EDITORIAL/OP-ED
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015
THE ESSAYIST A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921. Emily Rolen, Editor-in-Chief EJ Smith, Managing Editor Joe Brandt, Chief Copy Editor Steve Bohnel, News Editor Paige Gross, Opinion Editor Albert Hong, Lifestyle Editor Harsh Patel, Web Manager Victoria Mier, Arts & Entertainment Editor Tom Dougherty, Web Editor Michael Guise, Sports Editor Jenny Kerrigan, Photography Editor Jack Tomczuk, Asst. News Editor Margo Reed, Asst. Photography Editor Owen McCue, Asst. Sports Editor Donna Fanelle, Design Editor Michaela Winberg, Asst. Lifestyle Editor Finnian Saylor, Asst. Designer Eamon Dreisbach, Asst. Arts & Entertainment Justin Discigil, Advertising Manager Editor Grayson Holladay, Business Manager Sean Brown, Multimedia Editor Jeanie Davey, Marketing Manager Harrison Brink, Asst. Multimedia Editor
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. Visit us online at temple-news.com. Send submissions to letters@temple-news.com. The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122
EDITORIALS
Lowering student debt We admire Temple for sulting group. choosing a president who is As debt holds a spot in well-versed in financial man- every student’s mind, the agement. price of an The university is right to additional President T h e o b a l d , prioritize graduating in four year or an the former years over small raises in u n a n t i c i CFO at Inpated extra tuition. diana Unisemester of versity, told classes can The Temple News last week blindside a student who has that one of the biggest issues to take out student loans. In facing students isn’t tuition comparison, the price of a hikes, but the debt that ac- two percent raise in tuition cumulates with extra and un- seems miniscule to the thouexpected semesters at the end sands of extra dollars a stuof a college career. dent faces in their fifth year “I’m actually less con- at Temple. cerned about tuition than I The four-year graduam by debt,” he said. “Debt ation rate – currently set limits your options once you at about 50 percent – is up graduate. … If you take a about six percent from 2013. look at differences across The program allows incomstudents and how much debt ing students the opportunity they take on, how long it to map out a plan and follow takes to get their degree is the some guidelines, like regular primary deterrent.” visits with their advisors, that The president’s concerns will ensure graduation in four are right where they should years. be. The nation’s Class of Theobald’s priority of 2015 broke the record for the getting students their degrees highest average student debt on time is well-placed, for of any class with $35,000 per the financial repercussions of student, according to govern- failing to do so are far more ment data analyzed by Edvi- catastrophic than a raise in sors, a student finance con- tuition.
Crosswalks welcome
Several blocks of Dia- that traffic. mond Street near Broad The Philadelphia Streets Street were paved months Deptartment met with uniafter city workers dug deep versity officials this past to replace summer The city recently installed sewers. But to folong after crosswalks on Diamond Street cus on pipe was near Park Avenue, where a car t r a f f i c laid and Dia- senior lacrosse player was hit. s a f e t y. mond Street Keisha was paved, the intersection McCarty-Skelton, of the at Park Avenue—where a city’s Streets Department, Temple lacrosse player was told The Temple News in an critically injured riding her email that “even when the bike when a car hit her—still engineering solution is in didn’t have crosswalks. place, safety involves good Former backup goalten- behavior on the part of the der Rachel Hall remains on traveling public.” a long road to recovery after There’s a stop sign for a hit-and-run at the intersec- southbound traffic from tion around 7 p.m. April 29. Park, and the intersection is City workers painted cross- part of a 15 mph speed limit walks at the intersection this “school zone” for the nearby weekend. Philadelphia Military AcadAside from the hit-and- emy. run, it’s clear to us that this But that speed limit is was a dangerous intersec- only active around the opention; during the past few ing and closing of school, months, our staff has seen and Hall was hit at night, students and community res- when students who live in idents alike staring down on- housing north of Main Camcoming traffic at Main Cam- pus will likely be crossing. pus’ northern border before The crosswalks are deciding to make a run for it. a welcome addition and Until recently, pedestri- should keep students and ans had to look out for on- residents much safer. But coming traffic from both di- it’s clear there’s a need for rections on Diamond Street swifter oversight of dangerwithout anything to deter ous intersections.
CORRECTIONS The Temple News strives to be a newspaper of record by printing factually correct and balanced articles. 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 Emily Rolen at editor@temple-news.com or 215.204.6737.
Traveling to find home
T
A student studying abroad finds a little slice of home—2,000 miles from where she was raised.
he mountain path ended abruptly ahead. Though my joints seemed to audibly sigh in relief, there was a twinge of disappointment in my chest. I stood for a moment longer, watching the tall grass sway in the afternoon sunlight. Towering peaks rose in the distance, mottled with blue and violet. I turned my attention back to the
By Victoria Mier climb a mountain, breathe fresh, wild air into my lungs. I needed to go. I couldn’t explain why. “Two ciders,” the older gentleman at the bar called, hidden behind a hatch door that made me think of Bilbo Baggins and the adventures I’d read about as a child.
A lot felt familiar since I set foot in Wales, the “ country my ancestors left some three or four hundred years ago.”
