OPINION
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
PAGE 5
CONSTRUCTION
Orientation needs Construction displacing students to be less isolating International students do not get to meet American students at their summer orientation.
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wo years ago on my first day of classes as a freshman, I felt anxious. As an international student, I wasn’t just new to Temple, I was new to America. I figured out where I was going on Main Campus though, because I had been shown the buildings during international student orientation. But I had no idea I would feel so isolated once classes began. The only familiar faces I recognized were those of other international students, whom I met during our week-long orientation at the end of the summer, and I slowly gravitated toward them, instead of getting to know American students. The setup of orientation for international students isolates them from their American peers before they even get the chance to meet them, as the orientation for ALISA ISLAM American freshmen is held separately. Leah Hetzell, assistant director of International Student Affairs, said international students often find themselves in a situation similar to mine. “Students stay with their friends and people that they feel comfortable with,” she said. “A lot of the times it’s people that come from the same country and speak the same language.” The 2020 freshman class is made up of about 6.5 percent international students. These 337 international students did not meet any of their other 4,825 freshman peers until classes started because of the nature of international student orientation. “Most of my friends I hang out with right now are from international orientation,” said Jiahao Li, a junior chemistry major. “My roommate right now I met during international orientation.” Li, who is an international student from China, has volunteered to help at international student orientation for the past two years. “I remember students told me they were really interested in making friends with American students,” he said. Li said it’s also important for international students to become friends with American students so they have someone to talk to in their classes. “When classes started I was one of the only international
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The only familiar faces I recognized were those of other international students, whom I met during our week-long orientation.
The construction of new CLA and CST advising offices in the library has been detrimental to students.
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used to spend the majority of my time studying in the large open area on the first floor of Paley Library. This space had private study desks, computer access and a great view of the Bell Tower. Unfortunately, this space is no longer accessible to students. It has been blocked off since the end of the summer in order to move the advising offices for the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science and Technology to the first floor of the library. The construction required to move these offices has made Paley Library at times uncomfortable due to noise and crowding. As a commuter student, I rely on the library during the day to complete my school work because I can’t just go home in between SIRA SIDIBE classes. But since the construction began, the silence I need to focus on my work — and that I expect of the library — has been replaced with the sounds of hammering and drilling. “The noise has not been as disruptive for the students because it’s more contained, and it’s also during the day,” Dean of Libraries Joe Lucia said. Unfortunately, for students like me who mainly come to the library during the day, construction may still interrupt their studies. Mekayla Noll, a sophomore pre-pharmacy major, comes to the library in between her morning classes. “I just come here, so I don’t have to walk home,” Noll said. “The last time I was here, there was drilling,” she added. “It was distracting. It was really loud.” It should go without saying that a library needs to be quiet. This is essential for students to read and study, and to use the library the way it’s supposed to be used. The changes due to construction have already had a visible effect on the study habits of students, Lucia said. “We recognized its negative impact on the students,” Lucia said. “It’s not a decision that originated in the library.” “When you’re part of the university community and something like this is asked of you, you kind of have to go along with it,” he added. The noise levels are not the only unfortunate consequences of current construction. About 25 to 30 computers from the quiet zone have also been removed. Paige Glenn, a junior media studies and production major, said the loss of these computers is an “inconvenience.” “I’m trying to find seating in the library for a computer, and
it’s all filled up,” she said. “So I’m up [in the mezzanine] trying to do ‘computer work,’ but I have to do it off my phone.” “I actually have to bring my laptop to school,” Glenn added. “I wasn’t planning on it.” The first floor has become crowded as seating and floor space were also lost. Kaisha Vilcinor, a junior psychology major, said she used to spend a lot of time on the first floor in the quiet zone before it was completely blocked off for construction, and she doesn’t like using the library’s upper floors. “The upper floor quiet areas have a lot less tables so there’s just a lot less space in general, a lot less computers, a lot more people in a little, small area,” Vilcinor said. “It’s just a lot more crowded.” “There aren’t really that many quiet spaces on campus to begin with, and [the university is] getting rid of them all,” she added. “By the time that construction for the new library’s done
MORGAN HINDMAN FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS
most of us won’t be here to experience it.” For upperclassmen like Vilcinor and myself, it’s hard to see any benefits from the current construction happening in Paley Library. Temple’s new library won’t open until 2018, and I, like many others, will have graduated by the time it’s open to students. Lucia said he is concerned with making sure students realize the library and its staff members are still working to provide for their needs. “[Students] can look at this decision and say, ‘Well, why did they decide to get rid of the space that we were using?’” Lucia said. This is exactly the question I have for the administration, which chose to begin tearing down sections of Paley Library before the foundation of the new library has even been completed. While future Temple students may still benefit from the new library and advising offices, current students shouldn’t be forced to suffer in the meantime. sira.sidibe@temple.edu
RELIGION
Lacking functional interfaith prayer room There is no functional space for students of all faiths to come together.
