyn.hockaday@temple.edu
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NEWS
The Temple News
CRIME
Campus Safety Services’ criteria for TUalerts The TUalerts are often issued by Campus Safety Services for crimes like shootings and theft. BY ALEXIS BRAY AND MICAH ZIMMERMAN For The Temple News About 12 TUalerts, warnings sent to Temple University students via email or text that report on local crimes, like shootings and armed robberies, have been sent to students this academic year, which is an increase from 2020 when there was a decrease in campus crime due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading The Temple News to examine what criteria calls for a TUalert to be issued. A TUalert is sent when a student, property or member of the North Central community is at risk of being harmed, said Charles Leone, director of Campus Safety Services. Campus Safety Services sends out officers to confirm the legitimacy of a reported incident before issuing an alert. “We are not just putting information out as soon as we get it,” Leone said. “We have to confirm that there’s a significant emergency or dangerous threat to health and safety.” Not all crimes listed on Campus Safety Services’ crime log are sent out as TUalerts because some crimes are minor offenses that do not pose immediate harm to students, Leone said. A report from a witness must be sent to Campus Safety Services before they send a police officer to the scene to confirm the validity of the report, Leone said. Leone, along with other members of Campus Safety Services leadership, then authorizes a TUalert, which is then sent to students, faculty and staff. The criteria for what causes Campus Safety Services to send a TUalert has not changed during the 15 years that they have used them, Leone said. As the campus population has grown, Campus Safety Services has expanded the area they patrol and the jurisdiction for TUalerts, Leone said. TUPD patrols between Susquehanna Avenue and Jefferson Street, with the exception of 13th Street to Broad where the southern boundary is Girard Ave-
ISAAC SCHEIN / THE TEMPLE NEWS This academic year, Campus Safety Services has sent out about 12 TUalerts to students and faculty, alerting them of local crimes, where a student, property or member of the North Central community is at risk of being harmed.
nue, and between 9th Street and 18th, according to its website. Other universities in the Philadelphia area use a similar notification system. The University of Pennsylvania uses the UPennAlert; Drexel University uses DrexelALERT; Thomas Jefferson University uses JeffAlert; and La Salle University uses the Rave Alert system to notify their communities of situations that could impact their health and safety. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the amount of TUalerts sent out because many campus buildings were closed and students were in their own homes, Leone said. “In 2020 we were probably at half the alerts sent, because most of the places were on lockdown for a long time, so there wasn’t much happening,” Leone said. Jillian Stott, a sophomore speech, language and hearing science major, uses
the Citizen app, a real-time neighborhood watch app, rather than TUalerts, which she believes are slower-paced. The Citizen app is not always accurate and does not require confirmation before an incident is reported, Leone said. Recently, a person using the Citizen app saw a report of a shooting outside the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and called Campus Safety Services. But upon review, the shooting did not actually happen, Leone said. The Citizen app received negative attention after workers within the company cited that the company uses sensational methods in attracting more users, NBC reported. Witnesses can report an incident for a TUalert by calling 911 or Campus Safety Services’ number while at the scene or showing video evidence if possible, Leone said.
TUalerts are sent out relatively quickly after an incident occurs, said Julia Budlow, a freshman undeclared major. Budlow feels like the TUalerts encourage students not to be out late at night because a lot of alerts occur at night. “It makes me feel like they’re paying attention to safety,” Budlow said. “They are paying attention to what’s going on around us.” One of the best things students can do is give as much information as possible when issuing a report to Campus Safety Services, Leone said. “The more information that we have, the better chances that we can to figure out what’s happening in a very short time,” Leone said. alexis.bray@temple.edu micah.zimmerman@temple.edu
The Temple News
NEWS
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CAMPUS
What to know about getting the flu shot this year Professors from the College of Public health discuss the importance of getting the flu shot. BY DAVID HUNT For The Temple News As flu season approaches amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Temple University students should get the flu vaccine to keep themselves and those around them healthy, said Marina Oktapodas Feiler, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor. “It’s extra important to make sure that we receive influenza vaccines to decrease flu spread, especially because we do not know how COVID-19 and influenza can interact together within a state’s respiratory season,” Feiler said. Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is a contagious respiratory illness that typically causes symptoms like fever, congestion, sore throats and headaches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People are most likely to contract the flu during cold months of the year, especially from October through April, Feiler said. Medical experts predict this year’s flu season will be harsher than usual because Americans developed less immunity to the virus during the pandemic last year, when flu cases reached an all-time low as quarantine and isolation measures kept people inside, the Washington Post reported. The flu shot is available at almost every pharmacy near Main Campus, including the Rite Aid on Broad Street near Oxford and the CVS on 12th Street near Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Temple also offered flu shot appointments to students and employees at university clinics, which ran from Oct. 6 through Nov. 3 on Main Campus. After which they became available by appointment at Student and Employee Health Services, wrote Mark Denys, director of Student Health Services, in an email to The Temple News.
CARLY CIVELLO / THE TEMPLE NEWS
Temple administered more than 3,500 flu shots to students, faculty and staff as of Nov. 8, Denys said. Most people who receive the annual flu vaccine don’t experience side effects, according to the CDC. If they do, most side effects are mild and stop on their own in a few days. Besides getting their flu shot, students should continue wearing masks, social distancing and washing their hands frequently to mitigate the spread of the flu and COVID-19, said Abby Rudolph, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor. “We’re predicting the flu virus and how it has mutated for previous years at the beginning of every season and we aren’t always aware how it will end up,” Feiler said. “It’s even more reason to be extra cautious and get your vaccine
and practice here social distancing and mask-wearing.” Children under the age of five are considered at high risk from the flu because they are more susceptible to developing severe flu-related complications like pneumonia, brain dysfunction, dehydration or even death, according to the CDC. “The cost-benefit ratio is very, very low,” Feiler said. “I think there’s very high benefits to receiving a vaccine for you but also for the rest of the community.” Although flu cases were historically low during the 2020-21 flu season, the flu was the ninth leading cause of death in the United States in 2019, according to the CDC. If flu cases become a leading cause of death this year, the healthcare system could become over-
whelmed, which is especially dangerous during a pandemic. Intensive care units in hospitals across the city would need to ration care, like hospital beds, Rudolph said. “This vaccine has been around for a long time, and is safe and is really one of the best ways to prevent flu-related hospitalizations,” wrote Aimee Palumbo, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor in an email to The Temple News. “Similar to our methods to protect against coronavirus, you are not just protecting yourself but those around you as well.” david.hunt0002@temple.edu
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NEWS
The Temple News
CRIME
Temple University police increased usage of tasers All officers must carry a taser and baton when on active duty, a change brought on in 2020. BY MICAH ZIMMERMAN Assistant News Editor Temple University’s Campus Safety Services’ taser usage has increased during the last four years while baton usage has become gradually obsolete, said Charles Leone, executive director of Campus Safety Services. A use of force report must be filed every time a taser or baton is used, he added. Temple’s Police Department purchased an additional 20 tasers and began requiring all officers to carry them to reduce lethal interactions during police encounters after two Philadelphia police officers with no nonlethal weapons killed Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man experiencing a mental health crisis, in October 2020, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Prior to 2020, TUPD did not require all campus police officers to carry a taser while on patrol, Leone said. Carrying a taser enables an officer to handle a combative person without using lethal or brute force, he said. “When a person becomes aggressive or combative, you are obviously not going to want to use deadly or lethal force,” Leone said. “The taser is one of the tools that you can use.” TUPD requires all officers to carry a baton even though reports show that batons are used less than once a year, Leone said. The City of Philadelphia announced on Oct. 26, exactly one year after Walter Wallace Jr.’s death, a $14 million initiative which will train and equip all city police officers with tasers. “To me the initiative kind of implies that tasing someone is not violent,” said Carol Gallo, an intellectual heritage professor and former member of Defund TUPD, a group advocating for the disbanding of TUPD. “To force someone into a position where they taze is also violent.” TUPD trains its officers in taser use in two separate training sessions, Leone said. The first training familiarizes offi-
AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS The Temple University Police Department purchased 20 additional tasers after the death of Walter Wallace Jr. in October 2020.
cers with alternatives to lethal force and the second involves teaching officers how to properly deploy and operate the tasers, he said. TUPD also trains its officers in mental health awareness and how to intervene with a taser in a situation involving a mental health crisis instead of with lethal force, Leone said. In the weeks following Wallace’s death, his family advocated for policing reforms including increasing nonlethal weapon options, which could have prevented Wallace’s death, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Temple police officers’ tasers are connected to the officer’s body-worn camera that records all content the moment a taser is taken out of its holster, including the previous 30 seconds of footage, which is uploaded to Axon’s cloud-based storage program, an online system that stores evidence and records, and is kept for a minimum of 75 days, Leone said. “Everything that is done with the taser is up on the cloud so it’s not like you
can use a taser and say ‘oh, it wasn’t me’,” Leone said. However, tasers are not always effective in defusing a situation and can lead to officer misconduct, said Anthony Erace, acting executive director of the Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission. “If you have a taser it’s tremendously important to not only just train on the use of the tasers, but make sure you’re trained on when to use a taser,” Erace said. Tasers can be valuable in deescalating a situation without causing death, however, they can allow police officers to avoid social interaction and more easily rely on force to take control of a situation, Erace said. “When you have a tool, you tend to use it and default on it,” Erace said. “Firing a taser is easier than talking because it doesn’t require any creativity or nuance.” Taser usage should be monitored and there should be a clear use of when they should and should not be used, wrote Jerry Ratcliffe, a criminal justice professor, in an email to The Temple News.
