Vol. 100 Iss. 4

VOL 100 // ISSUE 4 OCT. 12, 2021

THE TEMPLE NEWS

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

CONFRONTING MENTAL HEALTH As students return to life on campus, some are struggling with social and academic pressures and facing mental health impacts after spending more than a year learning virtually. Read more on Page 14.

WHAT’S INSIDE NEWS, PAGE 3

Vents in 1300 dorm rooms cleaned after dust and debris buildup.

SPORTS, PAGE 30

Triplets use gymnastics to remain connected.

Read on page B1

PAGE 2

The Temple News

THE TEMPLE NEWS A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

Lawrence Ukenye Editor-in-Chief Jack Danz Managing Editor Amelia Winger Digital Managing Editor Natalie Kerr Chief Print Copy Editor Dante Collinelli Chief Digital Copy Editor Haajrah Gilani Assignments Editor Fallon Roth News Editor Micah Zimmerman Assistant News Editor Monica Constable Assistant News Editor Julia Merola Opinion Editor Samantha Sullivan Features Editor Mary Rose Leonard Assistant Features Editor Matthew Aquino Assistant Features Editor Isabella DiAmore Sports Editor Nick Gangewere Assistant Sports Editor Victoria Ayala Assistant Sports Editor Eden MacDougall Intersection Editor Emerson Marchese Longform Editor Maggie Fitzgerald Audience Engagement Editor Emily Lewis Asst. Engagement Editor Allison Ippolito Photography Editor Amber Ritson Assistant Photography Editor Erik Coombs Multimedia Editor Allison Silibovsky Assistant Multimedia Editor Hanna Lipski Design Editor Carly Civello Assistant Design Editor Gracie Heim Web Editor Olivia Hall Podcast Editor Scarlett Catalfamo 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-inChief, 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.

CORRECTIONS 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 Lawrence Ukenye at editor@temple-news.com.

ON THE COVER (From left to right) Raisa Roberto, a first-year podiatric medical student at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Aric Kressly, a sophomore journalism major, and Kylie Conners, a junior advertising major.

Students’ mental health has been impacted by Temple’s mostly in-person school year.

ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS AMBER RITSON / 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

The Temple News

NEWS

PAGE 3

ON CAMPUS

Temple residence hall had buildup of dust, debris University housing is planning to implement a routine vent cleaning schedule for residence halls.

BY FALLON ROTH News Editor

V

ents at Temple University’s 1300 Residence Hall had buildup of dust and debris mainly affecting the first, second and third floors of the residence hall, before University Housing and Residential Life’s maintenance staff cleaned out vents that were reported to them between Sept. 13 and Sept. 20.

Currently, UHRL is contracting Chute Master International, a professional building maintenance company, to do an additional widespread cleanout of the hall’s HVAC system, wrote Olan Garrett, director of residential life, in an email to The Temple News. Since they began on Sept. 27, the cleaning company has completed the first floor and the second floor of 1300, and began the third floor yesterday, he wrote.

Chute Master plans to complete work on all five floors of 1300 by the end of October, Garrett wrote.

The dust and debris primarily affected the exhaust vents, which are located in the bathrooms at 1300 and circulate air out of the bathroom, because they are not cleaned out regularly, Garrett said.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had a history of neglecting this particular amount of work and that’s on us,” Garrett said.

Jon Brighton, director of maintenance operations, has been working to implement a routine cleaning schedule in all the residence halls on campus, Garrett said.

UHRL’s maintenance staff started receiving work orders for vents in certain rooms in 1300 on Sept. 13 and cleaned about 15 to 20 vents rooms that week, but became aware that it was more of a widespread problem when they started receiving messages from parents after issues with the vents were discussed in parent Facebook groups, Garrett said.

The maintenance staff had already been collaborating with the university’s Environmental Health & Radiation Safety unit and discovered that the sub-

KLAIRE ZHAN/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Two students exit the front of 1300 Residence Hall on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 13th Street on Oct. 4.

stance in the exhaust vents was dust and debris and not mold, Garrett said.

From Sept. 13 to Sept. 20, UHRL received 24 maintenance requests for the vents and Garrett sent an email to students on Sept. 20 notifying them of the issues with the vents and that all vents reported to maintenance by the end of the day on Sept. 20 would be cleaned out, he said.

Natalie White, a freshman social work major who lives on the second floor of 1300, submitted a maintenance request after seeing dark spots on the vents in the bathroom, she said.

The maintenance staff came to White’s room, removed and cleaned the vents in her bathroom and determined there was no mold present, White said.

The vents at 1300 are not cleaned before the start of each academic year and would not have been cleaned until winter break if the current buildup of dust and debris in the exhaust vents did not occur, Garrett said.

“We’re already there for a few months before Christmas break,” White said. “Why wait when it could be something more serious?”

While the vents have not been regularly cleaned out, air filters at 1300 are changed every year at the recommendation of the EHRS, Garrett said.

The HVAC systems in 1300 are individual units meaning that the buildup of dust and debris did not necessarily affect all units, according to an email sent to students at 1300.

Some students reported feeling sick before the vents were cleaned out, but no correlation between student sickness and the exhaust vents can be confirmed until Student Health Services evaluates the students, Garrett said.

“I got a sore throat, my friend also went home, she got a sore throat, but it was more so just like a scratchy throat and some stuffy sinuses,” said Darian Diaz, a freshman music technology major, who lives on the first floor of 1300.

UHRL began working with Student Health Services at the end of September to evaluate students at 1300 to see if there is any correlation between the vents and students’ symptoms, Garrett said.

There haven’t been any recent updates regarding these efforts, Garrett

wrote on Oct. 6.

There are five floors of suite and apartment-style rooms at 1300, making up 85 total units within the building, according to the UHRL website.

Moving forward, UHRL will service 1300 and other campus residence halls in a multi-year vent cleaning service contract, Brighton wrote in an email to The Temple News.

Preventative maintenance at 1300 were particularly difficult as of late due to navigating how to spend money during the COVID-19 pandemic, Garrett said.

The maintenance is an approximately $100,000 project, but Garrett now believes that UHRL is in a better place to implement regular cleanings going forward.

“We are being intentional about putting things like this on a regular preventative maintenance window, and our housing facilities folks are doing a really good job of that,” Garrett said. fallon.roth@temple.edu @fallonroth_

PAGE 4

NEWS

The Temple News

CRIME

Incidents of online harassment rise at Temple Most reported instances to Campus Safety Services are not related to in-person harassment.

BY MICAH ZIMMERMAN Assistant News Editor During the fall semester, harassment has remained the leading crime on The Temple News’ Crime Dashboard, which offers a breakdown of incidents reported to Temple University’s Campus Safety Services, with most instances being related to online harassment.

Harassment occurs when someone repeatedly touches, talks to or follows another person with the intent of annoying or alarming them, according to The Temple News Crime Dashboard.

Reports of harassment on Main Campus significantly increased throughout the 2010s, more than doubling from 86 reports in 2013 to 194 reports in 2019. Campus Safety Services reported 110 harassment offenses in 2020 — a 45-percent decline from 2019 — largely because there were fewer students on campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Campus Safety Services received more harassment cases during the last year involving the use of texting and social media than in-person harassment cases in comparison to previous years, said Charles Leone, executive director of Campus Safety Services.

The Wellness Resource Center, which provides harassment prevention education and health services to students, is seeing more reports of harassment, particularly sexual harassment on dating apps, said Liz Zadnik, associate director of the Wellness Resource Center.

“There have been changed personal dating behaviors because of COVID, and now you have a video date and people non-consensually showing parts of their body,” Zadnik said.

Campus Safety Services use Pennsylvania crime codes to classify harassment as following a person in public places, communicating to a person in a lewd or a threatening manner

ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Temple’s Campus Safety Services building is located on 12th Street near Montgomery Avenue. Online harassment cases are the second most reported crime on Temple’s campus.

or communicating with someone repeatedly at an inconvenient time or in an anonymous manner, Leone said.

Harassment often goes unidentified at the university because students do not feel comfortable reporting cases of harassment or do not understand that they are experiencing harassment, said Andrea Seiss, Title IX coordinator.

If a university student is accused of harassment, a Student Conduct Code referral is made which may result in an investigation and disciplinary action, Leone said. The complainant can also file criminal charges with the Office of the District Attorney, he said.

The Title IX office conducts a full

investigation when a student has been harassed, which differs from the Student Conduct Code process because there is a cross-examination of the complainant party and respondent party by Title IX advisors, Seiss said.

Disciplinary action can include suspension, expulsion and disenrollment from the university in addition to criminal charges, Leone said.

Campus safety encourages complainants to file a Private Criminal Complaint at the Philadelphia Office of the District Attorney, Leone said.

This complaint allows students being harassed to pursue legal actions that the university can not offer, he said.

“Almost 90 percent of the time that someone who is harassed knows the one who harmed them,” Zadnik said. “It is a roommate or a former roommate or a date or intimate partner or classmate.”

More than 88 percent of all students experiencing harassing behavior identified the harasser as another student, according to the Association of American Universities.

“Harassment should be reported,” Leone said. “Pay close attention to who receives your personal cell phone number and social media accounts.” micah.zimmerman@temple.edu @micahvzimmerman

The Temple News

NEWS

PAGE 5

TSG

Parliament adds members, works on resolutions The speaker’s goal for passing 10 to 12 resolutions this academic year still stands.

BY ALEXIS BRAY For The Temple News Temple University Student Government has added 20 new representatives to Parliament, TSG’s legislative body, after holding elections for vacant seats in a Sept. 9 election. A month after the election, Parliament leadership said the increase in participation is making it easier for the body to work on resolutions and allows for more discussion between members with different perspectives.

“Building resolutions is a teamwork process and it wasn’t very feasible with only five people,” said Townley Sorge, the speaker of Parliament, a senior public health major and the College of Public Health Parliament representative.

Out of 11 races in Parliament’s September election, only five had candidates that ran unoppsed, according to the TSG Instagram.

Temple students who ran in the September Parliament’s September race were elected to different areas of representation, like class and college representatives, Sorge said.

In addition to these new seats, TSG has added interest-based seats to Parliament, which represent graduate students, commuters, transfer students, honors students, international students, multicultural students and students who identify as LGBT, Sorge said.

Parliament saw an increase in candidates this year because Sorge and previous Parliament members reached out to students through social media, in-person interaction and at Templefest, she said.

Five candidates won and ran unopposed in the April 2021 Parliament election and won, The Temple News reported.

“I don’t think by any means has Temple been in a deficit of people that are interested about making change, we just haven’t been reaching them,” Sorge said.

Parliament, now with 25 total members, has established its steering committee, which is composed of Parliament

AMBER RITSON/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Townley Sorge, a senior public health major and Parliament speaker stands in front of Sullivan Hall on Polett Walk on Oct. 10.

leadership and is a communication channel between the Parliament speaker, vice speaker and subcommittees. The steering committee is in the process of discussing ideas for resolutions, Sorge said.

Parliament is currently working on a resolution for people with disabilities, which ensures that the activation buttons on automatic doors function properly. The resolution was recently pitched to TSG and is currently in the research phase of its creation, Sorge wrote in an email to The Temple News.

Reaching out to students with disabilities for input is important so they can be involved in the resolution process, Sorge said.

“Parliament’s responsibility is to represent our peers and address issues that students bring to us,” Sorge said.

Kendall Stephens, an at-large-representative and a senior public health and social work major, believes that she is someone the student body can speak through to address issues and concerns they may have, she said.

Stephens is interested in lowering the tuition discrepancy between in-state

and out-of-state students, she said.

As a part of its Owls on the Hill Program, some TSG members are working as student lobbyists at the state capitol in Harrisburg to advocate against the elimination of tuition differentials, differences between in-state and out-of-state tuition, that create or worsen significant financial barriers for students, especially marginalized students, Stephens said.

In years past, most resolutions are passed within a month, but since this Parliament is newly elected, there is not a definite timeline for how long a resolution might take since they have not passed one this academic year, said Rosalee Banks, the junior class representative and a junior criminal justice major.

In August, Sorge said she wanted to pass 10 to 12 resolutions this year, The Temple News reported. She’s still aiming for that goal because she believes this year’s parliamentarians are eager to make changes.

