THE TEMPLE NEWS
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019
EYES
TO THE
FALL
As registration for the Fall 2021 semester begins, most classes are slated to be held in person. Some students are apprehensive, while others are looking forward to being on campus. Read more on Page 16.
WHAT’S INSIDE NEWS, PAGE 3
Voter turnout for Temple Student Government elections is the lowest it has been in 18 years.
INTERSECTION, PAGE 22
Black students and faculty discuss the effects of seeing images of police brutality shared frequently on social media.
VOL 99.5 // ISSUE 13 APRIL 13, 2021
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
The Temple News
PAGE 2
THE TEMPLE NEWS A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.
Madison Karas Editor-in-Chief Bibiana Correa Managing Editor Colin Evans Digital Managing Editor Tyler Perez Chief Copy Editor Valerie Dowret Assignments Editor Jack Danz News Editor Victoria Ayala Asst. News Editor Amelia Winger Asst. News Editor Christina Mitchell Opinion Editor Magdalena Becker Essay Editor Emma Padner Features Editor Natalie Kerr Asst. Features Editor Lawrence Ukenye Asst. Features Editor Dante Collinelli Sports Editor Isabella DiAmore Asst. Sports Editor Adam Aaronson Asst. Sports Editor Haajrah Gilani Co-Intersection Editor Eden MacDougall Co-Intersection Editor Fallon Roth Staff Writer Maggie Fitzgerald Audience Engagement Editor Iris Wexler Asst. Engagement Editor Colleen Claggett Photography Editor Allie Ippolito Asst. Photography Editor Erik Coombs Multimedia Editor Matthew Murray Asst. Multimedia Editor Ingrid Slater Design Editor Hanna Lipski Asst. Design Editor Tyra Brown Alternative Story Format Editor Maryam Siddiqui Web Editor Carly Civello Advertising Manager Kaila Morris Advertising Manager Luke Smith Business Manager
Follow us @TheTempleNews
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-in-Chief, 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
Max Greenberg, a freshman biology major, stands outside of 1300 Residence Hall on April 12.
COLLEEN CLAGGETT / THE TEMPLE NEWS
Contacts Visit us online at temple-news.com News Desk 215.204.7419 Email section staff news@temple-news.com letters@temple-news.com features@temple-news.com intersection@temple-news.com sports@temple-news.com The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122
CORRECTIONS On March 30, an article on pages 12 and 13 titled “How Malcolm Kenyatta honed his voice at Temple” inaccurately stated how many of Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon’s classes Kenyatta took. He took two classes with her. The article also attributed an inaccurate report that Kenyatta started a foundation. It was an idea of his, but he never created it. 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 Madison Karas at editor@temple-news.com.
The Temple News
NEWS
PAGE 3
TSG
Student government voter turnout at record low Only 139 total votes were cast for the executive campaign for the 2021-22 academic year. BY FALLON ROTH Staff Writer
S
tudent voter turnout in Temple Student Government elections has fluctuated within the past 18 years, with students casting 4,505 total executive votes in 2018, 2,755 in 2019, 280 in 2020 and 139 in 2021, according to TSG data. Both the 2020 and 2021 TSG executive campaigns ran unopposed and during the COVID-19 pandemic. RenewTU, the sole executive branch campaign, won their race this year with a total of 139 votes, the lowest number of total executive votes in a span of 18 years, according to TSG data. The highest number of total executive votes in this time span, 5,198, occurred in the 2017 election. Total executive votes refers to the number of votes received by any executive teams during that year. After reaching its peak in 2017, student voter turnout in TSG elections largely decreased, according to TSG data. John Haldeman, TSG elections commissioner and a senior global studies major, believes the COVID-19 pandemic, remote learning and a lack of competition in this year’s and last year’s election decreased student voter turnout, he wrote in an email to The Temple News. “We did have a competitive Parliament race for the freshman seat in November that saw much higher turnout than the races that just occurred,” Haldeman wrote. “Overall, I think the past two years will look like outliers in the future, primarily due to [COVID-19] and this lack of competition.” Votes for Parliament candidates have also decreased significantly since 2018, with 3,556 votes cast for Parliament candidates in 2018, 2,331 in 2019, 252 in 2020 and 141 in 2021, according to TSG data. The Temple News examined possible reasons for this year’s low student voter turnout and the downward trend
of student voter turnout in TSG elections. VOTER ENGAGEMENT This year, the TSG elections committee reached out to students by hosting town halls and promoting the election on social media, Haldeman wrote. RenewTU fielded questions from students at two town halls on March 25 and April 5 about their campaign proposals, The Temple News reported. Students used TSG’s online voting platform to vote this year for the executive campaign and Parliament candidates from April 6 to April 8, The Temple News reported. Sainabou Jallow, a freshman economics major, didn’t vote in this year’s TSG election because she was not aware of the election. Jallow believes TSG should continue to use social media but also reach out to Temple-related social media pages to increase student outreach. It will be easier for TSG to reach out to the student body once more students return to campus, she said. “I had no idea about it, even though, like, I do follow the social media page,” Jallow said. Student Body President-elect Bradley Smutek, a junior history major, will be inaugurated on April 26 alongside Vice President-elect Samantha Quinlan, a sophomore media studies and production major, and Parliament candidates, The Temple News reported. Collaborating with student organizations and advertising elections on social media could help increase student engagement with TSG elections, Smutek wrote in an email to The Temple News. COMPETITION For the second year in a row, TSG’s executive campaigns and Parliament candidates have run unopposed. This year, RenewTU’s opponents, FireOwlsTU, dropped out of the race and endorsed RenewTU after two days of campaigning. Last year, BloomTU’s opponents, ListenTU, dropped out of the race after they alleged ethical violations against BloomTU, the current
ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS RenewTU, the sole executive branch campaign, won their race this year with a total of 139 votes, the lowest number of total executive votes in a span of 18 years.
TSG administration, The Temple News reported. Five unopposed candidates ran for seats in this year’s Parliament election and six unopposed candidates ran for seats in last year’s Parliament election, The Temple News reported. Haajrah Gilani, a sophomore journalism major and speaker of Parliament, believes that there is a lack of Parliament candidates because many students do not know there are Parliament elections or prefer to be appointed to a seat by the speaker instead of running in an election, she said. The speaker can appoint students to fill seats in Parliament, but Parliament leadership might get rid of the appointment process and instead make Parliament candidates run in a special election with freshman representatives that take place in the fall, Gilani said. A majority of current Parliament members have been appointed, Gilani wrote in an email to The Temple News. COVID-19 The 2020 and 2021 TSG elections, which had the lowest number of total executive votes in the last 18 years, both took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Larice Mejia, a senior human resource management major and former
vice president of external affairs for the current TSG administration, thinks voting in the 2020 TSG election was a low priority for students as they adjusted to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. “If I wasn’t running and if I didn’t feel passionate about it at that time, I probably wouldn’t have been thinking about it either,” she added. Jallow feels that the Class of 2024 freshmen are put at a disadvantage in learning about TSG because they are new to Temple and experienced campus, clubs, organizations in a remote setting, she said. “I have been trying to like, branch out and see different things with Temple, but then again with COVID it’s not that easy considering to do everything online,” Jallow added. Editor’s note: Samantha Quinlan is a freelance reporter at The Temple News. She played no role in the writing or editing of this story. Haajrah Gilani is an Intersection Editor at The Temple News. She played no role in the writing or editing of this story. fallon.roth@temple.edu @fallonroth_
NEWS
PAGE 4
The Temple News
COMMUNITY
Wagner Institute opens with new prices, protocol The institute’s second floor museum is open to the public, but not the restrooms or gift shop. BY JACK DANZ News Editor The Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia, on Montgomery Avenue near 17th Street, reopened on April 3 after it closed more than a year ago because of COVID-19 restrictions. The Wagner Institute will be open every Wednesday from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. and select weekend days, including April 18, May 1 and May 15 from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., through the end of May, said Aaron Lawson, the Wagner Institute’s museum educator and a 2012 Temple University geology alumnus. The Wagner Institute is a natural history museum with more than 100,000 specimens on display, according to the museum’s website. John McArthur, the architect who designed City Hall, designed the Wagner Institute’s building, which was completed in 1865. The museum has offered free adult science education programs for more than 160 years, making it the oldest program of its kind in the United States, according to the museum’s website. The Wagner Institute first closed on March 16, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Susan Glassman, director of the institute. The Wagner Institute’s second floor, which holds many of its specimens, is open to the public, but the restrooms and gift shop are closed to the public, said Holly Clark, director of children’s education at the Wagner Institute. While other museums, like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, reopened in January, the Wagner Institute waited until April because the city’s cleaning requirements for disinfecting businesses for COVID-19 are challenging for historic buildings, Glassman said. “We have all this historic woodwork, we can’t use certain kinds of harsh cleaning agents on them,” Glassman said. The Wagner Institute is not open for multiple days in a row because it
JACK DANZ / THE TEMPLE NEWS The Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia is located on Montgomery Avenue near Bouvier Street and reopened on April 3.
would require the use of harsh cleaning agents, Glassman added. Philadelphia requires businesses open to the public to clean all regularly touched surfaces and disinfect the building using a disinfectant registered with the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the city’s guidelines. While the Wagner Institute is usually free with recommended donations, it now costs $5 for students, children and members to enter and $10 for the general public. The museum is limiting visitor time to 90 minutes and 50 visitors at a time, Glassman said. The Wagner Institute encourages visitors to register for access online at Eventbrite because it allows the museum to manage visitor capacity better, but it will still allow walk-in visitors as well, Glassman added. Fewer people have visited the Wagner Institute since it reopened, but Glassman expects more visitors as word spreads about its reopening, she said. “Numbers will increase as people
know that we’ve reopened and also as people get, hopefully, eventually, more comfortable with coming back into public spaces,” Glassman added. The Wagner Institute has five employees who rotate between working in person at the museum and online with virtual field trips and lectures, Clark said. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wagner Institute began offering virtual programming, like museum tours, public lectures and virtual field trips, on Zoom, Glassman said. The Wagner Institute used Zoom to continue its science programming with local schools and schools in the Greater Philadelphia area, Lawson said. “It’s definitely been a great substitute,” Lawson said. “It’s been something that is more engaging than even I especially ever thought. That was something that I was super nervous about.” In the past, Temple students took field trips to the Wagner Institute for intellectual heritage classes studying Charles Darwin and Tyler School of
Art and Architecture students sketching specimens, Clark said. On April 18, the Wagner Institute will participate in Reopen House Day, a citywide event for Philadelphia’s National Historic Landmarks, which the museum is a part of, Glassman said. The Wagner Institute will host in-person activities, like an exhibit about the construction of the museum’s building and a virtual Zoom talk between Glassman and Kathy Haas, director of historical resources at Girard College, about the history and connection between the Wagner Institute and Girard College on April 18, Glassman said. The Wagner Institute’s days and hours of operation are set through May, but they could change for the summer and fall, Clark said. “If we get closer to herd immunity, we will reevaluate for the summer,” Clark said. john.danz@temple.edu @JackLDanz
The Temple News
NEWS
PAGE 5
FACULTY
Judge dismisses physics professor’s FBI lawsuit A district judge alleged FBI agents violated Xiaoxing Xi’s constitutional rights in 2015. BY AMELIA WINGER Assistant News Editor Lawyers for Xiaoxing Xi, a Temple University physics professor, are discussing plans to appeal a federal court’s March 31 decision to dismiss a majority of his legal claims against United States government officials who accused him of sharing sensitive technology plans with China in 2015, said Jonathan Feinberg, an attorney for Xi. U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick dismissed nine of the 10 counts in Xi’s lawsuit, and the final count, which regards FBI agents allegedly surveilling Xi’s communications without a warrant, will be dealt with in a separate decision, according to an April 2 press release from the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Xi. Xi, the Laura H. Carnell professor of physics, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 10, 2017. In his complaint, Xi alleged agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation violated his rights by subjecting him to racial and ethnic profiling and unlawful searches and seizures. “Professor Xi’s case involved egregious and wrongful discrimination, culminating in a baseless prosecution,” wrote Ashley Gorski, a senior ACLU attorney who represented Xi, in the press release. “His case is not an isolated one, and is in fact emblematic of the FBI’s targeting of Chinese American scientists across many years. We’re disappointed with the court’s decision.” The FBI’s investigation into Xi occurred within 10 months of two other espionage-related prosecutions of Chinese American scientists, with the government’s charges against the scientists being dismissed before trial in both cases. The other two cases involved Sherry Chen, a National Weather Service hydrologist from Ohio, and Guoqing Cao and Shuyu Li, senior biologists at Eli Lilly and Company, and were filed in
JEREMY ELVAS / FILE Xiaoxing Xi, a professor of physics, teaches an introductory physics class in Wachman Hall on Oct. 31, 2019.
