VOL. 96
A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
@thetemplenews
ISSUE 15 ON CAMPUS
ADMINISTRATION
Student affected by DACA expiry For a sophomore accounting major, the pathway to citizenship remains unclear under the DACA program. BY EMILY TRINH For The Temple News
K
yungmin Cho immigrated from South Korea to Palisades, New Jersey, when he was 8 years old. He didn’t learn of his undocumented status until he was applying to college. “I was shocked because I lived in this country for such a long time, and I just expected myself to be a citizen,” said Cho, a sophomore accounting major. “It affected my whole outlook on the college application process, because I wasn’t a citizen, so I couldn’t apply for financial
aid.” In March, Cho’s legal immigrant status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program may expire, and he could face potential deportation as an undocumented immigrant, along with 800,000 other DACA beneficiaries. These young people are called “Dreamers,” and they were illegally brought to the United States as children. Until Congress institutes another plan to protect Dreamers, DACA is the only program that grants them legal status. In 2012, former President Barack Obama issued an executive order to implement DACA, which protected child immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally, in an attempt to extend the policies of the deferred 2001 DREAM Act. The DREAM Act provided legal
status to immigrants who joined the Army or attended college in the U.S. In a statement released on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that until further notice, the DACA program will operate “on the terms in place” before it was rescinded in September 2017. On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted that DACA is “probably dead because the Democrats don’t really want it.” Under DACA, Cho has been able to obtain a Social Security number and a working visa. Because of this, he was able to work and support himself throughout his high school career. Because of his parents’ immigration status, it was difficult for them to find stable jobs. “If I was a citizen, then I wouldn’t
DACA PAGE 12
Temple silent on marijuana facility The university will build a marijuana research facility in Lancaster County. Elected officials want Temple to build it in North Philadelphia. BY WILL BLEIER Community Beat Reporter
University officials have repeatedly ignored the written and verbal requests from elected officials to change the location of Temple’s $10 million medical marijuana research facility, which is slated to be built in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania in Lancaster County. City and state officials said they have called and written to university officials, urging them to build the facility near Erie Avenue and 2nd Street in order to create jobs for community residents. United States Rep. Bob Brady co-authored two letters in February and November 2017 with Philadelphia Councilwoman Maria QuiñonesSánchez and state Sen. Sharif Street, condemning Temple’s construction of the research facility nearly 90 miles away from Main Campus. These letters were addressed to university officials, including President Richard Englert and Board of Trustees Chairman Patrick O’Connor. The university has not responded to multiple letters asking to discuss the issue, Brady said. University officials also declined to comment for this story. In their letters, the elected officials propose that the university use the site in North Philadelphia, which is home to a 96,000-square-foot aban-
MARIJUANA FACILIT Y PAGE 3 CONSTRUCTION
FIGHTING FOOD INSECURITY SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Gadi Zimmerman, a junior financial planning major, braids challah dough in Hillel on Norris Street near 15th on Thursday. Members of Temple’s Challah for Hunger chapter are raising money to alleviate food insecurity by selling bread in the Student Center. Read more on Page 7.
STUDENT ORGANIZATION
Club discusses recovery, resources The Temple University Collegiate Recovery Program helps students in recovery from substance use. BY ALLEH NAQVI For The Temple News When Alex Tillery struggled with his substance use before coming to Temple, he thought he was alone. Today, Tillery said wants to serve as an example for other people in recovery at Temple. “What we hope to do is to advertise to those kids and be like, ‘Hey, I was right where you were and now I’m living a happy, successful and peaceful life,’” said Tillery, a sophomore legal studies major. “They can know that they’re not alone and they can come talk to us.” Every Thursday night, Tillery helps lead the Temple University Collegiate Recovery Program, a peer group for students in recovery from substance use disorder. The peers hold weekly meetings in the
first floor conference room of Morgan Hall South. The group first formed in Spring 2017. Bob Lamb, a thirdyear master’s of public health in health policy and management student and president of Temple University Collegiate Recovery Program, said it’s beneficial to talk to other students who share an “actual lived experience” with substance use disorder. “It’s not like coming in and talking to a therapist,” Tillery added. “It’s meeting with kids that have the same exact experiences as you.” Last semester, two students died from overdoses in the same week. The Medical Examiner’s Office estimated 1,200 people died from overdoses in Philadelphia in 2017, compared to 900 people the previous year. In a meeting following the two student deaths, Lamb said he saw increased turnout. “You just see it in the news so
RECOVERY PAGE 9
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Alex Tillery, a sophomore legal studies major, and Bob Lamb, a third-year master’s of public health student, host weekly recovery meetings in Morgan Hall South.
