A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.
VOL. 96 ISSUE 17
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2018
Fox loses No. 1 ranking for incorrect data The Fox School of Business selfreported the data error to the U.S. News & World Report last week. BY JULIE CHRISTIE Enterprise Editor
T
he Fox School of Business’s online MBA is no longer ranked first in the nation after the business school “significantly overstated” data from 2017 to the U.S. News & World Report, according to a release from the outlet. Fox self-reported the data error, and the program is now unranked for 2018.
According to Inside Higher Ed, part of the ranking formula gives extra weight to schools that had at least 75 percent of its new students submit their standardized test scores. New students can report the results of standardized tests, like the GMAT or GRE. Fox said it submitted results from 100 percent of its new students, but in reality only 20 percent reported these results. There were 255 entrants in the program this year. The school originally submitted the data in Summer and Fall 2017 and “completed the data verification process, assuring U.S. News
that the data were accurate,” according to the release. Fox then submitted its accurate data to be reviewed. “It was our hope U.S. News & World Report would recalculate its rankings based upon the submission of revised data,” reads a statement from Fox Dean Moshe Porat. “However, we accept the U.S. News & World Report decision.” It is unclear exactly how the error occurred, but, according to the statement, Temple has hired an outside firm “to review all of our school’s data reporting processes, including what happened in this instance, and to make appropriate recommendations.”
The statement did not name the firm that will investigate. The school will remain unranked until the 2019 Online MBA rankings are released, as long as Fox confirms its next batch of data. On Thursday, President Richard Englert started “the wheels turning” to bring in an independent reviewer to analyze the Online MBA information, a university spokesperson wrote in a statement. It will be a “comprehensive look” at the 2018 submission and prior years. “The results of that review will go to the President, and he will take appropriate ac-
UNRANKED | PAGE 6
ADMINISTRATION
COMMUNITY
Former Fox adjunct was charged with sexual misconduct Sombudha Adhikari pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct in 2009 and was hired by Temple in 2013. BY KELLY BRENNAN Assistant News Editor
ICE, which enforces border control, customs, trade and immigration,
A former Fox School of Business adjunct instructor was placed on administrative leave at Rutgers University on Thursday after his 2009 criminal sexual misconduct charge resurfaced, the Daily Targum, Rutgers University’s student newspaper, reported. Sombudha Adhikari taught at Temple from Spring 2013 to 2017, a university spokesperson told The Temple News. In 2009, Adhikari, 49 at the time, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual misconduct for inappropriately grabbing the breasts and inner thighs of a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. The university declined to comment further for this story. Adhikari could not be reached for comment. Adhikari was released on $5,000 bail, according to court documents. He was fired from Fairleigh Dickinson University after he pleaded guilty, but remained an instructor at Rutgers and went on to instruct at Temple. In 2009, Fairleigh Dickinson University officials did not send an alert to students about the misconduct because they believed Adhikari did not pose a threat to other students, NJ.com reported. Each individual school and college at the university is responsible for hiring its adjunct instructors, wrote Sharon Littleton, associate vice president of human resources, in an email to The Temple News. Employees, staff and faculty are subject to
SANCTUARY | PAGE 6
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT | PAGE 3
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS The Hernandez family is staying in sanctuary in the Church of the Advocate at Diamond and 18th streets. On Monday, the four children went to school for the first time in six weeks.
Family in sanctuary goes to school Street near 18th with help from the New Sanctuary Movement, an immigrant advocacy group. The family was previously denied asylum in the United States and ordered to leave the country by Dec. 15. Hernandez watched her children leave the church while she stood nearby, wearing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement-issued ankle bracelet that prevents her from straying too far from the church. Risking deportation, the children were driven to school after an 8 a.m. rally led by state Rep. Christopher Rabb, Philadelphia Councilwoman Helen Gym, Legislative Representative of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Hillary Linardopoulos and Hernandez.
Four children who are staying in sanctuary in the Church of the Advocate went to school for the first time in six weeks on Monday. BY MATTHEW McCANN Community Beat Reporter
Four undocumented children left the Church of the Advocate, where they have been living in sanctuary, for the first time in six weeks to attend school on Monday. The children — Fidel, Keyri, Yoselin and Edwin — and their mother Carmela Apolonio Hernandez, who is also undocumented, took sanctuary at the Church of the Advocate on Diamond
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Yoselin Artillero Apolonio (right) helps her sister Keyri (left) decorate a notebook with stickers before school.
Students host alternative open mics off campus Two students formed a comedy open mic night in the basement of an off-campus apartment. BY IAN WALKER
Assistant Features Editor
Lyle Drescher stole about a dozen folding chairs from his mother’s house in Maryland to furnish his comedy club. “She asked me to bring back the chairs or else she was going to yell at me more, but she was like two hours away, so what’s she gonna do?” Drescher said. “We just kept the chairs.” Drescher, a sophomore film and media arts major, partnered with Dave Hogsett, a junior film and media arts major, to form Cave, a weekly comedy open mic series, in September 2017. Held in Hogsett’s house on Fontain Street near 15th, the group hosts free open mics, or events where anyone can sign up to perform a five-min-
ute comedy set, on Friday nights. During last Friday’s show, about 20 people performed, including some first-time student comics as well as more established Philadelphia comedians, like Matt Hyams, who founded the online satirical spirituality magazine Egobaby. Drescher and Hogsett said they were compelled to organize the shows after the disbanding of Temple University Comedy Club, a student comedy group, in Spring 2017. The group used to host regular open mics at Saige Cafe, a coffee shop near SEPTA’s Temple University Station. For each Cave performance, attendees gather in the basement of Hogsett’s house, which is sparsely decorated with wall tapestries and a TV displaying Cave’s logo. The logo, created by Summer Semanyk, Hogsett’s girlfriend and a sophomore tourism and hospitality management major, depicts cartoon versions of Hogsett and Drescher inside a cave filled with beady-
COMEDY | PAGE 8
JAMIE COTTRELL / THE TEMPLE NEWS Lyle Drescher, a sophomore film and media arts major, performs a comedy set at Cave Open Mic on Fontain Street near 15th on Friday.
NEWS | PAGES 2-3, 6
OPINION | PAGES 4-5
FEATURES | PAGES 7-12
SPORTS | PAGES 13-16
Theft in on-campus buildings has decreased on Main Campus after programming around the issue, Temple Police reported. Read more on Page 3.
A columnist argues that a City Council bill banning bulletproof glass in some local businesses is dangerous. Read more on Page 4.
Three artists traveled to Puerto Rico to document life on the island after hurricanes Maria and Irma struck. Read more on Page 7.
The women’s basketball team signed two high school prospects in November who could contribute as freshmen next season. Read more on Page 16.