The process of creating a resolution includes formally outlining the process of change including who to contact and how much it would cost Temple to en-

act the changes, which is then submitted to the university administration for approval once completed.

Parliament passed a piece of legislation last year enacting a pass/fail grading option for the Fall 2020 semester, Sorge said.

Members are also reaching out to the student body, with the Good Morning Commuters initiative where two representatives from Parliament sit outside the Bell Tower to speak to and greet commuters getting off the regional rail trains to gather ideas for possible future resolutions, Sorge said.

Sorge hopes that the surge in freshman parliamentarians will lead to more returning members of the legislative body next year, Sorge said.

“It’s very important that we put our differences aside and be able to speak with stability, you know, and with purpose and intention,” Stephens said. “I think that if we are able to do that, then the sky’s the limit of what we are able to do.” alexis.bray@temple.edu

PAGE 6

NEWS

The Temple News

CRIME

Main Campus crime dropped during pandemic The 46-percent drop came as most of the students on-campus went home during COVID-19.

BY AMELIA WINGER Digital Managing Editor Crimes reported to Temple University’s Campus Safety Services on Main Campus fell by about 46 percent from 2019 to 2020 as the university shifted to primarily remote operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the university’s 2021 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report published on Sept. 29.

The report summarizes the number of crimes and fires reported to Temple on or near its campuses — including international ones — in the past three years. The university released the report in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, a law requiring universities that receive federal funding to publish crime statistics annually.

Temple expected crime rates to plummet during the pandemic because there were fewer students living on or near campus, meaning there were less people around to commit crimes, said Charles Leone, director of Campus Safety Services.

Crime may have also fallen in 2020 because Temple installed more card readers at the front security desks of oncampus buildings, which prevented people from getting into on-campus buildings to commit crimes, like robberies, Leone said.

Additionally, despite less people being on campus, the facilities management team maintained the university’s physical appearance, which discouraged crimes like vandalism, one of the top offenses in 2019, Leone added.

“The campus was clean, it didn’t have a look of not being utilized,” Leone said.

“We sometimes worry about if it looks like underutilized property because that may play into crime in that area.”

Reports of Clery Act crimes at universities across the city fell from 2019 to 2020 as local schools pivoted to primarily remote operations. Drexel University reported seven percent fewer offenses at its University City campus and

ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Temple’s Campus Safety Services building is located on 12th Street near Montgomery Avenue. Crime on Temple Main Campus fell 46 percent after shifting to remote operations.

La Salle University reported 30 percent fewer offenses at its main campus. The University of Pennsylvania reported a two percent increase at its main campus.

Campus Safety Services did not decrease its patrols of Main Campus in 2020, despite anticipating the decline in crime rates, in case the smaller oncampus population left students more vulnerable to being targeted, Leone said.

“I wanted to be ahead of the curve and make sure we had enough patrol out there so that wouldn’t happen,” Leone said. “If you’re walking down campus, it’s well lit and you see an officer on a bike, you’re going to be safer, not just feel safer.”

The report’s findings encompass crimes that occurred in on-campus buildings, like residence halls, as well as in buildings Temple operates for noneducational purposes and on public property adjacent to campus, which includes sidewalks, streets and parking facilities. The report does not include a majority of offenses that occurred in the

neighborhood surrounding Main Campus.

Here is how crime changed in 2020.

CLERY ACT CRIMES Temple reported 42 Clery Act crimes in 2020 — a decrease from the 77 reported in 2019 — despite reporting an increase in rape offenses and the first manslaughter by negligence offense since at least 2013.

The report of manslaughter by negligence involved a man arrested for driving under the influence and vehicular homicide in October 2020 after crashing his car into another vehicle, killing the woman in the passenger seat, Leone wrote in an email to The Temple News.

The man and victim were not affiliated with the university.

The Clery Act crimes reported in 2020 were not motivated by bias against the victim. Temple reported four separate hate crimes in 2020 — three instances of intimidation and one of property damage — which is significantly

fewer than the 11 reported in 2019, the highest since at least 2014, The Temple News reported.

At the beginning of 2020, Campus Safety Services prioritized reducing the number of robberies on campus after seeing an uptick in December 2019. As the year progressed, the department also noticed reports of motor vehicle theft often resulted from the rising popularity of food delivery services, Leone said.

“If I’m a driver for one of the delivery organizations, I pull up to one of the restaurants and leave my car running while I run inside to get the order, and it takes me a couple minutes while getting the order, somebody could see my car running and then get in and drive away,” he said.

Reports of robbery fell from 28 offenses in 2019 to nine in 2020, while reports of motor vehicle theft fell from nine in 2019 to six in 2020.

Temple also reported its first two arson offenses on Main Campus since 2013. The offenses involved teenagers

The Temple News

NEWS

PAGE 7

instruction just two weeks into the semester, The Temple News reported.

The report does not include a summary of the liquor law violation referrals, disciplinary actions and arrests made among students living off campus outside of Temple’s Clery geography.

setting trash cans on fire and occurred within two days of each other in May 2020, Leone said.

RELATIONSHIP VIOLENCE CRIMES There were 20 offenses related to dating violence reported in 2020, which is a 41 percent decline from 2019.

Although relationship violence declined overall, reports of domestic violence were one of the only crime categories to increase, climbing from four offenses in 2019 to 10 offenses in 2020. Domestic violence refers to any crime committed by someone the victim is in a current or former relationship with, living with the victim or shares a child with the victim.

Reports of domestic violence rose throughout 2020, potentially because COVID-19 quarantine and isolation measures prevented victims from leaving their homes and complicated others’ abilities to intervene in abusive living situations, said Andrea Seiss, Temple’s Title IX coordinator.

“People were isolating in a situation where they may be living in an abusive situation, or a physically abusive or sexually

abusive situation, that was exacerbated during this period of time when we had to be so isolated from others,” Seiss said.

Nine of the 10 domestic violence offenses reported in 2020 occurred in public spaces adjacent to Main Campus, meaning they did not necessarily involve individuals affiliated with Temple, Leone said.

“We’ve had people that were involved in a relationship, and because they were on a public highway — whether they came from the subway or the bus, or walking along the street — and officers got involved even though it might not be student or staff related,” Leone said.

Besides relationship violence offenses, reports of rape increased from five offenses in 2019 to seven in 2020.

The increase in rape offenses may result from students reporting sexual misconduct more frequently than in previous years, rather than rape becoming more prevalent on campus, Leone said.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Temple’s Title IX Office from offering its usual in-person programming, the office provided students with information about reporting sexual

misconduct and prevention virtually through Zoom events and direct emails to victims, Seiss said. The visibility of information about the reporting process, along with the international attention movements against sexual abuse have gained in recent years, may have made students feel more comfortable reporting rape, she added.

DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND WEAPONS VIOLATIONS Temple reported 225 referrals, disciplinary actions and arrests for violations of drug, liquor and weapons laws in 2020, which is 200 fewer than in 2019.

Of the reports, 213 were liquor law violation referrals, disciplinary actions and arrests.

Main Campus residence halls were significantly less crowded throughout 2020 because of COVID-19 safety protocols, with many students returning home at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. About 3,400 students returned to residence halls for the Fall 2020 semester, but only 1,250 remained when the university transitioned back to primarily remote

NON-CLERY ACT CRIMES Temple reported 436 offenses of crimes outside of the required Clery categories, which is an approximately 45-percent decline from 2019.

The Non-Clery Act crime category includes lower level offenses Temple is required to report under the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting Act, like harassment, theft and drunkenness. NonClery Act crimes accounted for about 60 percent of the reports Campus Safety Services received in 2020.

As in pre-pandemic years, theft, harassment and vandalism were the top non-Clery Act crimes reported in 2020, with 133, 110 and 65 reports for each category, respectively.

The decline in harassment came after Temple reported 194 offenses in 2019, the highest since at least 2013.

Like in 2019, many of the harassment offenses Temple reported occurred virtually, like through social media, Leone said.

This may have been because students felt lonely while quarantining, leading them to want to reconnect with others, Seiss said.

“People are in their homes by themselves, and they’re maybe thinking about past relationships or things that they didn’t want to end, and then they try to reach out and they try to communicate,” Seiss said. “The only way that they can do it in a pandemic is virtually or via social media and that can become harassing.”

Throughout 2021, crime rates have remained lower than in pre-pandemic years, and Campus Safety Services plans to continue its current policies and practices to keep rates low, Leone said.

“We’re still seeing a downward trend of any type of issue in buildings, so I think continuing the way we’re doing business will continue that trend,” Leone said. amelia.winger@temple.edu @ameliawinger

PAGE 8

NEWS

The Temple News

INTERSECTION

Hope Center reports difficulties finishing college Many hardships that Philadelphia residents face stem from lack of financial support and aid.

BY DEVON RUSSELL For The Temple News Forty-five percent of respondents hoping to complete college think it is “unlikely” or “very unlikely” they will graduate in the next five years, according to a September 2021 report from Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice based out of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine.

About 900 Philadelphians, who did not go to college or started college but did not finish, were surveyed in a joint effort by Temple’s Institute for Survey Research and the Hope Center in Fall 2020, according to the “Philadelphians Speak Up About Barriers to College Completion: A #RealCollegePHL Report.” The city residents surveyed were ages 25 to 44. The report focuses on the difficulties of obtaining a college degree.

The Hope Center’s questions were sent to 2,593 members of ISR’s BeHeardPhilly Panel, according to the report. Eight-hundred members completed the survey, yielding a 30.8 percent response rate.

This report complements a May 2021 report from the Hope Center about the struggles that Philadelphia-area college students faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Black people and women are less likely to complete college, with 52 percent of survey respondents who did not complete or start college identifying as Black, according to the report. Additionally, 72 percent of survey respondents who did not complete or start college were female.

About half of survey respondents who have not completed college reside in Northwest, Lower Northeast and North Philadelphia, while approximately 30 percent of respondents who have not completed college live in West, South and Southwest Philadelphia, according to the report.

Fewer than one in 10 Philadelphia residents without a college degree or certificate believe that the city’s four-year colleges are “very affordable,” according to the report.

KRISTINE CHIN/ THE TEMPLE NEWS

Many students leave college due to financial reasons like the inability to pay tuition, the need to work more hours at their job, financial disruptions due to family obligations and loss or lack of financial aid, according to the report.

When asked about Temple’s affordability, 40 percent of survey respondents said the university is not affordable and 55 percent said Temple is somewhat affordable, while only four percent said that Temple is affordable, according to the report.

After implementing a tuition freeze the previous academic year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Temple increased base tuition by 2.5 percent this year, The Temple News reported.

About two in five respondents, who have not started or completed college, said childcare and rent were “not affordable,” according to the report.

One in four Philadelphians live in poverty and more than one in six residents 25 and older started college but did not

graduate. Yet, half of the jobs available in Philadelphia require at least some level of higher education, according to the report.

In the spring of 2020, the unemployment gap in the United States between those with bachelor’s degrees and those without, increased significantly compared to previous years, according to an economic letter from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The participation rate for residents with a high school diploma or less fell four percentage points while the unemployment rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree only fell 1.2 percentage points.

People with a bachelor’s degree were more likely to make the switch to remote work and keep their jobs than those without a degree, according to the letter.

The Hope Center urges students in financial distress to explore existing financial support resources, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and affordable childcare, said Sonja Dahl, junior

research associate at the Hope Center.

The report encourages the city and each college to provide emergency aid to students through grants for college students, Dahl said.

The Hope Center highlights resources and community organizations available to students on their website and in their reports, like Graduate! Philadelphia which works with local and federal programs to support students in returning to higher education and completing their degrees by walking returning students through the application process and assigning them an adviser from Graduate! Philadelphia.

“It’s really about highlighting how financial barriers, including the cost of paying for living expenses, are getting in the way of Philadelphians who are trying to return to college or attend for the first time,” Dahl said. devon.russell@temple.edu

OPINION

The Temple News

EDITORIAL

Changes to Intersection After a three-year run as a section at The Temple News, Intersection will now function as a beat within the News, Sports, Features and Opinion sections.