Saxbys to open Wednesday in Speakman Hall The store will be entirely operated by School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management students. BY WILL BLEIER Community Beat Reporter
A Saxbys will open in Speakman Hall, which houses the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management on Wednesday. The new location will be operated entirely by Temple students. This is the second Saxbys store on Main Campus and is part of the Saxbys’ Experiential Learning Program, which places college students at the helm of the company’s restaurant operations. Senior tourism and hospitality management major Julia Maass will lead the team of 60 students at the new location as the cafe executive officer. She will not only act as a supervisor, but will also be involved with creating a budget, meeting sales projections, managing employees and analyzing the restaurant’s profit and loss statement. She will earn 12 credits toward her senior internship experience at STHM after accumulating 600 hours leading the shop. Other students can complete a junior internship as baristas at the new location. These students will serve customers and maintain the cafe. “This is one of the best opportunities that I will be given, being able to run a cafe, and I love coffee, so it all works out,” Maass said. Jeremy Jordan, an associate dean in STHM, said this will be a pivotal opportunity for STHM
SAXBYS PAGE 6
NEWS | PAGES 2-3, 6
OPINION | PAGES 4-5
FEATURES | PAGES 7-12
SPORTS | PAGES 13-16
Some students turn to social media or other crime-reporting apps instead of utilizing TU Alerts. Read more on Page 6.
A student wrote an essay about her family’s Pakistani wedding customs. Read more on Page 4.
Bill Arrowood opened South Street Cinema, a theater that shows low-budget, independent films. Read more on Page 11.
Our assistant sports editor argues the men’s basketball team has postseason hopes, despite a rocky season. Read more on Page 16.
NEWS PAGE 2
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
FACULTY
Grants made available for students in need Temple is the seventh school added to a fund for students in financial need. BY ALYSSA BIEDERMAN On-Campus Beat Reporter Sara Goldrick-Rab, a higher education professor, raised $133,000 for her Faculty and Student Together Fund, which will be available for students in financial need at the end of January. The FAST Fund will help students struggling financially by covering the cost of expenses other than tuition, like commuter car payments, textbook fees and housing. Funds came from private donors, Goldrick-Rab’s public speaking fees and the proceeds of Goldrick-Rab’s book, “Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream.” “It’s pretty clear that college is supposed to help you get out of poverty, but it’s also clear that that’s not really working as planned,” Goldrick-Rab said. “It’s not enough to just write about it. I think we have an obligation, once we know there’s a problem and we can do something about it, to do something about it.” In November 2017, Goldrick-Rab received a $100,000 prize when her book won the Grawemeyer Award from the University of Louisville. She vowed to match donations to the FAST Fund 3-to-1 until prize money ran out. “I never had any idea that I could win an award that had money like this that I could really give to students,” Goldrick-Rab said. “I was kind of amazed.” Goldrick-Rab started the fund in 2016 during her first year at the university. She said the fund currently assists students from six colleges and universities across the country: California State University in Long Beach, Nash Community College, Columbus State Community College, Bunker Hill Community College and Milwaukee Area Technical College. Temple will be the seventh school to participate.
Goldrick-Rab is in the process of selecting university faculty who will decide which students will receive varying grants from the FAST Fund. These faculty members will be chosen based on their commitment to helping students. “Students don’t apply for the grants, as this would require a complex vetting process to decide who to help,” Goldrick-Rab said. “[Using faculty discretion] is a far simpler and more direct process than a formal program.” “We look for faculty who are already doing great work to serve students experiencing financial crises,” said Clare Cady, a board member of the FAST fund who helped choose Temple as the seventh school. Goldrick-Rab said she came to Temple to connect with students and a community that struggles with the issues she researches — income inequality and the affordability of post-secondary education. “Temple’s history as a working-class institution, and also as a public, urban-serving university were part of the reason I chose Temple,” she said. “Once I thought I could come, I never looked back.” According to Temple’s 2017-18 “At a Glance” report, 56 percent of undergraduate students receive need-based loans, averaging to $4,580. With average tuition and fees totaling $16,658 for Pennsylvania residents and $28,418 for out-of-state students, an average loan only covers 27 percent of tuition for in-state students and 16 percent for outof-state students. On top of covering the remaining tuition, students face everyday life costs. On average, transportation, books and supplies, and other expenses for in-state students at a four-year college total around $4,520 per academic year, according to the College Board. “I think that there is a great need among Temple students to ensure that they have all their basic needs met so that they can complete school,” Cady said. “I don’t spend a lot of time trying to decide which students deserve this money, because I think a lot of people deserve this money,” Goldrick-Rab said. “I remember be-
PATRICK CLARK / FILE PHOTO Sara Goldrick-Rab, a higher education professor, raised more than $100,000 for her Faculty and Student Together Fund, which will help students in financial need. Goldrick-Rab sits in her office on Aug. 31, 2016.
