Volume 90, Issue 24

Page 1

INSIDE: Pick up your copy of the March issue of FOURTEENTH STREET magazine.

temple-news.com VOL. 90 ISS. 24

TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012

Running for Progress The Temple News profiles the two tickets, RUN TEMPLE and Temple Advocating Progress, campaigning for the executive positions of Temple Student Government.

After arrest, press network pushes for dismissal of charges A junior is facing charges after he took photos of police officers.

RUN TEMPLE AMELIA BRUST The Temple News

M

aking up RUN TEMPLE’s ticket for Temple Student Government executive officers are Brandon Rey Ramirez for TSG student body president, Jaimee Swift for TSG vice president of external affairs and Ruturaj Rana for vice president of services. Ramirez, a junior political science major and TSG deputy chief of staff, has been involved with TSG since his freshman year. He was TSG allocations co-chair for two years, a College of Liberal Arts senator in TSG and, last year, he worked on the TU Nation campaign. “There were a lot of progressive resolutions that used to come through Temple Student Government, and that made me really want to be a part of it because I saw it as the hub of activism at Temple,” Ramirez said. Ramirez said he feels advocacy is not currently a focus of the TSG agenda. He has personally participated in campus protests with Temple

ABI REIMOLD TTN

Community Against Mountaintop Removal and Occupy Temple, neither of which have been vocal at General Assembly meetings. Ramirez credits this to what he sees as a lack of emphasis on such issues on the part of TSG. “If there’s an issue that students are upset about, Temple Student Government should, right away, contact those students, find out exactly what’s going on, and try and get a resolution,” he said. “I mean you should actually sit down with the president, with those students, with the Board [of Trustees] and figure out what agreement we can come to.” Until now, Swift, a junior communications major and a writer for HerCampus Temple University, said she has not been actively involved with TSG, but became motivated to participate more after she worked on the Owl Future campaign last year. Swift is the publicity chair for the Temple Association of Black Journalists. “Last year I really saw TSG when I was helping Malcolm Kenyatta for his ticket, Owl Future, and I saw

RUN PAGE 3

ABI REIMOLD TTN

TEMPLE ADVOCATING PROGRESS AMELIA BRUST The Temple News

M

aking up Temple Advocating for Progress’ ticket for Temple Student Government executive officers are David Lopez for TSG student body president, Ofo Ezeugwu for TSG vice president of external affairs and Julian Hamer for vice president of services. Lopez, a junior political science and criminal justice major and TSG chief of staff, said running for executive office was “something I’ve been thinking about for a while, especially since I saw some things go on in TSG that I didn’t think were making it better.” Lopez is president of Temple College Democrats, as well as a part-time Owl Ambassador and member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Hamer, a junior broadcast journalism major, and Lopez previously worked on the political talk show “We Are the People,” for WHIP Student Radio. Meanwhile, Ezeugwu, a junior entrepreneurship ma-

jor, and Hamer, both natives of Maryland, met before attending Temple. “The whole reason, I think, that we think we’re a good team is because we kind of cover different areas of campus,” Lopez said. Ezeugwu is vice president of marketing for the Entrepreneurial Student Association and vice president of TU Handball Club. Before running, Ezeugwu had little direct involvement with TSG. “These guys have been filling me in on things I should definitely know,” Ezeugwu said. Ezeugwu said he has been attending more TSG meetings recently. “Attending the meetings, it seems like…it’s kind of a lot of them talking at us,” Ezeugwu said. “There’s a lot that can be done to make it more enjoyable because right now it seems very boring.” TAP members want to lessen the formality of General Assembly meetings, Lopez said, either by eliminating the routine slideshow presentations or rearranging the room set-up. The ticket’s platform