Adding more options to further reduce their need to resort to lethal weapons is a good thing and should be encouraged, Ratcliffe added. TUPD follows a use-of-force continuum, which qualifies tasers as a non-lethal method of de-escalating a situation, Leone said. Tasers are conducted energy devices, meaning they use high-voltage electricity at a distance to maintain a situation, according to the National Institute of Justice. TUPD used to equip their officers with only a handgun and baton, Leone said. The department now uses less-lethal methods like pepper spray and tasers to reduce the use of guns, he said. “The opportunity is greater to use a taser,” Leone said. “Which is what we want because we want our officers to use the least amount of force that they can to control a situation.” micah.zimmerman@temple.edu @micahvzimmerman
The Temple News
NEWS
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CAMPUS
Campus restaurants navigate vaccine guidelines Maxi’s Pizza, Subs and Bar is the only restaurant on Main Campus requiring proof of vaccination. BY MICAH ZIMMERMAN Assistant News Editor Although many restaurants across Philadelphia are requiring customers to provide proof they are vaccinated against COVID-19 for entry, most near Temple University’s Main Campus have only implemented a mask, not vaccination, mandate. Restaurant owners on Temple’s campus feel comfortable not implementing vaccination requirements because most of their customers are already subject to the university’s vaccine requirements, causing less stress on restaurant employees. “We definitely have our customers wear masks mostly because we don’t want to inconvenience the customers too much,” said Tarik Dzemaili, the general manager of Richie’s Cafe. “And we figured on campus, the majority of our customers are vaccinated anyway.” Many restaurants and coffee shops on campus have also shifted to primarily offer take-out and delivery options during the pandemic, meaning there is little social interaction inside their buildings and food is primarily eaten outside. Honeygrow and Blaze Pizza did not respond to The Temple News for this story. Saxby’s declined to comment. Since Aug. 16, Maxi’s is the only on-campus restaurant requiring proof of vaccination for entry. Maxi’s also permits customers to remove their masks, which allows for more socializing and human interaction to take place because customers can see each other’s faces without constantly putting masks on and off, said Alex Tolosa, the manager of Maxi’s Pizza, Subs and Bar. “Running a bar with nightlife, I don’t
NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Maxi’s Pizza Subs & Bar announced their vaccine mandate on Aug. 16 and is the only restaurant on campus to require vaccination for entry.
want it to be a headache for my staff or managers or security to always have to tell people to put their mask up,” Tolosa said. Under the City of Philadelphia’s mask mandate, only restaurants that require proof of vaccination for entrance are exempted from implementing a mask requirement for indoor dining. The City of Philadelphia only requires vaccinations in health care and higher education settings, leaving the decision of whether to require proof of vaccination for entry to restaurants up to restaurant owners, said James Garrow,
communications director for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. This is allowed because restaurants on Philadelphia campuses are subjected to city guidelines before their respective campus mandates, Garrow said. Restaurants that are contractually in university buildings, like in a dining hall, are subject to university mandates. If a business fails to follow the city’s masking protocol, the PDPH has inspection officers trained in monitoring businesses and enforcing COVID-19 related laws, Garrow said. These officers check social distanc-
ing requirements, mask wearing and vaccine enforcement, Garrow said. Enforcement protocol has changed during the pandemic as an increasing amount of people have been vaccinated, he added. “We don’t want to shut someone down over one incident,” Garrow said. “But we do want to provide input on how businesses can get better.” The city did not hire additional inspection officers during the pandemic, but they did provide additional training for their officers on social distancing and mask protocol enforcement, he said. “The hardest part in all of this is keeping up with this changing situation,” Garrow said. “We are trying to tweak our guidance based on what we are hearing from the federal government.” The PDPH recommends calling 311 to file a complaint against restaurants and bars that are allowing maskless interaction, without showing proof of vaccination upon entry, Garrow said. Some Philadelphia restaurants are experiencing increasing issues with customers attempting to provide fake vaccination cards, Garrow said. Customers at Maxi’s have edited photos of other people’s vaccination cards to appear as their own, Tolosa said. “You can tell a card is a fake when there is white-out or when the name does not match their ID,” Tolosa said. Philadelphia’s mask mandate requires masks to be worn in all indoor settings, unless one is eating or drinking, Garrow said. “You should be wearing your mask indoors in Philadelphia unless you are in a place that has 100-percent vaccination, or if you are actively eating, drinking or swimming,” Garrow said. micah.zimmerman@temple.edu @micahvzimmerman
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OPINION
The Temple News
EDITORIAL
Be COVID-19 safe on break From Nov. 22 to Nov. 28, Temple students will have time off from classes for fall break and for the Thanksgiving holiday. While 58.2 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, The Editorial Board believes that it’s still important for students to take COVID-19 safety measures if they are planning to travel during the break. Last year, Temple University urged students to avoid in-person gatherings with people other than their roommates or housemates and to self-quarantine for the two weeks prior to their departure in a university-wide email sent out by Director of Student Health Services Mark Denys. This year, an email of this nature has not been sent out yet, but The Editorial Board maintains that students must take action themselves to create a travel plan that is safe for them and those they will come into contact with. Even if Temple does send out an email to students about COVID-19 safety before break, students shouldn’t wait for that message to make safe travel plans. The Editorial Board is not intending to provide students with medical advice. Instead, the board urges students to use this editorial as a tool to fuel their own research or to begin conversations with roommates, family members or anyone that may be affected by their travel plans. For students that plan to attend holiday gatherings, these conversations can include inquiring about attendees’ vaccination statuses or what locations they’re arriving from. Students can also research the COVID-19 trends in the area they intend to travel to and reevaluate their plans if necessary. The Editorial Board encourages students to get tested
for COVID-19 before departing campus and also before returning to campus. Students can book an appointment on campus through the Patient Health Portal. For off-campus testing options, students can view other testing sites in the area through the City of Philadelphia’s website. If students are unable to secure a rapid test, The Editorial Board suggests that they wear a mask or quarantine if they are still waiting for results once they arrive at their destination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people that are not fully vaccinated delay their travel until they are fully vaccinated, according to their website. However, if they must travel during the break, they are discouraged from long-distance train or bus trips because these methods of transportation often involve sitting or standing within six feet of others, according to the CDC’s guide for unvaccinated travelers. Generally, a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second dose of the twodose vaccines, like Pfizer or Moderna, or two weeks after a single dose vaccine, like Johnson & Johnson, according to the CDC. In order to stay safe while travelling, people are encouraged to wear their masks in indoor public spaces, avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces and monitor their health daily, according to the CDC’s website. The Editorial Board commends students for adhering to COVID-19 protocol, like wearing masks and getting tested when necessary, and wants to remind them that break is not an exception to following these guidelines.
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EDUCATION
Sex education is essential
A student argues that Temple should offer reoccurring sex education about consent and relationships. BY JULIA MEROLA Opinion Editor
O
n Oct. 22, President Joe Biden released his national strategy on gender equity and equality. The goal of the equity strategy is to promote the equity of all people, including women and girls, according to the White House’s Fact Sheet. While the Fact Sheet goes through many aspects that are crucial for women to succeed, it does not mention sex education in schools. Sex education is essential for students as it provides a forum for taking on issues relating to gender equity, sexual violence prevention and shame surrounding sexual health and reproduction, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. Temple must establish a bi-monthly sex-ed program that thoroughly explains what healthy relationships and consent look like for Temple students who may not have gotten this information at their previous schools. When focusing on relationships, sex education can give students an understanding of how to interact and care for others, which enhances wellbeing and paves the way for healthy relationships in the future. Those who do not receive this type of education may not know what healthy relationships or consent look like. Many states, like Pennsylvania, do not require sex education in schools. Schools that do provide sex education are required to emphasize abstinence, according to SIECUS. Abstinence-based sex education teaches that not having sex is the only morally acceptable option and effective way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. This year, new Temple students participated in “Building a Safer Nest,” a sexual assault prevention course. Students who did not complete the courses had a hold on their transcripts placed on their accounts, which prohibits viewing or sending academic transcripts. “Building a Safer Nest” was basic, said Crystal Wolfe, a freshman finance major. “It was all done yourself, it wasn’t guided or
anything,” Wolfe said. “That was kind of weird but I mean, it was easy.” Although it’s good that Temple is teaching consent to new students, the university must have instructors connecting with students about these topics and having meaningful conversations so that the courses emphasize human connection in relationships. Temple should host sessions about sex education at least twice a year, said Giacinta Talarico, a social work professor. “It’s important that this is interwoven throughout their experience, whether it’s in the classroom or at a different number of informational sessions throughout their time,” Talarico said. Regular exposure to sex education throughout a student’s development normalizes conversations about sexuality and health, according to the Shanker Institute, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to be a voice for working people. Temple offers a Human Sexuality course, which addresses the dynamic complexity of physical, psychological, relational and cultural aspects of sexuality. However, this class is a one semester course, and Temple should provide more frequent programs about consent and healthy relationships. Madeline Gallagher, a sophomore political science major, went to a Catholic high school and received abstinence-based sex education. “I didn’t know much beyond what I read on the internet,” Gallagher said. “When you have to rely on the internet alone to get your knowledge, you’re kind of misinformed.” Much of the online information about sexual health is either not age appropriate for students or is medically inaccurate, according to Planned Parenthood. Lack of state-mandated sex education makes the topic confusing for professors to navigate too, Talarico said. “Students are actually much more willing to have these conversations than faculty are because we haven’t been given a clear mandate about what is and isn’t appropriate,” Talarico said. Temple’s sex education programs cannot be one-and-done. They must be bi-monthly programs, discussing the importance of consent and what healthy relationships should look like. julia.merola@temple.edu @juliaamerola
OPINION
PAGE 10
The Temple News
HEALTH
Don’t wait for CEOs, create healthy online spaces A student argues that everyone should combat misinformation and harmful content online.