ing in college and falling short. I was not a low-income student, and sometimes I fell short. I was a middle-class kid and sometimes it happens.” Students showed interest in the FAST Fund. Nicolette D’Ambrosio, a freshman business major, said she pays for “everything in day-to-day life,” like her housing and books. D’Ambrosio said she would use the FAST Fund if chosen. “My dad was helping me, but then he passed away,” D’Ambrosio added. “I’m a waitress, so it’s a lot physically and mentally. I work about 30 hours a week, and sometimes it’s hard to study.” “I am paying for school on my own because my parents can’t afford it,” said Alexis Cleary, a freshman art education major. “I do worry that I might not be able to afford
school after this year. Unfortunately, I don’t qualify for a state grant, but if there were an organization that provided small grants, I would look into it. Even if its a few hundred dollars, every little bit helps.” This semester, Goldrick-Rab is teaching “Why Care About College,” a U.S. Society General Education course about affording college and her research. “I’ve always really wanted to know why college isn’t helping students out of poverty and what we can do about it,” Goldrick-Rab said. alyssa.biederman@temple.edu @BiedermanAlyssa
COMMUNITY
Green infrastructure coming to Yorktown in spring Community organizations hope to decrease the amount of river pollution from the city. BY MATTHEW McCANN Community Beat Reporter This spring, 22 stormwater planters will be added along 12th and 13th streets in Yorktown, a neighborhood just south of Main Campus, as a part of its five-year plan to add green infrastructure to the community. The addition of stormwater planters is part of the Green and Complete Streets project estab-
lished by the Yorktown Community Development Corporation and the Philadelphia Water Department, which aims to decrease pollution in the city’s rivers. The planters are containers installed in the sidewalk designed to catch runoff rainwater. The soil and plants absorb some of that runoff, and the rest is filtered down through the planter and into a pipe that connects to the sewer system. The Green and Complete Streets project is expected to break ground in the spring and will be completed before 2019, city officials said. It is part of the Philadelphia Water Department’s city-wide
initiative called Green City, Clean Waters. The 22 stormwater planters will beautify the area and reduce the burden on the city’s combined sewer system by catching the first inch of rainfall per green acre. Along with the planters, Yorktown will add two bus shelters, upgrade ramps for people with disabilities and widen and pave bike lanes. Ariel Ben-Amos, a strategic coordinator at the Philadelphia Water Department, said the city’s sewer system carries both stormwater and sewage through the same system to a water treatment
JAMIE COTTRELL / THE TEMPLE NEWS More than 20 stormwater planters will be built in Yorktown, like the ones in South Philadelphia, as a part of the city’s Green City, Clean Waters initiative.
News Desk 215.204.7419 news@temple-news.com
facility. When there is excessive rain or melting snow, sewage overflows. To decrease the burden on the water treatment facility when it overflows, some of the sewage and stormwater mixture is redirected and released into the Delaware River. According to the Philadelphia Water Department’s website, stormwater runoff and sewer overflows are the two biggest factors that contribute to river pollution in Philadelphia. The water department measures its progress in “greened acres,” which are a unit of measurement used to describe the transition from an impervious acre of land into one that will catch at least one inch of rainfall. The city plans to create 9,500 greened acres in Philadelphia, with at least two acres in Yorktown. Yorktown Community Organization President Robert McMichael said he is confident in the city’s commitment to making the streets of Yorktown more sustainable. “This will prevent so much of the contamination,” McMichael said. “We’ve had a hard winter here, and we’ve had a lot of salt put down in these parking lots. All that stuff will drain right into the ground and not into the rivers, where they have to do the filtration and everything to try to clean up all the water before it’s released.” The Green and Complete Streets project began planning in 2011, but was delayed in 2012 due to cost. The project was tabled until an additional source of funding could be found, wrote Kathryn Drake, a Philadelphia Water Department design engineer, in an
email. In 2014, the Green and Complete Streets group was awarded more than $800,000 in grants from the Multimodal Transportation Fund, which is the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development’s reserve focused on funding reliable transportation systems. But, Ben-Amos said, construction was delayed in 2015 due to procedural complications regarding the release of the funds from the Multimodal Transportation Fund and increased scrutiny during the review process due to Yorktown’s 2012 designation as a National Historic District. Ben-Amos said the Green and Complete Streets project was developed because of the Yorktown residents’ concerns for the environment. “We heard the residents wanted greening in the community,” Ben-Amos added. “The green is the most visible part of [the planters] but much of the work happens below the surface. We specifically designed this project to meet community concerns and desire for greening in their community.” “We have control structures within our system to channel the water before it hits the outfall to go to our wastewater treatment plants, but with climate change we’re having more rain, and that means our system is often at overcapacity and then that water goes into the outfalls and directly into our rivers,” Ben-Amos said. matthew.paul.mccann@temple.edu
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
NEWS TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
PAGE 3
TSG
Peer mentorship program to continue this semester TSG will focus on reaching nontraditional students in the program’s second semester. BY AMANDA LIEN Copy Editor Applications for Temple Student Government’s Peer-Mentorship Program, which began last semester, reopened on Monday. The semester-long program was created to connect freshmen, transfer students, commuter students and students from marginalized identities with on-campus resources through a relationship with student leaders. Last semester’s program had 37 pairs of student mentors and mentees, said Kayla Martin, TSG’s vice president of services. TSG is planning for a smaller turnout for the spring semester because there are fewer incoming students, she added.
