THE TEMPLE NEWS

A SECOND SANCTUARY UN SEGUNDO SANTUARIO

An undocumented family has moved from North Philadelphia to a Germantown church. Read more on Page 6.

VOL 97 // ISSUE 17 JANUARY 29, 2019 temple-news.com @thetemplenews

NEWS, PAGE 3 Students can now use their Apple devices to access residence and dining halls.

OPINION, PAGE 8 The Health Columnist warns about the impact of another government shutdown.

FEATURES, PAGE 16 Students, experts weigh in on the effectiveness of the low-carb keto diet.

SPORTS, PAGE 22 Lacrosse has high hopes for their first year in The American Athletic Conference.

NEWS PAGE 2

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

THE TEMPLE NEWS A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921. Gillian McGoldrick Editor in Chief Kelly Brennan Managing Editor Julie Christie Digital Managing Editor Evan Easterling Chief Copy Editor Greta Anderson News Editor Grace Shallow Deputy Investigations Editor Alyssa Biederman Deputy Campus Editor Will Bleier Deputy City Editor Jayna Schaffer Opinion Editor Laura Smythe Features Editor Zari Tarazona Deputy Features Editor Michaela Althouse Deputy Features Editor Michael Zingrone Co-Sports Editor Sam Neumann Co-Sports Editor Claire Wolters Intersection Editor Maria Ribeiro Director of Engagement Siani Colon Asst. Director of Engagement Dylan Long Co-Photography Editor Luke Smith Co-Photography Editor Madison Seitchik Web Editor Ian Walker Visuals Editor Claire Halloran Design Editor Phuong Tran Advertising Manager Kelsey McGill Advertising Manager Daniel Magras Business Manager

The Temple News is an editorially independent weekly publication serving the Temple University community. Unsigned editorial content represents the opinion of The Temple News. Adjacent commentary is reflective of their authors, not The Temple News. Visit us online at temple-news.com. Send submissions to letters@temple-news.com. The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122

ON THE COVER DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS

CORRECTIONS The story, “The fight for financial aid,” that ran on Page 12 on January 22, misstated the date of Student Financial Services’ filing workshop. It is on Feb. 7. 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 Gillian McGoldrick at editor@temple-news.com or 215-204-6736.

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CAMPUS

Laptops available for students to borrow

Access to laptops is important Laptop Share Kiosks were added to Paley Library and for students living in the 21st centhe TECH Center last month. tury, said Jennifer Johnson, a higher

BY HALEY QUILLEN-KNOX & ABBY WILSON For The Temple News Paley Library and the TECH Center now have kiosks for students to borrow laptops on Main Campus. The Laptop Share pilot program, which was created by Information Technology Services, has loaned out laptops 252 times since its start on Dec. 6, 2018, said Larry Brandolph, the associate vice president of ITS. The program is useful for low-income students who may not have their own laptops for online-only assignments, Brandolph said. There are two 12-laptop kiosks, next to the service desk at Paley Library and on the second floor of the TECH Center. Students can borrow laptops for up to four hours and return them to either location. The program cost approximately $25,000 for the kiosks, and all of the laptops were previously owned by the TECH Center, Brandolph said. “It’s definitely taking off,” said Stephanie Ismael, a tech support specialist and manager at the TECH Center. “It’s nice to have laptop availability in multiple places as well.” Brandolph and Gene Mayro, the director of ITS, heard other universities began implementing the kiosk program in 2017 at Philadelphia’s Educause conference, a meeting for higher education IT professionals. The laptops come equipped with many of the required software programs students need for each college at Temple University, including the engineering program ANSYS, JMP Pro for statistical analysis and Sage accounting software.

education professor. Johnson said she often worries about implementing technology into her curriculum because she has had students who lack access to a personal computer. “Since I know not everyone has a laptop or brings [one] to class, I typically don’t do assignments that require individual laptop use,” Johnson said. “We need to have mechanisms where everyone has access to reliable technology, not just the phone, but the technology and the apps that go along with having a laptop.” While Brandolph said that the Laptop Share program was not initially created to benefit low-income students, he recognized how helpful it could be for students in classrooms with online-only assignments. “We wanted to get the laptops out of just the TECH Center,” he said. “But, we also knew that we have students who are in need of a laptop for class and can’t buy it themselves.” Gabrielle Munoz, a senior chemistry major, uses the Laptop Share kiosks frequently to work on assignments for her courses. “My personal laptop is broken, and I can’t afford a new one,” she said. “This makes easier to get to a computer, and I can go other places to use it comfortably. Brandolph and Mayro said they intend to expand the program in the future and install kiosks in residence halls and classrooms. “I can see 10 or 12 of these [kiosks] throughout campus in the near future,” Brandolph said. “But ultimately, if we could get them in every academic building, that would be great.” news@temple-news.com @TheTempleNews

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NEWS PAGE 3

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

TECHNOLOGY

Physical IDs no longer needed for building access Students, faculty and staff can released their launch dates. There are several Blackboard card now use mobile devices as their readers in Main Campus buildings and OWLcards. BY ABBY WILSON For The Temple News Temple University and Apple Inc. released a new feature on Monday that allows users to scan their phones to access campus buildings and use Diamond Dollars. The new feature will provide students, faculty and staff the same access to university buildings, fitness facilities and dining centers as physical OWLcards by showing identification on their mobile phones through Apple Wallet or Google Pay. Chief Information Officer Cindy Leavitt sent an email to the Temple community Monday morning announcing the feature. “Available today, this exciting innovation will make getting around campus even easier,” she wrote. To use the feature, students and staff must download an application through Blackboard, which provides the university’s card scanners. They can merge their OWLcards with Apple Wallet or Google Pay, said Chris Vito, a university spokesperson, during a demonstration of the OWLcard feature on Friday. Android users with operating system 5.0 or later also have access to the application that displays OWLcards, but they will need to have their screen awake to scan their mobile device, while iPhone users can scan through Apple Wallet with the application closed and their screen asleep. Temple is among six universities nationwide piloting the feature. Duke University, the University of Alabama and the University of Oklahoma all launched programs to have student IDs available on mobile devices in October 2018. Johns Hopkins University and Santa Clara University will also have access to the feature, but Apple has not yet

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residence halls, like Pearson Hall and the Science Education and Research Center, while some academic buildings do not currently have the technology. In university buildings where there are not card scanners, like Anderson and Gladfelter halls, Campus Safety will allow entry to students and faculty who pull up the image of their OWLcard on their phones to show to security, said Scott Brannan, director of the OWLcard Office. “It’s the next wave of technology, and we know that our students really embrace technology usage and like new things...we don’t just say yes to everything, but this is a good advancement and there’s extra security in this and we think it’s a great step forward,” Brannan said. To begin using OWLcards on mobile devices, students, faculty and staff can download a Blackboard application called, “eAccounts,” where they can enter their university credentials and use two-factor authentication to confirm their identity. “It’s really convenient for when you’re fumbling around with your things, and you have a book in your hand, maybe if it’s raining outside and you have an umbrella in your hand, but you always have your phone in your hand,” said Naomi Abrahams, a senior media studies and production major who helped introduce the Apple Wallet feature during a press conference on Friday in the Science Education and Research Center. Once the university account is connected, students can link it to Apple Wallet if they have an iPhone 6, Apple Watch 1 or a more recent model. When students and faculty need to use their OWLcards, they can access them through Apple Wallet and do not have to go to the eAccounts application. eAccounts also displays university account

DYLAN LONG / FILE PHOTO Naomi Abrahams, a senior media studies and production major, swipes into the Science Education and Research Center on Friday during a demonstration of the new OWLcard mobile device feature.

balances and transactions, including Diamond Dollar balance, printing allocation and meal swipe balance. “It’s just more flexible, it’s going to be easier,” said Evin Karatas, an undeclared sophomore. “Most people are already going to be on their phones when they go into buildings, so might as well just use your phone.” When students lose their physical OWLcards, they must replace it for a $20 fee to continue accessing buildings, but with the new feature, only a mobile

OWLcard is needed. If students and faculty lose their mobile devices with the feature installed, they can set the phone as missing through eAccounts or TUportal, and the application will then erase the OWLcard credentials from the phone. Once the phone is either found or replaced, students and faculty can then reactivate their OWLcard back on their phones. abigail.wilson@temple.edu

News Desk 215.204.7419 news@temple-news.com

NEWS PAGE 4

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

ADMINISTRATION

Jefferson, Temple Health in talks about Fox Chase The cancer center has been struggling financially, and Temple Health may sell it by April. BY JUSTINE IMBURGIO AND WILL AMARI For The Temple News Thomas Jefferson University is negotiating a deal to acquire Temple’s Fox Chase Cancer Center, which has been struggling financially. Leaders from Temple University Health System and Jefferson Health will negotiate for Fox Chase and consider the deal in a 90-day window that will end on April 10. The acquisition intends to better serve the needs of Fox Chase, its patients, the surrounding community and both universities’ goals, according to a Jan. 10 Jefferson Health press release. If Fox Chase is sold, Jefferson Health and Temple Health will enter a longterm agreement for the systems’ academic and cancer treatment methods, which would expand health system access for North Philadelphia residents, representatives from both institutions wrote in the release. Temple Health hopes a potential merger will help address the cancer center’s current problems with investment in technology maintenance and improvement, patient treatment, Medicare and Medicaid funding, reshaping the healthcare system and managing future operating deficits, wrote Temple University President Richard Englert and Dr. Larry Kaiser, president and CEO of Temple Health in a joint letter to the Temple community in August 2018. “The move opens the door to bring together significant complementary expertise in cancer treatment and breakthrough research to improve patient outcomes across the greater Philadelphia region and beyond,” Englert and Kaiser wrote. Maureen Rabbitt, 23, who used to live in the Fox Chase neighborhood,

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The Fox Chase Cancer Center may be sold to Jefferson Health.

