Vol 96, Iss. 20

Page 1

A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

VOL. 96 ISSUE 20

temple-news.com @thetemplenews

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2018

ON CAMPUS

CRIME

QPOC gets hate mail Temple Police is investigating the letter, which contained homophobic and racial slurs. BY JULIE CHRISTIE

T

Enterprise Editor

emple Police has yet to identify a suspect in its investigation of a letter containing racial and homophobic slurs that was delivered to the student organization Queer People of Color’s office on Feb. 12. Charlie Leone, the executive director of Campus Safety Services, said Temple Police is still investigating and conducting interviews with members of QPOC. Leone added that it was difficult to see anything significant from security footage inside the Student Center, where QPOC’s office is located, because the cameras are not pointed toward the office’s door. The letter could have been dropped off anytime between Feb. 9 and 12, he said. Carmella Hall, the club’s president and a junior gender, sexuality and women’s studies major, found the hand-written letter after it was allegedly slipped under QPOC’s door. She said she believes the anonymous letter was intended for a member of the organization’s executive board, but it was not addressed to anyone in particular. This is the first time the club has received hate mail, Hall said. “I’m not scared,” Hall told The Temple News. “I’m offended...but a note can’t stop me.” Hall added that QPOC has received support from Student Activities and the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership since the letter

QPOC | PAGE 2

CHIA YU LIAO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Hannah Whitney, a senior criminal justice major and a cadet for Temple’s Reserve Officers Training Corps, gives instructions during an event on Feb. 9 at Geasey Field. Whitney will commission as an armor officer after she graduates in May.

Women ‘bring perspective’ to ROTC Since 2016, Temple’s ROTC program has had women commission into combat arms positions. BY KALEKIDAN DEREJE For The Temple News

Although Hannah Whitney comes from a family of soldiers, she didn’t originally want to join the military. As a child, her father was in the Army and was deployed multiple times to countries like Bosnia, Afghanistan and Lithuania. She was home-schooled until high school and

TSG

said the deployment took a toll on her family. “But there was a point where that kind of changed and I was like, ‘I think it’s really important for everyone to serve their country in any way possible,’ and if the military is my way, that’s the way I wanted to do it,” said Whitney, a senior criminal justice major and the assistant operations and a cadet for Temple’s Reserve Officers Training Corps. Whitney’s mother was in the Army, too. Her mom originally wanted to work in one of the combat arms branches, but she was not allowed because of her gender. She instead joined the military police, which is law enforcement within the army, and served in

South Korea and Fort Carson in Colorado. Before 2015, women were permitted in one of the combat arms branches — the branches of the Army that engage in direct combat. In January 2016, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter declared all branches and facets of the military open to anyone who wanted to serve. Since 2016, women from Temple’s ROTC program have commissioned into combat arms positions and graduated from the basic officer leadership course for these fields each year.

ROTC | PAGE 8

ON CAMPUS

STEM event opens new doors for girls The first president of Temple’s Society of Women Engineers chapter will speak on campus Thursday. BY IAN WALKER

Assistant Features Editor

RACHEL SILVERMAN / THE TEMPLE NEWS Temple Student Government canceled its Alternative Spring Break, which planned to educate students about North Philadelphia history and provide volunteer opportunities.

More than 30 years after her graduation, Kathleen Jenkins still gets goosebumps when she steps on Main Campus. Jenkins, a 1983 mechanical engineering alumna and decades-long NASA engineer, was the first president of Temple’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, which had four members in its inaugural

year. The group now has 70 students. Jenkins will meet with Temple’s SWE chapter on Thursday for the first time in about three decades. “To go back and see the girls for the first time, this is going to be mind-boggling,” Jenkins said. Jenkins will visit Main Campus to speak at the fourth annual “Girls! Be That Engineer!” event, which is an educational program for young girls interested in engineering professions. The event, hosted by SWE, will draw several dozens of girls, including students from the Philadelphia High School for Girls and members of the Girl Scouts of Central

ENGINEERING | PAGE 11

TSG cancels spring break service program Few students expressed interest in the program. BY ALYSSA BIEDERMAN On-Campus Beat Reporter

Temple Student Government canceled its first Alternative Spring Break on Monday after only four students and two student leaders signed up to participate. Students would have stayed at the Church of the Advocate on Diamond Street near 18th and participated in ser-

vice projects, like cleaning up blocks and working at the Advocate Cafe, which serves free meals Monday through Friday from 12 to 2 p.m. TSG’s Deputy Local and Community Affairs Director Faithe Beadle said she wanted to have at least eight participants for the program to run, in the hopes it would foster better group discussions. “We wanted to have a fruitful program, and with the amount of participants, it wouldn’t be,” Beadle said. “We

SPRING BREAK | PAGE 3

SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Caitlin Jugler, the secretary of Temple’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, builds with K’Nex in the Student Village to prepare for an event on Thursday that will teach young girls about STEM. The K’Nex will be on display at the event.

NEWS | PAGES 2-3, 6

OPINION | PAGES 4-5

FEATURES | PAGES 7-12

SPORTS | PAGES 13-16

Professors from the Department of Chemistry were awarded multi-million dollar grants to combat chemical warfare. Read more on Page 3.

A student wrote a column that compared police’s response for the Super Bowl celebrations and Black Lives Matter protests. Read more on Page 5.

Jimmy Curran, a 2011 finance alumnus, self-published a children’s book about a bird with one wing to talk about disabilities. Read more on Page 7.

The men’s basketball team lost to two of the top three teams in the conference as it tried to bolster its chances at an NCAA Tournament bid. Read more on Page 16.


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Vol 96, Iss. 20 by The Temple News - Issuu