This semester, TSG plans to expand outreach to nontraditional students — this includes students who are older than their peers, attend school part time or act as caretakers for family members. “The best way to [expand outreach] is through different university departments so they could send it out through their listservs,” Martin said. “Normally, we use social media which can be challenging if nontraditional students aren’t following us on there.” Because the program is new, Martin hopes to improve it through feedback from last semester’s participants, rather than focus on expansion. “The only thing we want to improve on more is making it more social and not only academic and professional,” she said. “The mentors and mentees did it on their own but they did give feedback saying they wish there were more
social events. But we were really happy with the engagement and feedback we got.” After being paired, mentors and mentees were responsible for meeting regularly. The frequency of and reason for their meetings depended on what they wanted to get out of the program and were not enforced by TSG, Martin said. Freshman biology major Tahjanae Nichols participated in the program in the fall because she wanted to learn how to mentor other students. “I always like talking to older people because they know what they’re doing,” she said. “And I eventually want to become a mentor, so it’s good to have that experience to know what traits I need.” She also wanted a “guide” during her transition to Temple, she added. “It’s kind of hard to come to Temple alone, especially not
knowing much about Philadelphia and the area,” she said. “But having someone who’s been here longer, that helped me get more out of my experience.” Nichols was matched with Toree Weaver, a junior journalism major. Before meeting Nichols, Weaver and other mentors attended training sessions hosted by TSG to prepare them. “I came in kind of nervous because I wanted to give back, but I was nervous about making sure I was a good leader,” Weaver said. “I felt like all my questions were definitely answered. There was really good training and it wasn’t drawnout. You felt like you were actually getting prepared for the relationship you were about to build.” Even though they weren’t in the same major, Nichols felt that her relationship with Weaver benefited her as she adjusted to Temple.
“As far as getting around campus and the social aspects, [Weaver] knows what she’s doing with stuff like that,” she said. “We met every Thursday to set goals for each other, something like ‘This week, I’ll go to my professor’s office hours.’ It kept us both on our toes.” Though Weaver thought the program worked well for her and her mentee, she wished there were more social events for all the mentors and mentees in the program to interact. “It’s important so that [mentees] don’t feel like they have just one person to go to,” she said. “I think it would have been nice to come together, bond, so they can meet other mentees who are maybe in the same place and make more connections with different mentors.” amanda.lien@temple.edu @AmandaJLien
CHYNNA CUMMINGS / FILE PHOTO LEFT: Peer mentors Natalie Abellanosa (left) and Julia Ostrovsky participate in a scavenger hunt at a peer mentorship event in September. RIGHT: Almas Ayaz, Temple Student Government’s director of campus life and diversity, holds a list of goals for mentors to set with their mentees over the course of the program at a peer mentorship event in September.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
MARIJUANA FACILITY doned warehouse, zoned for a marijuana growing and research facility. They argue that building the facility in North Philadelphia would be a multimillion-dollar investment in the neighborhood and
would create up to 70 jobs. Temple has instead decided to partner with Laurel Harvest Labs to move forward with the facility in Mount Joy, against the recommendation of local officials. “How do you not take a meeting from your councilperson, your senator, your state representative and your mayor?” Brady said. “I’ve
never had this happen to me on any level.” A provision of the 2016 Medical Marijuana Act passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly allows state universities to partner with clinical registrants, like Laurel Harvest Labs, to grow marijuana, while a medical school advises and researches the drug. Temple is in-
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Temple will build a $10 million marijuana research facility in Lancaster County, despite city and state officials asking university administrators to consider building it near Erie Avenue and 2nd Street, which is currently the site of an abandoned warehouse.