March 2015 and December 2014, respectively, according to the ACLU. “I knew that there were Chinese people before me who were arrested for things, but I never imagined it would happen to me,” Xi said. “I feel an obligation to tell people about what happened to me because when I opened my door and saw all these armed agents outside of my house, I couldn’t believe it.” Xi received the American Physical Society’s Andrei Sakharov Prize, a prize usually reserved for exceptional lab work, in 2019 for his efforts advocating for other Chinese American researchers targeted by the government, The Temple News reported. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on the dismissal of the counts.
Xi was charged with four counts of wire fraud in May 2015 after a grand jury found him guilty of sharing the technology of a pocket heater from Superconductor Technologies Inc., an Austin, Texas, superconductivity technology company, with entities in China, according to the lawsuit. One week later, FBI agents allegedly arrived on Xi’s doorstep in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, with a battering ram and forcefully arrested him while holding his wife and two daughters at gunpoint. Xi was then allegedly interrogated and strip-searched while in FBI custody, according to the lawsuit. The charges against Xi were dropped in September 2015 after Xi and his attorneys presented evidence that the information Xi shared with the Chinese
entities was legal, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges FBI agents knew prior to Xi’s arrest that his interactions with the Chinese entities were legal, meaning they “intentionally, knowingly and recklessly” presented federal prosecutors with their misinterpretation of Xi’s communications without verifying the accuracy of their claims. The FBI agents’ actions allegedly were at least partially motivated by the fact that Xi is racially and ethnically Chinese and was a Chinese national prior to becoming a U.S. citizen, according to the lawsuit. Xi allegedly suffered multiple consequences as a result of the FBI’s investigation, including being temporarily suspended from his position as the interim chair of Temple’s physics department until the charges against him were dropped in September 2015 and losing access to his lab and the graduate students working under his supervision, according to the lawsuit. “When I came back, it was like all these things that were so familiar to me four months ago were completely foreign,” Xi said. “It was like everything in my mind was replaced physically, and the only thing in my mind was how to win our case and how to clear my name.” Xi was most excited to see his students upon returning to Temple from his suspension, he said. “The students in my group welcomed me back and I was very moved,” Xi said. “They gave me a bouquet of flowers and we were so happy, but I realized that to change from being just a regular citizen to being challenged under federal prosecution is huge. So to change back to being a normal citizen, that takes a long, long time, and I don’t think it will ever be completely over.” Editor’s note: The article originally appeared online on April 6. It has been updated to include an interview with Xiaoxing Xi. amelia.winger@temple.edu @AmeliaWinger
PAGE 6
NEWS
The Temple News
CORONAVIRUS
Temple emissions fell during pandemic closures An annual report shows reduced emissions and electricity use during the COVID-19 pandemic. BY McKENZIE MORGAN and NATALIE KERR For The Temple News When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Temple University’s Main Campus last spring, it left empty classrooms, clear roadways and an atmosphere benefitting from fewer greenhouse gases. The 2019-20 Sustainability Annual Report, which summarizes Temple’s greenhouse gas emissions and progress made toward the goals in the university’s 2019 Climate Action Plan, shows emissions decreased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic so far. In sum, Temple’s emissions dropped 18 percent in the 2019-20 fiscal year compared to the previous one, a 36 percent reduction from the 2006-07 year, which Temple uses as a baseline, according to the report. Temple’s biggest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 was a 39 percent decrease from commuting, university-financed travel and solid waste, according to the report. Next year’s report will likely find emissions closer to the university’s pre-pandemic levels, as some students returned to campus in the 2020-2021 school year, said Rebecca Collins, director of sustainability. Temple closed Main Campus in March 2020 due to safety concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, The Temple News reported. The university reopened for a mix of in-person and online classes during the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. Approximately 4,500 students took in-person classes at Temple’s domestic campuses during the fall semester, and approximately 13 percent of spring semester classes are in person, The Temple News reported. But the pandemic allowed Temple to reevaluate the efficiency of its facilities and assess opportunities for improving sustainability, Collins said, an important
COLLEEN CLAGGETT / THE TEMPLE NEWS Temple University’s Office of Sustainability released their annual sustainability report in February.
step as the university works toward carbon neutrality by 2050. “We’ll continue to kind of question or we’ll think about, you know, is this thing that we did sustainable moving forward,” Collins said. Greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, contribute to global warming by trapping heat in the atmosphere and increasing air pollution levels, which can cause respiratory illnesses, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Global carbon dioxide emissions decreased approximately 17 percent in April 2020 as quarantine measures meant people spent more time at home, according to the World Meteorological Association. By June 2020, emissions increased again to be approximately five percent less than pre-pandemic levels. Temple’s Main Campus closed and classes moved to a virtual format on March 16, 2020. The university scaled back building energy use, which accounts for more than 70 percent of
Temple’s greenhouse gas emissions, by reducing indoor temperatures and only using safety lights, Collins said. The university reopened for a limited number of in-person summer classes on June 23, 2020. During the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters, buildings have operated at nearly full capacity to accommodate students taking in-person classes, despite fewer total students and faculty on campus, Collins said. Single-occupancy vehicles parked on campus decreased by 44 percent in 2020, as virtual classes during the pandemic significantly reduced the number of students commuting to campus, according to the report. Collins anticipates next year’s report may show increased natural gas and energy use in buildings as they are fully operating again for in-person classes, but transportation emissions will remain lower because of fewer students commuting, Collins said. Total emissions may be lower than in pre-pandemic
years but higher than the previous fiscal year. “There are some classes that are in person, and even though we don’t have the same number of students, we’re still operating the building to support the students that are here,” Collins said. Decreased emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic are not long-term climate progress, but the pandemic could increase virtual platform use, which would continue to reduce travel-related emissions, said Melissa Gilbert, chair of the geography and urban studies department and director of Temple’s Center for Sustainable Communities. While changes to individual behavior, like driving and traveling less, reduced emissions during the pandemic, it is important to focus on broad structural changes to policy and the economy that will create long-term sustainability, Gilbert added. “We need to come up with, you know, either new technologies or new
NEWS
The Temple News
policies that will allow us to, you know, continue, I think, on the trend, which was before COVID, you know, you could see that Temple had been reducing its carbon emissions over time,” Gilbert said. To reduce emissions from campus buildings, the university is looking to use renewable energy and replace old heating sources with programmable thermostats and less energy-efficient lighting with more efficient options, The Temple News reported. The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact impeded some university initiatives, like investing in renewable energy sources, according to the report. The market prices for solar panels and renewable energy investments are still significantly higher than before the pandemic, Collins said. The university has not changed its goal to develop at
least 100 kilowatts of renewable energy systems by 2022 but will wait until prices fall again to sign a long-term energy contract. Temple met several benchmarks within the past fiscal year, including increasing core recycling, which diverts waste from landfills, by 30 percent by 2020 and increasing the number of students who travel to campus on public transit and bicycles to 75 percent, which they had set to reach by 2025, according to the report. Temple reduced its diversion of waste from landfills by 35 percent, which is lower than their goal of 50 percent reduction, according to the report. As waste decomposes in landfills, it releases greenhouse gases, including large concentrations of methane, which traps heat 28 to 36 times more than carbon dioxide, according to the EPA. Emissions from Temple’s fleet ve-
PAGE 7
hicles have increased four percent since 2006, but 16 percent of fleet vehicles used alternative fuel sources in 2020, progressing toward Temple’s goal to alternatively fuel 50 percent of fleet vehicles by 2030, according to the report. Campus operations report to the Office of Sustainability about waste management, disposal of surplus equipment and purchasing fuel sources for fleet vehicles, to track their environmental impact, said Mark Gottlieb, senior associate director of operations and logistics. “We’re trying to do our part in a small way but in a positive way,” Gottlieb added. “As a university, we should always be leading by example and going for new ideas that will help everybody.” Temple is working to integrate sustainability into campus life by hosting student-oriented initiatives like bike repair clinics and compost collection services and adding 10 new sustainability
courses by 2022, which they surpassed by two courses this past year, according to the report. Gilbert is glad to see sustainability courses offered in other departments, as sustainability challenges require interdisciplinary perspectives to create effective solutions, she said. “We need to be able to educate students and educate policymakers, we need to do research that’s very solutions-oriented and we need to show that large institutions like Temple can play an important role in reducing carbon, or our carbon imprint, and to do our part for the city,” Gilbert said. mckenziemorgan@temple.edu @mckenziesage_ natalie.kerr@temple.edu @natliekerr
Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Temple University Emissions in Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (MTCO2e)
250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0
6
200
7
200
8
200
9
200
0
201
1
201
2
201
3
201
4
201
5
201
6
201
7
201
8
201
9
201
0
202
Fiscal Year DATA VISUALIZATION BY McKENZIE MORGAN AND COLIN EVANS / GRAPHIC BY INGRID SLATER SOURCE: Temple University 2020 Sustainability Annual Report
OPINION
PAGE 8
EDITORIAL
Abolish appointments In Fall 2016, Temple Student Government created Parliament, a 37-seat legislative body, to represent the needs of each class and college at Temple University and those of special interests groups and the student body as a whole, The Temple News reported. Parliament’s job is to pass acts and resolutions that “express the opinions of the student body and improve the functions of Temple Student Government,” according to TSG’s constitution. In its first year, 36 students were elected to serve in Parliament. Since then, interest in campaigning for Parliament has waned, with just five students winning seats in the now 30-seat body this year, compared to six last year. Historically, the body has filled open seats through appointment by its own members. However, this year, Parliament is considering ending the appointment process and holding special elections to fill empty seats alongside its typical freshman representatives election in the fall, The Temple News reported. The Editorial Board endorses abolishing Parliament’s appointment system and compelling all future members to run in publicized elections. As it stands, Parliament’s appointment system has allowed the body to be undemocratic, as it
is governed by a majority of students who were not selected by the student body to lead it. We understand Parliament has made it a priority to fill all of its seats before the start of the academic year. The Editorial Board commends the goal of having diverse, broad representation in the legislative body. However, allowing members to serve on the body by appointment damages the democratic process that is vital to Parliament’s success. Elections and campaigns provide the opportunity for students to pressure their future leaders to advocate for their needs and creates an incentive for candidates to listen. The Editorial Board believes Parliament should prioritize filling its seats democratically. Ultimately, it is the student body’s responsibility to represent themselves, and Parliament should focus its energy on advertising its elections to potential candidates well and recruiting candidates from all backgrounds to campaign before elections in the spring and fall. Democratic elections will help to create a stronger sense of responsibility and accountability in Parliament. As the intended voice of the student body, Parliament should be held to those standards.
