NEWS
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015
NEWS BRIEFS
Police warn Temple students of laser pointing CRIME TEMPLE STUDENT SHINES LASER AT HELICOPTER An unidentified Temple student was seen flashing a laser pointer at a Philadelphia Police helicopter last Monday night, the Inquirer reported. The action caused Aviation Lt. David Bonk to tweet out a picture of Morgan Hall North, where the incident occurred. “Attention @TempleUniv student on top floor: pointing lasers at #TacAir is illegal,” Bonk tweeted Monday night. The Inquirer reported that Lt. John Stanford, a Philadelphia Police spokesman, said police officials were in contact with Temple to ensure the university would warn that shining a laser at aircrafts can lead to the perpetrator being arrested. Temple issued an email about the incident Tuesday afternoon, when Michael Scales, associate vice president for student affairs, addressed students who live in residential halls about the incident. “Philadelphia Police reported overnight that someone in Morgan Hall North at Temple University shined a laser pointer at a police helicopter in the area,” Scales wrote.
COURTESY DAVID BONK
Police said a student flashed a laser pointer from one of these rooms Sept. 14.
“The use of laser pointers on aircraft can be dangerous for those in the air and on the ground. Anyone found responsible could face both criminal and university penalties.” Tipsters should contact Temple Police at 215-204-1234. -Steve Bohnel
Students call for debt awareness Degrees Not Debt is looking to improve education about student loans. By MARYVIC PEREZ The Temple News A new organization at Temple is asking for President Theobald to continue his efforts in fighting student debt. Degrees Not Debt—a nationwide campaign introduced last year by the National Education Association—is attempting to convince Theobald to send a letter to the congressional delegation of Pennsylvania, with attempts to support the student aid bill of rights and provide effective loan counseling at Temple. One of the biggest issues is convincing people there is a problem, said volunteer and sophomore sociology major Justis Freeman. “You hear parents say, ‘I had nothing and now look at where I’m at,’” Freeman said. “But for us, it’s like, we’re 40 grand in the hole, and then we get to nothing, and then rise.” Degrees Not Debt currently has 1,100 campuses across the nation with 50,000 student members. Two weeks ago, the group started at Temple under the leadership of Angel Ye, the Campus Organizer for Pennsylvania’s chapter, the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Ye said the main goal of the organization is to further
educate people about their loan options. “We want at least, for people that have borrowed money, to have quality loan counseling,” Ye said. “So that they learn about incomedriven repayment programs, [and] public service loan forgiveness programs, so they can take advantage of those programs.” In two weeks, the group has collected 700 out of 2,000 petition signatures to introduce it to Theobald by Sept. 4. Ye said although she isn’t a student, the problem is still important for every college student. “When I was an undergraduate one of my best friends from college, Aisha, dropped out of school in the middle of her senior honors project because her mom passed away,” Ye said. “She couldn’t continue because she can’t pay for college ... and now-a-days, it’s so hard to get ahead in society without a college degree, but then college education is so expensive, it’s hurting a lot of people,” Ye said. The Degrees Not Debt program has differences at each university chapter, but holds a strong tactic on raising awareness about the issue at a federal level. “It’s something that we hope to see with the presidential election coming up, that there is a focus around that prospect of higher education,” said Chelsey Herigg, NEA student program chair. “Students in college deserve better. We’re hoping that what
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we are doing at the national level will turn that focus during the presidential race.” The NEA focuses on organizing advocators to try and engage about 42 million loan borrowers in the United States to support legislation such as the Bank on Student Loans Bill, which failed by two votes in Congress. This program sought to refinance student loans like house or car loans. “It needs to be fixed,” Herrig said. “While there hasn’t been a complete agreement on how to fix it we have seen several bills come through Congress that have been intended to make it easier for students to pursue college without being burden with a large amount of debt.” Most of the volunteers in Temple’s chapter hold a personal financial experience. “For me it’s so frustrating when you have a passion and a drive … and still not being able to make it,” said volunteer Mary Craighead, a junior public health major. Others seek to help bring down the $1.2 trillion debt in the nation, which Herrig said is a greater amount than credit card debt. Ye said the job of fighting the issue is far from finished. “We’re trying to get universities like Temple, and also other big university across the nation to send the message to their congressional delegation to support,” she said. * maryvic.perez@temple.edu
UNIVERSITY NEWS STUDENTS, FACULTY CREATE POP-UP PARK IN SUBURBS
In honor of Park(ing) Day—an annual event created to temporarily turn metered Continued from page 1
HALL
vices Charlie Leone previously told The Temple News the incident appeared to be a suicide. But following a 12-day investigation involving Philadelphia Police’s Homicide Unit and the city’s medical examiner’s office, Hall’s death was ruled a homicide. According to a press release from Philadelphia Police’s public affairs officers, the investigation concluded it would have been “impossible” for the victim’s gunshot wound to be self-inflicted. Last week, Philadelphia Police arrested 29-year-old Brandon Meade, of the 7100 block of Stockley Road in Upper Darby, and charged him with Hall’s murder. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 30, according to court documents. Lt. John Stanford, a Philadelphia Police spokesman, said although many media outlets have reported Meade was Hall’s boyfriend and allegedly told police he found Hall in her bedroom with a black handgun under her body, the case still needs to be heard in court. “We don’t release anything along those
was looking “forShecolleges ... We
appreciated everything about her.