terested in how marijuana can be used to treat chronic illness. An attorney representing Laurel Harvest Labs contacted the politicians in response to their initial letter, declining their proposed North Philadelphia location and citing that it was too close to area schools and could negatively affect them. “We’ve talked to the area schools and they are fine with it,” Brady said. “They are supporting it wholeheartedly and there is a major space in between the schools and the plant.” Quiñones-Sánchez said in a third letter to the university in June 2017 that she hoped Temple would consider a clinical registrant that would commit to making a deal to benefit North Philadelphia, like the business Keystone Alternative Care. The group of legislators support Keystone Alternative Care as the clinical registrant for a facility in North Philadelphia after the company pledged to hire people from the community and donate $1 million to fund to local community organizations. “We will establish a board and it will be all Temple people, and various community organizations to address where this $1 million a year will go to enhance the community,” Brady said. “A Temple medical marijuana
research facility in North Philadelphia would have generated scores of jobs and millions annually, especially for schools,” Street said in a statement to The Temple News. “While it is disappointing that North Philadelphia was not selected as the location site, we will continue to communicate with community stakeholders and advocates for every opportunity to elevate and enhance the future viability of North Philadelphia communities.” Brady said a North Philadelphia location would not just provide a promising opportunity for the community, but could also employ Temple students in plant operations and administrative roles. He added that he will continue advocating for a North Philadelphia facility and is still willing to meet with the university. “Temple University’s mission, defined by Russell Conwell’s ‘Acres of Diamonds’ speech, speaks of finding true opportunity in its own backyard,” the lawmakers wrote in their November 2017 letter. “We hope that the university lives up to its mission and seizes this opportunity within the shadows of Conwell Hall.” william.bleier@temple.edu @will_bleier
News Desk 215.204.7419 news@temple-news.com
OPINION TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
PAGE 4
A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921. Michaela Winberg Editor-in-Chief Grace Shallow Managing Editor Jenny Roberts Supervising Editor Julie Christie Enterprise Editor Gillian McGoldrick News Editor Jayna Schaffer Opinion Editor Emily Scott Features Editor Evan Easterling Sports Editor Kelly Brennan Asst. News Editor Tom Ignudo Asst. Sports Editor Ian Walker Asst. Features Editor Amanda Lien Copy Editor Patrick Bilow Copy Editor Ian Schobel Co-Multimedia Editor Abbie Lee Co-Multimedia Editor Sydney Schaefer Photography Editor Jamie Cottrell Asst. Photography Editor Courtney Redmon Design Editor Greta Anderson Designer Abby Steinour Designer Mira Wise Advertising Manager Finnian Saylor Business & Marketing Manager Valentina Wrisley Asst. Bus.& Mktg 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
EDITORIALS
Respond to officials Temple administrators should not give our elected officials the silent treatment. Temple has ignored multiple requests from elected officials to discuss the location of Temple’s $10 million medical marijuana research facility, slated to be built in Lancaster County. Elected officials — including United States Rep. Bob Brady, Philadelphia Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez and Pennsylvania Sen. Sharif Street — have urged the university to build the facility near Erie Avenue and 2nd Street to create jobs for North Philadelphia residents. They co-wrote letters to Temple officials, like President Richard Englert and Board of Trustees Chairman Patrick O’Connor. The Temple News is embarrassed that Englert, O’Connor and other Temple representatives seem unwilling to listen to their state and city officials. Even if university leaders have decided on the location of the research facility, it’s disrespectful to blatantly
ignore these requests. “How do you not take a meeting from your councilperson, your senator, your state representative and your mayor?” Brady told The Temple News. “I’ve never had this happen to me on any level.” As a state-related institution that relies on government funding, university administrators need to consistently communicate with the state. How can the university expect politicians to take future funding requests seriously when they won’t communicate with elected officials now? We have lingering questions about the university’s decision-making process regarding the location of this facility — but when we reached out to university officials, they declined to comment. But as a state-related university, Temple can’t give elected officials the silent treatment for long.
Supporting recovery The Temple University Collegiate Recovery Program helps students cope with recent overdoses. Within one week, at least two students died due to accidental drug overdoses last semester. Bob Lamb, president of the Temple University Collegiate Recovery Program, said he saw an immediate increase in attendance to the recovery program’s weekly support group. Both Michael Paytas, a senior marketing major, and James Orlando, a junior Fox School of Business student, died from accidental overdoses last semester. This uptick in attendance is a positive step for the Temple community, despite it being the result of tragedies. It shows that Temple students, staff and faculty members are reaching out for the support they need. The Temple News is glad that — in the face of a national substance use epidemic — students are coming together to support one another and encourage recovery, especially at a university where students
have faced challenges accessing support. Despite Tuttleman Counseling Services shortening wait times for in-take appointments last semester, students still have to wait about three weeks for services, and more than 60 students were turned away and asked to return another day last semester. It is refreshing to see some students take it into their own hands to provide support and help each other recover. But recovery is no simple task for students to undertake on their own — different people need different forms of outreach, like medicationassisted treatment, 12-step groups or sober housing, to name a few. We hope Temple will work to provide more for people with addiction at the university. Considering the events of last semester alone, it is clear how dire this problem is. Now more than ever, Temple has a responsibility to respond.