The Temple News
Reflect on a year like no other. An essay about your last year on campus? A letter to a faculty mentor who’s helped you through it? We’re looking for submissions from graduating students for The Temple News’ Commencement Issue 2021. Send inquiries to letters@temple-news.com for the April 27 edition.
The Temple News
OPINION
PAGE 9
HEALTH
The end is in sight, but not quite: Wear two masks A student encourages others to double mask to limit COVID-19 transmission during the spring.
RYAN ZAJDEL For The Temple News
Spring is upon us: the sun is shining, the temperature is more than 60 degrees and the groups of students congregating on Beury Beach are back. But along with people coming out of hibernation, COVID-19 is making a
resurgence. Recently, the number of COVID-19 cases in Philadelphia was well above the two-week average, peaking at 701 cases on April 5 for the first time since January. There are currently 125 active cases at Temple University as of April 12, The Temple News reported. In addition, more than one-third of new COVID-19 cases in Philadelphia were caused by variants of COVID-19 as of March 30, Fox 29 reported. As the weather warms up, this does not mean we should let our guard down. Even as Philadelphia moves toward expanding vaccine eligibility to all adults 16 years and older starting April 19, students should double down and double mask this spring. On March 29, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans of another wave of COVID-19 infections after several states retracted their mask mandates and loosened COVID-19 restrictions amid the rising spread of COVID-19 variants, NPR reported. Wearing a second mask can help close any gaps and better fit one’s face, said Abby Rudolph, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor.
COLLEEN CLAGGETT / THE TEMPLE NEWS Dan Fare, a senior film and media arts major, wears two masks while on Main Campus on Feb. 26.
“The importance of mask wearing has been shown to benefit both the mask-wearer and the recipient,” Rudolph said. “A high-quality mask reduces the particles that are expelled and the amount of particles that you inhale.” On Jan. 25, White House advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci recommended Americans wear two masks for maximum protection, CNBC News reported. Largely because it was cold, I was opting to wear two masks in the winter, but little did I know I was protecting myself more than I was by wearing just one.
If an infected person and an uninfected person both wear either a tightly fitted surgical mask or a cloth mask over a disposable mask, transmission rates can be reduced by up to 96.5 percent, the New York Times reported. Dan Fare, a senior film and media arts major, started double masking because he has asthma, which increases his risk of having more severe COVID-19 symptoms, and continues to wear two masks despite being partially vaccinated. “If I’m taking public transport, I usually like to wear two masks,” Fare said.
Zacharia Arsalane, a junior music major, works part time as a supervisor at a coffee shop and wears a mask and a face shield during each shift. Coworkers have had issues with customers refusing to wear masks, he said. “If there’s extra steps I can take to keep people healthy, I should do it. Everybody has got something to lose,” Arsalane said. But essential workers, immunocompromised students or others at greater risk for COVID-19-related complications are not the only ones who should double mask. The CDC recommends everyone wear a two-layered cloth mask or a disposable mask underneath a cloth mask. Wearing a high-quality mask is more important than ever, as the variants can be up to 70 percent more transmissible, AARP reported. College campuses are a petri dish for COVID-19 and its variants, said Matthew Rankin, a media relations assistant with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. “Students can take it upon themselves to remind each other and be that messenger for us in the fight against the spread of COVID-19,” Rankin said. While students are experiencing burnout after living through more than a year of the pandemic, this is not the time to be impatient, Rudolph said. “Wearing an effective mask is crucial to ending this pandemic as soon as possible and returning life back to normal,” Rudolph added. “Morale may be low these days, but as Temple students, we know that perseverance conquers, and that is exactly what we must do to counteract this virus.” ryan.zajdel@temple.edu @RyanZaj6
OPINION
PAGE 10
The Temple News
THE ESSAYIST
Looking forward to an in-person semester
A freshman shares excitement for her first in-person year as she plans her sophomore schedule. BY CAMILLIA BENJAMIN For The Temple News Last fall, I moved on campus just to move back home shortly after. Although I’ve moved back for my spring semester, most of my time was spent in my dorm room, not on campus. With the spring semester coming to a close, I’m focusing my attention on planning my course schedule for the fall. Being a freshman, I envisioned certain things would happen in my first year in college: rushing from class to class, meeting a bunch of people and going out on the weekends in the city. This wasn’t the case, but I’m hopeful that at least some of these things will become a reality next year. When Temple announced that most classes will be in person in the fall, I was ecstatic. I’m excited to rush from building to building, trying to make it in time for my next class. I’m eager to wave at my friends passing by on campus, something I’d dreamt about since last spring. Mapping out what classes I’ll take, where they’ll be and how long I’ll have to get from one end of campus to the other has been exhilarating because it’s the first time I’ve been able to take these factors into consideration. My desk is covered in Post-it notes with course numbers and professors so I’m prepared for my 7 a.m. registration time. I can’t wait to make daily trips to the library or TECH Center for study sessions. Being a food lover, naturally I’m super excited for more food trucks to open back up so I can grab lunch on campus. It’s been difficult for me to excel in online classes, so I think I will perform a lot better once they’re in person. Sitting in an in-person lecture and
ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Crowds of students fill Polett Walk on April 8.
having fewer distractions during class will be easier than having thousands of them in my room. In-person classes will also push me to get ready in the mornings. With online classes, I could stay in bed all day and take classes right next to my bed, which tempted me to take way too many naps throughout the day. Not only am I preparing my first in-person academic schedule, I’m also planning my extracurricular activities. I used this first academic year to get involved in as many clubs as I could. Now, I have to map that schedule out so it doesn’t interfere with my classes because I can’t do both at the same time from my computer.
Although I’m nervous because I’m not sure if I can juggle my extracurricular activities with my classes, I’m excited to finally see some of my peers face to face. I’ve set my expectations pretty high for next semester, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up to an unrealistic level. Don’t get me wrong: despite COVID-19, my first year at Temple was filled with great memories. From rediscovering my passion for writing by joining REFINE Magazine and The Temple News to befriending my roommates and peers in my clubs, I had an unforgettable freshman year. But I want to see what the inside of a campus building or a crowded Polett
Walk looks like this fall. I’m ready to see Beury Beach filled with people — in their circles of course — when the weather gets nice. I’m ready to see people studying in the library or doing homework outside of Founders Garden, and I’m ready to have to push myself past others on my way to class. As I’m preparing to register for next semester, I feel like a small child buying new supplies for the first day of school, and I can confidently say I haven’t been so enthusiastic about school in a long time. camillia.benjamin@temple.edu
The Temple News
OPINION
PAGE 11
THE ESSAYIST
Feeling unsure about facing a classroom again
A freshman shares how in-person learning exacerbated her anxiety prior to the pandemic. BY ALLISON NIKLES For The Temple News I haven’t seen the inside of a classroom since January 2020. Every time I entered a classroom, I felt the gaze of 20 other sets of eyes staring back at me. My legs would shake and my heartbeat would accelerate. I was having panic attacks daily. I physically couldn’t bear the idea of sitting in a quiet classroom and keeping my body still. I constantly feared the public humiliation of a panic attack. The power of my social anxiety enticed me to switch to online school two months before the pandemic. I knew I couldn’t spend one more second inside my worst nightmare, so I made the change as soon as possible. It felt so much easier to be at home with my dad, who worked from home long before the pandemic. My daily panic attacks at school caused me to miss a lot of class time, so I was finally able to catch up in the comfort of my home. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced my school to shut down and my peers to adjust to online learning, I was already ahead of the game. Although I felt bad for my classmates, knowing I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t physically enter a classroom was reassuring, even if it was for different reasons. In September 2020, Temple University announced most classes, including mine, would be online. I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or worried. Without being in the classroom, I wouldn’t be able to face my fears. I was still on campus, though, and spent a lot of my time in Charles Library and the Howard Gittis Student Center. Easily enough, I was able to sit quietly and get my work done despite the other students surrounding me. Maybe I was better at controlling my
ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS A classroom in Anderson Hall is empty on Sept. 17, 2020.
anxiety, or maybe it was just my medication that held me together. Either way, I was getting out of my comfort zone. Still, I’d become accustomed to online classes, and I assumed I would be remote my sophomore year too. When I heard quite the opposite, I was slightly fearful. I wasn’t sure how I would handle being in a classroom again. In the past week, I’ve spent a lot of my time planning my fall schedule, as I’m supposed to register on April 22. Many of my classes don’t have an online option, so I’ll have no choice but to be in person. Every time I try to plan my schedule, I remember running out of the classroom to hide in the bathroom and asking my parents to sign me out of school on a daily basis.
I tell my family that I’m excited to see the inside of a classroom again to appease them, but I still worry every day. What if I have an anxiety attack and there’s no way to escape? I know I have several months to prepare, but it’s hard to forget what I went through. During my last therapy session, my therapist told me to say my negative expectations for next year out loud. That way, I would be ready for any uncomfortable situation in the classroom. I imagined multiple scenarios of me having a panic attack during class and talked through them with her. It was difficult for me to think negatively because I had been trying to push those thoughts aside, but it was comforting to find strategies.
I plan to keep fidgets or stress balls on me so I can stay concentrated when I’m feeling anxious in a social setting, as well as reach out to my friends and make deeper connections with students in the classroom. I don’t expect myself to be completely anxiety-free in the fall, but I hope that I can enjoy being in the classroom and meeting new people again. I hope to find classmates to keep me company so I don’t have to be alone. Most importantly, I hope that I can grow into the anxiety-free person I’ve been longing to become. My anxiety won’t be easy to overcome, but in-person learning may be the change in my routine I need to recover. allison.nikles@temple.edu
PAGE 12
ATHLETICS
LONGFORM
The Temple News
COLLEEN CLAGGETT / THE TEMPLE NEWS Players warm up before the start of the game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology at the Liacouras Center on Dec. 19, 2020.