said as long as quality care continues, it doesn’t matter which health system owns the cancer center. “I don’t think it’s going to have too much of an effect,” said Rabbitt, a firstyear speech, language and hearing science master’s student. “[Fox Chase] has changed hands for the 23 years I’ve been there. As long as they keep doing their best to serve their patients and no patients get lost in the shuffle...transferring from Temple to Jefferson.” Jefferson Health has expanded rapidly, acquiring 11 new hospitals since 2013, KYW Newsradio reported. “This negotiation period will allow us to better understand how partnering could improve lives for patients throughout Philadelphia and far beyond,” said Dr. Stephen Klasko, the president of Thomas Jefferson University, in the

Jan. 10 press release. “This [acquisition] could save, and change, lives forever.” Temple Health has to make capital investments to improve maintenance and technology and avoid deficits in the future, according to a 2017 independent analysis of the health system conducted by the international consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal. The Board of Trustees hired the firm to help address Temple Health’s growing financial concerns. On Wednesday, Kaiser announced Temple Health is eliminating several high-up administrative positions within the Temple Health System. The Board authorized Englert to appoint Stuart McLean as chief restructuring officer for Temple Health in June 2018, to provide solutions for the system’s financial difficulties. The CRO,

COURTESY / TEMPLE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

with Board and Englert’s approval, will work with Temple Health management to restructure the health system’s operations. The Board also authorized a financial adviser to coordinate the potential sale of Fox Chase and Temple’s Jeanes Hospital in June 2018. No final decision has been made regarding the sale of either facility. “Temple and Jefferson share a home city, a mission and a commitment to caring for cancer patients throughout the region, and Jefferson is an outstanding potential partner,” Englert wrote. “We support the idea of two great Philadelphia institutions coming together to do what’s right for the patients we proudly serve.” news@temple-news.com @TheTempleNews

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NEWS PAGE 5

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

TSG

IgniteTU holds first mandatory town hall of 2019 Representatives from student organizations will have to attend one meeting per month. BY LAKOTA MATSON For The Temple News Temple Student Government now requires student organization representatives to attend at least one town hall meeting per month in order to receive allocations. Town hall meetings, which are an alternative to last academic year’s weekly General Assembly meetings, will now occur every two weeks. The first town hall meeting of the semester on Monday focused on diversity. Future town halls will cover a variety of topics, including campus safety, student affairs and student health and wellbeing. The conversations between student organizations and TSG members during past town halls have helped TSG leaders better understand the student body, TSG Chief of Staff Marissa Martini said. “Having more people in attendance and having people from all across campus in attendance will be very beneficial to us,” she said. “We need to know what we can do better for the student body and for the student body to know what we are already doing for them and what we plan to do.” TSG hosted three non-mandatory town halls in Fall 2018, but attendance was low. TSG sent out an email on Jan. 20 notifying students that town halls will be mandatory, after students, including The Temple News Editorial Board, raised concerns with the lack of student participation. On Monday, about 50 student organization representatives attended the first town hall of Spring 2019. Marvin Manalo, TSG’s deputy director of campus life and diversity, led Monday’s town hall meeting and discussed where the university lacks cultural diversity. TSG also announced it is

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LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS Attendees of Temple Student Government’s first mandatory town hall meeting on Monday respond to questions using their cellphones.

accepting applications for a mentorship program, which would pair domestic and international students and students in the same major. The program was attempted in Fall 2018, but it did not get enough applications. “It was a good start to having a conversation about diversity,” said Katie Axinn, a representative for Alpha Delta Mu, a social work honor society. “But I kind of feel like there should have been more actual conversation, like more back and forth, whereas like I felt they were just kind of taking suggestions.” Parker Strong, the allocations chair for the Professional Sales Organization, said the mandatory town halls will get him more involved with TSG.

“In a way, it kinda stinks just cause it kinda adds to the workload, and it’s another requirement,” he said. “At the same time, I think it holds me accountable and forces me to know what’s going on.” Temple Debate Society communications chair Gillian McGuire said she prefers having solely email newsletters. “I’ve often gone to the mandatory meetings, and it often doesn’t even apply to organizations at all,” she said. “Sometimes at the meeting, TSG talks about other things that they’re doing, which is great, but if it’s not going to pertain to organization news, I’d rather not go.” Last semester, information was sent to student organizations in the form of weekly newsletters, which replaced

mandatory weekly GAs. Students asked for more interaction with TSG after the newsletter GAs were put in place, Martini said. “This gives us more face time with students,” she said. “We just wanted to respond to that and respond to what the student body wants and so that we can interact more personally with them and field any questions that they might have and also engage on certain topics that we might not be able to touch on in the newsletter.” lakota.matson@temple.edu

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NEWS PAGE 6

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

The undocumented Hernandez family currently lives in sanctuary at the Germantown Mennonite Church.

DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS

COVER STORY

Family in sanctuary moves to Germantown church The Hernandez family, who are — who are undocumented immigrants, town Mennonite Church] came together the church, said Blanca Pacheco, the undocumented, have been living originally from Mexico, lived in sanctu- to give us sanctuary, and it demonstrates co-director of the New Sanctuary Movein sanctuary for more than a year. ary for about a year at the Church of the that it’s no longer one or two churches ment of Philadelphia, an organization BY DIANA CRISTANCHO For The Temple News Carmela Apolonio Hernandez shares a small, cinder block bedroom with her four children inside of a church. The siblings sleep together, two-bytwo when they need comfort at night. Hernandez sleeps on a couch nearby. Hernandez and her children — Fidel, 16; Keyri, 14; Yoselin, 12; and Edwin, 10 News Desk 215.204.7419 news@temple-news.com

Advocate on Diamond Street near Gratz from December 2017 until last month. The family wanted a fresh living space, Hernandez said, so they moved to the Germantown Mennonite Church on Washington Lane near Germantown Avenue on Dec. 9, 2018. “I wanted a change of environment, even if it was an enclosed environment,” Hernandez said in Spanish, translated by The Temple News. “...[The German-

in Philadelphia that are giving sanctuary. There any many that are supporting immigrant sanctuary.” Still, Hernandez was denied asylum and fears for the safety of her and her family if they return to Mexico. She fled with her children after her brother and two nephews were killed by organized drug criminals. The Hernandez family is in danger of deportation each time it steps out of

that advocates for undocumented immigrants. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that enforces immigration policy, tries not to attempt to deport people known to be undocumented in “sensitive locations,” like schools and places of worship, an ICE official from the Philadelphia Field Office wrote in an email to The Temple News. temple-news.com

NEWS PAGE 7

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

Quería tomar otro ambiente. Aunque sea encerrado, pero otro ambiente…Ellos [Germantown Mennonite Church] se unieron para dar el santuario y esto es para demostrar que no nada más es una iglesia o dos en Filadelfia que están dando santuario, sino que hay muchas iglesias que están apoyando la gente inmigrante para darles santuario

Carmela Apolonio Hernandez

The agency has allowed Hernandez time to determine how to get back to Mexico since a judge issued a deportation order in September 2016, the official wrote. ICE cannot, however, enforce the order at a sensitive location without “prior approval from an appropriate supervisory official or exigent circumstances necessitating immediate action.” Staff from the Church at the Advocate visit Hernandez frequently at her new location, said John Bergen, an associate pastor at the Germantown Mennonite Church. “They miss her,” he added. “When you reach a point as she did at the Church of the Advocate for a year, where she had positive experiences, [you get attached],” Bergen said. “...while you can have positive experiences, being in sanctuary is not a thing that people want to do.” Hernandez has been facing health complications for the past couple of weeks, she said, due to stress and lack of open air. “There are days I feel good and some I feel bad,” Hernandez said. “...Sometimes, I have the strength to keep fighting, but there are other times when I don’t.” “Living in sanctuary is quite hard,” Hernandez added. The New Sanctuary Movement of @TheTempleNews

Philadelphia brought doctors to the Germantown church to care for Hernandez, said Pacheco, who has been aiding Hernandez through her time in sanctuary. The family’s relocation to Germantown was carefully planned and ICE was notified of their new location, Pacheco said. “She has dedicated herself to fighting until she is allowed to live without the threat of deportation,” Bergen said. “We believe that she should be able to live where she wants, and her children should be able to go outside and experience a world without the threat of being sent back.” There are 14 undocumented people at risk of deportation currently living in sanctuary in Philadelphia, more than any other city in the country, Pacheco said. Three families, including the Hernandezes, are living in the Germantown Mennonite Church. Philadelphia is considered a “Welcoming City,” often referred to as a “sanctuary city,” which means its city agencies, including police, are not allowed to ask about people’s documentation status, according to the Office of Immigrant Affairs. After weeks of protest in July 2018, Mayor Jim Kenney announced the city would no longer share its Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System with ICE. PARS collects arrest data, including

personal information like race and nationality, which pro-immigrant activists said ICE could use to detain and deport individuals suspected to be undocumented. In October 2018, Hernandez participated in a sit-in protest in United States Sen. Bob Casey’s Philadelphia office asking Casey to introduce a private bill for her permanent residency in the U.S., The Temple News reported.

Yo estoy bien agradecida con la gente de Filadelfia porque hay muchísima gente que sabe de mi caso. Hay gente que no lo sabe pero se enteran poco a poco, pero siempre están dispuestos a ayudar en lo que puedan ayudar.

Carmela Apolonio Hernandez

Casey’s office could not be immediately reached for comment. Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration are discussing border security legislation and have three weeks to determine an immigration deal before federal government funding expires again, Politico report-

ed. The government was partially shut down for a record 35 days through December 2018 and January over disagreements between Trump and Democratic congressional leaders on whether to provide funding for a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. As the country’s leaders determine a response to illegal immigration, the four Hernandez children are still attending school, one of the few places other than the Germantown church they can go without the threat of deportation. The Hernandez kids can see the bus from inside the church and run to it. The bus ride takes an hour each way. Their friends can come over to the church to play after school, but they can’t go to their houses. “I’m very grateful to the people of Philadelphia because there are a lot of people who know about my case,” Hernandez said. “Some people don’t know but they start to know little by little and they are always willing to help in any way they can.” “...What I wish for the most is for my order of deportation to be stopped, but with the support of the community that is what I’ve been fighting for me and my family,” she added. diana.cristancho@temple.edu

The Hernandez family’s journey in the U.S. 2015 The Hernandez family flees Mexico.