CORRECTIONS An article that appeared in print on Nov. 28, 2017 with the headline “Exhibit honors legacies in the LGBTQ community” misstated with whom the AIDS Library is affiliated. The library is affiliated with Philadelphia FIGHT. 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 Michaela Winberg at editor@temple-news.com or 215-204-6737.
letters@temple-news.com
Celebrating Pakistani marriage
T
his winter, I went back to my home country of Pakistan to attend my cousin’s wedding. Weddings in Pakistan are full of color, culture and tradition. The preparations begin months in advance and culminate in a series of events that celebrate the matrimony of the bride and groom. What makes these weddings especially memorable to me is the array of customs that I get to experience. The first event is called the Mayun. When it came time to perform the ceremony, my cousin and his bride sat on a stage. Their family and close friends took turns dabbing ubtan — a yellow paste of sandalwood powder, turmeric and other herbs — on their faces. Ubtan makes your skin glow, so this is a way to make sure the groom’s skin is glowing for his wedding day. After this, I circled some money above the couple’s heads and put it in a pile, which was a collection for charity. Then, I fed a tiny spoonful of mithai — a South Asian sweet — to the bride and groom as a celebration of their union. As each person performed this ceremony, the couple indulged in the attention of their special day. After the first ceremony was finished, we all smeared ubtan on each other’s faces, starting a playful fight. It was like a paintball fight with our hands as the weaponry. And after it settled down, we proceeded to the dance floor where we spent the rest of the night on our feet. Two days later, the couple’s female friends and families gathered at their homes, where we
A student writes about her cousin’s wedding in her home country and some of her family’s customs.
BY MYRA MIRZA had henna tattoos applied to our hands and feet. Henna is a plantbased dye mixed into a paste form. The designs were intricate and varied from person to person, from floral designs to geometric patterns. This is a form of decorating our bodies before a dancing ceremony called the Mehndi. Everyone wore their best clothes the next day and showed off the dance moves they had been practicing for two months. Watching my friends and family on the dance floor, busting moves until 4 or 5 a.m., was the most joyous part of the wedding for me. Finally, there was the Shaadi, which incorporates the actual wedding ceremony, as well as some playful traditions. The bride’s relatives removed the groom’s shoes and hid them. In return for his shoes, the bride’s family asked the groom for a large sum of money. Then we — the groom’s cousins — tried to negotiate a lower price. These negotiations are just for show. In the end, the groom paid the bride’s cousins a predetermined amount. This money, a symbol of goodwill to the bride’s family, is used to treat the cousins and friends of the bride to a night out. After this, my female cousins and I rushed to the groom’s house to decorate it for his bride. The bride and groom arrived shortly
after and were welcomed by the rest of the family. The groom’s elder sister brought out a deep clay tray with rose petals, and the bride and groom each put one foot in it. The groom’s two sisters and I washed their feet to show how much we treasure the bride and welcome her into our family. It was now our turn to ask the groom for a large sum of money. This time, the bride’s family advocated for the groom and tried to negotiate. This is another comical tradition. In the end, my cousin paid us the amount he had planned. The money would treat our family to a night out. The last custom of the Shaadi was the feeding of kheer — a rice pudding from the subcontinent — by the bride to the men of the groom’s family. The brothers and male cousins of the groom came to eat the kheer from a spoon in the bride’s hand. The bride had to move the spoon and tease each man as he tried to taste the kheer. She even smeared it on their faces, but they had to keep trying to get a bite. This custom is a symbol of the playful relationship between the bride and her husband’s brothers. Because I live in the United States year-round, celebrating with my family in Pakistan feels especially meaningful for me. The customs, extravagantly embroidered clothes, bangles, music, food and — above all — dancing make a Pakistani wedding an extraordinary celebration. At the same time, it feels like home. myramirza@temple.edu
POLITICS
Prioritize HIV/AIDS prevention President Donald Trump’s firing of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS sends a dangerous message.