Students, faculty discuss return of in-person athletics Fan attendance at Temple athletic events remains complicated, despite loosened guidelines. BY ASA CADWALLADER Longform Editor
F
or Matt Bevan, Temple University football games are much more than a run-of-themill sports spectator experience. “It’s hard to put in words, but the stadium environment on game day is pretty electrifying,” said Bevan, a 2018 journalism alumnus. “Seeing all the student participation, not only from fans but athletes, cheerleaders and the marching band, makes you more invested in Temple, and for me at least made me want to become more involved in all things Temple-related.” During the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has made in-person attendance at Temple athletic events nearly nonexistent for students and alumni, from Temple’s die-hard Owl fans to incoming freshmen who have yet to attend a game. The process of getting fans back in
the stands at Temple athletic events has been gradual and contingent on current social gathering guidelines set by the state. On March 10, Temple Athletics announced they would allow minimal attendance at outdoor athletic events, allotting a limited number of tickets to Temple athletes and coaches, The Temple News reported. Shortly after on March 15, restrictions were further loosened when Gov. Tom Wolf revised social distancing guidelines beginning April 4, which increased indoor event capacities from 15 to 25 percent and increased outdoor event capacities from 20 to 50 percent maximum occupancy, The Temple News reported. While the recent news of loosening restrictions bodes well for the gradual return of in-person attendance at future Temple athletic events, the last year of empty stadiums and dwindling fan engagement has affected the university on several levels, ranging from changes to the student experience to new facility management practices. Lee Roberts, senior associate athletic
director for facilities and event management, said despite revised social distancing guidelines and an increasing number of people getting vaccinated, the return of a pre-pandemic stadium experience, without masks and social distancing, is still a long way off. “Even with loosening restrictions, we’re still far from business as usual when it comes to in-person fan attendance, and we’re expecting that to continue into the fall of 2021, depending on the announcement of new guidelines of course,” Roberts said. Prior to the pandemic, Howarth Field, Temple’s outdoor stadium venue, reached capacity at 500 people. But adhering to new state guidelines, which require six feet of distance between fans, the stadium can currently only accommodate 98 attendees. Among Temple students and alumni, in-person athletic events serve as both an important social outlet and a way to cultivate a sense of community and pride in the university. Yet despite the large presence of college sports on most college campuses across the coun-
try, in 2019, nationwide attendance at college football games hit a 24-year low, CBS News reported. Acknowledging the nationwide decline in attendance at college athletic events, Temple Athletics has implemented marketing strategies intended to increase student participation in Temple sports in recent years, from pushing hashtags like #FilltheLinc to starting Cherry on Friday, where students are encouraged to wear university colors, The Temple News reported. As the United States reaches a new stage in the COVID-19 pandemic and stadiums and event venues reopen, the fate of in-person attendance at Temple athletic events remains uncertain. Some students, however, like Olivia-Anne Eisner, remain hesitant to attend Temple football games this coming fall. “It’s definitely going to take some time for me to warm up to the idea of being in a large crowd, even after vaccinations are done and things are like, safe,” said Eisner, a sophomore media studies and production major. “Right now, just
The Temple News
the idea of being in a packed stadium gives me anxiety, and I think it’s going to take a while for that to fade.” AN INDUSTRY-WIDE SHIFT Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Christine Cleaver, a tourism and hospitality management professor, has closely monitored changes to the in-person event industry and how its adapted throughout the pandemic. “The in-person event industry as we knew it has been flipped upside down, which has been extremely damaging but has also forced us to change and adapt in some really unique ways,” Cleaver said. “The shift to virtual event hosting platforms has been the largest of those adaptations.” A July 2020 report from financial analyst Trends Exchange forecasted that the virtual events industry would grow from $78 billion to $774 billion by 2030. But for student organizations like the Cherry Crusade, whose mission is to bolster school spirit through student attendance at Temple athletic events, hosting events virtually has limited efficacy, said Matthew Box, a sophomore business management major and treasurer of the Cherry Crusade. “From the beginning, the strategy of our organization has been to be there in the stands bringing the most energy and enthusiasm as we can in supporting our athletic teams when they compete,” Box said. “While I think it’s great that virtual events are becoming more popular, I don’t think it’s an effective substitute for what we are trying to do.” A successful return to in-person attendance at Temple athletic events will rely on students’ trust in the overall safety of the experience, Cleaver said. Current social gathering guidelines from the City of Philadelphia recommend the continued use of masks at all times and limit indoor event venues to 15 percent maximum occupancy and outdoor venues to 20 percent maximum occupancy. “While virtual events are rarely anyone’s first choice, what they have been able to do is guarantee the absolute safety of those who participate,” Cleaver said. “No matter how desperate people are to experience in-person events after a year in lockdown, if the risks continue to outweigh the benefits, it won’t become a reality.” New strategies to increase safety at
LONGFORM in-person events are becoming more common, like the use of color-coded wristbands to communicate an attendee’s comfort with being approached or conversing with others during in-person functions, Cleaver said. Yet, students like Pat Gallagher expressed little interest in the possibility of attending a Temple athletic event held virtually. “After a year of online classes, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer screen,” said Gallagher, a sophomore business management major. “I’m used to watching professional basketball and football on TV, but when it comes to Temple games, there’s a pretty low chance I would engage if it wasn’t happening in person.” FACILITY MANAGEMENT Roberts oversees the maintenance and upkeep of Temple’s athletic venues and facilities, manages the game operations of all athletic events, and has helped organize multiple conferences and national championships. In Roberts’ 36 years at Temple, the last year of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the most logistically complicated because of changing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and new facility procedures aimed at maintaining cleanliness, he said. “Beyond all the changes to our facility management practices, the really complicated aspect of the past year has been trying to maintain that bubble, as it’s described, around our student-athletes to prevent their possible exposure to the virus,” Roberts said. Temple’s athletic teams faced a tumultuous past year due to complications related to COVID-19, with positive tests from student-athletes leading to multiple game postponements and cancelations, The Temple News reported. In the absence of fan attendance at Temple athletic events, facilities management staff took measures to bring some sense of normalcy to their competition venues, Roberts said. “I know firsthand that for athletes, the presence of fans and also friends and family in the stands makes a big difference,” Roberts said. “We put cut-outs in stadium seats and kept the usual in-game music and announcing over the stadium speakers.” In managing Temple’s athletic facilities throughout the COVID-19 pan-
PAGE 13
COLLEEN CLAGGETT / THE TEMPLE NEWS Members of the Cherry Crusade cheer during the Temple football game against Bucknell University on Aug. 31, 2019.
demic, constantly cleaning surfaces with different chemical disinfectants is an everyday priority, Roberts said. “Let’s just say, over the past year, I’ve learned more about chemicals than I would have ever liked to,” Roberts said. “We have a disinfectant chemical for our basketballs, our footballs, even our gymnastics equipment.” An April 5 report from the CDC reported that the risk of contracting COVID-19 through contact with surfaces is considered low. Sufficient ventilation remains one of the most important safety measures in bringing fans back into Temple’s athletic venues, Roberts said. “As we’ve learned, airflow is a really important factor in mitigating the spread of the virus,” he added. “This is going to make fan attendance at our outdoor venues much more feasible than for our indoor sports.” As of March 26, Roberts said Temple’s Fall 2021 football games are still expected to take place at Lincoln Financial Field, the stadium venue of the Philadelphia Eagles, where Temple’s football team has hosted home games since 2003. STUDENTS LOOK TO FALL Before the pandemic, Temple sporting events were an important social outlet and a source of school pride and identity, said Courtney Green, a sophomore undeclared major. “My dad is an alum and a huge Owls fan, so before coming to Temple, one of the things I was most excited about was
going to games,” Green said. “The social aspect was a big appeal to me, for sure, but so was the opportunity to show my school pride and be a part of something bigger.” Eisner’s first Temple football games were a formative part of her freshman year experience, and she sympathizes with first-year students who were deprived of football and other sporting events due to the pandemic. “I’m not even that into sports, but piling up into those buses, tailgating and watching the games allowed me to meet so many people I wouldn’t have otherwise,” Eisner said. In the past, Box said that the Cherry Crusade’s energetic presence in the stands of Temple athletic events has been one of their most effective methods in recruiting other students to the organization. Members of the Cherry Crusade are eager to get back in the stands next fall, regardless of required social distancing measures and other safety protocols, Box said. “Obviously, the safety of our members is the most important thing,” he added. “But we really can’t wait to support the Temple football team, whether we’re six feet apart or not. The pandemic has been really tough on us, no denying that, but we have a mentality that win or lose, rain or shine, pandemic or not, we’re gonna do our best to show up for Temple sports.” asa.cadwallader@temple.edu @asacadwallader
LIVE Philly in
JAZZ
JAMS in the
PARK
BY ALLIE IPPOLITO Assistant Photo Editor
ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Ella Gahnt, a Philadelphia jazz vocalist, sings at the Inter-generational Jazz Jam at the Horticulture Center on April 10.
An Inter-generational Jazz Jam pliance with the city’s health department want, but it’s not as fulfilling as working fantastic. I mean it’s the first time we’ve with other musicians,” Ducoste said. been out in about five months now.” celebrated Jazz Appreciation and COVID-19 guidelines. “Artists have been impacted a lot Jazz is a critical part of American Heather Blakeslee, executive direcMonth at the Horticulture Center.
O
n Saturday, the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy hosted an Inter-generational Jazz Jam outside the Horticulture Center in Fairmount Park for Jazz Appreciation Month. The event partnered with Jazz Philadelphia, an advocacy organization that supports emerging musicians, and the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation’s Parks on Tap, a traveling pop-up beer garden. This event was one of seven performances this month as part of Philly Celebrates Jazz, the city’s celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month, said Carrie Leibrand, community engagement manager at the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. Last year’s Jazz Appreciation Month events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Leibrand was glad to organize this year’s event in com-
with COVID,” Leibrand said. “So it was really important for our office and the city to be able to basically just pay musicians to come out and host live performances.” For an hour and a half, 10 Philadelphia jazz musicians, from college-age to those who have been in the city’s music scene for decades, treated the dozens of listeners to a trio of trumpeteers, singers and drum solos. The audience of all ages swayed to the music. Mike Boone, a jazz studies professor and bass player, curated a group of musicians of all ages for the performance. “It’s hopefully what you would see at a normal pre-COVID jam session with a lot of young and older players who came together to play some tunes,” Boone said. Mollie Ducoste, a violinist and fourth-year criminal justice doctoral student, was elated to play live music again. “I can play by myself as much as I
history and culture, which is adventurous and steeped in the cultural traditions of Black Americans, said Gerald Veasley, president of Jazz Philadelphia. Philadelphia is one of the central places where jazz was created, he added. “We’re here to support the next generation of artists, who are wonderfully inventive, who are creative, who are passionate or dedicated,” Veasley said. “So that’s why we’re here because we love what these young people and the older musicians have to offer.” Nadina Patterson, 72, a freelance artist from Southwest Philadelphia, attended the performance. A self-proclaimed jazz connoisseur, Patterson’s listened to jazz her whole life. “It’s communication, it’s a language on its own, and I think that jazz has a relationship with everything,” Patterson said. “Jazz is comfortable. It’s soothing. It’s exciting sometimes. They’re doing
tor at Jazz Philadelphia, hopes that by showcasing local jazz musicians, Philadelphians will grow to understand the wealth of talent in the city so much that they will recognize them by name. “We know all of our sports teams, we know the quarterbacks, the Eagles, but we don’t know who our jazz players are. That’s another huge part of who we are as a city,” Blakeslee said. “The whole point is to make sure that people know that Philadelphia is a world-class jazz city and that we’re here, that we have an incredible history in the city of amazing musicians, who are really kind of part of the fabric of our city and of our arts and culture, community, and we just want there to be as much jazz as possible.” allison.ippolito@temple.edu @allieippolito
MOVING CLOCKWISE FROM THE TOP A crowd of people watch the Inter-generational Jazz Jam at the Horticulture Center on April 10. Mike Boone, a jazz studies professor and bass player, plays at the Inter-generational Jazz Jam. Nadina Patterson (right) records the jazz performance on her phone. Mollie Ducoste, a violinist and fourth-year criminal justice doctoral student, plays at the Inter-generational Jazz Jam.