Though the content of Intersection stories and the amount produced each week will remain the same, The Temple News’ senior staff made this decision with the goal of creating more collaboration across sections upon the realization that much of the newspaper’s reporting on students’ varying identities already exists outside of Intersection articles.

The new changes serve as an expansion of Intersection rather than its demolition, and will encourage all sections to take a critical look at their reporting by acknowledging sources’ multiple identities.

The structure of the remaining four sections will not change drastically, but there will be additional articles in each section under the Intersection beat.

While the establishment of Intersection encouraged The Temple News’ staff to produce articles that amplified voices from community members and students within marginalized groups, the Editorial Board believes this work should be the responsibility of the entire newspaper, not just one section.

Intersection was initially created in Fall 2018 as a means for reporters to capture multiple identities and perspectives through articles and personal essays, according to a letter written by then-Editor-in-Chief Gillian McGoldrick.

“In the past, The Temple News hasn’t done its job of telling the whole story,” McGoldrick wrote. “We have been missing the experiences and the narratives of students, staff and community residents for years because we have been a predominantly white institution on campus.”

The section was established as a space for, “people with marginalized or conflicting identities learn about themselves while on campus,” McGoldrick wrote.

Since then, The Temple News has widened its reporting by covering topics like green space advocacy in North Philadelphia, teammates bonding over a shared identity and North Philadelphia stigmas and how to combat them.

The Editorial Board commends Intersection reporters and editors for the work they accomplished during the past three years, but recognizes it has been difficult to truly fulfill the initial purpose of the section. As The Temple News’ sourcing became more diverse and the content began to focus more on people’s differing identities, finding topics to categorize under Intersection alone became increasingly difficult.

When Intersection was created, the hope was for readers to feel empowered by The Temple News’ content and to actively engage with the paper, regardless of whether they resonated with the content or refuted it. That hope for readers to feel represented and to think analytically about articles remains the same today, and The Editorial Board aims to do the Temple and North Central community justice by making this change to incorporate Intersection into all sections at The Temple News.

The Editorial Board hopes this change will produce in-depth reporting on students’ identities and how those identities impact their Temple experience to become an essential part of reporting throughout the entire paper.

Articles that fit the Intersection criteria are no longer an addon to the paper, but rather, a responsibility for all reporters.

PAGE 9

THE ESSAYIST

What it means to be mixed A student describes how they feel being half-Hispanic and half-Jewish during Hispanic Heritage Month.

G

rowing up, I thought being mixed was the coolest thing ever, in the most superficial way possible.

When I was younger, I thought my heritage meant family parties and JULIA MEROLA Opinion Editor Vicks VapoRub because of my Hispanic family’s ability to party all night and their obsessive use of VapoRub for any type of illness.

That was as cultural as it got.

With a Hispanic dad and a Jewish mom, I used to tell my cousins that technically, if I was religiously Jewish, I could have a bat mitzvah, a Quinceañera and a Sweet 16. I also used to tell my classmates that Shakira was my cousin because we are both Colombian.

Despite my evident realization that I was mixed, I wasn’t raised in a Hispanic household at all. Everything and everyone I knew was white.

As a child, my dad spent his summers at his cousin’s house in Mexico, while I spent mine in New Jersey. My dad never taught me how to speak Spanish, and I definitely cannot dance.

I never celebrated any holidays like Cinco de Mayo or Día de la Independencia.

My parents never saw these things as important because I grew up surrounded by my mom’s family, who were all white and spoke Hebrew, while most of my dad’s family still lived in Mexico.

Every year during Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, I’ve refused to celebrate because I’ve always felt that the month was not created for people like me, who don’t look Hispanic or can’t speak Spanish.

Without these key attributes, I’ve always felt like I was cheating the system. Even telling someone that I’m half-Hispanic seemed like a lie because I was never exposed to that side of my family. It has always felt like I can’t claim that part of me.

Having one part of my heritage completely prioritized more than another for my whole life confused me, and I never really knew who I was.

This is something no one ever tells you about being mixed.

I’ve always felt guilty during Hispanic Heritage month because I don’t know much about my own culture, and didn’t attempt to break away from my upbringing to learn more about my culture. It felt like my grandparents were looking down on me, criticizing every step I took for claiming my Hispanic heritage without knowing enough about it.

It wasn’t until the end of my senior year of high school someone attempted to insult me by asking which landscaping company my dad worked for, a play on the Hispanic stereotype of Mexicans being farmers, when I actually started to really care about where my family comes from.

It was like something snapped inside me, and I suddenly wanted to learn as much about my dad’s culture as possible.

During the beginning of my freshman year, the first thing I did was download Duolingo, because I thought it would magically make me seem more Hispanic. Then I listened to only Spanish music and watched TV shows in Spanish to help my Duolingo skills.

I was completely obsessed with trying to make up for all of the missed years I spent ignoring that side of my culture.

After futile attempts to become bilingual through Duolingo and Spanish music, I’ve learned that I don’t need to speak Spanish or be able to dance in order to be proud of my heritage. I can just admire my family, where we come from and our accomplishments.

Growing up with a mixed background can be complex and challenging, but I’ve learned that I have to create an identity for myself, and not go by one that other people give me.

This year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, I’m trying to be kinder to myself in figuring out who I am. For other people who are mixed, finding your own identity is something that can take years, and I’m no exception to that. julia.merola@temple.edu @juliaamerola

PAGE 10

OPINION

The Temple News

EDUCATION

An S or U is not good enough for midterm reports A student argues that Temple should change their progress reports to be more detailed.

Now that we are beginning week eight of the fall semester, Temple University students will be receiving this semester’s midterm ratings.

Temple requires JETTA HOLIDAY all professors to rate a For The Temple student’s performance News in class using S for satisfactory or a U for unsatisfactory during the mid-way point of fall and spring semesters. But Temple’s current rating system is not enough, it fails to give detailed feedback as to where a student’s strengths and weaknesses are, or about their progress during the semester.

Students should receive more than a S or U, even if that student is doing well.

However, Temple advises students to be proactive about their education, and take it upon themselves to make necessary improvements to their grades.

The purpose of progress reports is to encourage students to communicate with their instructors through the use of office hours or another kind of proactive action that could help them, said Daniel Berman, the vice provost for undergraduate studies.

As a person who checks their grades for each class after every graded assignment, I know where I stand academically. But for students who don’t check their grades regularly, the midterm ratings should tell students where they stand academically in classes. However, they currently don’t provide students with those answers.

If Temple cares about the education and success of their students, the university should require professors to meet with students who have a B minus or lower to provide them with constructive feedback and suggest what the student needs to improve.

“The whole idea of the midterm progress rating is that it’s not a grade,” Berman said. “It’s a way for us to prompt

ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS A student argues that midterm progress reports should be more comprehensive for students.

communication between students and their instructors before they might go off the rails to the point that it would be hard or even impossible to recover.”

When students receive a U for unsatisfactory without receiving proper feedback from a professor, students may not know how to improve their grades.

“I’m not a fan of U for unsatisfactory, I don’t really like that whole method,” said Taylor Sylvester, a junior media studies and production major. “You’re writing a letter on a piece of paper, but can you explain to me why I have this grade, or what I can do better?”

Temple needs to improve their midterm rating systems and explain to students what they need to do to improve, Sylvester said. Professors should also email students individually to set up Zoom or face-to-face conferences for students.

Every student at Temple works and learns things differently. Temple should require professors to provide detailed

feedback about students’ performance in the class during midterm ratings.

A professor made the effort to check in with Adia Eilam and talk about her grades, even though she was rated an S last semester.

“Even when a student is rated satisfactory, the professor should still provide ways for them to stay on the right track,” Eilam, a sophomore media studies and production major, said.

Progress reports are most productive to a student’s learning when they provide students with an explanation of the quality of their work, according to the University of South Carolina.

There are distinctions in the satisfactory and unsatisfactory categories that try to give a more targeted message to a student if they’re not doing well, and what it is they might improve, Berman said.

For example, if a student earns a “UA”, it may be due to poor attendance, and if a student earns a “U-AG” it may be due to

poor attendance and poor grades, Berman wrote in an email to The Temple News.

However, Clarence Remy, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, has never learned anything from previous midterm ratings, he said.

“It doesn’t help, it doesn’t change anything,” Remy said. “It’s just there.”

Temple needs to be proactive with their ratings, provide constructive criticism and follow up with that criticism, Remy added.

Students deserve a midterm rating policy that is beneficial to them and has detailed feedback. Temple must require professors to meet with students and provide ways for them to improve their grade.

Because midterm ratings can foreshadow the outcome of a student’s semester, they are just as important as final grades, and Temple must treat them as such. jetta.holiday@temple.edu

The Temple News

OPINION

PAGE 11

STUDENT LIFE

New director must improve quality of counseling services A student argues that the new director of Tuttleman Counseling Services must make reforms.

BY MEGHAN KILPATRICK For The Temple News During a depressive episode my senior year of high school, I found it difficult to receive help. I was at my lowest when I finally improved my mental health. If I had access to more resources, I could have avoided ending up in that place.

Reliable mental health services are crucial, especially for students, to prevent situations like these.

Tuttleman must address issues with its staffing shortage and long wait times because students deserve access to viable mental health services.

Andrew Lee, Tuttleman’s new director as of September 2021, should take the initiative to listen to students’ criticisms of Tuttleman and improve its services.

During the Fall 2020 semester, four in five students at local universities reported the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted their mental health, with two in five experiencing moderate anxiety and more than a third experiencing depression, according to a May 2021 report from the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice.

In total, there are only 18 counselors at Tuttleman. With more than 30,000 students at Temple this semester, this is an unacceptable number of counselors to accommodate the student body’s mental health needs.

For example, the University of Pennsylvania had an enrollment of more than 21,000 students in Fall 2020, and has 42 mental health counselors. Penn has fewer students but they still have more counselors than Temple.

“We need more counselors, so that anyone who needs to see a counselor for more than a few weeks has the option to do it,” said Naynthra Guru, a junior psychology and criminal justice major.

Tuttleman also needs to ensure students have access to a therapist they can rely on.

AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS A student argues that Tuttleman’s new director must reform its counseling services to address the concerns of students.

Students typically receive six to eight counseling sessions at Tuttleman after completing their initial assessment or referrals to long-term treatment options.

They may experience inconsistent wait times between appointments if they request a different counseling provider or treatment plan outside of what Tuttleman recommended for them.

Consistency is a key factor in seeing improvement, it allows patients to feel more comfortable around their therapist. Those who attend therapy irregularly tend to have higher drop-out rates, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

“We make every effort to work with the student, communicate well and often, and discuss options,” wrote Dean of Students Stephanie Ives in an email to The Temple News.

All students should have the option to see a counselor weekly or biweekly.

Currently, students see a counselor once a week for approximately 45-50 minutes, depending on the student’s needs.

Although Tuttleman is making the effort to accommodate students’ needs, the center must provide weekly appointments with set times to receive the consistent treatment that is necessary for improving students’ mental health.

Tuttleman has transformed its intake process so students can be seen faster, Ives wrote.

Once students register for services, they are generally contacted within 24 to schedule initial screening appointments, Lee wrote in an email to The Temple News. If it is an emergency or crisis situation, they are able to speak with a counselor generally within the same day.

While Tuttleman says they provide emergency or crisis resources to students, some students felt uncomfortable when using them.

Vriddhi Vinay, a senior global studies major, experienced discomfort after she was escorted to Tuttleman’s counseling center, she said.

Upon calling Tuttleman Counseling Services to express her problems, they sent the police to her house and put her on a psychiatric hold from approximately 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Tuttleman’s counseling center, Vinay said.

“Instead of clarifying what I meant, they sent the police to my house,” Vinay added. “I don’t like or believe in the police, so that made me uncomfortable.”

She wishes Tuttleman would have sent her to a psychiatric hospital, rather than Tuttleman’s counseling center, she said.

“Regarding sending students to a psychiatric hospital, these types of referrals are made when there is a concern for a student’s health or safety,” Lee wrote.

Tuttleman requests a student be sent for an additional psychiatric evaluation at a screening center to determine if higher level of care is needed, due to concerns about their ability to care for themself or if they express thoughts about hurting themselves or hurting others, Lee added.

When students express these kinds of thoughts, Tuttleman assumes the student may harm themselves or someone else, and refers them for psychiatric screening.