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s last year came to a close, President Donald Trump fired every member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. The council, which was established in 1995, advised presidential administrations on policies relating to HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. Though the American people have yet to see the effects of this action, the loss of the council is cause for concern. The spread of HIV/AIDS is declining overall, but there’s still a significant health risk, especially for marginalized groups in the RACHEL BERSON United States, like gay and bisexual men of color. The lack of an advisory council could potentially increase their risk. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while HIV infections are declining overall, they have increased by 14 percent for Latino gay and bisexual men, and have remained at a consistent rate of 10,000 per year for African-American gay bisexual men from 2010 to 2014. In 2015, gay and bisexual men made up 67 percent of the new diagnoses of HIV and AIDS. “There’s an uptick in the in-
fection rate in certain populations,” said Sarah Bass, a social and behavioral sciences professor. Bass is also the director of the Risk Communication Laboratory, which works to craft messaging about different public health risks. Bass said the opioid epidemic has put intravenous drug users at an increased risk as well. “We’ve seen an increase in HIV rates, especially in parts of the country that haven’t had needle exchange or other types of programs geared toward [intravenous drug users],” Bass said. Removing the council will also weaken America’s status as an internationally recognized actor in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, resulting in possible negative effects on diplomatic relations. “Internationally, the U.S. has been a leader in the last decade around HIV...getting the epidemic under control in certain parts of the world,” Bass said. “That has brought a lot of support from developed countries. Disbanding our entire set of experts in an area is probably going to affect that.” Additionally, the Trump administration’s removal of council members sends a disheartening message of disinterest about preventing HIV/AIDS. “Firing was done and a strategic plan was not communicated to replace that council,” said Omar Martinez, a social work professor. “By firing and terminating the members of the presidential advisory council, [President Trump] says, ‘AIDS should be not a priority as of now.’” The health and safety of citi-
zens should always be a priority for those in charge. Trump’s refusal to treat it as such speaks to his incompetence as a leader. According to the Washington Post, Kaye Hayes, the council’s executive director, said the purpose of the firings is to “bring in new voices.” Even if the council members are eventually replaced, not allowing them to complete their terms is a disturbance. It is detrimental to the health and well-being of those affected by HIV and AIDS, as well as at-risk populations. Scott Schoettes, who resigned from the council in June, wrote in a Newsweek column that he does not believe the Trump administration will take sufficient action to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. “The Trump administration has no strategy to address the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic…[and] pushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV,” Schoettes wrote. The severity of Trump’s decision requires speedy reparative action. Martinez recommends the Trump administration hire new council members, preferably members who would reflect communities most impacted by HIV and AIDS. Hopefully, federal officials will reinstate the council, which provides necessary guidance on preventing and treating HIV and AIDS. Without the council, we can only expect one of our nation’s most substantial public health epidemics to worsen. rachel.berson@temple.edu
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
OPINION TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
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FEMINISM
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Time is up for faulty apologies from accused men Apologies from powerful men accused of sexual assault tend to lack sentiment and remorse.
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ollowing his victory at the Golden Globes on Jan. 7, James Franco has been accused of sexual misconduct. Franco, an actor and filmmaker, won the award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He later made an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and denied the allegations against him, saying he’s “just letting it be.” Despite “just letting it be,” Franco wore a pin to the Golden Globes that read “TIME’S UP,” representing an initiative that calls for an end to sexual violence and inequality against women in all industries. The initiative began with informal meetings of famous actresses, like Shonda Rhimes, MONICA MELLON LEAD COLUMNIST Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman and America Ferrera. Franco is another name on the growing list of men that have been accused of sexual misconduct, harassment or assault following the allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein in October 2017. Many of the recent allegations prompted an apology released to the public. But most of these “apology” statements lacked sympathy and reflection. Rather, they come off as narcissistic excuses for their past behavior. Comedian Louis C.K.’s never used the words “I’m sorry” in his statement. Instead, he elaborated on the admiration women may have had for him. Actor Kevin Spacey used his statement to focus on his own identity as a gay man. Statements from former Senator Al Franken and journalists Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer — who was honored by Temple with a Lew Klein Excellence in the Media Award in 2009 — deflected the allegations against them entirely. If we choose to ignore the selfish structure of these apologies, we simultaneously squander any chance of dismantling society’s patriarchal power structure. This invalidates survivors’ experiences and normalizes sexual misconduct against women. “The man doesn’t get it,” said Nadine Rosechild Sullivan, a women’s studies instructor and the author of “I Trusted You: Fully and Honestly Speaking of Gendered Assaults and the way to a Rape-Free Culture.” “They don’t understand what they’ve done or what they’re apologizing for. They’re not understanding the real horror they’ve caused.” The lack of understanding