PAGE 16
FEATURES
The Temple News
ON CAMPUS
Students register for primarily in-person classes The Fall 2021 semester is the first semester with most classes in person since Spring 2020. BY NATALIE KERR Assistant Features Editor
T
his year taught Ryan Fick online classes aren’t for him. As he registered for fall semester classes, he had one goal: get as many in-person classes as possible. “I have like, zero motivation in online school,” said Fick, a freshman risk management and insurance major. “It’s hard to talk to people when it’s like a blank screen.” Temple University students began registering for Fall 2021 classes yesterday during priority registration and had a larger selection of in-person classes. Temple plans to hold most Fall 2020 classes in person, The Temple News reported. Many students are ready to return to the classroom but are unsure which of their classes will be in person and how they’ll stay safe in group settings. Temple will limit the number of classrooms available for in-person classes in the fall and will hold some classes, like large lectures, online, The Temple News reported. Approximately three-quarters of classes will be in person or a hybrid of in person and online, and the remainder will be entirely online, wrote Raymond Betzner, a spokesperson for the university, in an email to The Temple News. Fick registered for five in-person classes and one online asynchronous class, and is excited to socialize with his peers during class next semester. Temple operated most classes online during the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. During the Spring 2021 semester, the university expanded COVID-19 testing to two tests per week for students with in-person classes and one test per week for staff and faculty coming to campus but do not have in-person classes. Grace Goldberg, a freshman nursing major, is excited that two of her five class-
COLLEEN CLAGGETT / THE TEMPLE NEWS Ryan Fick, a freshman risk management and insurance major, stands outside of 1300 Residence Hall on April 12.
es are in person next semester, as she finds it hard to pay attention and ask questions during her online classes, she said. The format of her classes could change, which complicates planning her schedule, Goldberg said. The fall semester is subject to change as city health requirements change and student course needs evolve, Betzner wrote. “I would rather like, know, but I understand that it’s hard to know, and at least I have some that are guaranteed in person, and that’s more than I have now,” Goldberg added. Indoor gatherings in Philadelphia are currently limited to 25 percent of the venue’s maximum occupancy, according to the City of Philadelphia’s website. Temple is limiting
the number of students in classrooms and has a six-foot distancing requirement between students, according to the university’s COVID-19 information website. Selena Williams-Earley, a junior social work major, wants to continue taking all online classes next semester because she needs the flexibility for her job as a special education assistant for the School District of Philadelphia, she said. “We have lost so many lives, which I’m saddened by, it’s been, in my case as it relates to me being a Temple student, it was a godsend,” Williams-Earley said. Even as more people get vaccinated, Williams-Earley worries about COVID-19 risks in the fall and would rather not be
around other people, she said. One of Rachel Savoca’s three classes she registered for is in person, and she feels safer because it is a smaller class of 15 people, she said. Savoca, a junior early childhood education major, is also in a student teaching program with the School District of Philadelphia, and she doesn’t know if it is in person or virtual yet. “I think we do obviously have to somehow try to get back to normal, and I think if the right precautions are taken, then it can be done safely,” Savoca said. Based on current vaccination rates, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said Philadelphia could reach herd immunity, with 70 to 80 percent of people vaccinated, by June, 6ABC reported. More than 612,000 Philadelphians are fully vaccinated and more than 398,000 are partially vaccinated as of April 12, according to the city’s vaccination dashboard. There are currently 125 active COVID-19 cases on Temple’s campuses as of April 9, The Temple News reported. Max Greenberg, a freshman biology major, is currently taking a chemistry lecture in person, but has an online chemistry lab, which is difficult because he can’t conduct chemical reactions, he said. He is happy most of the four classes he is planning for next semester are a hybrid format, either meeting in person one or two days a week or online. “I think returning to normalcy in terms of like the labs, it’s actually participating and actively learning,” Greenberg said. “Personally, I just know that I learn better in person.” Goldberg feels safe going to in-person classes because she’s fully vaccinated, but still hopes students follow COVID-19 safety guidelines in classrooms, she said. “I definitely want them to keep the mask measures and social distancing measures if we do have in-person classes,” Goldberg said. natalie.kerr@temple.edu @natliekerr
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 18
FEATURES
The Temple News
STUDENT LIFE
Students reflect on testing positive for COVID-19 Stuck in isolation, students balanced academics and physical and mental health care. BY EMMA PADNER Features Editor Louis Myers sat in the waiting room of Temple University Hospital in early September with a fever, cough and a sore throat when his phone rang. It was Temple’s Student Health Services letting him know he tested positive for COVID-19. Myers, a freshman undeclared major, is one of the hundreds of Temple students who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 throughout the 2020-21 academic year. Students juggled academics, personal lives and their physical and mental health while experiencing 10 days of required isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. After leaving the hospital, the university gave Myers two hours to pack up his belongings at 1300 Residence Hall, where he lived at the time, and move to Temple’s isolation housing at Johnson and Hardwick halls. Johnson and Hardwick halls became isolation housing for students who test positive for COVID-19 during the 202021 academic year, The Temple News reported. One of the buildings will remain isolation housing in the Fall 2021 semester. Students who test positive for COVID-19, whether living on or off campus, can isolate in Johnson and Hardwick halls or at home, The Temple News reported. People with mild cases of COVID-19 can stop isolating 10 days after their symptoms first appeared and 24 hours without a fever or 10 days after they tested positive for COVID-19. Those with severe cases may need to isolate up to 20 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staff at Temple’s Office of University Housing and Residential Life contact students who choose to move into isolation housing and gives them directions on packing and the quarantining process at Johnson and Hardwick halls, The Temple News reported.
ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Louis Myers, a freshman undeclared major, stands for a portrait near Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue on April 8.
Myers moved into isolation housing for 10 days on Sept. 7, 2020. He had a double room and an entire hallway to himself, including the communal bathroom, he said. Active COVID-19 cases among students peaked at 349 on Sept. 6, 2020, The Temple News reported. As of April 12, there are 125 active cases of COVID-19 on Temple’s campus, The Temple News reported. “Once I got to my room, I think I remember like, calling my parents like, telling them like, how sad I was because of the situation I was in,” Myers added. “You’re really stuck in there by yourself.” Myers’ professors offered extensions on assignments, but because classes were online and his symptoms subsided quickly, Myers didn’t use them, he said. Lauren Novak, a freshman film and media arts major, felt COVID-19 symptoms while helping a friend move to a different residence hall in September 2020 when Temple condensed housing because classes transitioned online and students moved home. “I was like, pushing a cart of his stuff and I just felt exhausted like, I literally had to like, lean up against the wall and I was like, ‘Guys, I need a break. I can’t do
this,’” Novak said. She tested positive after experiencing headaches, brain fog and exhaustion during the weekend and stayed on campus because her parents are at high risk for COVID-19-related complications. Novak moved into Johnson and Hardwick halls on Sept. 9, 2020, and was the only person on her floor, she said. “I just felt like, really lonely,” Novak said. “I called everyone like, all the time, I tried to make sure I wasn’t alone. But I did a lot of sleeping.” The Wellness Resource Center created resources about self-care and dealing with loneliness for students in isolation, The Temple News reported. Young adults are less likely to be hospitalized after contracting COVID-19, but many work in food service, retail or childcare, giving them a higher risk of contracting COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Lucy Niyazova was leading a Zoom event on a Sunday for a campus club in September 2020 when she started feeling feverish, she said. Niyazova, a junior communication studies and education major, quarantined in her off-campus apartment that night, wearing a mask outside of her room and wiping down the shared spac-
es after using them. She was tested for COVID-19 that Monday. On Tuesday, she got a call from Student Health Services with her positive results and started crying. “There are students that don’t really follow protocol and stuff like that for COVID, but our apartment was very strict about it,” Niyazova said. “We did everything to ensure that nobody got COVID, and it was such a slap in the face to still get it.” Niyazova continued quarantining in her room, but eventually, she and her roommates decided to all quarantine together for 10 days in their off-campus apartment. Niyazova and her roommates played board games and watched movies, which helped Niyazova’s mental health improve, she added. When her symptoms subsided, Niyazova emailed her professors and set up Zoom meetings to discuss how she would make up the work she missed, she said. After 10 days, Niyazova and her roommates tested negative for COVID-19, she said. Nearly one in five adults aged 18 to 34 with no underlying health conditions did not return to normal health within two to three weeks after testing positive, according to Harvard Health Publishing. People who previously had COVID-19 should still be vaccinated, although people who are currently sick with COVID-19 shouldn’t be vaccinated until they recover to normal health and have met the criteria to discontinue isolation, according to the CDC. Niyazova received her second shot of the vaccine on Sunday. While Niyazova was glad to have her roommates to quarantine with, online club meetings and classes to stay connected to peers, she missed being able to go to the library to study, she said. “Professors were so understanding that I didn’t get penalized for that kind of stuff, which was, again, very helpful,” she said. “But it just, it was not an environment that nurtured creativity or intelligent, you know, writing and stuff like that.” emma.padner@temple.edu @emmapadner
The Temple News
FEATURES
PAGE 19
STUDENT LIFE
Vaccinated students discuss boundaries, travel After getting their shots, stu- area where there is a much lower basedents are debating if they feel line prevalence,” she said. People should continue to wear safe seeing friends and family. BY MATTHEW AQUINO For The Temple News Two weeks after her second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 23, Laura Orzehoski felt more comfortable around campus and traveling to Center City for a day. “It’s not as anxiety-rising because I know I’m vaccinated,” said Orzehoski, a freshman music education jazz major. “When I wasn’t vaccinated, I was a little hesitant to go downtown sometimes if I knew it was going to be busy.” As more Temple University students become fully vaccinated, they are a step closer to a life of normalcy. Some students feel more comfortable in small groups and around other fully vaccinated family members, while others still feel nervous about being more social. People are considered fully vaccinated for COVID-19 two weeks after they received the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or two weeks after they received a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Individuals who are fully vaccinated can safely gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask and can visit unvaccinated people from a single household who are at a low risk for COVID-19 without wearing a mask, according to the CDC. Partially vaccinated people should wear a mask, stay six feet apart from others and avoid crowds, according to the CDC. Abby Rudolph, an epidemiology professor, said people should be aware of the rate of COVID-19 cases in the state, city or neighborhood they live in because even if vaccinated, people’s risk depends on their location. “If you live in an area that has a high prevalence or an uptick in cases and hospitalizations, then that would be a signal that you want to be more cautious than perhaps somebody that’s living in an
masks and social distance in public spaces, like grocery stores, and should also refrain from having large gatherings of fully vaccinated people, Rudolph added. As more people become vaccinated, guidelines may continue to change like they have been the past year, she said. “Hopefully, we can get the infection rates down and more people vaccinated and then the guidelines will be a lot more conducive to socialization,” Rudolph added. Gillian Shoff, a senior communication studies major, received her first dose of the Moderna vaccine on Feb. 13 and the second dose on March 13 by Rite Aid in York, Pennsylvania. Shoff was a direct care worker at the disability service provider Life’s New Beginning in York, Pennsylvania, at the time, taking care of clients with disabilities and assisting them with daily activities, she said. Although she’s been vaccinated, Shoff plans to only socialize with a few of her close contacts. “Nothing has really changed, I’m still not going out to clubs or anything like that,” Shoff said. “I just have been socializing with my close friend, my mom and coworkers.” Philadelphia is currently in Phase 1C of its vaccine distribution plan, which includes essential workers who are at a lower risk of exposure to COVID-19, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Thomas Smith, a sophomore film and media arts major, received the Pfizer vaccine in March at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Arch Street near 11th. Smith works for Cinescope, a video production company, where he shoots and edits videos. At the end of April, he is traveling with eight others from the company to create promotional content for a software company, he said. “Getting the vaccine definitely makes me feel a lot more comfortable, especially since I’m traveling for work,” Smith said. More than 589,000 Philadelphians
ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Laura Orzehoski, a freshman jazz education major, sits in Founders Garden on April 2.