Tuttleman should be more transparent about these protocols by explicitly stating their policy regarding psychiatric referrals, as students may feel uncomfortable going to a psychiatric center for screenings without prior knowledge of the process.

As the new director comes into his role, Tuttleman must address its complaints from students and be more open and explicit about their policies for services and treatments.

Although Tuttleman plans to address students’ complaints, students must see these actions being done. As college students, tending to our mental health is important, and it should be prioritized at Temple. jensen.kornfeind@temple.edu

PAGE 12

OPINION

The Temple News

STUDENT LIFE

Black women at Temple deserve better resources A student argues that there needs to be sexual assault resources for Black women.

BY GENESIS REDDICKS For The Temple News On Sept. 27, R. Kelly was found guilty on nine charges including sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, racketeering and sex trafficking involving five victims, according to National Public Radio. The majority of his victims were Black women.

One person can’t stop tragic abuses of power but an active, collective effort by students and Temple University can help protect Black women. Protections should include sensitivity training for police about how racism impacts Black women, safety plans that acknowlege statistics about Black women and sexual assault prevention efforts through education on consent and bystander intervention.

Kelly’s recent guilty verdict is a step forward in taking down powerful men who take advantage of young, impressionable people. However, 35 percent of Black women experience some kind of sexual violence over their lifetimes, according to the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Abuse.

Many instances of sexual assault go unreported, as violence against Black women is often dismissed due to implicit bias, according to the National Organization for Women.

Marissa White, a senior business and management major and the secretary of the Black Student Union, was “shocked” after she learned about the public response towards Kelly’s behavior, especially after the release of “Surviving R. Kelly,” a 2019 documentary series detailing the sexual abuse allegations against the singer, she said.

“Our community did not take that

NADIYAH TIMMONS / THE TEMPLE NEWS

situation seriously in the first place,” White said. “They were making jokes and memes and blaming it on the victims.”

Students must recognize that race affects the way violence is handled because Black women are not given the same attention or protection as other women, which puts them in increased danger.

The Black community is unfairly targeted by law enforcement due to implicit bias and direct racism, said Sonja Peterson-Lewis, an Africology and African African American Studies professor.

“There’s a pattern often of the community coming forth to protect its stars who are accused of wrong-doing,” Peterson-Lewis said.

Protecting Black men cannot come at the expense of Black women.

Adults view Black girls as more “adult-like” and less innocent than white girls, according to Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality.

False perception that Black women, and worse, Black girls are older and more mature than they actually are contributes to the violence they face, Peterson-Lewis said.

The adultification of Black girls also means there is a lack of empathy when they fall victim to attacks as their pain and trauma go unnoticed. That is why Temple must recognize that the intersectionality of being Black and a woman requires specialized attention and accomodations like offering support groups.

On-campus safety officials should learn sexual assault statistics about Black women and be trained to protect them

from violence and recognize their own biases that could negatively impact Black female students.

Campus Safety Services has collaborated with the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership to become more culturally competent, said Donna Gray, manager of the Risk Reduction and Advocacy Services at Campus Safety Services.

“I know there are a lot of students who don’t avail themselves of those services because of who they are, and the fact that we all need the support of someone that’s like us to get us to that next level,” Gray added.

Gray walks students through the process of reporting an assault or dating violence and encourages getting to know each person’s strengths and weaknesses in order to figure out what kind of support they need most, Gray said.

Campus resources should be available specifically for Black female students because Black women encounter a unique kind of oppression, often referred to as misogynoir, that combines racism and sexism.

Currently, the only sexual assault resources available through Temple are for women in general. However, dealing with victims of sexual violence is not a one-size-fits-all ordeal, and cultural understanding is vital when addressing Black female victims.

The intersectionality of being Black and being a woman creates different experiences with sexual assault. Black women experience both racism and misogyny, which means one social issue can be addressed without addressing the other.

We must show Black women on campus they are loved and protected, and that is through education and action. genesis.reddicks@temple.edu

The Temple News

OPINION

PAGE 13

INTERSECTION

Trichotillomania used to be something shameful A student shares how he learned to stop worrying about his body focused repetitive behavior.

BY EDEN MACDOUGALL Intersection Editor Growing up I had long, thick, voluminous hair. I’d get compliments on it from strangers. A woman once ran her hands through my hair while walking by me and said she wished she had my hair.

When I was 16, I got my first bald spot.

For months I had been picking hairs out of the back of my head, in the same spot night after night until my wrist hurt. By the time I was done there would be clumps of hair the size of quarters on my floor and loose hairs stuck to my pillowcase.

I didn’t just pull my hair out at home.

I did it during classes. And when the bell rang and I got up, I would gather the hairs under my desk and toss them in the garbage bin on my way out.

I was able to hide the extent of what I was doing until my brother noticed my bald spot at dinner and pointed it out in front of our parents. They rushed to my side to inspect my head and immediately started theorizing what had caused the bald spot to appear.

My mom, who had noticed me picking hairs out on occasion, put two and two together.

I have Trichotillomania.

Trichotillomania is a body-focused repetitive behavior that involves pulling out body or head hairs, according to the Mayo Clinic. Trichotillomania is a chronic condition and doesn’t have a clear cause but there are certain contributing factors, like stress and depression, both of which I had in spades.

Even though it was against school rules to wear hats, my parents made me wear a beanie each day and would snap at me if my hands went anywhere near my head. They also started buying me modeling clay that I could roll around in my hands, thinking that would keep them out of my hair when they weren’t around.

SARAH WALTERS / THE TEMPLE NEWS

I gave myself a second bald spot in February 2016.

I continued pulling my hair out through my senior year of high school.

The urge to pick finally started to fade after I cut my hair short freshman year of college. I thought that part of my life was over and I didn’t look back until last year.

A few months before the pandemic, the picking urge came back, but this time I went for my eyelashes instead of head hairs.

I’d be sitting on the couch and trying to grab my eyelashes with my fingers and yank them out. Sometimes I was successful. Sometimes I wasn’t.

But with time and repetition, I got better at pulling out my eyelashes and my eyelids became bald.

My parents gave me grief about it,

told me it looked weird and said that bald eyelids freaked them out. That hasn’t stopped me from pulling out my eyelashes whenever they grow back in.

There are days when I wish I could stop pulling my hair out, but it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to.

And that’s what’s important to me, not my hair or lack thereof, but being able to accept that I have Trichotillomania.

Even though it’s not going away, it’s not something I need to try and hide from other people.

When I was younger, I was shy and my goal was to get through school as easily as possible without drawing attention to myself. Wearing the “Beanie of Shame” helped me blend in, so I wore it.

Going to college and getting involved with different organizations

forced me to interact with new people because each semester I’d have class with brand new people.

The more I interacted with people outside of my friend group, the more I realized that other people were just people and that what they thought of me wasn’t the end all be all, especially if they were only going to be my classmates for a single semester.

And even though my parents still comment on my lack of eyelashes and tell me I look weird, I’m not a 15 year old anymore and I can decide for myself if I want to hide my disorder or not.

I’ve already lost my old “Beanie of Shame” and I’m not going to put any time or money into disguising my bald eyelids. eden.macdougall@temple.edu

LONGFORM

AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS Kylie Conners, a junior advertising major, sits for a portrait in the lobby of Anderson Hall on Oct. 10.

STUDENT LIFE

Mental health concerns increase for Temple students Students are experiencing increased anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BY EMERSON MARCHESE Longform Editor

W

hen Kylie Conners began in-person classes this fall, her anxiety about socializing inside the classroom seemed to begin on her walk to class each day.

“Sometimes when I get to class I sit in the corner so I don’t have to stay there if I get too anxious or anything,” said Conners, a junior advertising major. “I just have to pull myself in sometimes, take a deep breath and just realize that my mental health is making my head spin when I know I can just try and relax and get through it instead of making it so intense.”

Students are facing an array of new challenges this semester from mental health concerns about learning inperson and feeling the stress of having

to socialize more as pre-pandemic activities resume. Many students are choosing to cope with their struggles through personal counseling, and not through the university’s services.

Students felt isolated, burnt out and depressed throughout the pandemic after classes shut down in March 2020, which has impacted students' ability to focus and stay motivated during school, The Temple News reported.

However, the university’s decision to begin offering a majority of inperson classes has strained Conners’ mental health, she said.

“Having in-person classes gives me more of a structure which is good for my mental health to get into a routine,” Conners said. “But there are days where I feel like it is a drag, like an absolute burden. It seems impossible for myself to wake up and get ready and go to class.

It’s honestly still really stressful at times.”

With students’ declining mental health continuing to affect students’ wellbeing, Tuttleman Counseling Services has experienced a large increase of students accessing their services this

semester compared to this time last year, wrote Andrew Lee, who became the director of Tuttleman three weeks ago, in an email to The Temple News.

The most prevalent issues counselors at Tuttleman are seeing this semester are students dealing with anxiety and depression, Lee wrote in an email to The Temple News.

“National trends would suggest that many more students are presenting to college counseling centers with more severe concerns, as well as greater levels of symptom acuity and longer histories of mental health issues,” Lee wrote.

Out of nearly 33,000 students, 39 percent reported experiencing depression, whether it be major or moderate cases, and 34 percent reported having an anxiety disorder, according to a nationwide survey conducted by a Boston University mental health researcher in Fall 2020.

At Tuttleman, Lee has noticed that both first-year students and older students are having a difficult time adjusting to an in-person educational experience because the pandemic

heightened the stress of returning to school after being online, Lee wrote.

Raisa Roberto, a first year podiatric medical student at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, has regularly struggled with mental illness, and having to graduate from her undergraduate program virtually only made those challenges worse, she said.

Roberto graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2020, and the disappointment of having a virtual graduation ceremony made her feel as though she worked tirelessly for nothing because she could not celebrate her accomplishment of being the first person in her family to graduate from college.

After completing her undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh, Roberto took some time off from school to work before enrolling at Temple.

“I was so tired and burnt out from undergrad I just had to take a break,” Roberto said. “Obviously starting any grad program is difficult, but I am in a program where you really want as much support as possible, so it’s just frustrating having to finish my

The Temple News

undergrad online, just to start my grad school online as well.”

As a first-year medical school student, Roberto already feels immense pressure from her program to succeed with such challenging coursework and her mental health has suffered, she said. The situation probably would not be different even if she was in-person because the podiatry program she is in is strenuous, Roberto added.

She feels disconnected from her professors and detached from the program, which makes it harder for her to feel she made the right decision by enrolling into graduate school, Roberto said.

Four out of five students in the Philadelphia area reported their mental health being negatively impacted by the pandemic, and one in five students said that their mental health had “significantly worsened” since the pandemic began, according to a May 2021 survey published by Temple’s Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice.

Having resources to address mental health issues is a healthy way to cope with intrusive thoughts and having someone to listen to your struggles can be impactful, said Aric Kressly, a sophomore journalism major, who has been dealing with problems relating to his own self growth and feeling burnt out.

Kressly, Roberto and Conners all seek outside counselors to deal with their mental health problems instead of using Tuttleman's on-campus services.

While Kressly and Conners agree that Tuttleman is accessible to students, they feel more comfortable using their own counselors since they have worked with them longer and have developed more personal relationships.

Yet, Roberto believes that in her situation as a graduate student who lives off campus, Tuttleman is not accessible to her at all.

“I haven't really used any of those resources at Temple,” Roberto said.

“Since I’m not on Main Campus, so many amenities aren't as accessible because of that, so they're there, it's just really hard to use them and the system

LONGFORM

PAGE 15

AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS The Tuttleman Counseling Services office is located on Broad Street near Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Temple's return to in-person learning has impacted some students’ mental health.

isn’t great to begin with.”

Lee feels as though Tuttleman is available to all students but acknowledges it’s more important how students think about the program's accessibility, and how to make resources more available if students feel they are not.

“We offer an online registration portal that allows students access to the services offered at [Tuttleman Counseling Services],” Lee wrote. “In addition, if a student has a question about our services, they can also contact our front desk who can best direct them to get their question answered.”

Even though the university offers Tuttleman's mental health resources free of charge to Temple students, students have dealt with issues like scheduling conflicts and long wait times in the past, according to The Temple News.