GENESIS REDDICKS For The Temple News
On Oct. 5, whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former data scientist at Facebook, released documents and records detailing the social media company’s known participation in political polarization and increase in mental health issues in
teenage girls. In 2017, Facebook established the Facebook Journalism Project, which is meant to fight the spread of misinformation and provide people with more reliable information using third-party fact-checkers, according to Facebook’s website. However, fact checking does not fully prevent negative online experiences. Social media companies know their platforms can negatively impact young people, but aren’t taking enough steps to counteract this. Students, themselves, must promote a healthier online presence by fact-checking information before sharing and practicing kindness to create a better environment while online. In August, I deleted Instagram and Snapchat because I felt overwhelmed by the fear of missing out on fun vacations and internship opportunities when I saw the people living what looked like amazing lives. I left Twitter because the political and social discourse frustrated me when I went on the app. I felt these social media apps created a negative environment, and I haven’t logged onto the platforms for three months. Sixty-four percent of Americans recognize that social media has a mostly negative impact on current politics and social issues in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. Fifty-eight percent of teenagers
NADIYAH TIMMONS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
have taken a break from at least one social media platform, according to Associated Press National Opinion Research Center. This generation of students are digital natives, said Thomas Wright, a media literacy professor. Digital natives are people who’ve grown up under the influence of the internet in their everyday lives, according to Investopedia, an organization whose goal is to provide simplified information about financial decisions to its viewers. “My students, even compared to four or five years ago, are much more aware of the influence of social media, the impact of social media,” Wright said. “They’re more suspicious of social media.” Young people should take matters into their own hands when navigating social media platforms. One way to do this is by fact-checking information they see on social media before sharing it with their followers. Fact-checking is crucial during cri-
ses like the COVID-19 pandemic where misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and the virus itself has spread rampantly. By diligently looking through what type of account is posting this information and assessing whether it’s a credible source, students are able to help stop spreading misinformation. It’s important that students do not gloss over posts they see on social media, said Layla Longo, a freshman political science major. “If people were more careful about believing some of what they see on social media, not just news but also the glossed over posts made to make people’s lives look perfect, it can maybe make social media a safer space for people, at least mentally,” Longo said. Toxic communities can form online when people post false images that depict glorified lives or misrepresented outcomes, like bodies that fit beauty standards or only showing the happy parts of your life.
Eve Machata, a freshman secondary special education major, uses social media to message friends rather than scroll through posts. When Machata was more engaged in social media during high school, she became involved in a community of people with eating disorders. “I didn’t know anybody in real life who was struggling with one, or at least not openly,” Machata said. “It just became a really toxic environment because there’s a lot of people encouraging each other to do harmful things to yourself.” After going into recovery, Machata left the group and blocked accounts promoting unhealthy eating habits, she said. Machata also placed child-locks, which monitor usage on certain apps, on most of her social media apps which limited how long she scrolled and helped her have a healthier relationship with social media, she said. Among teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 6 percent of American users traced their desire to die by suicide back to Instagram, The Wall Street Journal reported. Students must be intentional about how they interact and post on social media because they have the potential to spread misinformation and emotionally-harmful content. When posting, sharing or reposting content, it is important to pause and think about what you are choosing to share with your peers, and if it is posted by reliable sources. Students should work to preserve their mental health by laying out their reasons for using social media before logging on. This could be connecting with friends or getting updates about personal interests. It takes a conscious, purposeful and mindful effort to remove yourself from using social media, Wright said. Students must remember it is OK to take breaks from social media when it becomes more of a stress factor than entertainment. It is better to navigate every online space with a calm mind. genesis.reddicks@temple.edu
OPINION
The Temple News
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STUDENT LIFE
Americans, educate yourselves on world affairs A student argues that United States citizens must combat xenophobia through education. JULIA MEROLA Opinion Editor An increased number of Afghan refugees have arrived in the United States since the evacuation of Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country on Aug. 14, AP News reported. More than 25,000 Afghan refugees have landed at the Philadelphia International Airport, as of Oct. 29, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. In August, former President Donald Trump made a statement asking how many “terrorists” President Biden planned to bring to America, and James David Vance, a 2022 Ohio senatorial candidate, suggested insufficient screening of refugees would lead to the U.S. harboring people who believe they should blow themselves up, FiveThirtyEight reported. Trump and Vance demonstrate xenophobia against Afghan refugees as they express anger and hatred against the refugees. Americans need to educate themselves on international affairs to combat their prejudices and they cannot depend on immigrants to enlighten them about different cultures and ethnicities. People should be reading global news, becoming geopolitically educated and learning more about other cultures. After educating themselves, Americans must actively call out xenophobia and hate speech when they see it. Xenophobia is the fear and hatred of people from other countries, or anything foreign. Ignorance leads to xenophobia, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the virus spreads, panic and hysteria have increased xenophobia and racism toward Asian people. In March 2021, Robert Long killed six people of Asian descent, which further fueled racially-motivated hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the pandemic, CNBC reported. Sahar Niaz, a sophomore biology major, and Vivian Falcão, a junior English major, enjoy teaching others about different aspects of their cultures and misconceptions they experience, but there is a limit to how much they can
teach before it becomes tiring. “It’s more tiring when they really don’t get it, when I have to explain myself again, and again, or try to get through to them,” Niaz said. Rymaz Ahmed, a senior bioengineering major, often feels required to educate others about misconceptions Sudanese people experience, she said. But Ahmed reaches her limit when re-teaching people the same things. “It’s tiring thinking of different ways to communicate the same point,” Ahmed said. People often make the U.S. the center of their political understanding, so many Americans don’t understand other cultures said Cristina Escobar, a sociology professor. “The more that you know about something different from the U.S. and abroad, the better you are able to contextualize your thinking, contextualize your situation, understand other people and understand others’ differences,” Escobar said. A lot of misconceptions about immigrants come from not knowing enough information about immigrant perspectives, said Carolina Villamil Grest, a social work professor. “Issues are multi-layered, and it’s really difficult to explain something or understand something just from one sentence, or just a five-minute reporting or reading a headline,” Grest said. Students must be actively educating themselves by reading global news, becoming literate in geopolitics and learning more about other cultures’ traditions and customs. Oftentimes, Americans deny the existence of racism or discrimination against people of color. Students experience trauma from being discriminated against in an educational setting, which commonly creates barriers, according to United We Dream, an youth-led immigrant community whose goal is to provide welcoming spaces for young people. It is not on immigrants to educate Americans. We must be combating our own internalized xenophobia through education. “If you’re part of a community, you don’t have a responsibility ever to educate anyone who is outside of that,” Falcão said. julia.merola@temple.edu @juliaamerola
SARA FALCO / THE TEMPLE NEWS
Healthy Volunteers Wanted!
Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania are inviting healthy volunteers to participate in their research study looking at the effects of a medication on the natural bacteria in the body. We are looking for individuals who: • Are between 18-65 years old • Are not vegetarian or vegan • Do not smoke or use other tobacco or nicotine products The study involves a screening visit and 3 study visits, enrolled participants will receive $75 for each completed study visit. For more information about the INGEST Study and to see if you qualify, contact the Research Coordinator at:
INGEST@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
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OPINION
The Temple News
THE ESSAYIST
Climate change does not rest solely on my shoulders A student describes how learning about the climate crisis in a third-grade class caused anxiety. I was nine years old when I first learned about global warming. My class watched an old ‘90s video that explained what global warming is and told us we only had a certain amount JULIA MEROLA of years until its conOpinion Editor sequences became unavoidable. After the video, I had my first in-class panic attack. I rapidly started doing mental math to figure out how old the film was, and how much time we had left before it was too late. Suddenly the walls of the classroom were closing in on me, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Although the video predicted we had roughly 50 years before the consequences were unavoidable, I felt like every millisecond brought me closer and closer to the end of the world. I quickly learned that greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming. The video stated that in 50 years, the effects of melting Arctic ice leading to rising sea levels would be irreversible and cover all coastal cities. This video and its message have always stuck with me and created panicking thoughts when I saw litter. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the Jersey shore, and I was devastated. While I was worried about my friends and family who had been impacted by the storm, the idea of debris and pollution from the homes ripped apart sat in the back of my head. When the news channels showed the destruction, I couldn’t stop staring at the damage and wondered how the waste and litter would harm the environment. My school was closed for three days after the storm. For most students, this
CARLY CIVELLO / THE TEMPLE NEWS
was the best thing in the world. But I sat in my room for those three days and thought about all of the things that would be sent to dumpsites or landfills and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. However, after intense discussions with my school’s counselor, I half-heartedly accepted that the fate of the environment did not rest on the shoulders of a 9-year-old. But all the progress I made in accepting that solving global warming is not solely my responsibility ended when the COVID-19 pandemic began and single-use plastics were vital due to the fear that reusable plastics could carry the virus and increase transmissions. My world was surrounded by plastic bags, plastic gloves and disposable masks.