have been partially vaccinated against COVID-19 and more than 363,000 have been fully vaccinated as of April 12, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. All adults in Philadelphia 16 years and older will be eligible to be vaccinated on April 19, The Temple News reported Adults ages 20 to 29 had the highest COVID-19 incidence rate in Summer 2020, accounting for more than 20 percent of COVID-19 cases, according to the CDC. Sraavya Pinjala, a freshman biology major, received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Feb. 8 and her second dose on March 1 at Temple University Hospital. She volunteers for the hospital’s At Your Service Volunteer Intern Program, answering call bells when nurses are busy and visiting patients’ rooms to ensure they are comfortable, she said. Pinjala still hasn’t visited any family or friends she didn’t see before getting vaccinated, and plans to continue to wear a mask when she sees friends and stay six feet apart from strangers, she said. “Even though I am vaccinated, I don’t want to be the carrier that brings it to someone who isn’t,” Pinjala added. “A lot of my friends are also vaccinated, but when we go out in public spaces, we still
keep our mask on and are still safe just because we aren’t entirely sure who has been vaccinated.” The COVID-19 vaccine prevents a vaccinated person from contracting the virus but may not prevent transmission between individuals, according to the CDC. Vaccinated individuals should continue following COVID-19 guidelines, like wearing a mask and social distancing, when in public places, according to the CDC. Kieran Francke, a grocery store worker and volunteer firefighter for the West Grove Fire Company, received his second shot on March 24. After waiting for his two-week period to end, Francke, a sophomore journalism and political science major, visited his grandmother, who is also fully vaccinated, indoors without a mask on. Before getting vaccinated, he visited his grandmother once a month outdoors while wearing a mask and staying socially distanced. Francke hopes individuals who are eligible get vaccinated so restrictions can be lessened in the future, he said. “The faster you get vaccinated, the faster we won’t have to wear a mask along with the rest of the world,” Francke said. matthew.aquino@temple.edu
FEATURES
PAGE 20
COMMUNITY
Safe Bet distributes gun locks during COVID-19
The organization moved operations online to ensure people who request locks need them. BY KRISTINE CHIN For The Temple News Gun purchases increased by 70 percent in March 2020 compared to March 2019, according to a 2020 report from Aftermath, a national crime scene service. Scott Charles sees this rise as a response to people’s fear of the pandemic. “Here’s this pandemic, it sounds a lot like the zombie apocalypse, and people want to be armed,” said Charles, trauma outreach coordinator at Temple Hospital. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Safe Bet, an organization that provides free gun locks to residents, shifted distribution online this year. Residents request locks online, which can be shipped to their house or picked up at Temple Hospital. Since 2016, Charles, the organization’s founder, has given out 7,000 gun locks to prevent unintentional shootings among children. “A lot of people were buying new firearms and you had a lot of kids who were home now all day, every day, which really, we felt, would increase the likelihood of unintentional shootings,” Charles said. “That’s one of the reasons that we’re really pushing to get as many free gun locks as possible.” Before COVID-19, Safe Bet held free gun lock giveaways on the street and didn’t give many out through their virtual portal, Charles said. The online demand for gun locks has increased substantially during the past year, he added Gun cable locks loop through the gun’s ejection port into the empty magazine well, where ammunition is placed. Once locked, ammunition can’t be placed in the gun, according to the Safe Bet website. About 31 percent of deaths caused by unintentional shooting could have been prevented with gun locks, according to Aftermath. Law enforcement often hand out gun locks, which can deter gun owners from
seeking out locks if guns are acquired through straw purchasing, when someone purchases and sells a gun illegally to someone else, Charles added. “One of the things that I was hearing from patients and others is that they were nervous about taking gun locks from the police because there are a lot of prohibited individuals in Philadelphia who are not legally allowed to own guns,” Charles said. Community organizations, like Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout Philly and Operation Save Our City, partner with Safe Bet to distribute gun locks in person during COVID-19. Rosalind Pichardo, Save Our City’s founder, handed out gun locks in person to Kensington residents during the past year, she said. “It made it that much more important for me to be out there,” Pichardo said. “The police weren’t out there, it was just like nobody was doing it.” YEAH Philly, a youth-led organization addressing the causes of violence in West and Southwest Philadelphia, partnered with Safe Bet last year to distribute gun locks to residents during food giveaways, said founder and executive director Kendra Van de Water. “During COVID, the in-person stuff with [Charles] hasn’t been able to happen, but we still made sure that we have these conversations, we’re in communication and like we still give out gun locks every day to people,” she added. As COVID-19 vaccination efforts increase, Charles plans to resume street outreach and events to connect with residents in person. “I would love to, you know, partner with, whether it’s a philanthropy or a gun safe company, is to work on getting the messaging out there, especially during these times, until we open up, just keep developing and get the word out there to let people know why it’s important that they protect their children by doing something as simple as locking up their guns,” Charles added. kristine.chin@temple.edu
The Temple News
VOICES
Would you prefer taking mostly in-person or online classes in fall? NOELLE BAYDA Sophomore nursing major I already have a lot of classes in person because of nursing having them be at the hospital, so I am excited to have most of them in person and have everyone else be able to experience that as well.
QUINN BOBBITT Freshman theater major I think it is going to be a little more safer in the fall, so I feel like it is going to be a good way to go back and work really well.
SABRINA AGUILA Freshman international business major It is really nice that most of them are in person just because I like to study with people around me and I feel like I do a lot better when I am with other college students.
DANIEL ROBERTS Sophomore Africology and African American studies major I would prefer in-person classes. The workload would appear to be a lot more manageable when we were in person versus online, and I feel like a lot of the classes we have right now feel stressful because they were not designed to be online classes.
The Temple News
INTERSECTION
PAGE 21
HEALTH
Students, staff discuss pandemic coping methods Students are finding ways to deal with the combined stress of classes and the pandemic. BY EDEN MACDOUGALL and JULIANNE KOTCH For The Temple News
F
or Arli Necowitz, the pandemic started out as a reprieve from her busy schedule because her three campus jobs were paused when Temple University shut down last March. But as time went on, Necowitz, a senior psychology major and student assistant at Temple’s Psychological Services Center, noticed her mental health decline due to isolation and missed experiences. “I miss going to class and interacting with my classmates, I miss going into the Owl Ambassador office and laughing with my coworkers,” Necowitz wrote in an email to The Temple News. “It’s the little things that I miss terribly.” Fifty-one percent of college students considered stopping their education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Lumina-Gallup study conducted in September and October 2020. Because college students are experiencing a rise in stress during the pandemic, it is important for them to use positive coping mechanisms, said Dr. Steven Hulcher, coordinator for the Resiliency Resource Center at Tuttleman Counseling Services. Temple students have been coping with burnout during the pandemic by staying connected with loved ones, exercising and journaling. “I think the pandemic, now, has just had a tremendous impact obviously, people feel much more lonely and cut off,” Hulcher said. “Motivation is getting to be more of an issue as this thing kind
of continues.” Positive coping mechanisms can include getting enough exercise, eating healthy foods, getting enough sleep and taking a break from stressful projects or events, according to the Center for Disease Control. Necowitz deals with her isolation by talking to a friend, calling a family member or grabbing a socially distanced lunch with someone, she said. “Getting away from the stressful situations in my life and talking to the people I love really grounds me,” Necowitz added. Adina Rom, a sophomore speech, language and hearing science major and member of Active Minds TU, is worried about the future and school. “The transition to online school was difficult early on because it was a very sudden adjustment,” Rom wrote in an email to The Temple News. “I usually commuted to school, so the online aspect gave me more time to participate in more extracurricular activities and have more free time. I like the convenience of online classes, but the burnout from school and the social isolation becomes a challenge over time.” To cope with daily stress from school, Rom takes walks, listens to music and keeps a journal so she can work through her negative emotions. “Sometimes I set a timer and write whatever comes to mind. I journal on good days as well, so I can look back on them later,” Rom wrote. Since there was no spring break this semester, Rom has struggled with burnout from school. She copes by taking a break from school work after 10 p.m. and finding time for herself each weekend, she wrote. Too much time on social media contributes to Rom’s burnout because she is spending more time inside due to the
HANNA LIPSKI / THE TEMPLE NEWS
pandemic, she wrote. “Pandemic fatigue comes in waves,” Rom wrote. “I typically do a digital detox to give myself a break from social media. I like to spend time with my family and take socially distant walks with friends. The only way to deal with pandemic fatigue is to focus on the positives.” Necowitz also finds walking helps take her mind off stressful subjects and gives her peace of mind to avoid burnout, she wrote. “Being outside and in nature has really helped me stay grounded,” Necowitz wrote. “Hikes, walks, bike rides, picnics, et cetera, are such a great way to get my body moving, to enjoy the fresh air, and to step away from the plethora of screens I am constantly using now that we find ourselves in an online world.” Taking walks is part of mindfulness, a coping strategy that focuses the person on the present moment, said Janie Egan, the mental well-being coordinator at the Wellness Resource Center.