PROGRESS PAGE 3

up the camera, she was arrested and held for nearly 18 hours, he said. Van Kuyk was arrested and held for nearly 24 hours. But Van Kuyk’s relaying of the story several days later ignited a network response. ANGELO FICHERA Dr. Andrew Mendelson, chairNews Editor man of the journalism departNot only does Ian Van ment, learned of the incident Kuyk assert that his First and contacted Mickey OsterAmendment rights were vio- reicher, general counsel at the lated when he was arrested, National Press Photographers but he said he’s facing a num- Association. Osterreicher formally adber of charges for exercising those rights. Before March 14, dressed Philadelphia Police Commissioner Van Kuyk had no brushes with Department the law, no serious blemishes Charles Ramsey in a March on his record. So, he said, he 22 letter, which he also sent to didn’t expect his first would Mayor Michael Nutter and District Attorney come while takSeth Williams. ing photos for In the letter, a class assignO s terreicher ment. condemns the Roughly officers for two weeks ago, their actions police officers and criticizes pulled a vehicle the charges to the side of brought upon the road near Van Kuyk. Van Kuyk’s res“Not only idence in South wasn’t he Philadelphia. Mickey Osterreicher / c o m m i t t i n g Enrolled in a nppa general counsel any crimes, he photojournalwas exercisism course, the junior film and media arts major used the oc- ing a constitutionally protected currence as an opportunity to form of free speech and free take photos for a night-photog- expression,” Osterreicher told The Temple News. “The eleraphy assignment. As Van Kuyk tells it, he ments of most criminal charges grabbed his camera and began contain a number of things, but taking photos of the occur- they all have to have contained rence. After being told to move intent...his only intent at that away from the scene, Van point was to take pictures. I Kuyk distanced himself but think they would have a very continued to take photos, he difficult time proving beyond said. However, an officer soon a reasonable doubt proving after demanded Van Kuyk to those charges.” “It would be one thing stop taking photos, he said. “He was pushing me, and to just have somebody say, I kept taking pictures and he ‘You can’t take pictures.’ That didn’t like it, and he...got real would be bad enough,” Osteraggressive and threw me to the reicher added. “His rights were not only stripped, they were ground,” Van Kuyk said. When his girlfriend, VAN KUYK PAGE 3 Meghan Feighan, tried to pick

“His [First Amendment] rights were not only stripped, they were trampled.”

Univ. looks to revamp gift-giving policies OPINION DISTORTED FAITH, p.5 Daniel Craig blasts Rick Santorum’s comments, in which he claims that college kills faith.

LIVING PRES. PROFILES, p.7 The Temple News goes behind the scenes with student body presidential candidates David Lopez and Brandon Rey Ramirez.

A&E EVERYTHING ANIMATED, p.9 Comic lovers gathered for the Philadelphia Comic Con to peruse comics old and new and to discuss the industry’s future.

SPORTS SEASON’S END, p.20 The women’s basketball team’s seniors said goodbye to their playing days, as the Owls lost to Syracuse in the WNIT Sweet 16.

Administrators hope the board will approve new procedures at its next public session. ALEXIS SACHDEV Living Editor At the March 13 Board of Trustees meeting, the alumni relations and development committee presented a report and list of recommended changes to the current gift acceptance policy. The changes, currently pending approval, revise the current standards of gift-giving and naming opportunities, said David Unruh, senior vice president for institutional advancement. Though the policies needed to be updated to adhere to current charitable gift laws and align with the tuition increases

NEWS DESK 215-204-7419

throughout the past seven years, Unruh said, the committee also realizes the importance of private donations for a school like Temple. “We do have a stated objective of securing more philanthropy for the university, in part because of the decline in state funding, and frankly because there are some things that, independent of state funding... will almost always only happen if through private investment,” Unruh said. “So, there’s always an opportunity at a place like Temple for us to realize private investment,” he added. “I think we’re doing really exciting, dynamic things, and philanthropy has a dramatic benefit on the ability of students to pursue their education, for faculty to research, for our physicians to do their ABI REIMOLD TTN clinical service and for us to be The Board of Trustees tabled recommendations to amend the university’s current gift-giving an ever-better, higher-impactand naming opportunity policies at its meeting on March 13.

GIFTS PAGE 2

NEWS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Volume 90, Issue 24 by The Temple News - Issuu