I was terrified of using plastic gloves and disposable masks because I knew how plastics harm the environment by breaking down into two greenhouse gases, methane and ethylene. It felt like I was back in my thirdgrade science class and the walls were closing in on me. The fate of the planet was back on my shoulders, except I was caught in the middle of COVID-19 safety and helping the planet. Moving to Temple University during the pandemic did not help calm my environmental anxiety. I was appalled to see the trash left on campus by students, with masks and cups strewn in bushes and on sidewalks. As the pandemic continued, I made small shifts back to sustainable living after being forced to use more single-use
plastic products in April 2020, like using reusable masks and grocery bags. I sought help from therapists for my environmental anxiety and looked for ways to help ease my stress, like knowing when to disengage from intense news about the environment. In January, researchers found that the threshold, or breaking point, for dangerous global warming will likely be between 2027 and 2042, according to the World Economic Forum. While learning this has not soothed my anxiety about the environment, I am slowly learning that I cannot be the only one out of 7.9 billion people who is responsible for solving climate change. julia.merola@temple.edu @juliaamerola
The Temple News
FEATURES
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ACTIVISM
Temple alumnae create harm-reduction project Shannon Ashe and Jen Shinefeld without housing this winter. Through advocate and educate for safer this fundraiser, they hope to be better drug practices in Philadelphia. equipped for their outreach moving forBY ROSIE LEONARD Features Editor
W
hile working as an intern for Prevention Point in 2020, Shannon Ashe took note of all the people she encountered each day who were without housing and ran to the nearest Dollar Store. Packing bags full of Narcan and snacks, she began distributing resources to the people she met while walking up and down the streets and subways of Kensington and Center City. “I just started going down there and making friends and getting to know people and just kind of being like, ‘Hey, I saw this is a problem and I wanted to try and support you guys,’” said Ashe, a 2020 Temple University alumna who received a master’s degree in social work. In March, Ashe started The Everywhere Project, a nonprofit that raises awareness of overdose prevention and harm reduction practices to Philadelphia communities impacted by substance use. Ashe partnered with co-founder Jen Shinefeld, a field epidemiologist and 2017 Temple alumna who received a master’s in epidemiology, to start the organization. The organization provides those in need with food, clothing, clean syringes, fentanyl testing strips, safer smoke kits and harm reduction education. It also offers Naloxone and overdose-reversal training. The Everywhere Project receives a nasal form of Naloxone for free through Pennsylvania’s Naloxone Distribution Program. Naloxone is a medication used to temporarily counteract effects of a known or suspected opioid overdose, according to Narcan’s website. The organization collects resources like clothing and hygiene products through fundraisers, and recently started one on Oct. 23 to gather supplies for more than 300 individuals who will be
ward and expand to other parts of Philadelphia, Ashe said. Ashe and Shinefeld started The Everywhere Project after meeting while they were both separately distributing essentials to homeless people in Philadelphia in 2020. They wanted to reduce the stigma surrounding individuals without housing and have conversations to educate people on safe practices and alternative solutions to drug use, Ashe said. Drug overdoses rose by 30 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than 1,000 people in Philadelphia alone died from opioid use in 2020, WHYY reported. The opioid crisis has contributed to people experiencing homelessness more frequently, as approximately 5,700 people are considered to be without housing in Philadelphia, which includes about 950 who are unsheltered, according to the city’s Office of Homeless Services. To bring attention to the issue, Ashe and Shinefeld started making tie-dye shirts with the phrase “Harm Reduction is Love” across the front. All proceeds from the shirts go toward funding harm-reduction outreach programs. “Every time someone wears a shirt and someone else is, like ‘Oh, what’s harm reduction?’ they get to learn about it,” Ashe said. “Just increasing that awareness and making it a conversation that people can have instead of a taboo subject is really something that’s important to our mission.” Since September, The Everywhere Project has participated in weekly community outreach events with St. Mariam’s, a Fransiscan parish located in Whitemarsh, and Philly Unknown, a nonprofit organization providing snacks, clothing and hygiene items and harm-reduction kits to Philadelphians located on Ruth Street near Orleans. The events are hosted at Love Park, and provide food, drinks, support, Narcan and drug testing strips to those in need.
GRACIE HEIM / THE TEMPLE NEWS Members of the Everywhere Project, Human First at Saint Miriam and Unknown Philly pose for a photo during one of their weekly Wednesday night outreach events at Love Park on Oct. 27.
The organization also hosts mobile distributions one night each month, where they travel down Broad Street from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. distributing essentials and Narcan to those in need. “We’ll hit up to 300 people in a night and it’s kind of the most efficient way to do it,” Ashe said. While Ashe and Shinefeld currently run the organization out of their basements for easy access to items and donations, they hope to one day operate from a van or bus, Ashe said. “There’s something about wanting to be everywhere that prevents us from really pursuing having an office,” Ashe said. “Like, we would much rather have a van or a bus — it would be more ideal for what we’re trying to accomplish.” While distributing resources, Ashe and Shinefeld attempt to form relationships with those they meet, they said. After coming out for a meal at the organization’s weekly outreach in Love Park a few weeks ago, Cynthia Lewis asked to help distribute food and items
because she noticed the organization looked overwhelmed, she said. “I’ve been helping them out now for a couple of weeks,” said Louis, a volunteer at the Love Park community outreach events. “It’s a little more rewarding for me because I used to be one of the people in the line. And since then, I’ve gotten myself together — almost two years off crack, and I gotta give something back. It feels good to help out.” Ashe and Shinefeld prioritize offering options and solutions to people they come across, Shinefeld said. “We try to make sure we are serving the people with dignity and respect, and are providing them with things that they need,” Shinefeld said. “Because we want to go out and make sure that we’re giving them what they need and not what we think they need.” mary.rose.leonard@temple.edu
LIVE Philly in
The
Peoplehood Parade Back After the Flood
More than 25 groups paraded through West Philadelphia in support of different social and political causes. BY NOEL CHACKO Co-Photo Editor
M
embers of the West Philadelphia community performed poems and songs from the steps of the Paul Robeson house as people prepared their props and signs and waited for the Peoplehood Parade to begin. Spiral Q, a puppet theater that works with reclaimed and recycled materials, held their 21st Annual Peoplehood Parade in West Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 6. A crowd of participants and organizers began the parade at the Paul Robeson House on Walnut Street near 50th. Spiral Q hosts the parade annually to allow the Philadelphia community to petition for causes like the Free Palestine Movement, the right for Amazon workers to unionize and more, by chanting, holding signs and passing out flyers. “Paul Robeson, if you don’t know, [was a] kickass director, movie star, boxer, community activist, in West Philadelphia,” said Jennifer Turnbull, co-director of Spiral Q. “When we began the parade, this whole neighborhood was very Black, so it’s important for us to honor the people who are in the peoplehood.” The parade began at 1 p.m. and took time to recognize the flooding caused by Hurricane Ida in September. Much of Spiral Q’s collection of puppets and props is made of paper mache and
NOEL CHACKO / TEMPLE NEWS A parader marches and holds up a sign that says “Black Voters Matter” during the Peoplehood Parade on Nov. 6.
many items were destroyed or damaged during the floods. The Youth Volunteer Corps of Greater Philadelphia held bamboo poles with large strips of blue, green and orange fabric attached to them to represent the flood waters that caused damage to both Spiral Q’s property and to Philadelphia. Julie Woodard, a career development advisor at the University of the Arts who lives in South Philadelphia, has been attending the Peoplehood Parade for more than 10 years. “Spiral Q has my heart and the energy around this event,” Woodard said. “The idea that so much has been lost due to the flooding from Hurricane Ida, to Spiral Q’s collection and that people came together to build new materials, new puppets, is just so incredible and exciting.” The parade ended in Clark Park, where attendees put down their signs and sat to watch performances from West Powelton Steppers & Drum Squad and other performances in the center of the park. “So much of the struggle that people are dealing with is really interconnected,” said Malcolm Miller, a Philadelphia highschooler who attended with the Youth Volunteer Corps. “To see that people can come together is really helpful to know that your community is behind you.” noelchacko@temple.edu @noelchacko_
MOVING CLOCKWISE FROM THE TOP LEFT: NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS A parader holds a model of the Earth that says “refuse fascism” above it during the Peoplehood Parade on Nov. 6. NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS A parader holds a sign about vaccinations during the Peoplehood Parade on Nov. 6. NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS The Philly Workers Solidarity Network demands that Amazon allows workers to unionize during the Peoplehood Parade on Nov. 6. NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Two paraders play drums on a float as they follow the parade route during the Peoplehood Parade on Nov. 6. NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Members of Asian Americans United carry a dragon puppet during the Peoplehood Parade on Nov. 6.