Mindfulness and journaling are helpful coping mechanisms, but simple daily self-care tasks, like getting enough sleep and taking time to eat a meal, are also essential, Egan said. Necowitz keeps a tight schedule to make sure that she gets her work done and has time for herself afterward. “I give myself a certain amount of time to get my school and work obligations completed and then I go do other things that bring me balance and joy,” Necowitz wrote. “I make it a point to schedule in this self-care and social time so I have no excuse.” It is important to maintain perspective and recognize that the pandemic, and whatever stress a student may be feeling, is temporary, Hulcher said. “We will come out the other side of this,” he added. eden.macdougall@temple.edu julianne.kotch@temple.edu
PAGE 22
INTERSECTION
The Temple News
HEALTH
Students discuss mental impact of racial injustice While social media users try to raise awareness about injustice, the overexposure can hurt users. BY CHRISTINE JEAN-BAPTISE and EDEN MACDOUGALL For The Temple News Olivia Rakiro spent a lot of time last summer on social media and was anxious about the numerous posts about Black Lives Matter and racial injustice. “It was weird because it was like, I felt like I should be happy that people are being aware of it and everything, and there’s part of me that did feel like that, but then at the same time it became really overwhelming,” said Rakiro, a sophomore journalism major. Black students at Temple University are continuing to deal with the mental impact of seeing numerous posts about police brutality and racial injustice, including videos of the police attacking Black people, during the summer and are now grappling with the renewed media attention surrounding the ongoing trial of Derek Chauvin, the officer who kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. While it is necessary to pay attention to police brutality and racial injustice, the frequent exposure can take a toll on the mental health of Black people, said Sonja Peterson-Lewis, a social psychologist and an Africology and African American studies professor. “If you’re oppressed on the basis of race, we tend to have a very strong racial collective identity, so that when something happens to say, another Latinx person, it’s like it’s happening to you, or something happens to a Black person, it’s like it happened to you,” Peterson-Lewis said. The ability to identify with victims of police brutality influenced Rakiro’s decision to limit how much time she spent on social media, she said. “I noticed over time seeing it on the news so much and reading so much
KRISTINE CHIN / THE TEMPLE NEWS
about it was affecting me mentally in the sense I just felt like, extra anxious and sad because then it was like, all these issues related to racism and everything were being brought up so much that it was like reminding me about my own life and dealing with discrimination,” Rakiro added. Seeing videos of police brutality can be traumatizing and lead to negative mental health outcomes because people who identify with the group being attacked experience the trauma as their own, CBS reported. Google searches for Black Lives Matter dramatically increased last summer and searches for Chauvin have risen since the end of March, according to Google Trends.
Over time, the stress of dealing with racism builds up and damages both the physical and mental health of Black people, ProPublica reported. Alyssa Threadgill, a freshman journalism major, noticed how seeing posts about Black Lives Matter and racial injustice affected her mental health last summer, she said. “There’s like, almost no escaping any kind of like, postings about racial injustice, and it was, it was at a time where I kind of had to think like, ‘Okay like, maybe I need to detox,’” Threadgill said. Many of the posts were well-intentioned and helped to raise awareness, but after a while, it began to feel like people were jumping on a trend and not actually
motivated to do good, which was frustrating because racial injustice hits so close to home, Threadgill said. “Like, that could have happened to anybody, it could have happened to my dad, it could have happened to my cousin like, it’s just the way the world works now it’s like, it was just so horrifying and shocking and I just, I think I just stood and stared at the TV just like, not even sure if it was real,” Threadgill said. Overexposure to images of police brutality can also lead to people developing “compassion fatigue,” which is when someone becomes so emotionally drained, they have a hard time caring and become desensitized to racial injustice, Peterson-Lewis said. Almost a year has passed since the Black Lives Matter protests last May, and Threadgill hasn’t seen a decrease in activity on her social media feed, partially due to Chauvin’s trial. Chauvin’s trial is Minnesota’s first criminal case to be televised and livestreamed. The unprecedented level of access makes it easier for people to stay informed and allows for greater transparency, USA Today reported. Keeping up with the trial hasn’t had the same draining impact on Threadgill’s mental health that social media does, she said. “With social media, you just open it up and you never know what’s gonna show up,” Threadgill added. “Like, I can choose not to watch the news but with social media, I might expect to see a picture of my friends but instead I see pictures of something from the trial.” Whenever a post about the trial comes up unexpectedly on social media, Rakiro feels unprepared to deal with the seriousness of the post, she said. “It’s kind of like, do I really want to read about this right now?” Rakiro said. eden.macdougall@temple.edu christine.jean-baptiste@temple.edu
Haajrah Gilani contributed reporting.
The Temple News
INTERSECTION
PAGE 23
ESSAYIST
As a Black man, I need to be more politically aware
Despite the extensive media covA student discusses how he’s avoided politics in the past and erage of Floyd and the protests, I never felt the full impact of his death because wants to be more informed.
BY JAMAL GOODWIN For The Temple News I remember shuffling in line on a cloudy October morning, my mom, brother and I finally entering Anna B. Day School and receiving our ballots. We sat at one of several lunch tables and began filling them out. At 21, it was my first presidential election, and coming from a liberal family, voting was a no-brainer: go all Democrat. But aside from knowing the candidates’ political party, I didn’t know what they stood for, where they were from or what their track record was. All I thought about that morning was getting Joe Biden in office and getting myself home. But I should have felt empowered to vote, like other Black people, because our ancestors fought for our freedoms like voting. Instead, I’ve taken voting and other civil rights for granted. It’s only tragedies like George Floyd’s death that make me realize I should be more knowledgeable about the legal system and my rights as a United States citizen. Floyd’s death brought attention to Black people and the struggles we go through. People protested around the world to disavow racism, and protests in Philadelphia got so heated that Mayor Jim Kenney gave the city a curfew back in June 2020.
ADVERTISEMENT
I avoid conversations about race-related violence. The conversations remind me that as a Black man, my life is just as fragile as Floyd’s. The first time I had these conversations was in 2012, when my seventh-grade math teacher told my classmates and I about Trayvon Martin’s death. My teacher, Mrs. Price, a Black woman in her 40s, paced back and forth in front of the classroom, she hadn’t turned on the projector. Nothing was written on the whiteboard. She began explaining the gruesome details of Martin’s death. She said it was ridiculous that a teen carrying Skittles could be killed just because he wore a hoodie. Halfway through her talk, my classmates spoke up and discussed times they experienced racism. Having lived in a mixed, quiet neighborhood, I never experienced racism, so I remained silent. I barely had an understanding of the law then and still don’t, but the death of Martin made me feel obligated to learn. An innocent, Black teen, if I had worn a hoodie at the wrong place and time, it could have just as easily been me who was the victim. Knowing this, I tried to grab every word that my teachers and peers were saying. As the years went on, so did the murders of innocent people: Michael
KRISTINE CHIN / THE TEMPLE NEWS
Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray. Every racist killing of Black people since Martin’s death has ended with their killers getting away with the crime while the family of the deceased pours their heart out on television. The narrative is the same every time, and it makes me depressed and enraged. I always turn the TV off in a fit and try to clear my head. If I knew the complexities of the laws encompassed in these situations, like Miranda rights, I could analyze the murders instead of reacting emotionally. If I knew what the officers would do, I would be able to protect myself. But the effort required to study the law has always intimidated me.
I know I can’t become an expert in politics overnight. Jumping from political unawareness to marching in protests with Black Lives Matter is a huge leap, but if I make a start, I can better protect myself, my loved ones and even a stranger. It’s all about taking progressive steps. I can learn the Constitution’s amendments and the laws in Philadelphia. I can learn who my politicians are and what they are doing to combat racism, and as my knowledge grows, I’ll become politically aware. jamal.goodwin@temple.edu @Jaygoodwin171
INTERSECTION
PAGE 24
The Temple News
ESSAYIST
Ramadan reminds me to appreciate my body
A student reflects on how Ramadan encourages her to seek a healthier relationship with food. BY HAAJRAH GILANI Co-Intersection Editor Content warning: This article discusses topics around eating disorders that may be triggering for some readers. I’ve always had an unsteady relationship with food. As a child, I was a picky eater. As a teenager, I struggled with an eating disorder for several years. But there has always been one month in the year where I can reflect on my relationship with food and with my body. It’s through fasting during the month of Ramadan that I’m truly able to take the time to appreciate my body for all the work it does. Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year for Muslims, the time believed to be when the Quran was revealed. It’s during this month that Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset to remind themselves of their relationship with God and their duty to help people who are food insecure, Vox reported. While this holy month is meant to be a time of spiritual discipline, extra prayer, increased charity and generosity and intense study of the Quran, it’s also a time for celebration and cherishing loved ones, Vox reported. In middle school and high school, it was normal for me to sit in the cafeteria during lunch without anything to eat. For me, the challenging part of Ramadan was never the hunger: it was all the extra time I was spending with myself. Because it’s encouraged to study the Quran, pray more and reduce distractions, I found myself spending more time alone than usual. Although it was a particularly unpleasant realization, it was through these moments alone that I realized I didn’t enjoy my own company because I’m too harsh on myself. I have my qualms with my body. I have features I’d like to change, but it’s
HANNA LIPSKI / THE TEMPLE NEWS
my body: it carries me through the day, and Ramadan never fails to remind me that I need to treat myself better. Changing my relationship with food is just a starting point. I’ve always understood the value of food. I’ve seen my parents struggle to ensure there was always something to eat at home. I’ve felt how my body shut down when I went days without eating. Yet, there were days where I couldn’t find it in myself to pick up a fork and knife, days where my family had to thank me when I actually took a bite and swallowed. While I always felt engulfed by the guilt of turning away a perfectly prepared meal, I still struggled to see food as my friend. My friends often made jokes when Ramadan was nearing about how they were excited to lose weight. While weight loss absolutely isn’t the intent of
fasting, it is a common side effect. I always felt out of place in those conversations because I usually gained weight during Ramadan. For me, the meals at sundown and sunrise were the heaviest meals I ate throughout the year. I also felt especially out of place at Iftar dinners, which are often large gatherings in which people from the mosque would come together to break their fast. While I was eating more than usual, it was still important for me to keep my calorie intake relatively low, and I couldn’t deal with people questioning why I had such little items on my plate. I saw these gatherings as unnecessary. I didn’t understand that the simple act of sharing food is what strengthens bonds and unites a community. I’m not saying that religion is the cure for any disease because there are many times after the month of Rama-
dan where my relationship with food and with myself receded into unhealthy territory. There are still days where it’s difficult to appreciate myself and moments where I prioritize the number on the weighing scale over my well-being. As Ramadan begins, I’m reminded that I’ve made it through another year. While I’m constantly mapping out my future plans or problem-solving conflicts that haven’t even occurred yet, in this month, I’m able to simply breathe and reflect on myself. Although my relationship with food and with my body is a work in progress, I’m comforted by the fact that Ramadan is a time for showing kindness to everyone, including myself. haajrah@temple.edu @haajrahgilani
The Temple News
SPORTS
PAGE 25
VOLLEYBALL
Owls’ offensive growth leads to winning season Temple University volleyball finished with a winning season for the first time since 2017. BY VALERIE PENDRAK Volleyball Beat Reporter Temple University volleyball started off its 2020-21 season with one goal: make The American Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time in program history. Temple started the season with four straight wins and finished with an overall record of 11-6 and a 4-4 record in conference play, which earned them a bid to the AAC tournament, where they lost in the championship game to the University of Houston on April 2. They earned their first winning season since 2017 and an AAC tournament bid by improving their serve receive and relying on their starters to produce strong statistics on offense. “It has definitely been a different season, but I think everyone is just happy to be able to play,” said junior setter Tyler Lindgren. A serve receive is the first hit a team makes when their opponent serves the ball over the net. “Once we kind of reduced [opponents’ offense] a little bit, it helped us to get into a rhythm on serve receive and also on offense, which helped us get back that set,” said head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam. After Temple improved its serve receive they gained control of the ball more often and stayed aggressive on offense. In 2019, Temple struggled with their serve receive, which led to them finishing 12-15 overall and 3-13 in the conference, Ganesharatnam said. “A couple things we wanted to do better, last time it was passing and we really wanted to put some pressure on with our serves to win that serve and pass game,” Ganesharatnam added. Because Temple controlled the ball more this season, their starters had more opportunities to score points. Lindgren earned her first All-Tournament honors this season and ended
NICK DAVIS / THE TEMPLE NEWS Freshman defensive specialist and libero Falanika Danielson serves the volleyball during the Owls’ match against Coppin State University at McGonigle Hall on April 5.
the season with 696 assists and 169 digs. Junior outside hitter Gem Grimshaw finished the season with 3.42 kills per set, 2.69 digs per set, 20 aces and 43 blocks. Grimshaw also recorded a season-high 20 kills during the AAC championship match. “[Grimshaw] really grew into her position and grew throughout the season,” Ganesharatnam said. “She came into this tournament as a good player, but she is leaving it as a star.” Like Grimshaw, junior outside hitter Miray Bolukbasi was a top contributor on offense this season. She led Temple in kills with 223 and kills per set with 3.66. “You just have to look at the stats and the way [Bolukbasi] has been playing so far, she’s been doing a great job, Ganesharatnam said. Another starter who benefited from Temple’s better serve receive was fresh-
things we wanted “toAdocouple better, last time it was passing and we really wanted to put some pressure on with our serves to win that serve and pass game.