With the increase of students using Tuttleman Counseling Services this semester, Lee wants to learn from the Temple community and other employees at the program how to better accommodate Temple students.

“My desire is to learn from the Temple community at large, as well as the team at [Tuttleman], regarding the current perception of [Tuttleman] and ways that [Tuttleman] has historically served Temple students well, as well as changes that might be helpful in the future to serve students more effectively and efficiently,” Lee wrote.

As Kressly returns to campus this semester, he feels pressure to regain a normal social life and be as involved as possible, since he spent a majority of last school year online without regular social interaction.

“There is so much to do all the time now, when last year there was really nothing, it can be stressful and exhausting going from doing nothing to doing everything,” Kressly said.

With the expectation to socialize and the stress of learning in person or, for Roberto, the struggle of still learning online, Temple students are continuing to deal with their mental health problems day by day.

“With my mental state, I'm more like, yeah, this is rough but there's nothing I can do about it, so I might as well try to enjoy my day as much as I can,” Roberto said. “I’m just trying to pull through and work through my issues.” emerson.marchese@temple.edu @emersonmttn

LIVE Philly in

ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Attendees of the Philly Trans March hold up signs at the end of South Street on Oct. 9.

MARCHING FOR JUSTICE

Philadelphia’s trans community Black and Brown people, much darkmarched across the city in er skin than myself. Because they get support of transgender rights. treated so badly.”

The march was important for

BY ALLIE IPPOLITO communicating the message that For The Temple News discrimination against trans people must end and that people should undreds of people gathwork to understand the challenges ered at Washington they face, said Bri Golphin, one of Square Park on Saturthe organizers of the march. day for the 11th annual Philly Trans Attendees began marching at March to demand justice, liberation Washington Square Park and then and equality for the transgender and made their way to South Street non-binary community, with a focus before returning to the park. Beon transgender people of color. fore and during the march, several “I tend to bring the native perspective to the march along with oth- trans and non-binary speakers in attendance told their stories and deer natives in town,” said Janis Stacy, one of the organizers for Philly Trans manded change for those disproportionately affected by discrimination, March. “But we still want to focus a violence and harassment. lot of what the movement is on the

H

There have been 38 transgender or gender non-comforming people fatally shot or killed by other violent means in 2021, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that advocates for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

One of the speakers, Valentina Rosario, the trans equity project coordinator at Galaei, a Queer and Trans, Black, Indigenous and People of Color social justice organization, discussed issues like reproduction rights, voter rights, mass incarceration and immigration rights that marginalized communities, and especially the trans community, are facing.

“Today is more than a march,” Rosario said. “It is an action, an action of taking, an action of celebrating and

uplifting the ancestors. We need to fight and continue moving the needle in the right direction. All of these issues disproportionately affect Black and Brown, Latinx trans folks.”

Jackson Burke, a junior ceramics major and president of Students for Trans Awareness and Rights at Temple University, came to the march to show solidarity for the trans community, he said.

“It means community and empowerment, really,” Burke said. ”Supporting other members of my community and always standing up for members of my community, always showing up for them, being there for them.” allison.ippolito@temple.edu

LUNCHIES 2021

Coming Back Together Read More on Pages B1-B7

LUNCHIES

PAGE B2

The Temple News

Resilient food vendors Community support helps businesses thrive persevere in pandemic

A

fter all of the challenges we have faced in the last year from city-wide restrictions, businesses closing and the COVID-19 pandemic, hope feels like a weird thing to talk about.

However, this years’ edition of Lunchies has chosen to lean into it.

Walking around Main Campus and watching food vendors continue to serve customers, make conversation with regulars and contribute to the Temple community is nothing short of inspiring.

We still are not out of the COVID-19 pandemic, but with students back on campus, we have regained a sense of community and togetherness. Last year, with the majority of students living offcampus due to remote learning, many food vendors struggled to remain open.

Instead of dwelling on the pain and suffering that defined last year, we have chosen to move forward.

We want to celebrate the sense of community that has encouraged

owners of small businesses to persevere and remain open even during the pandemic.

Whether it’s gathering with friends to share a meal, or the conversations between vendors and regulars, food brings people together. The ability to connect over family recipes and dishes from around the world reflects the diverse nature of the Temple community.

This years’ Lunchies celebrates the dedicated vendors on campus and the people who continue to support them. Sometimes, the amount of bad news can be overwhelming. This special issue wants to deviate from that narrative.

So, no, this is not another doom and gloom news package about COVID-19. This really is not about COVID-19 at all. It is about love.

It is about resilience. It is about the family that we find and the communities we create.

Sincerely, The Features team

Food trucks and restaurants on Main Campus reopen their doors despite pandemic difficulties.

BY MATTHEW AQUINO Assistant Features Editor As Alex Tolosa set up for Tuesday karaoke night at Maxi’s Pizza, Subs & Bar, Temple University students lined up outside to grab a beer and slice of pizza in anticipation of a late night out.

“The students missed those nights where you mingle and talk to other people, and play beer pong, sing karaoke or come and enjoy yourself,” said Tolosa, manager of Maxi’s Pizza, Subs & Bar. “Having that back was a big push for us.”

After struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic with few customers or shutting down completely because of restrictions like social distancing, mask mandates and being forced to close early by the City of Philadelphia, restaurants and food vendors on campus are glad restrictions have been loosened and that a majority of students have returned to campus for in-person classes.

After moving classes online in March 2020 and remaining virtual during the 202021 school year, Temple decided to hold classes primarily in-person this semester, bringing most students back to Main Campus.

Maxis shortened their hours and ran on limited capacity from Summer 2020 to January 2021 because of guidelines from the City of Philadelphia, Tolosa said.

Since Aug. 23, Maxis has been operating at 100 percent capacity.

Both Eddie’s Pizza at The Wall, on 12th Street between Polett Walk and Montgomery Avenue, and The Foot Long Truck on 12th Street near Norris opened this fall for the first time since shutting down in March 2020.

Eddie’s reopened on Aug. 23 with new regulations due to the pandemic to make business run smoother, said John Laro, a sophomore accounting major and son of the owner Renato Laro.

Eddie’s has switched to contactless transactions to help with the higher volume of customers now that more students have returned to campus, John Laro said.

John Laro, who runs the cash register

and helps prepare orders, has seen an increase in orders, but not nearly the amount Eddie’s was getting prior to the pandemic, he said.

In 2019, Eddie’s was serving 200 to 400 customers a day. Since reopening this semester, they typically serve between 150 to 300 customers each day, John Laro said.

Laro still feels optimistic about more customers coming each day and believes business is improving, he said.

“I appreciate everybody who comes through, you know, it’s great,” John Laro said.

“I’ve actually met so many people, some people are close friends today, just by coming here and just sparking conversation with me.”

For John Amzovski, managing his aunt Sylvia Ndreu’s food truck, The Foot Long Truck, this semester, has allowed his family to continue serving students and keep the food truck open.

Ndreu considered selling or shutting down the food truck because it wasn’t open or generating any revenue after Temple shut down, but after spending time with family between March 2020 and July 2021, she made the decision to make Amzovski the manager.

Amzovski was appointed manager because the family wanted to keep the food truck in the family and he has the experience to run a food truck after working for more than 30 years in the food industry, he said.

The Foot Long Truck re-opened on Aug. 23 and increased their prices because they have spent more money on products, Amzovski said.

“I mean, we’re feeling the impact with prices,” Amzovski said. “We’re having a hard time we’re literally working seven days a week just shopping sometimes on the weekends just to find products we need.”

Although The Foot Long Truck has had to raise prices, Amzovski is optimistic about the future and looks forward to continuing to serve the Temple community .

“I feel like [students] need to interact and kind of just be on campus and, like I said, the food trucks are here as part of the college experience to just come down, eat, try different foods,” Amzovski said. “So yeah I’m pretty optimistic.” matthew.aquino@temple.edu

The Temple News

LUNCHIES

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Mother, daughter bond while running business Mother-daughter duo have grown closer while running The Crepe Truck Philly together.

BY SAMANTHA SULLIVAN Features Editor Few mothers and daughters could stand each other for 10 or more hours a day, but Virginia Apostolopoulos and her daughter Penelope Kyriazis make it seem effortless.

“I know some people could never work with their mom or dad, but me and my mom are like best friends and it makes it easy,” said Kyriazis, co-owner of The Crepe Truck Philly.

Apostolopoulos and Kyriazis work side by side Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at The Crepe Truck Philly, churning out sweet and savory crepes for hungry customers.

Located on Norris and 13th streets, the truck has given them an opportunity to strengthen their bond and create meaningful relationships with their regular customers.

Apostolopoulos and her husband bought the truck in 2013 from previous owners, she said. It was originally called The Creperie at Temple, but two years ago when they bought a new truck, Apostolopoulos decided to change the name to The Crepe Truck Philly after hearing students constantly refer to it as “the crepe truck.”

When they are not parked on Temple’s campus, Apostolopoulos and Kyriazis vend at special events, like weddings and festivals. Most weeks they do not get a single night off, Kyriazis said. Spending long days in the truck together, Apostolopoulos and Kyriazis see how hard the other person works.

“We work together all the time, so we appreciate each other even more,” Kyriazis said. “Honestly, if we didn’t have each other I feel like it would be very hard to run a business.”

For the mother-daughter duo, the opportunity to work together is especially meaningful because

ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Penelope Kyriazis (left), and her mother Virginia Apostolopoulos (right), work inside the Crepe Truck Philly, located on Norris Street near 13th on Oct. 6.

the rest of their family, excluding Apostolopoulos’ husband and daughter, are living in Greece and Australia, Apostolopoulos said.

Growing up with no extended family in the United States made their family even closer, Kyriazis said. The entire family still eats dinner together every night.

However, Apostolopoulos and Kyriazis have created their own family at The Crepe Truck Philly.

Chris Foley, one of the employees at the truck, has worked there for almost eight years. He has grown close with the Apostolopoulos’ and feels like he’s part of the family, he said.

The best part about working at the truck is seeing how much Apostolopoulos

and Kyriazis have changed over the years, Foley said.

“It’s really cool to see their relationship,” Foley said. “I feel like they’re closer than they were for sure. [Kyriazis] will be like ‘hey mom I’ll cover your shift today, I’ll go in for you.’ It’s nice.”

Apostolopoulos and Kyriazis have also bonded with students and other family-owned food trucks around Temple’s campus.

Ezinne Azuonwu, a sophomore political science major, has been coming to The Crepe Truck Philly since she first moved to campus last year.

“I’ve ever had a bad crepe from them,” Azuonwu said. “[Apostolopoulos and Kyriazis] are really nice. They don’t rush you to order and they don’t kind of like

throw your food out at you.”

Azuonwu continues to frequent the truck because she loves the 90s alternative music that the truck plays and the consistently high quality of the food, she said.

The truck has gained regular customers who take time to ask Apostolopoulos and Kyriazis how their day is going or talk about classes. One of the best parts about operating the truck is these little interactions, and the relationships that blossom from them, Apostolopoulos said.

“At the end of the day, I’m a mom and they’re around my kid’s age, so I see them as my kids too,” Apostolopoulos said. samanthasullivan.0002@temple.edu

Staff

Picks

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LUNCHIES

The Temple News

Students and food vendors rely on each other Relationships formed between students and owners encourage vendors to stay in business.

BY CELINA EHRLICH AND ROSIE LEONARD For The Temple News Since transferring to Temple University this fall, Seth Gorrell visits his favorite food truck, Ebi’s Halal Lunch Cart, as often as he can afford.

While Gorrell loves Ebi’s lamb gyro, he mainly returns each week to see Ali Belkacem, owner of Ebi’s on 13th Street and Montgomery Avenue since 2019.

“Just the general service as a whole is very encouraging,” Gorrell said. “He is a very good guy.”

Since the 1960s, Temple’s thriving food scene has not only provided convenient dining options for students, but the chance to form relationships with vendors whose restaurants they visit.

Student regulars appreciate the sense of dependable connection that buying from local businesses affords them.

Belkacem appreciates regulars, like Gorrell, and strives to connect with his customers by asking them about their day to give a more personable and friendly experience while they order food, he said.

Regulars are the driving force that inspires Belkacem to keep returning to work each week, he said.