FEATURES
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The Temple News
ON CAMPUS
Freshmen bring Hindu council chapter to Temple The university’s chapter of Hindu Students Council aims to give Hindu students a way to connect. BY EDEN MACDOUGALL Assistant Features Editor Growing up, Nikita Agarwal was actively engaged in her local Hindu community and had a strong connection with her culture. Wanting others to feel the same, she created Hindu Students Council at Temple University. “This will be a place where they can enjoy and also learn about their culture without hesitation,” said Agarwal, a freshman finance and entrepreneurship major and president of HSC. Inspired by her brother, who organized summits for the national HSC branch, Agarwal started the Temple chapter of HSC on Oct. 21, and strives to bring the Hindu community at Temple together through events, like their Diwali celebration on Nov. 12. HSC will also host discussions during club meetings to educate Hindu and non-Hindu students about Hinduism. Agarwal plans to host discussions about LGBTQ representation in Hindu culture, discrimination and current events, she said. HSC will also do a Garba, a traditional Indian dance, for Chaitra Navratri, a nine-day Hindu festival in the spring that celebrates the goddess Durga. Shrenik Patel grew up in a devout Hindu household where his family worshipped at a shrine daily and sent him to Sunday classes to learn more about Hinduism, wrote Patel, a freshman biochemistry major and vice president of HSC, in an email to the Temple News. Being part of HSC helps keep him connected to his faith and culture while he is at Temple. Bringing HSC to Temple will give Hindu students a greater voice on campus, which is important because Hindu people are often ignored in diversity efforts in the United States, Patel wrote. “It feels like the start of something big, something great, you know, I like being a part of, kind of, a bigger picture and to contribute to something,” Patel said.
NIKITA ARGAWAL / COURTESY Members of Temple’s Hindu Students Council have dinner together at Blaze Pizza on Nov. 1. The organization hopes to bring the Hindu community at Temple together through events.
Education about Hindu culture will make it easier for everyone to understand each other, and that understanding is the first step to creating a better world, he added. Agarwal, Patel and Pragya Gupta reached out to people they already knew and connected with others on social media sites like Facebook, to recruit members, said Gupta, a freshman neuroscience major and HSC’s secretary. The International HSC’s national board helped them set up a chapter at Temple and determine what they want their mission to be and how to best fulfill it, Gupta added. Teerthan Patel noticed that many people joined the council to push back against stereotypical assumptions people make about Hindu people. For him, HSC’s goal to educate people about Hinduism is a way to counter ignorance, he said. “If we can raise awareness for that, then we’ll be able to decrease the Hinduphobia that’s going around right now,” said Teerthan Patel, a freshman biology major and HSC treasurer.
People have crossed the street to avoid Teerthan Patel before, and family members and friends have been asked ignorant questions about Hinduism, like if they worship cows, he added. He tries not to let it bother him but that doesn’t mean bigotry should go unchallenged. Hindu culture is composed of festivals and holidays, like Diwali, while the Hindu faith focuses on the meaning behind the festivals and holidays with the deities and reincarnation, Shrenik Patel said. “The culture is the front to it, the religion can explain the meaning behind a lot of these festivals,” Shrenik Patel said. Gupta wants HSC to be ready to support Hindu students who may face discrimination and hopes that, through education, HSC will be able to counter stereotypes about Hindu culture in general, she said. “A lot of the propaganda that comes from stereotypes of the caste system or discrimination or gender roles and things like that, and a lot of it comes down to like, not being able to understand what it actually is in Hinduism,” Gupta added.
While there are other Indian and Hindu organizations at Temple, HSC’s connection to an international organization will give them a lot of influence due to the organization’s resources, Shrenik Patel said. HSC is open to working with other Indian student organizations in the future, Shrenik Patel added. Bringing HSC to Temple is a great opportunity for everyone, Argawal said. Hindu students will be able to connect with their culture and non-Hindu students will have the chance to learn about the culture and religion. “Having this organization can open many more opportunities and things that people can enjoy on campus,” Argawal said. eden.macdougall@temple.edu
The Temple News
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ALUMNI
Body Checker Productions’ short qualifies for Oscar Four Temple University alumnae created the production company to center women in horror films. BY SAMANTHA SULLIVAN For The Temple News The women at Body Checker Productions aren’t afraid to get their hands bloody for the sake of a good horror movie. “There’s still a real lack of representation in terms of women taking control of their own destinies in the horror space,” said Monica Suriyage, director and co-founder of Body Checker Productions. “We all share that goal and that vision, and I think that’s why we’re like, ‘you know what? We’re going to band together as women and tell stories we want to see.’” In 2016, Temple University alumnae Chelsey Colosimo, a 2014 theater alumna, Suriyage, a 2015 film and media arts alumna, Christa Philippeaux, a 2014 media studies and production alumna, and Kaitlin Reilly, a 2014 media studies and production major alumna, founded Body Checker Productions in Los Angeles. They are an all-female production company that creates horror films that include diverse casts and content. Their latest short film, La Ciguapa Siempre, qualified for a 2023 Oscar after winning Best Narrative Short at The Reel Sisters of The Diaspora Film Festival, a virtual festival that ran from Oct. 26 to 31. Suriyage made the film after she won The Inclusion Fellowship, which aims to create a more inclusive and equitable film industry for the Latino community, according to their website. Netflix and The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival sponsored the $20,000 grant that was part of the fellowship. When applying for the grant, Suriyage decided to dive into her Dominican heritage and felt inspired by the myth of the Ciguapa, which has a female creature covered in hair with backwards facing feet.
BRIAN LEGOO / COURTESY Chelsey Colosimo, left, a 2014 theater alumna, and Monica Suriyage, right, a 2015 film and media arts alumna, stand on the set of La Ciguapa Siempre in Santa Clarita, California, on Feb. 21.
The production company is trying to develop La Ciguapa Siempre into a feature-length film, Suriyage said. She also hopes that one day they will be a full-fledged production company with an office and the ability to finance other films by women of color. While working on the film, Suriyage wanted to include women and people of color both on screen and in their production team, she added. “It’s really important for us to support each other,” Suriyage said. “Some of the best opportunities I’ve ever gotten have been given to me by either people of color or women. If we want things to change, we have to do it ourselves and make sure that we’re bringing each other into the room.” Uplifting one another is central to the macabre mission of Body Checker to make films about ladies who kill, Colosimo said.
There is a lack of women in the film industry. In 2019, women comprised 23 percent of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers in the top 500 grossing films of 2019, according to The Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film. Statistically, women are less inclined to pursue horror in the film industry. Only 17 percent of women worked on horror films in 2019 relative to men, according to The Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film. But these statistics did not deter Colosimo from pursuing horror, rather, they encouraged her. Colosimo has been a horror buff since she was little, when her older siblings and friends would rent her rated R horror movies from the video store, she said. It has been a lifelong passion for her to work on horror films, and she hopes
that she and other women break into the industry. “The horror industry, which is what our short films tend to be, that spooky space tends to be very male dominated,” Colosimo said. “For us, it was super important to be able to have a space where all of us could put our creative energy out there from the female perspective and create spooky shit, but a little more elevated.” Since its creation in 2016, Body Checker Productions has been working to incoporate more diverse perspectives in their films, like queer and disabled people, Philippeaux said. All four women became roommates after attending the Los Angeles Study Away program during their undergraduate careers through Temple’s School of Theater, Film and Media Arts. After graduation, they moved into a house in Burbank, California, which they refer to as “The Temple House”, since it has been rented by Temple students for more than 20 years, Philippeaux said. “I got so lucky because the roommates, we got so close, we literally considered ourselves like an LA family,” Philippeaux said. “We’ve had holidays together, we’ve had adventures together, we made work together. That’s my favorite part of my LA experience, that it was so heavily based on Temple.” The production company is also working on a script for a film that is mainly shot in Philadelphia and hope they can have some Temple students work with them on set, if it gets made, Suriyage said. “We’re really lucky,” Colosimo said. “We get to work on projects and we’re all best friends. You know, we have our girl chat and are constantly talking every day, but just to be able to work with your friends is something super, super special.” samantha.sullivan0002@temple.edu
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FEATURES
The Temple News
INTERSECTION
Students want more representation in faculty With a diversifying student body, students and faculty want increased faculty representation. BY EMERSON MARCHESE Longform Editor Tiffenia Archie believes there is an important difference between diversity and inclusion. While, to her, diversity means having a variety of people in an environment, inclusion relates more to making people feel welcomed and valued. “We should always have diversity, but inclusion is really about the sense that people feel valued and supported in an organization,” said Archie, Temple’s associate vice president and chief inclusion officer. Temple announced on Oct. 7 that the Class of 2025 is the most ethnically diverse first-year class in 25 years and one of the most diverse in Temple history. This reflects that 45 percent of students who are United States citizens or permanent residents identify as students of color, and an additional 2.5 percent are international students, wrote Shawn Abbott, vice provost of Enrollment Management in an email to The Temple News. As diversity increases within the student body, members of the Temple community are calling for the university to promote inclusion, like improving representation within its faculty to help students feel more comfortable in the classroom. “A university cannot be a great university if it is not a diverse university,” Abbott wrote. During the past two decades, diversity among Temple’s faculty has remained significantly lower than diversity of the student body, with only one-fifth of faculty members identifying themselves as part of a racial minority each year, according to the university’s Common Data Sets. The university defines a racial minority as someone who is Black but not Hispanic, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander or Hispanic. Students achieve more when there is better representation in classrooms, said Timothy Welbeck, acting director of Temple’s Center for Anti-Racism Research and an Africology and African American Studies professor.