2016 An immigration judge orders Hernandez to be deported.

2017 The Hernandez family moves into the Church of the Advocate. Hernandez is ordered to leave the U.S. by Dec. 15, 2017 by ICE.

2018 The Hernandez kids leave the church for the first time to attend school. Hernandez risks deportation to protest at Sen. Bob Casey’s office. Hernandez and her family move to the Germantown Mennonite Church. CLAIRE HALLORAN / THE TEMPLE NEWS

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OPINION TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

PAGE 8 EDITORIAL

TSG: Keep engaging students Temple Student Government hosted its first town hall meeting of the semester on Monday after making it mandatory for student organizations to attend at least one meeting per month. The change was made based off of feedback in The Temple News, TSG officials wrote in a newsletter. The Editorial Board is pleased by the changes TSG leaders have made to increase student engagement and hold student organizations accountable for the allocations they receive. Once-per-month meetings are a happy medium between weekly General Assembly meetings and no mandatory meetings at all. We also appreciate the diversity of the upcoming town hall meeting topics and will ensure a reporter is present at each meeting in case some students are unable to attend. Some student organization

leaders could be upset they have to add one more meeting to their busy schedules. But we believe both student leaders and TSG officials will be better off from more frequent engagement, which will help TSG better serve the student body. Still, we know that this TSG administration has great initiatives and has been dedicated to combating food and housing insecurity among Temple students. Without meeting face to face, students will never know about the programs created just for them. Students will remain unaware of TSG leaders, who work to have students’ voices heard by university administrators. We are confident this change to TSG will bring students closer to their leaders. The Temple community is better off when students and their leaders are regularly meeting and communicating.

EDITORIAL

Support graduate students

Most of us have taken a class taught by a teaching assistant or research assistant who grades papers and tests, holds office hours and performs other tasks to make the course easier for students and professors. Most of these workers are graduate students. These graduate student workers teach a substantial amount of courses offered at Temple University. But graduate students are underpaid and overstressed, PBS NewsHour reported. That’s why the Temple University Graduate Students’ Association was founded in 1997 as Pennsylvania’s first labor union for graduate students to fight low wages without cost-of-living adjustments and grievance procedures. TUGSA became recognized by the university in 2001 as one of at least 30 graduate student unions in the country. letters@temple-news.com

Even with TUGSA, graduate students aren’t getting paid enough to compensate for how much they bring in to Temple each semester, said Evan Kassof, the vice president of TUGSA and a music Ph.D. student. We appreciate the contributions graduate students bring to our undergraduate learning experiences, and we’re proud to have our graduate students advocating for themselves through TUGSA. And when TUGSA improves the lives of graduate students, it’s improving undergraduate education, too. Let’s get to know the graduate students who help the student body and support TUGSA, the group that ensures graduate students are taken care of. Graduate students continue to teach us because it’s their passion. We have a lot to learn from them.

HEALTH

Remember FDA during government shutdown If the government shuts down 3,000 of them, according to the Centers for again, the country could be at risk Disease Control and Prevention. Patricia Amberg-Blyskal, a political sciof a national foodborne epidemic.

P

resident Donald Trump temporarily ended the 35-day federal government shutdown on Friday by signing a bill to reopen the government. But the country could face another shutdown if his demands for a border wall aren’t met by Feb. 15. The furlough of thousands of government employees was the most obvious effect of the shutdown, but we can’t overlook the organization whose lack of funding may still cause major repercussions for the CHRISTINA health and safety of MITCHELL HEALTH COLUMNIST the nation. The United States Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the health and safety of nearly 80 percent of Americans’ food supply, announced it had stopped routine inspections of many foods at risk of contamination, including seafood, fruits and vegetables. Meat and poultry were still undergoing routine inspections at the Agriculture Department, but employees were working without pay. Without their unpaid labor, we would have dangerously increased chances of contracting foodborne illnesses like E. coli. I once saw myself working for the CDC as an epidemiologist, but if weeks or even months of working without pay are a possibility, I’m hesitant to pursue it. I hope Trump thinks about the health of our nation when making his decision about the possibility of another shutdown in three weeks because foodborne illnesses hospitalize 128,000 Americans each year, killing

ence professor at Temple University, said part of the problem is the “lack of respect of civil workers and honoring their service.” “You have to be intuitive and understand the food you get in a store or restaurant is there because of the infrastructure and the people who dedicate their lives to promoting the safety of others,” Amberg-Blyskal said. People in civil positions whose job it is to protect us from dangers, even microscopic ones, are underappreciated. This should not be ignored. In his project “Government is Good,” Douglas Amy, a political science professor at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, wrote about how every aspect of his day is improved by federal programs and policies in “innumerable ways.” For example in his “A Day in Your Life” post, at 6:45 a.m., he makes breakfast with food that has been cleared for consumption by inspectors. “You sit down to breakfast with your family,” Amy wrote. “But the chance of you getting sick from these eggs has now been greatly reduced by a recently passed series of strict federal rules that apply to egg producers.” Luckily, as of yet, no outbreaks have occurred since the reduction of inspections, but we are treading on thin ice. “I think it’s only because of the sheer determination of our workers who [were] still coming in [without pay] that people haven’t gotten sick already,” Amberg-Blyskal said. We can all take a sigh of relief for now, but the future is uncertain. I’m not sure we will be this lucky again three weeks from now if this conflict isn’t resolved. Our health is on the line. christina.mitchell@temple.edu

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OPINION PAGE 9

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

Can you speak without your accent? I My accent shouldn’t mask you. my intelligence can’t understand You’re actually A student writes about the hardships she faces with English pretty smart. Can you say that again? as her second language. You have a funny accent. What are you BY PAVLINA CERNA International Columnist trying to say? Could you say that again Being bilingual is generally considered a great advantage. It opens up so but a bit slower? What are you trying to many doors. It even has a positive effect on brain function and helps improve memory say? Why did you say it like that? What and occasionally allows people to curse in public without getting disapproving looks. did you just say? Could you say that But being bilingual has its downsides. When speaking English, my second without the accent? You sound silly. I language, I have felt frustrated, underestimated, undervalued and less intelli- don’t understand what you’re saying. gent. My harsh Slavic accent, which sounds Russian to many, reveals my That’s not how you say it. You actually immigration status within my first senDuring times when I’ve admitted to My only thought at that moment but it doesn’t really make sense to me. tence. I have not been able to American- not understanding something, I’ve been was of Sofia Vergara as the bilingual why is “eatable” not aare word, English pretty well. AndWhere ize my pronunciation during the last five speak dismissed as being incapable of com- character Gloria in the show “Modern when it makes more sense than “edible?” years since I moved to the United States, prehension, which was wrong. I just Family,” when she said, “Do you even Before learning the cultural norms, no matter how hard I’ve tried. couldn’t match a certain word or phrase from? know how smart IWhat am in Spanish? Of I sounded rude. I would ask in you actually accent is rarely that? Once, someone asked if I could stop with any translation in my native vocab- course, you don’t.” my language, “Can I have some coffee,

THE ESSAYIST

NICOLE HWANG / THE TEMPLE NEWS

speaking with my accent for a little bit so she could understand me better. I’m sorry to disappoint, but according to Medical Daily, people with accents lose the ability to make certain sounds with age. So no, I can’t stop. And the hardship of being bilingual goes beyond the accent. Immigrants usually speak in simple sentences. When expressing myself in English, I often have to simplify my thoughts. And occasionally during this process, I strip my sentences of their intended meaning. Based on my experience, having trouble speaking a second language is often mistaken as a sign of low intelligence. To put it simply, we sound dumb to Americans.

@TheTempleNews

ulary. When I first came to the United States from the Czech Republic, my English was so basic I could hardly put a sentence together. Luckily, I was working as an au pair, or a foreign live-in nanny, taking care of children, who were the most patient English teachers I could have possibly asked for. The only downside was that I used to walk around asking for the “potty” in restaurants and bars. Having very different political views from the host family I used to live with, I worked up the confidence after a few months to speak out and explain the refugee situation in Europe. My host parents kept mixing up facts. Once I finished, my host dad plainly said, “You are actually pretty smart.”

At a meeting with an academic adviser at my previous college, I was told I might want to rethink studying journalism because English isn’t my native language. Thankfully, my stubbornness is greater than my fear of failure, so I went against this advice, changed my major and eventually became junior editor of the college’s newspaper. I disagree with the common opinion that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, but it is hard. There are exceptions to rules and expressions that make very little sense. For example, in English, you can “shed a tear” and “tear a letter open,” and it seems like the same word, but you don’t pronounce it the same. That is so confusing. Maybe it just makes sense to you,

please?” In my homeland, it is perfectly normal to say, “Bring me coffee,” without sounding arrogant like it would in English. Although I can speak English pretty fluently now, I will probably never sound like a native speaker. But that doesn’t mean I’m incapable of speaking and understanding. Immigrants are not less intelligent. We might take longer to finish tasks, read and ask questions, but we are smart and we learn fast. All it takes is a little bit of patience. Be patient with us, please. This is a land of immigrants after all. pavlina.cerna@temple.edu

letters@temple-news.com

OPINION PAGE 10

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

THE ESSAYIST

Where would we be without RBG?