”
Robert Belz | Northeast High School counselor
parking spaces into public parks—Temple University Ambler students and faculty created “Park(ing) for People,” a temporary pop-up park located in front of the County Theater in Doylestown this past Friday and Saturday. The effort to create the park, which was 120-feet long and 12-feet wide, was led by associate professor Baldev Lamba, chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture, according to a university press release. “Imagine a greener, more peoplefriendly space in place of parking spots,” Lamba said. “This pop-up park is a true partnership between our students and faculty and volunteer architects, horticulturists, landscape architects, artists and organizations in the region.” In 2011, Lamba helped to create a award-winning 32,000 square-foot pop-up garden—the first of its kind for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Even though the one in Doylestown was roughly 22 times smaller than this design, the purpose of both parks is the same, Lamba said. “It’s about changing mindsets,” he said. “It’s showing people that urban centers can have areas that are green, innovative and inviting.” -Steve Bohnel lines because that could be used against the defendant,” Stanford said. Hall’s hard work was also apparent to Robert Belz, who has been a counselor at Northeast since 2001. Belz said Hall frequented the school’s career services and college preparation office during her lunch periods, where he worked at the time. “She spent the entire time that I knew her doing work in the office, or doing college selection,” he said. “She was looking for colleges, she was asking me information about college. … You always get your regulars in the college office, and she was one of them and we appreciated everything about her.” Monday night, Dean of Students Stephanie Ives released a statement about Hall’s death. “The Temple University community continues to mourn the loss of Agatha E. Hall,” Ives said. “My office and the Fox School of Business have provided support to Ms. Hall’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and everyone who knew her. Temple Police continue to work with the Philadelphia Police Department and the Medical Examiner’s Office in the investigation.” But Robinson, who said she deeply cared about Hall’s future, is still mourning. “The night I found out, I told my husband,” she said. “I don’t talk about kids a lot at home … and my husband says, ‘I remember you talking about her … you don’t talk about kids, you loved her.’ And I said, ‘I really did, she was one of my favorite kids.’ And I remember when she graduated, I said to her, ‘You’re one student I’m never going to worry about.’” * steve.bohnel@temple.edu T @Steve_Bohnel
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UPPAL
bright futures ahead of them, Green added. “They were both very young men, and had a lot of opportunities ahead of them,” he said. “They both worked very hard in preparation for the bar exam. It’s not an easy thing to do after you graduate, to have the next thing you do be the bar exam. ... This obviously is a complete disruption of any sort of future life plans that they had in mind.” Their stories differ from what the typical law graduate experiences after finishing school, Green added. “After graduation, it’s a really warm time for a lot of law students as they comptemplate what the next move is in their careers, and how they put their law degree to use, and what it’s going to mean to them,” he said. “Shaz will never have that opportunity, and I think Ben’s arrest is a very serious event.” Dean of the Beasley School of Law, JoAnne Epps, emailed a statement to The Temple News about Uppal’s death and Rauf’s arrest. “The loss of Shazim Uppal, a 2015 law school graduate, was obviously devastating,” Epps wrote. “It was made all the more sad and
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New Castle County Police said they found Shazim Uppal dead in his car Aug. 24.
difficult by the arrest of another recent graduate of the Temple Law School.” * steve.bohnel@temple.edu T @Steve_Bohnel