“The relationship between me and customers is the most important for me,” Belkacem said. “The career point for me is to make my customers satisfied, getting food here and the feedback of my customers is really important. That’s what is encouraging me to do more and more.”

Just as Gorrell quickly found his goto spot on campus after transferring, Victoria Hyland, a senior actuarial science major, has frequented her favorite spot, Fame’s Famous Pizza, since she first arrived at Temple in 2018.

“I started going [to Fame’s] freshman year with a friend who recommended it, and ever since then, I’ve been hooked,” Hyland said. “Pizza is my favorite food, so I had to try all of the places on campus and nowhere compares.”

KAITLYN JEFFREY/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Caitlyn Changco, a sophomore business major, gets lunch at her usual spot, The Honey Truck on 12th Street near Norris, on Sept. 29.

Hyland visits Fame’s every two weeks, enjoying a slice of buffalo chicken pizza, the occasional chicken caesar wrap and her camaraderie with Fame’s workers, she said.

The positive, welcoming atmosphere has made Hyland a consistent returning customer, she said. She feels that the people at Fame’s treat everyone like family.

Feim Amzovski, who has been an owner of Fame’s Famous Pizza at The Wall on 12th Street between Polett Walk and Montgomery Avenue since 1985, aims to treat every customer like family, he said.

“I have a lot of steady customers,” Amzovski said. “I get freshmen every year, and I definitely get a lot of alumni when they’re in the area, they come back.

And, in fact, yesterday a student that was here in 2001 and she got a job at a Temple, she was shocked to even see me.”

Caitlyn Changco enjoys the personal connection she has to food vendors, like Jennifer Paek, owner of the Honey Truck, located at Norris and 12th streets.

“I grew up in a restaurant,” said Changco, a sophomore undeclared ma-

jor. “My family’s owned a restaurant for, like, 40 years now, so I always think I am actually more inclined to feel a relationship with whoever is working such a business. Especially if It’s like an Asian woman—it’s more of my inclination to feel generosity towards the owner.”

Changco visits the Honey Truck once a week, often going with friends and ordering the Chicken Avocado Wrap, because it is her comfort food, she said.

Changco appreciates the friendly and welcoming atmosphere posed by the owners and location, she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made staffing food trucks more difficult, but regulars like Changco have made up for these difficulties, Paek said.

“Because of the pandemic, it’s hard to find employees for all the restaurants,” Paek said. “Some of the food trucks are not open yet because there’s no employees, so having a regular, good relationship with customers and having a lot of regular customers helps us stay open.”

Gorrell has gone out of his way to support his favorite business because he

recognizes how difficult it was to stay afloat during the past year and a half, especially with virtual classes preventing students from buying food on campus.

“It’s a miracle to kind of make it out of the pandemic as a small business and then even to just be able to keep doing what you’re doing,” Gorrell said. “I think it’s very encouraging for somebody that isn’t in this small business to be able to help them and to be able to support as much as they can.”

This support also contributes to the diversity of cultures on campus by maintaining the variety of food options from different backgrounds, Changco said.

“You need more of a diversity and a blend of businesses and their products that they sell, and what they have to offer, rather than just always supporting a corporation,” Changco said. “It’s always more fun when you’re going to a new place and their local businesses showcase the culture of the community you’re currently in.” cehrlich@whipradiotu.com mary.rose.leonard@temple.edu

The Temple News

LUNCHIES

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Richie’s, a Temple tradition for more than 50 years Students and faculty share the impact Richie’s has had on their lives while at Temple.

BY ROSIE LEONARD Assistant Features Editor David Dalton was greeted by Lily and Ritchie Juniors’ smiles when passing by their food truck in 1969 in search of a cup of coffee. Their warm welcomes and familiar faces are what kept him coming back to their multiple locations at Temple University’s Main Campus for more than 50 years.

“They tend to remember the names of people they see frequently,” said Dalton, a chemistry professor. “It always surprised me, in fact, that not only did Ritchie know what my name was, but he knew the names of any number of patrons who would come by.”

Richie’s has been a Temple staple since Grandpa Ritchie first parked his coffee cart outside the library on Main Campus in the 1950s to provide a quick pick-me-up to commuters and students, like himself, enrolled in night classes.

By 1969, Grandpa Ritchie expanded his menu beyond coffee and opened a food truck, which eventually was passed down to his son, Big Ritchie, and later, Richie Junior, who relocated to their current location on The Wall in 1999.

Although Richie’s has evolved and relocated during the span of 52 years, their presence in the community has not.

Much like his father and grandfather, Richie Junior strives to connect and form relationships with customers to strengthen the sense of community and provide a reliable outlet for those at the university, he said.

On Sept. 20, Richie’s opened their third location on campus, Richie’s Cafe, on Warnock Street near Berks. The cafe is their first location that operates

KLAIRE ZHAN/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Richie Jr., the third-generation owner of Richie’s, works at the Richie’s location on 12th Street near Polett Walk on Oct. 4.

without a family member and is an experiment to see how they can keep the Richie’s spirit alive with separate management, Richie Junior said.

“It’s not going to be exactly the same, but we are trying to keep the core there,” Richie Junior said.

Jessica Lachowicz began visiting Richie’s as a freshman on campus in 2017, and began working there her junior year. Although Lachowicz graduated in May with a tourism and hospitality management degree, she continued to work at Richie’s main location on The Wall until September when she became an associate at Richie’s new business, Richie’s Cafe, because she valued the sense of community and familiarity of Richie’s.

Lachowicz still feels connected to customers, staff and the Temple community while working at their new location, she said.

“Customers can walk in, and I pretty much already know their order,” Lachowicz said. “We’re just really excited about this space as well, because we feel like there’s more opportunities for people to come and study and prepare for classes or professors to just kind of like, take a minute to chill between classes as well. It definitely builds up the community as a whole.”

Kaitlyn Mulvey, freshman health professions major, has only been on Temple’s campus for two months and already has a strong bond with Richie and his employees, she said.

She stops by Richie’s after class everyday to say ‘hi’ or chat with Richie, Mulvey said. “[Richie’s] is what makes me come outside and leave my dorm, because I don’t leave,” she said.

Lauren Henderson, a junior exercise

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and sports science major, relies on Richie’s to relax before class, she said.

“He gets my coffee ready and he is just so nice to talk to before I go to my biology class,” Henderson said. “The Temple community wouldn’t be a community without Richies.”

Richie values the relationships he has formed with customers over the years and hopes to continue providing that sense of friendship and community at his new cafe, he said.

“We’re grateful, thankful, for the students, for the university and the community,” Richie Junior said. “That’s one of my biggest things, because, you know, at the end of the day, we’re all family. We all need each other.” mary.rose.leonard@temple.edu

Clockwise from top left ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS A crowd of marchers hold signs and walk out of Washington Square Park during the Philly Trans March on Oct. 9.

ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Bri Golphin, an organizer for Philly Trans March, gives a speech at the beginning of the march at Washington Square Park on Oct. 9.

ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS The crowd of marchers chants “No justice, no peace” while marching down South Street on Oct. 9.

ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Marchers chant and walk down South Street during the Philly Trans March on Oct. 9.

ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Jackson Burke, a junior ceramics major and president of Students for Trans Awareness and Rights at Temple University, holds a sign that reads “Intersex Pride” during the Philly Trans March on Oct. 9.

ALLIE IPPOLITO/ THE TEMPLE NEWS Janis Stacy, an organizer for Philly Trans March, stands in Washington Square Park holding a sign depicting a fist holding a feather on Oct. 9

The Temple News

FEATURES

PAGE 25

STUDENT LIFE

Temple student launches charitable initiative Kunti Patel threads eyebrows for free and donates the tips to various non-profits monthly.

BY SAMANTHA SULLIVAN Features Editor

K

unti Patel wants to redefine beauty. Instead of just providing cosmetic services to make her clients feel beautiful, she wants to give them the opportunity to make meaningful change. ”My goal is to raise awareness on how blessed we are compared to so many others in the world,” Patel said.

Patel, a senior marketing major, initially launched her business BrowsbyKunti in March 2021 to provide eyebrow threading and eyelash services.

However, her interest in philanthropy soon led her to start the #Recovery initiative where once a month Patel provides free eyebrow threading services to Temple University students and donates all of the tips she receives to various non-profits.

Armed with the slogan “recover yourself, recover a cause,” Patel decided to start the initiative because she wanted to contribute to those less fortunate than herself, she said. She realized that while she was not in the position to donate money, she could donate her time.

“I’d been wanting to do philanthropy somehow for a really long time and so I’m glad I just started doing it, and I’m going to keep doing it,” Patel said.

For the month of October, Patel partnered with IGNITE at Temple U, the university’s chapter of the national organization IGNITE which provides support to women who want to pursue politics. They hosted a self-care night on Sept. 30 for people to come get their eyebrows threaded. All of the donations Patel received in October were donated to Haitian Bridge Alliance, a non-profit that raises money to help Haitian immigrants.

Patel was able to raise $156 at the self-care night with IGNITE, the most she’s raised at an event, she said.

Patel has donated more than $760

ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Kunti Patel, a senior marketing major and owner of BrowsbyKunti, threads brows for Jenna Patel, a junior health profession major, outside of Alter Hall on Oct. 7.

to various non-profits since she started the #Recovery project, according to the BrowsbyKunti website.

“I wanted it to genuinely be a good cause and I also wanted to raise awareness about a lot of nonprofits.” Patel said.

She has donated to an array of causes, including Women Against Abuse, a non-profit based in Philadelphia that aims to help women escape domestic violence, and Feeding India, a non-profit that aims to make India hunger free.

Patel learned to thread eyebrows while she was living in India from her mother, Nimisha Patel, who also threads eyebrows. She picked it up quickly, and eventually her mother enrolled her in eyebrow threading classes when she was a teenager, she said.

Kunti Patel’s parents still live in Gujarat, India, but are very proud of the hard work she has put into her business, as well as the impact her donations have on the people she helps, Nimisha Patel said.

“We are very very proud of her,” Nimisha Patel said. “I had a dream to be recognized as my daughter’s mother and so that I see I got it. She is my heart and soul.”

Many of Kunti Patel’s regular customers, including Kayla Holmes, a junior health professional major, also contribute to Kunti Patel’s outreach efforts by attending #Recovery events.

Holmes was impressed with Patel’s ability to run a business while also contributing to causes she cares about, she said.

“It feels good knowing that I’m not only supporting her, but I’m also participating in giving back to the charities that she donates to,” Holmes said.

Vidur Bahal, a junior finance and statistical science and data analytics major, admires Kunti Patel’s donations to the community.

Bahal went to one of Kunti Patel’s #Recovery events and, while he received the eyebrow services for free, he decided to pay the full amount. Knowing that

the money was going towards helping others made him feel good, he said.

“It’s always good to support the community,” Bahal said. “I’m always trying to give back and Kunti giving money to charity is an added benefit. It’s something that will make me continue to go to her year after year as long as I’m within the vicinity.”

Kunti Patel plans to continue threading eyebrows and pursuing philanthropy through the #Recovery project. With classes back in session, she has transitioned to doing an event every week, to making it monthly, she said.

Kunti Patel looks forward to seeing how the #Recovery project impacts others and plans to do it for as long as she can, she said. ”I’m in the position to give back as a business owner,” Kunti Patel said. “I think it’s every business’ responsibility to give back.” samanthasullivan.002@temple.edu

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FEATURES

The Temple News

INTERSECTION

Students find liberation in learning LGBTQ history For LGBTQ students, learning about their community helps them understand themselves.

BY EDEN MACDOUGALL Intersection Editor harlie Murray was always passionate about LGBTQ issues, even before they knew that they were transgender, but the first time they learned about LGBTQ history in depth was in Fall 2020 when they took Gay and Lesbian Lives with Gino Conti at Temple University.

“I went to a Catholic high school and Lutheran grade school,” said Murray, a senior English and religion major.

“LGBT stuff was either not talked about or talked about in a pretty negative light.”

This LGBT History Month, LGBTQ students are reflecting on why learning about their community’s history matters and how it helps them understand themselves. For students, knowing their history gives them a sense of freedom and liberation from other people’s expectations.