A student reflects on her appreciation for United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. BY BRITTANY VALENTINE Feminism Columnist

“Martin Ginsburg will be signing all of our checks someday. You’re a smart girl, you married a star.” This quote, from the 2018 film “On the Basis of Sex,” both infuriated me and made me laugh. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is infinitely more than someone’s wife, and her intelligence goes far beyond choosing the right partner. Yet, a comment like this painfully ignores who she is as a person and attempts to remind her of her stereotypical role in society: a caregiver. “On the Basis of Sex,” which opened on Christmas Day, tells the story of Ginsburg’s fight for equal rights and her professional journey to becoming a United States Supreme Court associate justice. Watching it was an emotional experience for me. I was so moved by Ginsburg’s perseverance as she fought against a legal system that continually refused to value her voice, her credentials and her passion. There were many times during the film that I found myself feeling all the emotions Ginsburg went through — frustration, anger, sadness, joy, love, determination and fierceness. Most people believe we have evolved past outdated, sexist beliefs. But there continues to be an abundance of derogatory comments reserved for women who dare to succeed in a “man’s world.” In 2016, Laura Bates published a book called “Everyday Sexism,” which began as a project four years earlier on her website and Twitter page, where women of all ages have posted about their experiences with casual sexism. In

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one submission, a medical student recalled a professor telling her she’d cause her future husband serious headaches because she asks too many questions. “My male boss finally agreed to give me a pay rise,” another woman wrote. “I replied, ‘I’m very grateful to you for sorting it out for me.’ He replied, ‘It’s a good job you’re married or I would ask you to show me how grateful.’” We live in an era where it seems women are finally able to “have it all.” Women are maintaining families and professional lives. Yet, women running for office will often be asked by well-meaning journalists how they are going to raise a family as a politician. These questions are posed only to women and with little regard for the fact that child-rearing is a partnership. Though we won’t admit it, many of us are stuck in the mindset of eras long behind us. I saw that in “On the Basis of Sex.” Ginsburg hid her second pregnancy with luck and timing. This was a year after she became the first woman professor at Rutgers Law School, where the dean told her quite matter-of-factly he was not obligated to pay her as much as her male counterparts. The majority of U.S. citizens know Ginsburg as a Supreme Court justice who has made incredible strides in the movement for gender equality. But not many people may know Ginsburg has been involved in cases that benefited men in society, too. She was aware that discriminatory laws place people of all genders into a metaphorical prison. I learned despite being at the top of her classes at both Harvard and Columbia universities, Ginsburg struggled to land a job at a law firm. In the film, her husband asks how an interview went, and Ginsburg tried to contain her frustration. “I wasn’t what they were looking for,” she said. “One said, ‘Women are

ALEXA MINTZ / THE TEMPLE NEWS

too emotional to be lawyers.’ Another told me, ‘A woman graduating top of her class must be a real ballbuster.’” It turns out Ginsburg really was quite the “ballbuster,” as she is revered as being a “great dissenter.” Her work for the gender movement has been compared to what Thurgood Marshall has done for the civil rights movement. From the moment that our hero won her first case until I walked out of the theater, I could not stop crying. I learned that Ginsburg became a Supreme Court justice in 1993 when I was only 1 year old. It made me wonder how different my whole life might be if it weren’t for her.

These stories are essential to our progression in society. To make strides in gender equality, we need to know about resilient people like Malala Yousafzai, Assata Shakur, Angela Davis, Frida Kahlo, Tarana Burke, bell hooks, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Emma Gonzáles, Serena Williams, Winona La Duke and so many more. What would our world look like if gender equality was a priority? And what would it be like if it hadn’t been for Ginsburg? brittany.leigh.valentine@temple.edu @recoveryspirit

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OPINION PAGE 11

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

HEALTH

Stop dismissing seasonal affective disorder Students and professors should look for symptoms of SAD during winter months.

Right now, in the midst of the cold winter months, is when most people experience seasonal affective disorder, also known as seasonal depression or SAD. Seasonal affective disorder is a temporary mood disorder that occurs at the same time annually, typically beginning at the end of fall when the days become shorter, according to Axis Residential Treatment. Summer depression disorder also exists, lasting CHRISTINA from the beginning MITCHELL HEALTH COLUMNIST of summer to the end of fall, but it’s not as common. For both of these types of depression, symptoms include irritability, lack of motivation, fatigue, trouble sleeping and changes in weight. It normally manifests during young adulthood and is more frequently found in women, like depressive disorder and bipolar depression. It’s important we respect our friends, classmates and loved ones when they might be struggling with any mental health disorder, especially seasonal affective disorder which so few understand. Pay attention to your friends and classmates, and be sensitive if they don’t seem like their usual selves. Dan Palma, a sophomore psychology major who has seasonal depression, said his support system helps him manage his condition. “My parents are both psychologists and saw the signs, which made my life a lot easier,” Palma said. “My friends and ex-boyfriend all understood when it got really bad because they were all dealing with it too for the most part.”

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KAITLYN GROSS / THE TEMPLE NEWS

Because seasonal depression isn’t apparent year round, many people don’t take it seriously as a mental illness, and some researchers do not believe it exists. Steven LoBello, a co-author in a 2016 study published in “Clinical Psychology Science,” is one of the skeptics. “It’s a very broadly held cultural belief that the seasons and moods are correlated, and when you ask someone in the street when they feel the worst, they’ll say winter,” LoBello told Vice in January 2017. “One of the things going on is there could be a drop in mood during winter…but a drop in mood is not depression.” The scientific reason behind the illness has yet to be discovered, according to the Mayo Clinic, but many people who study psychology have theories. Lia Sandilos, a school psychology professor in the College of Education, said it

may have to do with lower levels of serotonin or higher levels of melatonin in the brain. Serotonin regulates anxiety, and melatonin helps you sleep, according to Healthline. Regardless of the cause, 5 percent of the country’s population is experiencing it, according to Mental Health America, a nonprofit that seeks to promote mental health. It’s not just on classmates to pay attention to their fellow students’ mental health. Professors should be sympathetic during this time of year, too. At Temple University, students with seasonal depression can find solace in the Resiliency Resource Center in Tuttleman Counseling Services. There, they can listen to ambient music, use massage chairs, color in coloring books and meditate under low lights. “Many students are unaware of these

resources that are available on campus or feel as though they have nowhere to turn, but that is not true,” Sandilos said. It’s admirable that the university has this resource for people with SAD and other mental health issues, especially because mental health affects students’ social and academic wellbeing. “Seasonal affective disorder had really negatively impacted my academic life before I received treatment,” Palma said. “I struggled badly during the fall semester last year because I was hit with it very hard before finals. ...I did not do as well on my final exams as I should have because I simply did not have the energy to study or do any work.” Unfortunately, not everyone is understanding about SAD. A student who wishes to remain anonymous has had seasonal depression since high school, where he experienced scrutiny and belittlement from people who did not comprehend the severity of the disorder. “For me, the biggest difficulties come from a lack of motivation to perform basic tasks and an inability to exert large amounts of energy,” he said. “My close friends take it seriously, but I have experienced situations where people would not regard it as an issue, which is frustrating.” Some people on social media treat SAD as a joke, the student added. “It’s bothersome when I see people who likely don’t suffer from SAD or other forms of depression say that they have it,” the student added. “It’s not fun nor satisfying in any way to talk publicly about specifics.” Winter can be a trying time for everybody, and almost everyone’s productivity and positivity is hindered during these seemingly never-ending, freezing months. Let’s be respectful about it by helping each other and ourselves. christina.mitchell@temple.edu

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FEATURES

PAGE 12

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

FACULTY

Mountain purchase could protect Haitian wildlife A Laura H. Carnell professor organized the purchase of a Haitian mountain this month. BY MADISON KARAS Campus Beat Reporter

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mbarking on helicopter-led expeditions in the Caribbean and discovering previously-believed-extinct frogs are perks Blair Hedges enjoys as a scientist. But discovering the Morne Grand Bois mountaintop on his first scientific expedition in Haiti in 2009 was something entirely different. “It was just spectacular,” said Hedges, a Laura H. Carnell professor and the director of Temple’s Center for Biodiversity. “There were forests that were still there that should not have been there.” This month, Hedges purchased that mountain in Haiti’s Grand Bois National Park on behalf of Haiti National Trust, an organization he co-founded in 2015, to protect the country’s disappearing species and deforestation caused by humans. He made the more than 1,200-acre purchase in partnership with Société Audobon Haiti, a conservation nonprofit, with donations from the Global Wildlife Conservation and Rainforest Trust. Since his first trip, Hedges has returned to Haiti multiple times to conduct biological surveys of the country’s forests. The first time Hedges visited Haiti with Philippe Bayard, the president of Société Audobon Haiti, Bayard was impressed by the forests. “We landed on Grand Bois, and he couldn’t believe the trees,” Hedges said. “[Bayard] said, ‘Blair, I’m going to buy this mountain.’” Hedges and Bayard founded Haiti National Trust in 2015 to bolster conservation efforts of Haiti’s primary forest, the undisturbed native tree species where natural systems are largely intact. Hedges published a November 2018 study that found less than one percent of features@temple-news.com

COURTESY / SARAH L. HANSON Blair Hedges, Laura H. Carnell professor and director of Temple’s Center for Biodiversity, purchased the Morne Grand Bois mountain in Haiti on behalf of Haiti National Trust.