“Representation matters and it’s difficult to be what you cannot see,” Welbeck said. “I routinely hear my students tell me that I’m the first Black male teacher they’ve ever had, and these are people who’ve been in school for a decade and a half.” There are multiple educational benefits when a space is made more diverse, like improved racial and cultural awareness, enhanced critical thinking and higher levels of service to community, according to Higher Education Today, a blog from the American Council on Education. Temple uses search committees to recruit and hire faculty who have experience working in inclusive communities, Archie said. Some schools at Temple require diversity statements during the application process, which ask applicants to explain their experience teaching a diverse student body. Jordan Thomas, a second year sports business graduate student and representative
for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion council in the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, feels that Temple lacks representation in faculty, especially after coming from Bethune-Cookman University, which is a historically Black university. “Temple can do better because there’s only one or two professors in my school who I feel look like me,” Thomas said. Temple is allowing students to opt out of submitting test scores and note they are applying as first-generation college students, which helps ensure the student body consists of a variety of students with different backgrounds and accomplishments, Abbott wrote. Imani Moss, a 2021 musical theater alumna, feels that Temple lacked diversity in its theater program in comparison to Philadelphia’s theater scene and wants Temple to improve at recruiting a wide range of students for the program. “There were times in class where sub-
jects were brought up by non-Black teachers that were skewed towards me just because I’m Black,” Moss said. “It was interesting to have those questions skewed towards me, and it did make me feel a little uncomfortable.” While it is important for minority students to see faculty who represent them, it is just as important for white students to learn from faculty members of color to give them a fuller perspective and learn how to be a part of a diverse team, Archie said. emerson.marchese@temple.edu
The Temple News
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FACULTY
Temple professor seeks to diversify nursing field Tiffany Montgomery is the first in nursing and nursing education from Black editor of the Nursing for California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2010. She graduated from the Women’s Health journal. BY ROSIE LEONARD Features Editor Tiffany Montgomery became fascinated with childbirth at an early age, but never saw it as a potential career path that could lead her to be the first Black associate editor at a scholarly publication. On Sept. 1, Montgomery became an inaugural associate editor of the journal Nursing for Women’s Health, a publication within the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, which focuses on evidence-based practices for women’s health, childbearing and neonatal care. After being a member of AWHONN since 2007, this promotion makes her the first Black editor of any AWHONN scholarly publication. “It is an indication to me that things are changing in nursing,” said Montgomery, an assistant nursing professor. “Change is sometimes a slow process, but the wheels are spinning, people are finally realizing that there needs to be more diversity.” As an associate editor, Montgomery is working to incorporate more inclusive language to bridge the gap between community and research and ensure there’s diversity, equity and inclusion in everything the publication does. She is creating new author guidelines at the journal that appropriately label individuals and communities, using words like “minoritized” instead of “minorities,”and “research participants,” instead of “study subjects,” Montgomery said. Unable to afford a college education, Montgomery enrolled in a phlebotomy training course, learning how to draw blood, her senior year of high school and became a licensed phlebotomist before graduating, hoping her certificate would get her foot in the door and help pay her way through college, she said. Montgomery enrolled at San José State University in California in 2000 to obtain her bachelor’s degree in nursing and went on to receive a master’s
University of Pennsylvania in 2019 with a master of science in health policy research. After graduating from Penn, Montgomery worked with a community-based participatory research fellowship in West Philadelphia for two years. Once the fellowship ended, she applied to teach at multiple universities in Philadelphia, but chose Temple because she felt it was the best option, she said. Montgomery did not have any Black professors while working toward her master’s and Ph.D. degrees and used that as motivation to pursue nursing education, she said. “I wanted people to see that we’re here, we exist, Black nurses, we do exist,” Montgomery added. While at Temple, Montgomery strives to build relationships with and encourage students she teaches to pursue medicine. “That is really my purpose in this position — to kick up dust, and to make changes and to make a way for other scholars to be recognized for their work, scholars who traditionally are not recognized,” she added. In 2019, non-Hispanic, Black nurses represented only 7.8 percent of nurses, according to the United States Census Bureau. There is a lack of representation and diversity in the publishing industry as well. In 2019, 76 percent of all employees in the publishing industry were white or Caucasian, while all other ethnic groups represented 7 percent or less of all employees, according to a 2019 Statista report on the U.S. diversity levels in the publishing industry. Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, an associate professor of urban theatre and community engagement and Montgomery’s colleague, feels representation in the classroom and working fields are vital, she said. “When you have a role model, someone that you can look to, then it inspires the next generation of learners,
AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS Tiffany Montgomery, an assistant nursing professor, poses for a portrait on Liacouras Walk and Polett on Nov. 5.
educators and even practitioners because they see that, if you could do it, I could do it,” Williams-Witherspoon said. “This opens up an additional lens for looking at what dreams could be accomplished.” While AWHONN attempts to be more diverse and inclusive in the content they produce, there is always room for improvement, said Jonathan Webb, chief executive officer at AWHONN. Webb is grateful to have her working within AWHONN and looks forward to seeing what she will bring to the table in the coming months, he said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to be able to have leaders like Dr. Montgomery be in positions of influence, to make sure that her experiences and experiences of those people like her and the patients that she served are first and foremost within the work that we do,” Webb said. Montgomery hopes to highlight sexual and reproductive health disparities among vulnerable populations and increase diversity within the nursing
profession in more ways than just racial and ethnic diversity, she said. “That’s also age diversity, gender diversity, diversity of religion or faith practices, reasonable diversity,” Montgomery said. “I mean, diversity doesn’t just hinge on what we look like, and that’s one of the things that I want to bring to light. My purpose in nursing at this point is to do that.” mary.rose.leonard@temple.edu
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FEATURES
The Temple News
ALUMNI
Temple alumna lands role in “The Neighborhood”
Shaniece Cole stars as Denise in the CBS sitcom while producing a show for Access Hollywood. BY MATTHEW AQUINO Assistant Features Editor As a child watching classic ‘90s shows, like “The Fresh Prince of BelAir,” “In Living Color” and “Martin,” Shaniece Cole felt inspired to pursue acting and dancing and learn more about the entertainment industry. “I wanted to act and dance, but I also wanted to understand this industry and use my talents and be able to produce my own stuff one day — whether that be a sitcom or my own content,” said Cole, a 2013 broadcasting, telecommunications and mass media alumna and producer for Access Hollywood. Cole landed the role as Denise for the fourth season of CBS sitcom “The Neighborhood,” a comedy about a white midwestern family who move to a predominantly African American neighborhood in Los Angeles. She appeared in the episode “Welcome to Your Match,” which premiered on Oct. 18. “It feels great, I think TV is powerful and, you know, just seeing how much of an impact it made on me growing up, I know that it still has that same effect on other people, so when people see me on TV it gives them hope to keep going after their dream,” Cole said. Many skills Cole learned during her time at Temple are beneficial to her job producing NBCUniversal’s Access Hollywood, a TV entertainment news program, she said. In her senior year media performance class with media studies and production professor Amy Caples, Cole learned different camera techniques that taught her how to film on-air presentations, Cole said. Cole utilized the skills she learned at
Temple and combined them with her vibrant personality to become a successful on-air talent, Caples said. “Shaniece learned how to channel her inner charisma into connection with the audience,” Caples said. “Through her diligence at Temple, she was able to really learn those skills on how to be somebody on TV that people connect with, and how to fairly interview someone, and I think she’s really good at it now.” Caples is proud of Cole’s success and frequently invites her to come back and talk to students in her senior seminar class, she said. Cole participated in the Los Angeles Study Away program in 2012 during her junior year at Temple with her twin sister, Shanae Cole. Shanae Cole was not a Temple student but was granted permission to attend the study away program with Shaniece in 2013, Shaniece Cole said. It meant a lot to her because it was always a dream to go to Los Angeles with her sister. “Once we did the LA study away program, it opened a whole new universe to us,” Shanae Cole added. While in the program, Shaniece Cole attended networking events on weekends to jump start her career which helped her land a job after college with ABC Daytime, the division of ABC responsible for daytime programming, like soap operas, game shows and talk shows, she said. Shaniece Cole has been a producer at Access Hollywood since 2019, putting together segments and conducting interviews with celebrities for the show, she said. Although Shaniece Cole is working full-time at Access Hollywood, she is glad that she can pursue other opportunities, like acting in “Family Reunion” and “The Neighborhood,” while still working full time for NBC she said.