Brad Windhauser, a gender, sexuality and women’s studies professor, has been teaching Gay and Lesbian Lives, now called Queer Lives, since 2014 and covers LGBTQ history from the 1950s to the present day, he said.

The course contextualizes the lives of LGBTQ people by examining politics and pop culture from various points in time, Windhauser said.

Rodney Wilson, a Missouri high school history teacher, created LGBT History Month to celebrate important moments and people in LGBTQ history, according to GLAAD, an LGBTQ advocacy group. October was chosen for LGBT History Month to include National Coming Out Day, which is on Oct. 11.

Like Murray, Sinh Taylor had a religious upbringing and did not learn about the LGBTQ community until they came to Temple, they said. Before, the only time LGBTQ people were discussed was to reinforce the belief that being gay is a sin.

The stigma from their family and the lack of information kept Taylor from coming out until their late 20s, said Taylor, a double major in English education and gender, sexuality and women’s studies.

Taking gender, sexuality and women’s studies classes taught Taylor that it’s OK to be themself, that there is no wrong way to exist and that they didn’t

ETHAN CARROLL/ THE TEMPLE NEWS

have to identify as female because that’s what a doctor assigned them at birth, they added.

Logan Bennett first learned about LGBTQ history in Politics of Identity in America with Susannah Burger, a liberal arts professor, they said. Bennett signed up for the class because they struggled to understand their own LGBTQ identity as transmasculine and bisexual and wanted to understand the history behind their identity.

“As a kid, I had to seek everything out myself and when you’re on the internet there’s such a plethora of information, a lot of it can be scary,” said Bennet, a junior computer science major. “So I didn’t really have a streamlined way to learn about things.”

Politics of Identity in America explores how different identities, including LGBTQ identities, can influence politics, according to Temple’s website.

The LGBTQ course content focused on lesser-known parts of LGBTQ history, like the 1966 Compton Cafeteria riot, a conflict between transgender women and police, and LGBTQ ballroom culture, an LGBTQ subculture centered on fashion shows, Bennett said.

“It’s just so liberating to hear about the history of these people that struggled so much for me to be able to present as I do today,” Bennett said.

Since Windhauser started teaching Queer Lives, multiple students have come out as nonbinary after taking the course and told him that the class helped them better understand their identity, he said.

“That’s just cool it’s and it’s not about me doing that, it’s just exposing them to the information that’s helped them,” said Windhauser.

Mainstream narratives about transgender people push the idea that transgender people were always interested

in things typically associated with their gender identity from a young age, Murray said. Learning about the different experiences of LGBTQ people helped Murray realize they do not need to fit into that narrative.

“When I was younger, I definitely liked a lot of feminine things,” Murray added. “And I still like a lot of traditionally feminine things and so it was difficult for me at times to sort of accept myself or feel like I’m not faking.”

Becoming educated about the LGBTQ community was eye-opening for Taylor and transformed their outlook on life by showing them it’s more important to be true to themself than to conform to someone else’s expectations, they said.

“You don’t have to fit into this binary box to be happy,” Taylor added. eden.macdougall@temple.edu

The Temple News

FEATURES

PAGE 27

INTERSECTION

Students host feminine health care fundraiser Women of Color Creatives are donating feminine care products to women who need them.

BY ROSIE LEONARD Assistant Features Editor Women of Color Creatives want women of all backgrounds to be heard and represented. ”We want to empower and bridge purposeful connections for women of color within the Temple community, and also like in the Greater Philadelphia area,” said Celeste Rubino, a senior music education major and vice president of WoCC. WoCC was founded in 2019 by Taylor Smith, junior advertising major and community service chair of WoCC, and works to empower women by hosting events that encourage artistic freedom and open discussion of often glossed over issues like race, inequality, representation and feminine hygiene.

Smith created WoCC because she felt many clubs and organizations on campus did not provide spaces for students of all races, cultures and backgrounds to come together in one place and relate.

Although founded in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for WoCC because they had to rely on virtual methods like Zoom meetings and social media to raise awareness about their organization and get students involved.

Now that clubs and organizations are able to meet in-person again, WoCC is getting involved with outreach organizations in the Greater Philadelphia area to expand their own organization and host more events to get students involved, Rubino said.

On Friday, Oct. 8, board members from WoCC sat outside the Howard Gittis Student Center from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. during their feminine care drive event, while Rubino played the ukelele and sang and members shouted, “Feminine Care Drive.”

WoCC received both feminine care supplies and monetary donations from students and faculty, which they plan to donate to a local women’s organization

KLAIRE ZHAN / THE TEMPLE NEWS The Women of Color Creatives members Antonia MacFarlane (left), secretary, and Taylor Smith (right), community service chair, sit at their Feminine Care Drive table outside the Howard Gittis Student Center at the corner of 13th Street and Montgomery Avenue on Oct. 8.

in hopes of supporting women’s health.

“There’s a stigma around periods and our menstruation, which is not fair because it’s like a natural thing that we all have to do,” Smith said.

Although a monthly necessity for women, feminine products are difficult to afford and access, especially for those experiencing homelessness.

In the United States, 30 states have a tax on period solutions because they are considered “nonessential” goods, according to a period poverty research study conducted by Regis College.

The average woman spends about $20 on feminine hygiene products per cycle, totaling to about $18,000 during her lifetime, according to the National Organization for Women, an organization that advocates for women’s rights, according to their website.

While some women may not think twice about spending $20 a month on

feminine products, those with limited access to shelter or income might, according to NOW. Although the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act made period products classified as medical expenses and eligible for purchase with flexible spending or health savings accounts, uninsured individuals cannot access this benefit, making it more difficult for those without shelter or steady income to access these monthly necessities, according to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“It’s expensive,” Rubino said. “Being homeless in itself is something that makes it more hard because, it’s like, for people who can afford to get the feminine care products, it’s already kind of rough, because, you know, why should we be taxed for something that our bodies naturally do?”

WoCC hopes their efforts will bring

change and awareness to the lack of accessibility of feminine care products.

Gaining free or affordable access to these products will allow more women to confidently navigate their lives and progress in the world, said Julia Wynn, a senior marketing major and social media chair for WoCC. “It all boils down to helping in any way that you can as an individual, because when you get together with people, that compounds, and then the impact is big,” Rubino said. mary.rose.leonard@temple.edu

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FEATURES

Temple alumna known for french toast bites

Charisse McGill has made a name for herself as “Philly’s French Toast Lady.”

BY CHRIS DUONG For The Temple News

Philly’s “French Toast Lady” has been serving up cinnamon-sugar sweetness with a smile to hungry customers since 2018.

Charisse McGill, chef and owner of Lokal Artisan Foods, has gained the nickname, “Philly’s French Toast Lady” for her famous french toast bites.

McGill was the first African-American female chef at Spruce Harbor Street Park located on the Delaware Riverfront, the first Black woman in Pennsylvania to create her own signature beer and was recently named one of Philadelphia’s Most Influential African Americans for 2021 by The Philadelphia Tribune.

“I’m definitely quite humbled because there’s a lot of folks that have done a lot of great things in Philly, and really just to be identified as one of them on a very public stage is huge,” McGill said.

In 2018, McGill opened Lokal Artisan Foods, and began selling her famous french toast flavored treats at local markets, concerts, and festivals. In 2021, she was able to become a park vendor at Spruce Harbor Street Park and open her own french toast stand.

McGill graduated from Temple University in 2003 with a degree in sports and recreation management. After graduation, she worked as the Director of Special Events at Valley Forge Military Academy managing a suburban farmer’s market.

Seeing all of the independent food and beverage business owners at the farmers market every day for seven years inspired McGill to quit her job and pursue a small business of her own, she said.

In 2018, McGill opened Lokal Artisan Foods after collecting, testing and ultimately perfecting recipes with two friends in less than six months.

McGill drew inspiration from her love for Auntie Anne’s cinnamon flavored pretzels to create her own bite-sized versions of traditional french toast, she said.

“I’ve always wanted to be the Auntie Anne’s of french toast,” McGill said.

McGill has expanded her menu and recently incorporated Yards Brewing Company’s French Toast Bites Ale, a vanilla and brown sugar beer inspired by McGill’s famous french toast bites, into her menu selection. These new products attracted more customers and allowed her business to remain open and thrive during the pandemic, McGill said.

To increase business and attract customers, Lokal Artisan Foods has hosted stands at the German Christmas Village at City Hall, Penn’s Landing, Cherry Street Pier, Eastern State Penitentiary and at the University of Delaware, and often travels to events like Made in America Festival, said Kenisha McGirt, a 2004 Temple public relations alumna and current managing partner for Lokal Artisan Foods.

Koy Zdimal, tried McGill’s french toast bites for the first time at Made in America in September.

“It was a unique and creative food idea,” said Zdimal, a freshman journalism major. “It was very good and had a plethora of toppings.”

Lokal Artisan Foods also plans to establish a mentorship program that will teach marginalized business owners or individuals how to pursue business ventures of their own, McGirt said.

McGirt believes representation is important and wants to give back to the community as much as she can, she said.

“Giving back and making sure that that opportunity exists for just individuals who are looking to start out within a small business,” McGirt said. “Sometimes we don’t see ourselves represented a lot in certain spaces and, you know, want to be able to say, ‘hey, we’re here and you can be here too.’”

While serving individuals across Pennsylvania, McGill hopes to increase popularity and expand their menu and incorporate a brick and mortar cafe in the future, she said.

“I’m just gonna continue to do good work with integrity, build relationships and make a difference through french toast,” McGill said. christopherduong.001@temple.edu

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SPORTS

PAGE 29

MEN’S SOCCER

Owls’ offense still searching for on-field rhythm Temple University men’s soccer head coach Brian Rowland emphasizes scoring in practice.

BY JACOB SMEDLEY Co-Men’s Soccer Beat Reporter

T

emple University men’s soccer (2-6-2, 0-5-0 The American Athletic Conference) has continuously struggled to score this season.

The Owls have converted on eight goals out of 86 shots, which has led to three shutout wins by conference opponents.

Head coach Brian Rowland has emphasized getting the first shot, goal and tackle of the game in practice the last couple of weeks, said sophomore forward Mike Eijgendaal.

“In soccer you always go into the game with the intention to get the most shots, get the first goal,” Eijgendaal added.

“I feel like the last couple of games we have focused on that in the game plan.”

The Owls five-game losing streak, which is the team’s longest losing streak since 2014, can be attributed to a lack of scoring, specifically scoring first in games. In five of the six total losses this season, the Owls went in the half scoreless and their opponents capitalized on their lack of play-making on offense.

Temple scored three goals in the first three games of the season, but since then, the Owls have only scored five goals in the last seven games played.

Rowland had to shuffle around the lineup in the previous games against conference opponents to see if they could get any rhythm going on offense, he said.

“We have had the pieces,” Rowland said. “We know we have depth, it’s just about knowing how to get the most out of the team.”

Temple ranks last in the AAC in many offensive categories including shots, goals, assists and points.

Against the No. 18 Southern Methodist University on Sept. 18, the Owls fell behind 2-0 in the first half, and Temple’s offense only produced four shots on goal in the second half

NOEL CHACKO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Mike Eijgendaal, sophomore forward, runs down the field with the ball during an Owls’ game against the University of Memphis on Sept. 29.

compared to the Mustangs nine, which led to the Owls 4-1 loss.

In a more recent game against the University of Memphis on Sept. 29, Temple fell behind 2-0 in the first half again and couldn’t produce a single goal in the second.

Rowland attributed the inability to perfect their shots due to the quick game turnaround each week which left less time for practice in between matches, he said.

“It’s on us to continue to find ways to create ideas and balance in the team,” Rowland said. “We’re not reinventing the wheel, we’ve just, you know, continued to trust our process and improvement and finding ways to get this group together and getting them to click a little bit.”

Opponents have outshot the Owls 51 to 32 in the first half and 64 to 39 in the second half this season.

The disparity in shots has led to pressure on the defense for newly inserted sophomore goalkeeper Liam Cummings, after redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski suffered a Jones fracture in his left foot against Villanova University on Sept. 11.

Redshirt-sophomore defenseman Marques Antonie believes the defense has been defending well in their previous games. But the Owls’ lack of scoring has put more pressure on the defense, who can’t keep up the pace throughout the entirety of a game, he said.