Haiti’s primary forest remains and predicted the country will lose it entirely by 2035. The study attributes the loss primarily to humans cutting down trees. “Something different was truly needed,” Bayard said in a press release. “We are trying to embark on a new direction for biodiversity conservation in Haiti.” Fletcher Chmara-Huff, a geography and urban studies professor, said trees are one of the planet’s greatest resources because of the amount of ecology that depends on them. “If you remove a tree, you’re removing habitat for birds, you’re removing the things that live on the forest floor,” he said. “Changing that then means that you have ripple effects, you have other species that may only be found in one area that can then be negatively impacted through the removal of even a single tree.” Haiti’s deforestation is especially detrimental to Grand Bois because of the high number of both native and undiscovered species that call the area home,

said Joel Timyan, who is the scientific and technical adviser at Société Audobon Haiti and accompanied Hedges on a 2011 Grand Bois expedition as a botanist. Grand Bois is a “biodiversity hotspot,” housing wildlife like the tiburon stream frog, a rare species previously believed to be extinct that has only been currently found in Grand Bois streams, Timyan said. The deforestation increases the likelihood of the mountain’s freshwater springs drying up, so it poses a threat to the frog, he added. “As long as we can keep the Grand Bois forest intact, we believe the springs will continue to flow and this frog will continue to have a suitable habitat,” Timyan said. Grand Bois became a national park in Haiti in 2015 after Hedges presented research to the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture. The only problem, Hedges said, was that despite Grand Bois’ new status being legally mandated, Haitian locals still privately owned the land, so they could

still cut down the trees. “It actually had no protective capacity because there were no funding for rangers,” Hedges said. “There were no park rangers, there’s no park cabin, there’s no anything. It’s literally all on paper.” With the recent purchase of Grand Bois, Haiti National Trust can now legally control the land and make it the country’s first-ever private nature reserve. The group wants to help the Haitian government protect Grand Bois’ biodiversity by paying to employ rangers and build ranger stations and communication towers, Hedges added. “What we see in Haiti today is probably going to happen in other countries around the world in the near future,” Hedges said. “We’re getting a glimpse of the future of the world, and so it should be an alarm going off in that some bad things are to come unless we work quickly.” madison.karas@temple.edu @madraekaras

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FEATURES PAGE 13

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

ALUMNI

YouTube series helps young people with finances A 2014 accounting alumnus created the channel “$hares,” which explains financial management tips. BY AYOOLUWA ARIYO For The Temple News Anthony Copeman’s interest in money management stems back to his first savings account, opened by his grandmother. She opened a savings account for him shortly after he was born. Copeman would accompany her to the bank and watch her make deposits and withdrawals. As Copeman got older, she let him handle some of the transactions himself. After graduating in 2014 with an accounting degree, Copeman said he realized many millennials do not understand their finances. To help, Copeman created “$hares,” an animated YouTube series with four Black characters who give tips about financial management. “I wanted to create a platform that would help them understand personal finance in a fun and exciting way through video and through characters who look and dress like them and [who] they can relate to,” Copeman said. College students who graduated in 2017 finished school with an average of more than $39,000 in student-loan debt, according to Student Loan Hero. The characters, Michael, Troi, Essence and Brandon, discuss financial topics like debt, health insurance and saving money in one-minute videos. Copeman initially started sharing knowledge about money management in 2016 on a blog and Instagram called Financial Lituation. The financial resource offers mindset tips related to finance, like “your job is in charge of your salary, but you are in charge of your income.” Copeman turned the brand into a financial planning company in July 2018, building the foundation for “$hares.” Financial Lituation now sells financial planning sessions, and Copeman has attended webinars and speaking engage@TheTempleNews

DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Anthony Copeman, a 2014 accounting alumnus, created the Youtube series “$hares,” which offers money management tips to millennials.

ments as a representative of the platform. “$hares” started on Instagram in May 2018 after planning with a content writer began in December 2017. The Instagram features shorter videos of “$hares” characters. Copeman also posts photos of finance tips on the account. In August 2018, Copeman uploaded a six-minute episode, and he is working on adding more longer content to the YouTube series. Autumn Johnson, 28, who is a friend of Copeman’s, said the “Did Your Parents Have McDonald’s Money?” episode was her favorite because it’s relatable. The four characters discuss how their parents’ financial situations influenced whether or not they could have McDonald’s and the money management skills they learned from their parents. As a kid, Johnson remembers asking her mother to pick up food, and her

mom responding by asking if she had McDonald’s money, Johnson said. “Growing up, I know a lot of parents who got requests from kids when they wanted to eat out, and they didn’t have money to spend,” Copeman said. “It’s an urban phrase that some parents use to inflect talking about money.” Now an aunt, Johnson said “$hares” is helpful. It’s taught her how to save and invest, and she hopes to pass that knowledge to her nieces and nephews. “Anything that I’ve done in college and beyond I wanted to always think outside the box and do things unconventionally,” Copeman said. Crystal Mwende, a freshman public health major, said watching “$hares” could improve her financial awareness. “In the next four years, I’m going to have to go out, get an apartment, all of that stuff,” she said. “Financially, it’s definitely going to help me a lot know-

ing what to do, steps to take, what not to do.” Sierra Echavarria, a freshman psychology major, said “$hares” is a great resource for young people. “Not a lot of people on college campuses know much about their own finances, [like] what they’re paying for college and the debt they’re going to get into and how to use credit cards,” Echavarria said. Copeman hopes to show young people that finances can be easy to understand. “My goal is to shift people’s mindset from simply being a consumer to being an owner of their habits, finances, companies and businesses, in order to build wealth and also gain freedom,” Copeman said. ayooluwa.ariyo@temple.edu @fogo_ay

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FEATURES PAGE 14

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

ALUMNI

Graduate becomes youngest mayor ever in N.J. town In 2018, he retained his Township ry said. The 28-year-old politician wants Committee seat in an election. In MidWithout that internship, Perry to inspire political involvement in dletown, the committee selects the maymight not have landed his current role at younger residents.

BY EMMA PADNER City Life Beat Reporter As 10-year-old Tony Perry watched the recount of the 2000 presidential election between George Bush and Al Gore, he realized he wanted to pursue a political career in government. “I just loved everything about [the 2000 election],” Perry said. “I loved meeting people, talking to people, listening to their ideas, their concerns, their comments on different issues and I really believed this was the route I needed to take as an adult.” Perry, a 28-year-old 2012 political science alumnus, was selected this month by the Township Committee as the youngest mayor ever in his hometown Middletown, New Jersey. Perry has worked on the township planning and library boards in Middletown, one of the oldest towns in New Jersey. In November 2017, he was appointed to a vacant seat on the township committee.

or, and it chose Perry earlier this month. Middletown residents have a duty to help each other, and Perry tries to incorporate this view in his job, he added. “Government doesn’t always have to be the answer, but we can be the intermediary,” he added. “Our responsibility should be to connect residents with existing programs that are out there to help you when you’re sick, when you perhaps have a fire in your home or you have a family member who lost their job.” While at Temple, Perry interned in former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office and continued serving as an aide after he graduated. In the position, Perry assisted the Sandy Recovery Division in October 2012. He helped more than 2,700 families recover and helped them navigate state and federal government systems to find supplies to rebuild their houses, Perry said. “Watching somebody open up the front door the first time of their newly built home after spending a year or two outside of it was probably the most humbling thing I’ve been a part of,” Per-

such a young age, he said. Ryan Vander Wielen, a political science professor, taught Perry in his Fall 2011 Legislative Process course. He said Perry showed a natural sense for politics during the class, so his accomplishments aren’t surprising. Perry becoming mayor is a huge achievement for someone so young, Vander Wielen added. “It means that he has gained the respect of his peers at an incredibly rapid rate, and it seems that he has a promising career ahead of him,” Vander Wielen said. “Rising to the level of not only being on council but being selected as the mayor by the council is a real testament to these innate abilities.” Shaun Golden has been the sheriff of Monmouth County, New Jersey, which includes Middletown. Golden has worked alongside Perry since 2010 and described him as tenacious, caring and committed — traits he believes will help Perry succeed as mayor. Golden added he has enjoyed watching Perry’s career successes. “I’ve been able to witness his growth

ALDAIR GUEVARA Senior marketing major

VOICES

Would you use OWLcard through the Apple Wallet? Why or why not?

I would use it because I feel like a lot of people always forget their IDs. I work for the gyms on campus and a lot of people forget their stuff.

ASZLIAH DELICANA Sophomore computer science major I would, just because I tend to forget my wallet a lot at home.

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in his career, and his knowledge base surpasses that of some of those who have been in government 10, 20 years,” Golden said. “He’s a rising star here in Monmouth GOP. He’s a person that our millennials and young GOPers should look up to.” Perry hopes to inspire Middletown youth to participate in politics and their communities. “The one thing I want to do is to hopefully show other millennials that you can’t just sit back and check Facebook...because that’s not how things get done,” he said. “Things get done by those who are willing to show up, willing to get involved.” While Perry admitted being the town’s youngest mayor comes with pressure, he reminds himself he has the opportunity to make a change in his community. “You just have to wake up every day knowing that you can do something great,” Perry said. “You’re not going to do something great every day, but you have the opportunity to do something great.” emma.padner@temple.edu @emmapadner

RUIYANG XU Computer science graduate student No, because it’s relatively new, so I’d rather use something I’m familiar with.

ERIN KEEGAN Freshman undeclared major I think I would use it if I lost my ID, but I’m not sure if I would use it other than that.

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FEATURES TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

PAGE 15

LIVE IN PHILLY

Kids dig into after-hours dinosaur exhibit The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University remained open after-hours to host a Dinos After Dark event on Friday. The pay-what-you-wish event offered food, family activities and a Dino Drafts Beer Garden. A 40-foot long Tyrannosaurus rex stretched out among mingling attendees in the museum’s Dinosaur Hall. All exhibits remained open until 8 p.m. for visitors to stroll through. “It’s something cool for the kids to do,” said 39-year-old Chris Miller, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, who attended the event. “They don’t usually get to stay up this late.” “I actually get to see real dinosaur skeletons here, and I get to see the Mosasaurus and swimming reptiles from the dinosaur age,” said 8-year-old Cyrus Motamedi, adding his favorite dinosaur is the Spinosaurus.