VICTORIA MIER TTN
path. The sharp turn ahead revealed an old-fashioned bed and breakfast with a sign: “local cider sold here.” Having just climbed a mountain, my friend and I decided we deserved a pint. We were tired. Our bones ached. I let Kelly go first, following her blue and black braid up the patio stairs. The inside of the bed and breakfast was dressed like a widow in dark woods, the stone floors worn with years of use. I took a deep breath. Something smelled familiar. A lot felt familiar since I set foot in Wales, the country my ancestors left some three or four hundred years prior. The trip was a leap of faith—hostel reservations made three days before our train departed, my companions two fellow Temple students studying abroad in London. I had known them for a week, maybe less. All I wanted was to go. See a castle,
ONLINE LISTEN TO VICTORIA Read along with Victoria as she tells her personal story, “Traveling to find home.” soundcloud.com/temple-news.com
The “famous local cider” tasted like apples past their prime, growing stale and mushy in a damp November field. But it was cold and plentiful. And I was in Wales, after years of wishing and waiting. Complaining didn’t seem right. The older man from the bar—the owner, it turned out—wanted to know if Kelly and I were just traveling, or if we had any Welsh heritage. Kelly looked expectantly at me. “My family is Welsh and I think they’re from North Wales, so I always wanted to visit,” I said. “Do you know the surname?” The man asked, adjusting his glasses. The frames looked a lot like mine—thick, black, square. “Griffiths,” I told him with a shrug, under the impression the name was as common as Smith or Jones. “Griffiths? You’re a Griffiths?” “My great grandmother was. I don’t have the name anymore. I think my family left for America in the 1700s.” “I’m Stefan,” the man said excitedly, “and I’m related to the Griffiths as well. It’s not a common name at all, particularly in North Wales.” He told me he traced genealogy of Welsh families—a hobby that he took quite seriously. Stefan even offered vaca-
tions at his bed and breakfast centered on tracing Welsh heritage. “Come look at this room,” he said, bounding up the stone steps back into the house. He stepped over a chain with a sign that proclaimed “STAFF ONLY.” Clearly, I was to follow. “This is an eighteenth-century Welsh home and it hasn’t changed at all. This is exactly how a home would look before your family left for America.” I ran my hand along the curve of the table, looking at the sepia photographs he pointed to on the walls. I was a little lightheaded. My heart thudded like a drum. Stefan dug through an old wooden chest with eager hands, photographs, books and census reports spilling onto the floor. The chest smelled like cedar and something else—something musky with a hint of spice, like cardamom. It smelled like home. I looked out the window past the soft hills, heavy with heather, to the mountains beyond. My ribcage had filled with something aching and alien when I reached the midpoint of the climb earlier that day, the valleys laid out before me like jaggedly cut emeralds, dark veins of roads and trees running through the gems’ facets. The mountains had spoken to me, something old and lovely, dark and deep. Stefan instructed me to find the names of farms or manors my family had owned. Then he could tell me what they did for a living, what church they went to, where they were buried. I asked my mom to email me a list of names and places from our family’s book—a culmination of a great aunt’s research, bound in faded blue. An ancestor had been buried in the cathedral of the town I had stayed in, a fact I didn't know when I picked it as a destination. I forwarded her email to Stefan. Then I emailed him again a week later, just to be sure. I got home from London in early August and I still haven’t heard back. Maybe it wasn’t the right email address. Maybe I should just call him. Maybe, if I hear his voice, I will be able to smell the heather on the hills and feel the expanse of that wild mountain, silent and jagged like a slumbering dragon. I think I’m going to call him tomorrow. * victoria.mier@temple.edu T @victoria_mier_
commentary | STUDENT FINANCES
Tuition increase hits upperclassmen hard Internships and financial strain make for “real world” experiences.
A
s I logged on to pay tuition with my parents earlier this month, an email I received in May popped into my mind. “You have 60 earned credits and are now classified as an upper division student. As a result, you will be charged the upper division tuition rate, which is higher.” I remembered PAIGE GROSS being angry when I initially read the email, but shrugged it off, as college students tend to do, when I realized it wouldn’t affect me for a few months. But there it was, the higher figure, inflated by this year’s tuition increase and the extra charge for being an upperclassmen staring back at us on my laptop screen. My mom put it best when she uttered, “that’s bulls---” at the computer
screen. At first I chalked it up to an inflated economy, but that didn’t seem to justify why we, the students who have stuck around for two years were feeling the financial hit the worst. I thought about it again as I accepted an internship that would take up two whole days of my week, outside
are made for internships, especially at a university that boasts about its outside opportunities. When three of my credits are being earned in Center City, on another company’s time and resources, I can’t justify the $800 increase that being an upperclassman costs me. Maybe it is the timing – the raise in tuition for
not get to reap the benefits of participating in them. It’s a hard year to make the transition to upperclassmen, partially because of the financial strain, and partially because the sting from reality smacking us in the face will not be fading anytime soon. My only suggestion that makes the increase seem bearable, is to take advantage
it right, our junior and senior years are “If we’re doingmade for internships.” of the university and its resources I was now paying a higher price for. The Bursar’s Office site explains that tuition is based on a few things: school or college within the university, student’s level, credit hours and class. Those who argue the more advanced classes warrant more experienced professors have a valid point, but in my experience, those professors are the ones that suggest getting off campus and into the real world as much as possible. If we’re doing it right, our junior and senior years
the whole university and the shift to upperclassman status at the same time to the tune of $17,388—that’s $1,792 more than the previous year for an in-state student in the School of Media and Communication. President Theobald recently told The Temple News that he sees overwhelming debt as a bigger issue than slight increases of tuition, and I agree with him. But it’s hard to see a university so focused on programs for incoming students and underclassmen like the “Temple Option” and “Fly in 4” and
of each and every opportunity the university does offer. I’ll make it worth it as I get to know my professors at their office hours and meet with advisors and eat lots of pizza at Free Food Fun Fridays. I will embrace everything I do get by being a Temple student in the two years I have left and be grateful before the “real world” stomps it out of me. * paige.gross1@temple.edu T @By_paigegross