SHANIECE COLE / COURTESY Shaniece Cole, a 2013 broadcasting, telecommunications and mass media alumna, poses for a photo before reporting on the 2020 Black Women in Hollywood event on Feb. 6.
“I am grateful that I’m still able to do the talent stuff as well,” Shaniece Cole said. “I feel like if you’re meant to be doing something, everything else will work itself out.” Shaniece Cole hopes to one day have a sitcom with her twin sister, where they can act, produce and work with people who have positively influenced their
lives, she said. “That’s my ultimate goal in life,” Shaniece Cole said. ”We’re gonna make sure we hire people and cast people that we love that have been overlooked and that have also made an impact in our lives in some way, somehow.” matthew.aquino@temple.edu
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Owls’ guard wants to make his mark this season Temple men’s basketball freshman Jeremiah Williams hopes to lead a young team. BY ISABELLA DiAMORE Sports Editor
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s soon as Jeremiah Williams could walk, he was either in his basement or at a neighborhood park in Chicago, Illinois, practicing dribbling drills with his dad, Brian Williams. “Playing in Chicago and in one of the best public leagues in the nation helped me a lot with the pace and the physicality of the game,” Jeremiah Williams said. Watching NBA players like Derrick Rose, who is also from Chicago and played for the Chicago Bulls from 200816, opened Jeremiah Williams’ eyes to the opportunities he could have if he worked every day at getting better. Now, the Temple University men’s basketball freshman point guard isn’t taking anything for granted as he enters his second season with the Owls. In Chicago, basketball remains the centerpiece of many communities, and at a young age it played a huge part in Jeremiah Williams’ commitment to the game, he said. Most mornings, when Jeremiah Williams was in high school he and his dad would wake up at 5:30 a.m. and head to the YMCA of Metro Chicago to work out for about an hour. After showering, Brian Williams would drop his son off at the bus stop for school. “That’s what my fond memories were,” Brian Williams said. “Just us in the gym, trying to get better and trying to achieve his dream.” Jeremiah Williams was known as a solid player on the St. Laurence High School team, Brian Williams said. During his junior year he averaged 19 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. However, during his sophomore year, Jeremiah Williams saw minimal minutes on the varsity team. “Going into the 10th grade, he wanted to play JV, since he wasn’t playing with varsity,” Brian Williams said. “Even though he was on varsity, he
wasn’t playing as much.” Brian Williams, who played college basketball at Western Illinois University, told his son to stick to practicing with varsity because he could grow from working out with bigger and stronger guys, Brian William said. Two weeks after the conversation, Brian Williams noticed his son’s mindset turnaround. Seeing Jeremiah Williams develop into a physical defender and a better shooter ultimately made Brian Williams want to expand his son’s game beyond the Chicago Catholic League, where he felt Jeremiah Williams was limited in development. Jeremiah Williams joined the Chicago Public School League at Simeon Career Academy in 2019, which has a reputation for producing NBA players, like Rose and Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Talen Horton-Tucker. During Jeremiah Williams’ senior year in 2019-20, as a small forward, he helped Simeon to a city title, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the championship game. However, his team couldn’t compete for a state championship once the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, which ended Jeremiah Williams’ high school basketball career. Temple came calling late in Jeremiah Williams’ recruiting process during his senior year. While other schools like Southern Illinois University, Loyola University Chicago, St. Bonaventure University and Western Kentucky University were recruiting him, none of the programs fit what he was looking for, Jeremiah Williams said. Jeremiah Williams credits freshman guard Quincy Ademokoya, a friend of his before coming to North Philadelphia, for Temple reaching out to him. “He realized I wasn’t committed, and he told the coaching staff to talk to me a little bit, see what my interest was,” Jeremiah Williams said. Ademokoya committed to Temple early in the fall of his senior year. Once he noticed Temple players were entering the transfer portal, he mentioned to Jeremiah Williams that spots were
opening up, Ademokoya said. “I felt like Temple was going to be the school that stuck out to him,” Ademokoya said. “With the offers he currently had, I just felt it was a good situation for him.” Jeremiah Williams started competing in an AAU league and a JR Hoops Elite camp in middle school where he met Ademokoya, and the two instantly connected. “We just kind of had that natural click,” he added. “It was just my brother from the beginning, so, you know, we probably played hours of NBA 2k, and talking to each other within those hours just builds up friendship and brotherhood.” Ademokoya grew up in Bloomington, Illinois, but moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in the 10th grade. Jeremiah
Williams only met Ademokya once, but the two stayed connected through video games until they were able to meet again as Owls. “Williams is an electrifying player,” Ademokya said. “He’s a dog on defense, from Chicago, so you know, the guy hard on and off the court that’s like my jokester. We still play the game together and I just feel like he’s gonna be around for the rest of my life.” Last season, Jeremiah Williams played all 16 games, averaged 9.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, but his success can be found in setting up scoring opportunities for his teammates. “I just want to leave my mark here,” Jeremiah Williams said. “I’m just a player that wants to win.” isabella.diamore@temple.edu @belladiamore
Jeremiah Williams
SARAH WALTERS / DESIGN NOEL CHACKO / PHOTO
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AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS Arashma Parks, a redshirt-sophomore forward, waits for a ball to shoot during practice at the Liacouras Center on Nov. 4.
Temple supports student-athletes through NIL Parks’ deal came to fruition when Another tool Temple is utilizing is Temple Athletics is helping Pennsylvania to receive compensation for the use of their name, image, and likeness. Daniel Morroni, founder of Morroni Team Altemus, an advising company that student-athletes navigate Name, The bill had been in the works for more Custom, reached out to Parks in Octohas become experts on NIL and how it Image and Likeness.
BY NICK GANGEWERE Assistant Sports Editor Arashma Parks, a redshirt-sophomore forward on the Temple University men’s basketball team, decided to utilize his social media fanbase in October, when he announced his partnership with Morroni Custom, a clothing company, as a brand ambassador. Temple Athletics has operated Name, Image and Likeness at Temple by using outside vendors to educate athletes and staff alike about creating their own brand, as well as helping oversee the NIL deals by keeping track of each student-athletes involvement. Temple is utilizing a threepronged approach to NIL beginning this past summer: regulation, education and support from the marketing company Influencer, said Temple University Deputy Director of Athletics Craig Angelos. On June 30, 2021, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 381 into law, allowing college athletes in
than a decade and sets the foundation for the future college athletic economy in Pennsylvania. Temple made an agreement with Influencer, a marketing company, to help plan NIL’s future at Temple, and hired Vaughan Moss, the new assistant athletic director of Digital Media and Branding, to help educate players and staff about the complexities of NIL, Angelos said. Moss is working with Senior Associate Athletic Director Justin Miller and Faculty Athletics Representative Jeremy Jordan to educate and inform student-athletes. NIL has led to entire NCAA departments revamping their staffs, altering business plans and renovating their efforts in an attempt to provide present and future student-athletes with the best possible money-making resources, Sports Illustrated reported. “As an athlete you have very little time to get jobs or get money to provide for yourself,” Parks said. “I feel like NIL’s are a great way to start.”
ber. This was followed by an Instagram direct message from an EMG Sports agent who was a friend of Morroni’s. The groups met to discuss terms, and Morroni thought Parks would be a fashionable guy to represent the brand, Parks said. “They sent a contract, and I had to look it over with my family,” Parks said. “Then, I had to send it through compliance, and they had to look it over as well. You have to wait seven days for compliance to clear it.” Kristy Bannon Sromovsky, Temple’s senior associate athletic director for Compliance and Student-Athlete Affairs, handles rules and regulations with conferences and the NCAA, and she has been integral in introducing NIL to Temple through her continuous contact with teams and staff, Angelos said. Sromovsky and her team cannot reveal the process through which they overviewed Parks’ deal, but their process of comparing the contracts to Pennsylvania state law is to ensure they are in line with regulations on athlete endorsement deals.
can be applied to colleges, Angelos said. Each state has different versions of the law, making some states stricter than others in terms of access and opportunity. Pennsylvania does not allow athletic departments to facilitate deals for their athletes. It also requires athletes to disclose their deals to the universities they attend. Temple is hoping its approach will allow for student-athletes to utilize their location in Philadelphia and branding tools to make the most out of their name, image and likeness. “Even if I’m not making money, I feel like promoting and stuff like this gives me experience,” Parks said, an advertising major. “Experience that I can take into the real world.” nick.gangewere@temple.edu @nick_gang16
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2021-22 Starting Lineup Predictions The Temple News sports editors predict the starting lineup, rebounds, points per game and where Temple men’s basketball will finish in the conference standings.
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Temple’s lineup last season was generic, utilizing two guards, two forwards and a center. This season, the team is very guard-centric, making a small-ball or dynamic backcourt lineup possible. Forrester and Williams both started in all 16 games for the Owls last season, while Dunn started in 12
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Looking back on last season, the usual lineup was Williams, Forrester, Dunn, J.P. Moorman II and De’Vondre Perry. With two vacant spots open due to Moorman II and Perry entering the transfer portal this offseason, McKie could use his young players to fill gaps they left behind. Battle, who recovered from an injury
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This year, three of five Temple starters, including Williams, Forrester and Dunn, return to the lineup after their former teammates Moorman ll and Perry entered the transfer portal. With two starting spots open, it’s likely they’ll be filled by freshman guard Jahlil White and sophomore guard Khalif Battle.