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LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS

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FEATURES PAGE 16

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

Students participate in low-carb keto diet The keto diet encourages followers to reduce their daily carb intake by about 50 percent. BY BIBIANA CORREA Trend Beat Reporter In less than a year, Mikyhial Clarke lost 85 pounds. His weight loss journey began last May, and by September he joined the increasing amount of people switching to a ketogenic diet, which is high in fats and low in carbohydrates. “I have nothing to lose because I want to be eating healthy,” said Clarke, a junior journalism major. “I felt that this new change on the keto diet would help me learn more about my body and overall health in general.” The keto diet causes rapid, significant weight loss, according to Healthline, a health and wellness information site. While dietary professionals suggest 60 percent of a person’s diet consist of carbohydrates, the keto diet keeps this number down to 5-10 percent, according to The Do, a publication by the American Osteopathic Association. Increasing fat intake while reducing carbs puts the body in ketosis, a state in which the body turns fat, rather than carbohydrates, into energy. Ketosis also happens during starvation, according to Healthline. The diet is controversial and not recommended. “I realized it all boils down to you eating sugar,” Clarke said. “I now despise sugar. Even if I stop doing keto, I won’t touch sugar ever again.” While Clarke finds the diet successful, some health professionals question the weight loss trend’s potential for long-term results. David Sarwer, the director of Temple’s Center for Obesity Research and Education and a social and behavioral sciences professor, states that removing an entire food group affects the extreme weight loss. “The consensus among experts in the field is that they need to get people features@temple-news.com

DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior journalism major Mikyhial Clarke sits in the Student Center before eating a burger from Burgerfi that substitutes lettuce for the bun. The photo on his phone was taken May 16, 2018, the day he started the keto diet.

making smaller changes that they can sustain over longer periods of time, rather than doing dramatic things to their diet to lose weight very quickly,” Sarwer said. “Unfortunately, the moment people return to a more normal, traditional diet, they usually regain their weight.” A diet review by Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health found the keto diet’s results aren’t too different from conventional weight loss methods after one year. The eight-week study followed 39 adults following the keto diet and found an average 13 percent weight loss. Participants’ urges to eat significantly increased in the two weeks after abandoning the diet. As their bodies adapt to the diet, dieters often report a side effect known as the keto flu, which includes fatigue, low energy and dizziness, according to

Healthline. Lori Lorditch, the nutritionist for Student Health Services, said the keto flu happens because dieters lose their main source of energy. Lorditch recommends a different strategy for losing weight. “Typically, I do a portion control type of meal plan with all foods in moderation and if someone is really struggling with that, then maybe go in [the keto] direction,” Lorditch said. “I would never go with that as a first try.” Sarwer said the keto diet’s increasing popularity is largely because of the rise in marketing surrounding the trend. Several books, like “The Complete Ketogenic Diet for Beginners,” have been written on the diet and appear on Amazon’s best seller list for health, fitness and dieting. Celebrities like Halle Berry and

Tim Tebow have also endorsed the diet. Lyle Drescher, a junior film and media arts major, followed the keto diet for a few weeks while in high school and lost about 15 pounds. “I felt less hungry and [had] fewer cravings for food,” he said. “I liked that food didn’t have as much of a hold on me as it usually does.” The term “keto” quadrupled in searches from 2016-17, according to Google Trends data. Despite the recent rise popularity, the diet is nothing new, Lorditch said. “It is really just another low-carb diet, and these diets have been the trend for decades now,” Lorditch said. “I think when one loses popularity, there’s another one that gains popularity.” bibiana.correa@temple.edu

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FEATURES PAGE 17

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

SUPER BOWL CROSSWORD

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Down: 1. Trick play called by quarterback Nick Foles in the 2018 Super Bowl 3. Tech company behind the “1984”-inspired ad at the 1984 Super Bowl 7. Quarterback who has tied the record for most Super Bowls won by a single player 8. Team with the most Super Bowl wins Across: 2. Namesake of the Super Bowl trophy

4. Winning team of last year’s Super Bowl 5. NFL all-star game played the week before the Super Bowl 6. Winning team of the first Super Bowl 9. Break in the game that features a musical performance 10. New Orleans stadium that has hosted a record seven Super Bowls 11. Will become youngest person to coach in a Super Bowl this weekend 12. Team with the most Super Bowl appearances

Answers from Tuesday, January 22: 1.Stevie Wonder, 2. Nobel Peace Prize, 3. Civil Rights Act, 4. John Conyers, 5. Ronald Reagan, 6. Birmingham, 7. Lincoln Memorial, 8. FBI, 9. Memphis, 10. Georgia, 11. Time, 12. Ava DuVernay.

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INTERSECTION PAGE 18

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

STUDENT LIFE

TUGSA continues its founding mission Temple’s graduate student union exploit our labor and intellectual prowformed in the 1990s to advocate ess.” TUGSA guarantees graduate stufor graduate student workers. BY LAUREN REMY For The Temple News In 1997, a group of graduate students at Temple University began a four-year fight to create the Temple University Graduate Students’ Association, Pennsylvania’s only recognized labor union for graduate students. The group sought restitution for financial issues like low wages without cost-of-living adjustments or grievance procedures. TUGSA was recognized legally and by the Board of Trustees in 2001 as one of more than 30 graduate student unions in the country, according to the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions. Now, TUGSA continues to battle for employee rights at Temple through advocacy and collective bargaining efforts every four years. “That whole exercise of being a student here and having good faculty here and having good resources to use and having good opportunities is built into a system that’s fundamentally broken,” said Evan Kassof, the vice president of TUGSA and a music Ph.D. student. When multiplying the number of students in class by the cost of the class, Kassof said he believes he brings in more than twice as much revenue for Temple than he makes each semester. As a Music Theory IV instructor, his annual salary is $17,600, he added. Graduate students can serve as teaching or research assistants to make money, while finishing their degree. “Historically, teaching assistants and research assistants are underpaid, overworked and exploited labor,” Kassof added. “The existence of the union is to help protect us from those powers that intersection@temple-news.com

dent employees a base salary, health care subsidies and legal protections for expressing grievances. When the idea for TUGSA began circulating in the 1990s, many graduate students were aware of their individual problems in the workspace but not a larger, institutional flaw, said Matt Ford,

In this respect, improving graduate student working conditions can benefit the learning conditions for undergraduates too, Ford said. “It’s important we are taken care of because that allows the undergraduates to get a better education,” Ford said. “You’re gonna get a better education if the teacher has slept well and reviewed the material versus someone who has worked too many hours. It’s about a pas-

together is essential to bettering the experience for everybody.” TUGSA wants to collaborate with student organizations and other on-campus unions to better represent the student body, Destinee Grove, TUGSA’s president and a kinesiology master’s student, said. “Partnering with TSG and uniting with other student organizations to get that united front would be a great first

TUGSA’s road to recognition Graduate student unions around the state look to the Temple University Graduate Students’ Association as a model for their own organizations.

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The Temple University Graduate Students’ Association filed a petition with Temple University to hold an election for the right to unionize with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

Graduate students voted overwhelmingly to recognize TUGSA, with 290 votes cast for unionization and 16 votes against it. The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board conducted the vote.

TUGSA ratified a four-year contract settlement with the university. The agreement provided for wage hikes, increased health coverage, language on workloads and provisions for training. IAN WALKER / THE TEMPLE NEWS

TUGSA’s director of community and a Ph.D. sociology student. “A student in one department was experiencing something and was worried about their pay or hoping to get better benefits or having issues with getting overworked, [but] they weren’t aware if others were experiencing it,” Ford said. “People would be like, ‘Is it me? Is it my department?’” Outside of Temple, graduate students across the country report being underpaid, overworked and suffering from poor mental health.

sion for teaching and also making sure the work we do is received well.” If more undergraduates attended TUGSA meetings, took time to get to know their teaching assistants and adjuncts, they could help TUGSA fight for the accommodations they need, Kassof said. “They pay more in a semester than I make in a year,” he added. “We firmly believe that undergraduates have the most power on the university campus,” Ford said. “The experience on campus is a shared one, so working

step,” Grove added. Although the union fights the university on many issues, it is not “anti-Temple,” Ford added. “It’s not that [TUGSA’s] existence is meant to be entirely antagonistic to the university,” Ford said. “We feel it’s important that graduate workers aren’t forgotten when the system is operating and making sure people are taken care of.” laremy@temple.edu

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

STUDENT LIFE

Is a graduate degree a benefit or burden? Students discuss balancing aside money.” International students like Wendy finances during and in preparation for graduate school. Lu, who received her master’s degree in BY TARA DOLL For The Temple News Some students at Temple University are weighing the financial benefits of a graduate degree against the financial burden of graduate school as they decide whether or not to continue their education. In 2012, the median debt for graduate students was $57,600, according to a report by New America, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. But, the wage gap between those who earned a bachelor’s degree and those who attained a post-graduate degree was 30 percent in 2013, up from 11 percent in 1979, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Claudia Miriello, a master’s in public health candidate in the College of Public Health and a graduate extern in the Wellness Resource Center, said it is hard to get a job in public health without a master’s degree. “The coursework that you learn on a master’s level is more advanced and more applicable to working in the field as a public health professional,” Miriello said. Miriello’s parents paid for her undergraduate education but told her that if she wanted to go to graduate school, she would need to pay for it on her own. She has since applied for FAFSA and has student loans that she hopes to pay off as soon as possible. “It’s daunting,” Miriello said. Her job at the WRC is helpful, she added. “In an ideal world, if I didn’t spend any money at all and if I worked here for two years I’d be able to pay for my education,” Miriello said. “Obviously, life doesn’t work out that way, but having this job is helpful in that I am able to put