”
BAKEER GANESHARATNAM Volleyball head coach
man libero Falanika Danielson, who became the first freshman in conference history to win the 2020-21 Libero of the Year award. Danielson finished first on the team in digs and digs per game with 327 and 5.27, respectively. “Just those constant reps with my coaches and them just being there for me all the time, that really helped,” Danielson said. With the season now over, the Owls are still proud of their accomplishments, especially making the AAC tournament, Ganesharatnam said. “We wanted to make sure we represented our program and our university in the best way we possibly can,” he added. valerie.pendrak@temple.edu @valeriependrak
SPORTS
PAGE 26
The Temple News
MEN’S SOCCER
Owls earn tournament bid after offensive change Temple’s offense will be put to the Temple enters the postseason a change in offensive strategy, which fore practice with the forwards and all of test in the first round of the AAC touron a three-game winning streak helped the Owls secure the third seed those types of stuff,” Eijgendaal said. in The American Athletic Conference This season, Temple finished fifth nament against the University of Tulsa in conference play.
BY JACOB SMEDLEY Men’s Soccer Beat Reporter For the first time since 2017, Temple University men’s soccer (5-4-1, 5-41 The American Athletic Conference) is entering the postseason with a winning record. The Owls needed to make adjustments to their offense midseason because they couldn’t rely on their defense to bail them out in games against conference opponents. Temple’s offense, led by sophomore forwards Mike Eijgendaal and Sean Karani, is playing its best all season due to
tournament. “They are mostly sophomores and some freshmen,” said head coach Brian Rowland. “You know it is exciting for us because we have a great young attacking core here.” Karani has started in all 10 games this season and recorded two goals, two assists and six points, while Eijgendaal leads the Owls in goals and points this season with four and 10, respectively. Temple decided to change their offensive approach to put an emphasis on finishing chances close to the net in a team meeting after they lost 4-0 to Central Florida (7-3, 7-3 The American) on March 20. “We did some extra finishing be-
out of six teams with 93 total shots in The American, and they only scored four goals in six games between Feb. 13 and March 20. The Owls went 1-4-1 in conference play during that stretch. In their last three games, the Owls have scored nine goals, all of which were wins against conference opponents, setting up an opportunity to go to the AAC tournament. Karani, who scored two of the nine goals, made it his priority to work on his ball handling skills this season, he said. “I was too much of a dribbler for sure,” Karani added. “Now with scouts coming out, it became a lot hard to dribble, so I just kinda had to learn to pass quicker and move quicker.”
(6-3-1, 6-3-1 The American), who sits second in the conference’s rankings. The Golden Hurricane are led by redshirt-freshman forward Alex Meinhard, who is second in the conference in shots with 33 and leads the conference in goals with seven. “I thought early in the year we were really dangerous in transition, and then certainly teams started to negate that,” Rowland said. “Any time you have a normal season, you are figuring these things out over the first six, seven, eight games of the season.” jacob.smedley@temple.edu @the_voice_jvs24
COLLEEN CLAGGETT / THE TEMPLE NEWS Sophomore forward Sean Karani dribbles the ball down the field during the Owls’ game against the University of Tulsa at the Temple Sports Complex on April 2.
The Temple News
SPORTS
PAGE 27
FOOTBALL
Mathis adds new element to offensive game plan The former four-star recruit’s speed co-offensive coordinator and tight ends Temple is hoping to name a starting Mathis’ speed and agility will aland quickness gives Temple’s offense a coach. quarterback for the 2021 season before low Temple’s offense to use more different way to threaten defenses than “The ability of the quarterback to spring practice is over, but the battle designed quarterback runs.
BY DANTE COLLINELLI Sports Editor After transferring from the University of Georgia at the end of the 2020 season, D’Wan Mathis wanted to play for a coaching staff that valued him equally on and off the field. “It was definitely a tough decision leaving behind all the work I had put in there, but coming here, I felt like the coaching staff was definitely a family feel,” said Mathis, a redshirt-freshman quarterback for Temple University football. “The way the team is gelling right now, I feel like it is the best decision I could have possibly made for myself going forward.” During spring practices, Mathis is adding a new dimension to Temple’s offense with his running ability while competing for Temple’s starting quarterback position for the 2021 season.
CONTINUED | LACROSSE Rosen was happy Hoffman returned because of her impact on the field, Rosen said. “We had a lot of those conversations along the way, but she had unfinished business in the end,” Rosen added. “You know, she wanted to accomplish something more for herself. She wanted to accomplish something more with the program.” Hoffman’s 2020 senior class included 10 players, but only Hoffman and Kara Nakrasius, a fifth-year defender, used the extra year of eligibility and returned for the 2021 season.
in previous years. Former starting quarterback Anthony Russo, who transferred to Michigan State University on Dec. 16, 2020, was known as a “pocket passer” but was limited in his running ability. Mathis didn’t get a chance to showcase his running ability at Georgia, but he rushed for 305 yards in his senior season at Oak Park High School in Oak Park, Michigan. “[Mathis] adds a lot to the table because of that ability to run,” said redshirt-junior wide receiver Jadan Blue. “He’s super fast and super quick. The kid is gonna be accurate and the arm is gonna be there. That’s the thing, it’s not just a running threat for him. I’m so happy that he has that ability to run and extend plays. That’s really going to help us.” Mathis’ athleticism in the open field gives Temple an opportunity to use different blocking schemes that include not having the tight end block a defensive end and utilizing more zone read and power read plays, said Mike Uremovich,
run allows us to do a few things different in the run game,” Uremovich added. “Obviously, there are some things protection-wise, getting on the edge and having a mobile guy back there creates some different opportunities for us protection-wise.” The Owls struggled to run the football last season. They averaged 143.1 rushing yards per game, which ranked 10th in The American Athletic Conference. Last season at Georgia, Mathis only played in four games and recorded 89 passing yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, despite being named the team’s starter during the preseason. Before Mathis can start at Temple, he needs to learn a completely new offensive system. “The number one thing he has to do this spring is just get comfortable with the offense,” said head coach Rod Carey. “All the physical abilities are there. He can throw, he can run, the whole deal.”
could carry into fall practices, Carey added. Temple’s coaching staff is impressed with how hard Mathis is working to learn the offense, as he frequently spends extra time watching film, Uremovich said. “I really like his ability, but I really like him as a kid,” Uremovich added. “I really like the amount of time he’s up in the office. I like the amount of extra film he’s watched. He’s a kid I like coaching.” Mathis believes his experience at Georgia is helping him learn Temple’s offense, he said. “I’m trying to be me, but I will say being here in the spring two years ahead is definitely different,” Mathis added. “I’m more comfortable. I know what to do. I know the down and distance. I’m always aware of the situation.”
Hoffman and Nakrasius grew close toward the end of their career because they have the same goal of finishing this season together with an NCAA tournament bid, Nakrasius said. Temple is currently 4-2 in American Conference play, which is third in the conference. “It is definitely so important to us,” Nakrasius said. “We always talk about how culture and family and togetherness on the field is so important for the whole team, not just us two.” Hoffman, Nakrasius and the rest of the team strengthened their NCAA tournament resume when they defeated the Towson University Tigers, who
were ranked No. 11 at the time, 12-8 on March 10. Hoffman scored a career-high five goals, leading the Owls to victory. “She definitely came out guns blazing,” Nakrasius said. “It’s awesome to see that we were playing a ranked team and seeing [Hoffman] take that and put it on her back and really take the team forward and have us in a good position for the rest of the game.” Hoffman leads Temple in total points with 46, ranks first in assists with 28 and ranks third in goals with 18. Hoffman is an aggressive player on the field and sets the tone for the team even though she doesn’t view herself as a vocal captain.
“I think what you saw out of [Hoffman] in her performance is this just love of playing the game, you know,” Rosen said. “She is enjoying the matchups that come up against her. You know, people are keying in on her, and that excites her even more.” Right now, Hoffman’s sole focus is on making the NCAA tournament. “A goal that we’ve always had for my senior class was to win our conference and get to the tournament,” Hoffman said. “This year, it’s completely flipped around and it’s definitely looked like a brighter future this year.”
dante.collinelli@temple.edu @DanteCollinelli
brian.saunders@temple.edu @SportsWriter_BS
SPORTS
PAGE 28
The Temple News
LACROSSE
‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS’
Meghan Hoffman used her extra year of eligibility and delayed her career in law enforcement. BY BRIAN SAUNDERS For The Temple News
A
fter Temple University suspended spring sports competitions last year, just nine games into Meghan Hoffman’s senior season, her and nine teammates’ collegiate careers were ended for the foreseeable future. Yet, due to the NCAA granting an extra year of eligibility, Hoffman then extended her time on the field and paused her other career interest: law enforcement. Hoffman was set to enter the Philadelphia Police Academy and become a police officer in July 2020, after her graduation. But when the NCAA approved an extra year of eligibility for all spring athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hoffman returned for the 2021 season and delayed her law enforcement career one year to help lead the Owls to their current 8-3 overall record while pursuing a potential NCAA tournament bid. Hoffman was worried about coming back to Temple because she thought she was ending her chances to become a police officer, a job she had lined up for years. She changed her mind about leaving for the academy after talking with her parents, head coach Bonnie Rosen and her employer, who told her she could still enter the academy after the 2021 season. “They were understanding, I just pushed it off a year,” Hoffman said. “I still
have t h e same j o b starting in July this summer that I had last summer, so it worked out well.” Hoffman is hoping she can spend a few years working in local law enforcement before making the jump to federal law enforcement, which is her ultimate goal when she leaves Temple, she said. Still, by staying an extra year, she wanted to help Temple reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008, she added. LACROSSE | 22
COLLEEN CLAGGETT / THE TEMPLE NEWS Fifth-year attacker Meghan Hoffman cradles the ball during the Owls’ game against St. Joseph’s University at Howarth Field on March 13.