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mid-season last year, will definitely be a vital starter at the guard position with his three-point shooting. Some new faces who could see starts this season are White and Jourdain. White missed the 2020-21 season due to a meniscus tear in his left knee, but now he’ll be another guy the team can look to for
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last season, averaging 15.0. Though White missed last season due to injury, he has gotten lots of praise this offseason and the expectations for him are high. A lineup with four guards and Forrester in the paint will create many scoring opportunities. Plus with White’s size and the other three guards, the defense should
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With White back from his season-ending knee injury last season, he’s expected to return to the court and showcase his abilities as a 6-foot-7-inch guard. Battle, who led the team in scoring and ranked second in rebounding last season, should see a starting spot after the numbers he put up during the 2020-21 season.
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shooting. Having both of them start could create more shooting opportunities, which the Owls struggled to find last season. Plus, Jourdain will be a solid player in the post for the Owls and will push for defensive rebounds.
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out of the 13 he played in. Those three players set the tone for last season’s team and will each return to their integral roles. That leaves two positions open, which will be filled by the proven sophomore guard Battle and the highly-regarded freshman guard White. Battle led the team in points-per-game
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With Battle and White joining the starting lineup, the Owls should be able to capitalize on offensive opportunities and turn this year into a winning season.
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Jake Forrester, 10 Forrester is 6-foot-9-inches and 225-pounds with a great motor in the paint. Whether it’s crashing the offensive glass or boxing out on the defensive end, he will be the key big man on the floor this season. Last season, Forrester led the team with 102 rebounds. If Forrester can stay away from foul trouble, he should maintain his lead in rebounds this season.
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Conference standing Temple’s 4-10 conference record last season comes with several asterisks next to it, like the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, Temple’s young team will have the opportunity to prove they can not only outscore, but outperform the opposition. By spending extra hours in the gym and spending extra days back on campus, this team has united under head coach Aaron McKie and will try to run circles around teams.
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Owls’ depth will fill a vital role in starting lineup Temple women’s basketball added two transfers and seven incoming freshmen to roster. BY JOSH GRIEB For The Temple News During the 2020-21 season, Temple University women’s basketball relied heavily on their big three to produce scoring. Graduate student forward Mia Davis, junior forward Alexa Williamson and freshman guard Jasha Clinton all averaged at least 12 points per game last season. The three of them scored 71 percent of Temple’s total points last year. The Owls’ scoring imbalance was exposed in The American Athletic Conference Tournament against Tulane University last season, where Williamson, Davis and Clinton scored 59 of Temple’s 73 points, and only two other Owls scored. With nine players added to the roster, including graduate student guards Jalynn Holmes and Jiselle Thomas, freshman forward Kyra Wood and freshman guard Tiarra East, the Owls are hoping to finally have proper depth complimenting their big three. “We have a lot of new faces, and I
think every single one of them will be able to contribute this season,” said head coach Tonya Cardoza. Temple struggled with lack of depth on the bench last season, leading to starters being overworked and making sloppy mistakes at the end of games. Clinton led the guards in scoring with 14.4 points per game, twice the amount of points graduate student guard Emani Mayo and sophomore guard Asonah Alexander scored per game. The Owls have brought in two transfers who hope to contribute to scoring right away. Holmes and Thomas will be in the starting lineup on opening night against St. Francis University on Nov. 9, Cardoza said. Holmes transferred from Norfolk State University, where she averaged 12.6 points per game. Thomas started her collegiate career at High Point University, but quickly transferred to Florida International University in 2020-21 because High Point wasn’t the right fit, she said. In her last season at Florida International, Thomas averaged 17.5 points per game. “I had a good season there, but it was
just time for something new,” Thomas said. Thomas chose Temple because she wanted to work with the coaching staff and enjoyed the city location. Despite transferring to two schools before Temple, Thomas always had North Broad in the back of her mind as a place to play, she added. Supplemental scoring isn’t the only thing Thomas hopes to add to the Owls this season. She is also bringing her experience and maturity to a young team, Thomas said. “I bring a lot of energy,” she added. “I’m always working hard, and I think that rubs off on other girls.” Cardoza believes Thomas and Holmes will contribute with their ability to finish around the rim and use their aggressive force to get to the basket, she said. However, the Owls will also look to their younger players for depth on the bench this year. Wood and East will also play a key role in the team rotation, Cardoza added. Besides blocking shots and grabbing rebounds, as a 6-foot-3-inch forward, Wood is able to drive into the paint and gives Temple a solid post player. With her physicality and frame, Wood could help
take the heavy-scoring burden off Davis and Williamson. She is also using her freshman year to learn as much as she can about Temple’s team culture while she adjusts to the differences between highschool and college basketball. East, on the other hand, is one of the newcomers who hopes to fill minutes at the guard position. She was the 65th ranked player in her recruiting class, according to ESPN. During her junior year at Butler Traditional High School in Louisville, Kentucky, East averaged 14 points and six rebounds per game, and helped lead her team to win the district championship. East described her skillset as a guard who likes to score at all three levels: driving to the basket, the midrange and shooting threes, she said. This will be a helpful addition for the Owls, given Clinton was usually the only go-to guard who could, effectively, be a focal point in the offense last year. “I had seen the players from last year, and thought I can really work with this team,” East said. joshua.grieb@temple.edu @JGrieb10
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CARDOZA’S CLIMB Temple University women’s basketball head coach Tonya Cardoza has helped elevate the program to a nationally-recognized level. BY SAMUEL O’NEAL Co-Women’s Basketball Beat Reporter
NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Tonya Cardoza, head coach of Temple women’s basketball, looks toward the court as the team practices at McGonigle Hall on Nov. 4.
When Temple University women’s basketball coach Tonya Cardoza entered McGonigle Hall in 2008, she wanted to create a fast-moving and high-tempo team on the court. Following an 11-11 overall record in the 2020-21 season, Cardoza believes the team is back to being a conference contender, she said. “Last year we knew we wanted to play just to get the experience,” Cardoza added. “We knew that we were not in position to do a lot because we didn’t have depth. But this year we are very excited because we know we have more pieces.” Cardoza, now entering her fourteenth season as the Owls’ head coach, has elevated the Owls’ program into a conference contender and plans on leading the team back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017 this season, she said. She has racked up 238 wins with the Owls, the most in program history. “It is a true testament to the type of person that she is, not only as a coach but as a person,” said assistant coach Willnett Crockett. “She knows what it takes to win and knows what it takes to motivate her players.” Cardoza brings an aggressive
coaching style that focuses on creating turnovers on defense and limiting them on offense. She coached Temple’s all-time leader in steals and assists, Alliya Butts, who averaged two steals per game during her senior season in 201819. “[Cardoza] holds us to a very high standard,” said junior forward Alexa Williamson. “She expects a lot out of us, and she is hard on us, but we all know that it is from a place of love and she wants the best for everyone.” In her first three seasons at Temple, Cardoza led the Owls to the NCAA tournament and in each of her first four seasons, she won more than 20 games. Part of her success can be credited to her ability to unite a team, Crockett said. “She does a really good job at getting everyone on the same page,” Crockett said. “Everyone buys into what she says and what her goals are.” After the 2012-13 season, the Owls made the jump from the Atlantic 10 conference to the American Athletic Conference, where Temple faced tougher opponents. The Owls quickly adjusted to the higher level of play and in just their second season in the AAC, Cardoza led the
Owls all the way to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament final four and to the NCAA tournament just two years later. She also received the AAC coach of the year award in 2017. Cardoza created a more aggressive defensive style to keep up with high-tempo offenses in the AAC. The Owls had more steals and less turnovers in their first season after leaving the A-10 conference. Temple hired Cardoza following the departure of longtime coach Dawn Staley, who left Temple to take a job at the University of South Carolina. Before coming to Temple, Cardoza was an assistant coach at the University of Connecticut who focused on working with guards and helped develop many high-profile players, like Sue Bird, Renee Montgomery and Diana Taurasi, who went on to have successful careers in the WNBA. Cardoza spent her collegiate career at the University of Virginia as a guard, where she holds several records including fifth place in career blocks, eighth place in career field goal percentage and tenth place in career points. After her collegiate career, Cardoza had a brief stint playing professionally in Segovia, Spain, for a year, before tak-
ing a job as an assistant coach at UConn under legendary college basketball coach Geno Auriemma. Since arriving at Temple, Cardoza has earned plenty of personal honors as well. She was named the Philadelphia City Big 5 coach of the year for three consecutive years from 2009 to 2011. She was also named the A-10 conference coach of the year in 2011 after she led the Owls to a 24-9 record in the 2010-11 season. “Sometimes we go through stuff as a team and whatever happens [Cardoza] does not let it affect her,” Williamson said. “She is always positive and ready to teach us the correct ways to do things so I think everyone is very excited about what we can do this year.” The Owls will open their season on Nov. 9 against Saint Francis University at 7 p.m. in McGonigle Hall. sam.oneal@temple.edu @samueloneal43
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