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students and I had to make friends all over again,” he said. “It’s a really good idea to have some connections before classes.” Combining the orientations for American and international students would allow international students to meet more members of their class. Currently, American students can choose from different two-day orientation dates throughout the summer. If American students were allowed to choose from even a few dates that fell during the same week as international student orientation, then both groups could be on Main Campus at the same time. Hetzell said she is not sure the logistical setup of orientation could be changed to introduce international students to American students. International Student Affairs is currently working on a program, however, to aid international students through a “peer-to-peer” initiative, pairing them up with Owl Team leaders, who are already upperclassmen. “It might expose them to someone different,” Hetzell said. “We are hoping that programs like that are going to be helpful.” Hetzell said she is also working to get cultural organizations to interact with other clubs to encourage international students to meet American students. While I think these types of initiatives are important, they are not enough to solve the problem of isolation that many international students suffer from. An individual interaction with an older Owl Team leader isn’t likely to develop into the same type of lasting friendship that could develop between two freshmen of any nation. And introducing cultural organizations to other student organizations is an attempt at fixing a problem after the fact, instead of eliminating the problem to begin with. At this point, international students have been on campus long enough to join other clubs. International students need to be incorporated into the Temple student body from the start, and for this to occur there needs to be a serious restructuring in the setup of the university’s orientations. alisa.islam@temple.edu
emple prides itself on diversity. But religious diversity isn’t always at the forefront of conversations about inclusivity on Main Campus. The university needs a centralized, larger space for students of all faiths and spiritual practices to come together. While Temple does technically have an interfaith prayer room, it is too small and not inclusive enough to be considered adequate. Despite being labeled as an “Interfaith CIERRA WILLIAMS Prayer Space,” room A326, which is hidden among student offices in the Village, seems to be focused primarily on Islam. Its announcements are posted outside the door in Arabic and ornate prayer rugs scattered on the floor. Ibrahim Souadda, senior film major and president of the Muslim Student Association, also said that the space is primarily used by Muslim students. Although the current “Interfaith Prayer Space” is open to all faiths, Souadda doesn’t think the room is currently accommodating enough. “If you have two different faith practices in there at the same time that might be difficult,” he said. “There’s just not enough space to do that, depending on what it is you have to do in your prayer.” Some may argue, however, that college students as a whole aren’t very religious and such a space isn’t essential at all. The Religious Landscape Study from 2014 shows that the youngest Millennials, those adults born between 1981 and 1996,
CAITLYN HETER FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS Prayer rugs crowd the floor of the existing Interfaith Prayer Room, room A326 of the Student Center.
are less likely to consider religion an important part of their lives in comparison to older generations. This information, though, means an interfaith prayer space is all the more important for religious students. These students would benefit from being able to come together and share their experiences practicing their faith — whatever it may be — in a generation that on the whole doesn’t do the same. “I think it would facilitate great communication to talk about inclusivity, religious pluralism, intersectionality, things of that sort,” said Tykee James, a junior strategic communication major and president of the Student Interfaith and Multicultural Society. SIMS offers an opportunity for students of different faiths to come together, however, group prayer isn’t part of its function. Group prayer could be facilitated by interested students if a larger interfaith prayer space were available on Main Campus. The tiny room the university currently has does not allow for many people to be using it at one time. In creating a new, functional interfaith space, the university could provide the resources to bring students of all faiths together. This space could appeal to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian student
populations, while also focusing resources on groups that do not always receive as much attention on Main Campus. Students who practice Hinduism or other eastern religions, as well as students who are spiritual rather than religious could also use the space to pray or meditate. “What Temple really needs is a religious life center just to be honest,” Souadda added. “It’s not about any one particular faith group.” Soudda said such a religious center would serve as an acknowledgment on the university’s part that religion can play a large factor in people’s lives on a daily basis. I agree with Soudda, but I think providing a larger, more accessible interfaith prayer room could be the more economical first step taken on the university’s part to acknowledge to spiritual needs of students. Right now a functional space is lacking on campus. Creating a larger interfaith prayer space would be a step in providing inclusivity for all religious and spiritual practices on campus and providing students with a sense of belonging in a growing secularized world. cierra.williams@temple.edu
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