“We have full confidence in everyone up top in the midfield to score

goals,” Antonie. “We’ve seen it before in the past so it will come hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Memphis (4-6-1, 3-2-0 AAC) and the University of South Florida (3-6-1, 1-4-0 AAC) are the only two teams out of the Owls’ remaining six games in the regular season that have been outscored by their opponents.

Rowland also believes confidence can be a game changer for the offense to score goals, he said.

“We’ve had good finishes two seasons, the last couple years,” Rowland said. “Hopefully the group understands that it’s been done before and they’re prepared and ready.” tui82752@temple.edu @the_voice_jvs24

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SPORTS

The Temple News

CLUB SPORTS

Temple triplets grow closer through gymnastics Kelly siblings find themselves competing together again on Temple’s club gymnastics teams.

BY VICTORIA AYALA Assitant Sports Editor For the Kelly siblings, being triplets isn’t the only thing that keeps them connected to each other. From toddler classes at ACE gymnastics to college gymnastics at Temple University, the Kelly siblings have spent their entire lives bonded by the sport.

Alexis, Orion and Forrest Kelly are all seniors on Temple’s club gymnastics teams. Forrest Kelly competes on the nationally-competitive men’s gymnastics team, and Alexis Kelly and Orion Kelly compete with the co-ed gymnastics team.

Forrest and Orion Kelly competed with the men’s gymnastics team during their freshman year, while Alexis Kelly joined the co-ed gymnastics team her freshman year and started her role as secretary of the team her sophomore year.

The boys joined the men’s competitive team during a crucial rebuilding year and contributed much-needed scores on pommel horse and parallel bars, said men’s competitive gymnastics coach Jesse Kitzen-Abelson.

Their participation also helped the group receive team scores for the first time, which wasn’t possible before because there weren’t enough gymnasts on the squad to qualify them for team all-around finals. For a team score, five gymnasts must compete in each of the six events, totaling 30 routines, Abelson said.

With in-person classes and club sports back in full effect, Alexis and Orion Kelly have found their home with the coed gymnastics team and currently serve as the club’s co-presidents, while Forrest Kelly chose to study abroad at Temple’s Rome campus for the Fall 2021 semester and will return to compete with the men’s gymnastics team for the spring.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last spring, all club activities and competitions were canceled, forcing the triplets to change their routine.

Forrest Kelly, a senior architecture major, and Alexis Kelly, a senior mar-

AMBER RITSON / THE TEMPLE NEWS Alexis Kelly (left), a senior marketing major, and Orion Kelly (right), a senior engineering major, sit on the steps of Sullivan Hall located on Polett Walk on Oct. 9.

keting major, began working out at a few local gyms in Philadelphia when COVID-19 restrictions eased, while Orion Kelly, a senior engineering major, took the time off from gymnastics to focus more on school, he said.

“Our relationship was never built solely around gymnastics,” Orion Kelly said. “It was just one of the things that we all knew, even if I wasn’t doing it we all still enjoyed the sport for the most part.”

Before the pandemic, Orion Kelly spent most of the time with his siblings at the gym, but while being stuck in Philly for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester, he was able to hang out with Alexis Kelly and Forrest Kelly outside of the gym.

When the triplets began applying for colleges in 2017, they were all aware they’d be applying to Temple, but they didn’t want to influence each of their choices, so the three decided to wait to

tell each other until they all made their decision, Forrest Kelly said.

To their surprise, they all chose Temple.

A combination of factors, including price, location and the presence of a club gymnastics team, led to the triplets’ decision, Orion Kelly said.

Both Orion and Alexis Kelly are able to help each other learn different fundamentals that come with being on a co-ed team and combining men’s and women’s gymnastics, Alexis Kelly said.

Alexis Kelly enjoyed sharing practices and responsibilities with her brothers, on top of the new dynamic gymnastics brought by being on a co-ed team, she said.

“Considering I just grew up in girls gymnastics and my brothers just grew up in boys gymnastics, the co-ed team is very unique because there’s both those elements,” she added.

At age two, the triplets started rec-

reational gymnastics at ACE gymnastics in Ocean Township, New Jersey, where they began competing at age six, Alexis Kelly said.

Alexis Kelly continued competing with the women’s competitive team through high school, while Forrest and Orion Kelly were forced to move gyms because ACE gymnastics dropped the men’s team.

Forrest and Orion Kelly eventually found their home at Monmouth Gymnastics in Morganville, New Jersey, where they practiced and competed throughout high school.

“It is fun to have the same interests because we know that we can do something and we’ll all enjoy doing it together,” Orion Kelly said. victoria.ayala@temple.edu @ayalavictoria_

The Temple News

SPORTS

PAGE 31

VOLLEYBALL

Owls’ walk-on earns full scholarship this season Temple University volleyball proving was to gain more knowledge and Nikki Shimao’s work ethic earned perform better, but when the full scholarher a full scholarship this season. ship came along, it was not only a perk for

BY VALERIE PENDRAK Volleyball Beat Reporter When freshman defensive specialist/setter Nikki Shimao steps foot into a match, she leaves everything she has out onto the court no matter what.

Shimao is in her second season with Temple University volleyball, and is the only player on the team to earn a full scholarship for the 2021-22 season.

With 12 scholarships available to players on the volleyball team, Shimao was awarded a full scholarship in the beginning of the school year and it’ll be in place until the end of the spring semester, said head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam.

“Last season, we were actually recruiting a transfer to become a part of our roster,” Ganesharatnam added. “We decided not to pursue her and then, because of that, that scholarship remained open.”

Shimao’s commitment towards im-

her but also for her family, she said.

“It kind of caught me off guard, honestly I wasn’t really thinking about it,” Shimao said. “I think I’ve always wanted that, especially for my parents and for my family. So when they told me, I just broke down in tears, because it was always something that meant a lot to me and I wanted to do for them.”

The scholarship took some pressure off paying her tuition for Shimao and her family, she said.

The Owls offered Shimao the scholarship based on her hard work she put in during workouts outside of practice and her dedication to improve in the gym, Ganesharatnam added.

Shimao was a walk-on for the Owls last season, and when assistant coach Ren Cefra noticed her touch to set the ball, Cefra decided to reach out to Shimao’s ‘Iolani School coach, since he has recruited players from there in the past, Cefra said.

“We were looking for somebody who was a [defensive specialist] that also could set,” Cefra added. “[Shimao] being from Hawaii, I called some of my friends, and asked for some recommendations.”

During her first year with the Owls, Shimao pushed herself everyday in practice. On top of training on her own, Shimao would come in early to practice at McGonigle Hall and stay late to get more reps in with the coaching staff, she said.

“She is somebody who really competes, and puts full effort in every practice session,” Ganesharatnam said.

“She’s like a sponge, she wants to soak in the information we provide to her.

She tries to do what is in the best interest of the team.”

So far during this season, Shimao has 92 assists, the second highest on the team, and has helped the Owls by serving up 1 kill and 90 digs. Overall during her time at Temple, Shimao has provided a total of 98 assists and 96 digs.

Shimao began her volleyball career in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she made quite the impression on her high school

coach, by carrying ‘Iolani School to a pair of state titles, Cefra said.

After tearing her ACL her junior year of high school and missing six months of competition, Shimao never anticipated earning a spot on Temple’s team, she said.

Shimao’s ability to play aggressively is a key element for the Owls as she is willing to dive for any ball to help the team to victory, Ganesharatnam said.

Shimao has shown tremendous growth and dedication since she began playing for the Owls and her progress only continues to grow, which ultimately made offering her the scholarship that much easier, Ganesharatnam added.

“Hopefully that will also give her some more confidence,” Ganesharatnam said. “And a high performance, which I think will be very helpful for her.”

Barry began his collegiate football career at Independence Community College in Kansas, a junior college school he viewed as a stepping stone in his football career.

“I didn’t have many offers coming out of high school except for walkons,” Barry said. “I was looking for a scholarship. I looked at it like another opportunity to open up recruiting.”

Independence Community College was spotlighted on season 3 of Netflix’s “Last Chance U” in 2018, a show that follows a lower-tiered team for an entire season. Barry and his teammates received some attention from the show, but Barry’s opportunities came from scouting and attending training camps, where the Owls noticed him.

Barry received a call from an assistant coach at Independence Community College, detailing for him the prospect of playing for Temple, who had shown interest, Barry said.

Barry discovered if he could beat

out Temple’s punter, redshirt-freshman Connor Bowler, he would win the starting job and a full scholarship, Barry said.

Upon arriving at Temple, he immediately earned a spot as a starter, and Bowler transferred to the University of Charlotte. Barry’s freshman year was a reality check, after punting the ball 25 yards and fumbling on another punt attempt against the University of Buffalo on Sept. 21, 2019.

His poor performance led Barry to readjust his form and increase the time he spent weight lifting and watching film.

With the help of teammates and coaches, Barry steadily improved on his ball placement and mentality throughout the course of the season, he said.

Everybody who knows Barry knew the kind of punter he was going to be, it was just a matter of when it would show in its entirety, Gaines said.

“He most definitely grew into who he’s supposed to be and is still growing,” Gaines added.

Fans can watch Barry dance after a successful punt, cheer on his teammates and wander the sideline hyping every player up. But once he steps on the field, he’s locked in, Barry said.

Barry practiced repeatedly to get where he’s at today, advancing his flexibility and enhancing his IQ through hard work. And the results have shown through the three basic mechanics: catch, drop and kick.

The same exact mechanics that nearly cost Temple a key win two years ago are the reason he is looking to continue playing football beyond college, he said.

A missed punt is just another bump in the road for Barry, but those mistakes have made him the player he is today.

“On the field, off the field, wherever I’m at, I got to be the best,” Barry said.

valerie.pendrak@temple.edu @ValeriePendrak

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32 FOOTBALL tribute to the dedication he applied to his personal improvement.

Barry’s punting today is a farcry from his freshman year, where he averaged 37.8 yards punt distance, while this year his punts are going an average of 45.3 yards.

The development came through honing his skill and recieving motivation from the players and staff around him, Barry said.

Barry’s biggest motivator, though, is himself, he added.

“Adam’s a guy that competes his tail off,” said Special Teams Coordinator Brett Diersen. “He’s extremely hard on himself. I think he’s self-motivated.”

The team’s belief in Barry has blossomed into full-fledged confidence with each and every punt, Diersen said.

Barry was named one of the top-8 punters in the nation for week four after Temple’s rout against Wagner University on Sept. 25, averaging 49.8 yards-perpunt during the game off of 4 punts.

nick.gangewere@temple/edu @nick_gang16

SPORTS

PAGE 32

The Temple News

The rise of Owls’ punter Adam Barry In two years, Temple University football’s Adam Barry has gone from the worst punter in the conference to one of the best punters in college football.

BY NICK GANGEWERE stellar representation of what Temple is looking for in a Assitant Sports Editor punter. Not only has Barry’s

O

n Sept.

14, 2019, Temple University was locked into a tight game against No. 21 University of Maryland.

With three minutes and 12 seconds left in the game, Temple was leading 20-15.

Freshman punter Adam Barry took the snap from redshirtfreshman long snapper Ronald Gaines, stepping up and making contact with the ball. But Barry’s punt was sent straight out of bounds, sailing a total of seven yards, and setting up the Terrapins with terrific field position and the game on the line.

Since then, Barry has grown from being that “lanky Kentucky-kid” who in 2019 ranked last in the conference in punting, to a

maturity developed, but his punt placement and distance have improved also, he said.

Miraculously, the Owls would go on to win the game 20-17, but the play landed on ESPN for the Sportscenter Not Top 10 Plays as a nationwide laughingstock, Barry said.

Barry didn’t pay attention to the laughter from the crowd, though.

“I didn’t care,” Barry said.

“I didn’t go on social media. I just kept my head down and went right back to work.”

He focused on his craft and eventually got better — much better.

Entering this 20212022 season Barry landed on the Ray Guy Award watch list, an award that goes to the best punter in college football. With more than 129 FBS teams, the honor was a

ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Adam Barry, a junior punter, watches the Owls from the sidelines at Temple’s homecoming football game against the University of Memphis at Lincoln Financial Field on Oct. 2.