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sociology in China from Nankai University, and is now a Ph.D. candidate in Temple’s sociology program, can face difficulties like visa restrictions on employment that make paying for graduate school even more challenging. Despite being on a full scholarship, Lu struggles financially. “Academically, I like the sociology department here very, very much,” Lu said. “But, I do experience some inconvenient cultural conflicts and financial hardships.” As a student and sole provider for her family, Lu finds it difficult to get by. She has an F-1 Student Visa, meaning she is allowed to study and work in the United States if she complies with certain restrictions pertaining to the amount of hours she can work each week and where her job is located. Because Lu’s husband only qualifies for an F-2 visa, a status given to spouses and children of F-1 visa holders, he is unable to study full-time at a vocational or postsecondary academic school or work in the United States. “Whenever I get my salary, I just pay my credit card, pay the rent, basically just running out of money at the start of each month,” Lu said. “Basically, we cannot save any money.” When Lu first enrolled at Temple, she found work as a teaching assistant in Temple’s sociology department. Her annual salary of $18,000 covered the expenses of her and her husband, but Lu didn’t have a paycheck in the summer months and over winter break, when school was not in session. It was too small to support the family comfortably after her son was born in 2018, she said. “Life has suddenly become so expensive,” Lu said. “A minimal salary just cannot support the family financially.” This month, Lu began working at the Center for Asian Health, a research institution under Temple’s Lewis Katz

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School of Medicine. Her salary is the same, but the new position allows her to work during summer and winter, which is a big relief, she said. For Jaycie Hricak, a junior criminal justice and political science major enrolled in a 4+1 accelerated degree program, which allows students to obtain their Master’s degree within five years by taking graduate classes, getting ahead on her graduate education is a way to save money. Hricak expects to graduate in 2020 with her bachelor’s degrees. Then, she will only need to attend graduate school for one year to finish her master’s degree in public policy. She currently pays an undergraduate tuition rate for her program, but that will change once she becomes a full-time graduate student, she said. Her graduate tuition will be nearly double what she is paying now, Hricak said. Still, she will only need to pay graduate tuition for one year.

She hopes to receive scholarships to cover some of the other expenses. “This time next year, I can apply for graduate scholarships,” Hricak added. “It’s really expensive.” Cost of graduate school discourages some students from pursuing higher degrees, like Anna Gross, a junior psychology major. Gross is considering applying to Temple’s Clinical Psychology Program and Kutztown University’s Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling program, is basing her decision off long- and short-term rewards of graduate school. “It’s gonna come down to choosing which option is going to be more financially feasible for me and what program is the best option,” Gross said. “That’s a decision that a lot of people have to make.” tara.doll@temple.edu

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

STUDENT LIFE

TUGSA adds sexual harassment officer position The student leader is compiling on- and off-campus resource lists for graduate student survivors. BY CLAIRE WOLTERS Intersection Editor When Ariel Natalo-Lifton was stalked as a graduate student at Temple University, no one told her about the resources available to her. “I could have gone and gotten an escort to and from my bus. ...I could have gotten extensions on assignments,” said Natalo-Lifton, a fourth-year history Ph.D. candidate. “I didn’t sleep for a week because I was terrified [and] I had no idea any of that existed.” Natalo-Lifton now serves as the first sexual harassment officer for the Temple University Graduate Students’ Association. Her role is to educate and connect graduate students with help centers at and outside of Temple. As a survivor of sexual assault and stalking, she is passionate about assisting survivors. The position is new as of Fall 2018. “We realized that the graduate students didn’t know anything about Title IX,” Natalo-Lifton said. “They didn’t know anything about the process to go about reporting any problems with harassment or sexual assault both within Temple and outside of Temple.” TUGSA advocates for graduate students employed as teaching and research assistants at Temple. The union negotiates terms with the university every four years through a collective bargaining effort in which it advocates for fair wages and work environments. Ethan Ake-Little, a former TUGSA president and current urban education Ph.D. candidate, drafted Natalo-Lifton’s position in 2017 for the 2018 bargaining agreement. The need for the position was intensified by the #MeToo movement and a 2014 Department of Education report that cited Temple as one of 55 higher education institutions under investigation for violating federal law through insufficient handling of sexual assault and harassment cases, Ake-Little said. intersection@temple-news.com

Ake-Little and others met in a focus group to discuss creating a sexual harassment position. The group discussed unchecked problems like inappropriate professor-student relationships and undergraduate students harassing their graduate teaching assistants. A graduate student experiencing harassment may hesitate to seek help due to unlevel power dynamics in small departments or fear of retaliation, Ake-Little and Natalo-Lifton said. “What becomes tricky for graduate students is that there’s nowhere to complain because the person who you would complain to is essentially your employer,” Ake-Little said. “Even if you go to the department level, there is the problem of what I call ‘limited population.’ There’s only so many of you in the department, so it’s very hard to be anonymous.” Prior to this semester, when a graduate student came forward with allegations, the department chair often handled the situation, Ake-Little said. This solved immediate issues like grades and who was in charge of a student’s work, but not the long term issue — that the graduate student was still in the same five- to 10-person department as their aggressor, he added. As a result, some survivors saw the process as more burdensome than beneficial. “Nobody’s going to jeopardize their funding or their situation to rat out or complain on a professor or an adviser or someone,” Ake-Little said. “You could lose a lot.” The new officer position separates the process by which the accuser and the accused have to meet so early in the process by working directly with graduate students who express concerns and complaints, he added. Title IX coordinator Andrea Seiss handles student-to-student allegations and investigations, and Temple’s Equal Opportunity Compliance office deals with investigations on allegations involving professors or administrators. Seiss attended TUGSA’s focus group before it formed the new position. “Hearing that a lot of [graduate stu-

DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Ariel Natalo-Lifton is the first sexual harassment officer for the Temple University Graduate Students’ Association.

dents] felt that they needed some more information, that they wanted to make sure that they knew about the resources and they wanted to make sure that they were doing what they needed to do for the students that might come to them, said to us, ‘OK, we clearly need to be doing more in this area,’” Seiss said. Seiss is working with Natalo-Lifton to increase on-campus awareness for the new position and discussing the future of the role. While the role is an improvement from past years, the amount of staffing and resources to support survivors is still too small, Natalo-Lifton said. For Temple’s approximate 30,000 undergraduates and about 10,000 graduate students, there are only two Tuttleman counselors who work specifically with survivors of sexual assault, as part of the Sexual Assault Counseling and Education Unit. “About a quarter of women experience sexual assault in their lives and we have two people here at Temple,” Natalo-Lifton said. “For the number of students we have here at Temple, there aren’t enough and it isn’t enough of a priority.” For these reasons, Natalo-Lifton is working to compile a comprehensive list of Philadelphia resources graduate students can use for help, but due to limited funding, she is only able to accomplish

so much. TUGSA pays for Natalo-Lifton’s work, which is capped at five hours per week. When the position was initially drafted, TUGSA proposed Temple should provide funding. The university declined, TUGSA leaders said. “Temple provides ombudspersons and other resources to graduate students seeking help with sexual harassment issues,” wrote university spokesperson Ray Betzner in a statement. “We also made sure TUGSA was aware of these resources during the contract negotiations.” For TUGSA, however, the existing resources were not enough. “We can be a resource when the university won’t be,” said Evan Kassof, TUGSA’s vice president and a third-year music Ph.D. student. “If this university had Bill Cosby on the board of directors [and] they can’t deal with taking a lead on sexual harassment, that’s an issue.” “In the next four years, we’ll collect our own data, we’ll investigate our own process,” Ake-Little said. “Whoever comes back to the table in 2022 will be able to make a more evidence-based and more forceful request for proposal for what they want.” clairewolters@temple.edu

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Sophomore forward serves as ‘glue guy’ for Owls In the midst of a scoring slump, De’Vondre Perry is prioritizing contributing in other ways. BY MICHAEL ZINGRONE Co-Sports Editior De’Vondre Perry believes judging him by his current stats would not do him justice. The Temple University sophomore forward has started all 20 games this season. Despite the increased role, Perry has seen only a slight uptick in production from his freshman year. This season, Perry is averaging 1.9 more points, 0.8 more assists and 1.4 more rebounds per game than last year. But Perry isn’t worried about scoring more or forcing shots because the Owls (15-5, 5-2 American Athletic Conference) have three strong guards — senior Shizz Alston Jr., junior Quinton Rose and sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis — who average at least 14 points per game. Instead, Perry is focused on executing his role as Temple’s “glue guy,” he said. Perry prides himself in being a versatile player. He can guard every position, bring the ball up the court like a point guard and sometimes play center for the Owls despite his forward-like build at 6 feet, 7 inches tall. “I could easily be a top scorer on this team, but I prioritize finding ways to win,” Perry said after Thursday’s 85-76 win against Memphis. “I just keep getting better and better every game, but I pride myself in doing whatever it takes for this team to win.” Perry had been in an offensive slump before Thursday’s game, but made all three of his shots and scored 10 points against Memphis. In the previous seven games, Perry combined for 15 points on 5-of-18

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JUSTIN OAKES / THE TEMPLE NEWS Sophomore forward De’Vondre Perry shoots a free throw during Temple’s 85-76 win against Memphis on Thursday at the Liacouras Center.

shooting. In Sunday’s 72-68 loss to Cincinnati, he shot 0-for-2 and didn’t score in 16 minutes. When he struggles to find his offensive game, like as of late, Perry looks to better his defensive play, he said. “I’m looking forward over the season to commit on defense making us a better team on defense,” Perry said. “Offense will come off of defense, whether it be out in transition or gaining us more possessions.” Thursday’s game was a prime example of Perry turning defense into offense. In the midst of a 9-0 Temple run early in the first half, Perry recorded a steal, an assist in transition and made a 3-pointer to help the Owls extend their lead to 10 points just five minutes, 24 seconds

into the game. He tallied three assists and matching a season-high four steals in the win against Memphis. In the Owls’ game against the University of Detroit Mercy on Nov. 9, Perry grabbed four steals and scored four points off turnovers. He finished with six points, six assists and five defensive rebounds. In addition to his defensive contributions against Memphis, Perry stepped in at center because sophomore forward J.P Moorman II was ejected in the first half for a flagrant foul. In the second half, both sophomore forward Justyn Hamilton and senior center Ernest Aflakpui fouled out. As a result, Perry played center for the Owls in the last 2:46 to help secure

the win. “Anytime you need something, [Perry is] there,” Pierre-Louis said. “That shows how tough of a team we are, ‘next guy up’ type team. When one of our brothers is down, one of our other brothers is gonna step up and shine.” As Perry continues to develop, coach Fran Dunphy would like Perry to grab more rebounds. He hauled in just two on Thursday and none on Sunday. But overall, Dunphy is pleased with the versatility Perry brings to the team. “He’s improving even more on the defensive end,” Dunphy said. “We could use his aggressiveness.” michael.zingrone@temple.edu @mjzingrone

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SPORTS PAGE 22

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

LACROSSE

In new conference, Owls set eyes on NCAA tourney Gebert led the team with 40 points course of the season, Rosen said. They Temple hopes to return to the of the 13 at-large bids if they don’t win NCAA tournament for the first their conference, Rosen said. She hopes in 2018. Nakrasius led the Owls with 64 learned quickly in fall and spring practictheir experience will propel the Owls to draw controls and ranked second on the es, allowing the Owls to intensify practime since 2008.

BY JAY NEEMEYER Women’s Lacrosse Beat Reporter Reaching the first-ever American Athletic Conference women’s lacrosse postseason tournament is a “minimum goal” for Temple University this season, coach Bonnie Rosen said. If Temple places fourth in the conference — where The American’s preseason poll predicted it to finish — the Owls will meet that goal. Six schools — Temple, the University of Florida, Vanderbilt University, Connecticut, Cincinnati, and East Carolina — gave The American the minimum six teams needed to form a women’s lacrosse conference this season. The 2019 season will be the first that The American sponsors the sport. Every school in The American except ECU competed in the 10-team, Big East Conference last season. The Owls’ strong nonconference schedule gives them a chance to earn one

their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008, which was Rosen’s second season at Temple. “It’s a really exciting year,” Rosen said. “We’re not young, we’re not hugely veteran, but our juniors all have experience as do our sophomores. So I really look at that as a group that’s ready to learn very quickly.” In its nonconference schedule, Temple will face three teams — Princeton University, James Madison and Jacksonville University — that made the NCAA Tournament in 2018. James Madison University, which won the Division I championship last year, and Princeton were ranked in the top 20 of Inside Lacrosse’s final 2018 poll. Rosen anticipates Temple’s junior class will guide the team through its nonconference schedule into postseason play. Two members of the junior class, defender Kara Nakrasius and midfielder Maddie Gebert, are two of the three Owls named to The American’s preseason all-conference team.

team in ground balls behind former defender Nicole Latgis, who graduated last spring. Nakrasius is a team captain for the second consecutive year and one of Temple’s four captains this season. Senior midfielder Amber Lambeth, junior attacker and midfielder Olivia Thompson and senior goalkeeper Kelsea Hershey are Temple’s other three captains. “Being able to lead the team and lead us to success was really exciting for me personally,” Lambeth said. “[I hope to] bring knowledge that I’ve [gained] over the past three years and being able to put that on the field and show people what’s the right thing to do and how to avoid mistakes.” Though half of the Owls’ roster is comprised of underclassmen, the sophomore class is experienced because all seven saw game action last season, Rosen said. Two of them, midfielders Jackie Cerchio and Jen Rodzewich, combined for 25 goals as freshmen. This year’s freshmen will see more playing time as they learn over the

tice because they did not have to allocate extended time to help them, Lambeth said. Freshman midfielder Lauren Zinkl credits the freshmen’s quick adjustment to the sophomore class. With the sophomores guiding the freshmen, Rosen expects the Owls to grow quickly as the season progresses. “We have a lot of different talent to try and figure out as everyone keeps growing, how to use them,” Rosen said. “As our younger players understand and learn the college game a little bit better, learn how to read the game a little bit better, they’re going to be able to use their skill sets to increase our level of play.” The Owls begin their season against the University of Delaware on Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. at Howarth Field. jay.neemeyer@temple.edu @neemeyer_j

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

GYMNASTICS

Lancaster club funnels athletes to North Broad

Since 2015, Temple has had at least one athlete from Prestige Gymnastics. BY TAYLOR SNYDER For The Temple News Earlier this season, coach Josh Nilson sat down and met with two players to discuss the Owls’ plan for road meets. Senior Morgan Fridey and freshman Jacqueline Terpak compete for the same roster spot, because only a limited number of athletes can travel to road meets. Nilson decided the best course of action would be to leave one of the two back in Philadelphia. They backed Nilson’s decision, partly because of their history as former club teammates, he said. “It definitely helped that they knew each other before and wanted the best for each other because that’s a difficult spot to be in when you’re trying to fill lineup slots,” Nilson added. Terpak and Fridey have known each other since 2013 when they met at Prestige Gymnastics in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Terpak chose Temple because knowing she’d have a former teammate with her added comfort, she said. Since the 2014-15 season, at least one athlete on the Temple University gymnastics roster competed for Prestige Gymnastics. “[Morgan and Jacqueline] are really supportive of each other, having similar backgrounds, and it definitely shows in competition,” Nilson said. “They are very supportive of whatever decisions I make, and they’re always in each other’s corner.” Back in 2016, Fridey and Nilson were trying to get Terpak to go to different schools. Fridey wanted Terpak to join her at Temple, while Nilson was recruiting Terpak to Utah State where he was an assistant coach from 2013-16. When he was at Utah State University, Nilson recruited Terpak heavily because he learned about Prestige’s track record of producing college gymnasts, he said. @TTN_Sports @TheTempleNews

“Prestige does a tremendous job of preparing their athletes for the next level,” Nilson added. “It’s pretty rare to find a club that sends athletes to college every year or every other year, and Prestige does that.” After talking to former Prestige Gymnastics members like Fridey, Terpak committed to Temple because she wanted to stay close to her hometown of York, Pennsylvania. Temple is a “popular” destination for Prestige Gymnastics because of its proximity to the area, said Jennifer Fatta who is the owner and head coach of the club with her husband. “Temple has done a great job of recruiting locally and promoting itself as a strong program in the area,” Fatta added. Terpak saw an added incentive because she and Fridey built a strong friendship before college. Terpak and Fridey were “close” friends as teammates, Fatta said. Fridey started her college career elsewhere, but like Terpak, proximity to home drew her to Temple. She started her gymnastics career at Ball State University but transferred to Temple after her freshman season to attend college closer to home. “We both had previous teammates who had competed at Temple and they both told us how much they loved it and how good of a program it was,” Terpak said. “Being so close to home and already knowing people I knew I would be happy there and feel comfortable.” Besides the proximity to home, Terpak and Fridey chose to attend Temple because of a recent line of athletes from Prestige Gymnastics who came to the university. “Prestige did a really good job of preparing me for the next level of Gymnastics and having to prepare the younger athletes now,” Fridey said. taylor.snyder@temple.edu @taylor_snyder1

JAMIE COTTRELL / THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior all-around Morgan Fridey performs her balance beam routine during Sunday’s meet against Ithaca College, Penn and Ursinus College at McGonigle Hall.

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SPORTS TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

PAGE 24

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

FRESHMAN TAKING HER GAME ‘TO ANOTHER LEVEL’ GENEVA HEFFERNAN / THE TEMPLE NEWS Freshman guard Marissa Mackins dribbles the ball during Temple’s 84-62 win against East Carolina on Saturday at McGonigle Hall.

Marissa Mackins has played in every game but one, and started in eight of them. BY MAURA RAZANAUSKAS Women’s Basketball Beat Reporter

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efore she even committed to Temple University, Marissa Mackins was a fan of graduate student guard Alliya Butts. In her junior year of high school, Mackins traveled to Philadelphia with her Amateur Athletic Union team to watch the Owls play. She was immediately drawn to both Temple and Butts’ style of play. Now, Mackins, a freshman point guard, is backcourt teammates with

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Butts and has taken on a substantial role despite the Owls (5-14, 1-5 American Athletic Conference) having experienced guards in Butts and sophomore Desiree Oliver. Mackins has started eight games and played in 18 of Temple’s season. The Durham, North Carolina, native averages 25.7 minutes per game and has recorded 148 field goal attempts. In Temple’s past two games, Mackins recorded a career-high 19 points on Wednesday against Penn and tallied a career-high 10 rebounds in Temple’s 84-62 win against East Carolina on Saturday. “[Marissa] has taken her game to another level,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “Marissa is someone that can really knock down shots. She’s playing in games and playing a lot of minutes as a freshman, and she’s holding her own.”

Mackins is third on the team behind sophomore forward Mia Davis and Butts with 7.1 points per game. Mackins is second only to Butts in assists and 3-pointers made, but is tied for second in assists. Having looked up to Butts since high school, Mackins continues to admire Butts because she is a fifth-year player who has significant experience, she said. “[Butts has] given me a lot of advice,” Mackins added. “She’s told me to keep my head up and just play the game that I love.” Mackins’ love for the game started at age 3 when she was first introduced to basketball. She grew up in an athletic family and played basketball with her four brothers in her backyard. She had to develop a competitive spirit early to hold her own in family games. Mackins’ is competitive and energet-

ic, which has carried over into her play at Temple. Whether starting or coming off the bench, her play helps spark the team, she said. Mackins can be a difference-maker in a game, Cardoza said. “[Mackins is] going to be a great player for us,” Cardoza said. “She plays with a lot of confidence, and she was being super aggressive.” Cardoza praised Mackins for her ability to shoot but added that the guard is “still learning.” Mackins consistently listens to her coaches and teammates’ feedback in the pursuit of getting better. “I’ve learned that I have to keep my composure and I have to settle down,” Mackins said. “I still have to work on my defense. And I have to hit open shots.” maura.razanuaskas@temple.edu @CaptainAMAURAca

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