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among men is related to our patriarchal culture. Men are seen as more powerful than women, and thus their experiences seem more valid. Their apologies, which focus more on themselves than their victims, show the preference society gives to men’s voices over women’s. “There’s a...cultural failure to communicate to males that females feel the same way they do and that they’re essentially human the same way they are,” Sullivan said. This “cultural failure” is evident in the apology statements written by men — including Franken, C.K. and Rose. Instead of validating survivors’ experiences, all three men simply insisted they have respect for women. Using a sexual harassment apology statement to remind others of their supposed respect is a blatant disregard of women’s feelings and the serious allegations at hand. Additionally, some men included the consequences that they anticipate they will face because of their actions in their apology statements. This raises the question: Why are some men just realizing now that sexual misconduct is unacceptable? “The fact that men are surprised by the consequences of their actions, the fact that they’re realizing their careers may be on the line because they’ve harassed women...is a reflection of the power structure,” said Shelly Ronen, a women’s studies instructor. “We’re using this kind of power dynamic as a gatekeeping way,” said Robin Kolodny, the chair of the political science department. “Men think they can behave this way in the workplace and get away with it because they’re men and the power structure would allow them.” I commend the women who have come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct. Their strength and bravery are unwavering, even in a society that values men’s experiences far more than women’s. To prevent these instances of sexual misconduct, we need to continue to hold the accused accountable, especially when it comes to men in power. If their apology statements show a lack of remorse and focus on their own experiences, this shows that society still focuses on men above women. “A lot more needs to be done,” Sullivan said. “You need to break through rape culture and sexual harassment is a part of that culture.” The most effective way to begin breaking down rape culture is to hold people accountable. And if someone’s apology doesn’t sound sincere, it probably isn’t — and we can’t allow them to get away with that either.
DESIGN BY ABBY STEINOUR / THE TEMPLE NEWS ORIGINAL ARTWORK COURTESY OF GUNK
Graffiti: Art, not vandalism Graffiti, like the many murals around Philadelphia, is a form of art and should be appreciated, not condemned.
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come from a small town in New Jersey with polished sidewalks and pristine buildings. During my college search, I was drawn to Philadelphia because of its elaborate street art. I love the parts of the city that are splashed with color, from largescale murals to graffitifilled alleyways. And even though I regularly see creative grafRAE BURACH fiti throughout the city, many people fail to recognize it as a viable art form. Instead of being considered a meaningful expression, graffiti is seen as vandalism. This is an unfair label to give to something that requires the same creativity and hard work as other forms of street art. “I think people automatically jump to conclusions that it’s illegal and not artistic,” said Dermot Mac Cormack, the chair of Temple’s Graphic Arts and Design department. “These forms of artwork are very valid in their own right. You just have to see it in a different way.” “I think if it’s aesthetically pleasing and playful and adventurous, I really appreciate that,” he added. “I see it as a form of
expression.” For me, graffiti is interesting and eye-catching. The blank wall of a building or an untouched alleyway becomes something brand new with the addition of graffiti. It becomes the expression of an individual’s artistic vision. According to the Mural Arts Philadelphia website, the city’s first legitimate effort to eradicate graffiti began with the formation of the AntiGraffiti Network in the 1980s. In response, artist Jane Golden launched the Mural Arts Program, which encourages graffiti artists to use their talents for “constructive public art projects.” Golden is now the executive director of the program. The existence of a legitimate street art collective is a positive form of expression in Philadelphia — but it shouldn’t discredit independent graffiti art. Graffiti offers something that other forms of street art can’t. Because of the lack of control or direction from outside influences, it conveys a raw, uncensored message. Banksy, an anonymous graffiti artist based in England, comments on controversial social issues in his work, like violence and homelessness. He’s able to communicate his thoughts to the public without anyone’s approval. This is what makes graffiti an incomparably powerful kind of art. A 23-year-old art education major, who works under the nickname Gunk, has been creating graffiti art for nearly
a decade. The Temple News is withholding the student’s name because his art is considered vandalism. He was introduced to graffiti in high school, he said, and it eventually became a regular hobby. “I don’t look at it as me doing something illegal,” Gunk said. “I think of it as me being in a competition with my surroundings. I’m not a criminal by any means. I’m not a violent person. I just enjoy making art.” Just like anything else that’s created by humans, graffiti can be used negatively. And even when it’s not the artist’s intention to cause a disruption, there will always be people who disapprove. But censoring artwork of any kind is complicated and problematic. Leaving graffiti to the artists’ discretion is what makes it beautiful and uninhibited. “You can take your own power in it,” Gunk said. “I don’t have to ask anybody to do this, I just go and do it.” I’m a strong advocate for any visual and artistic display of character, and I think graffiti is a perfect example of this. The world is a canvas, and strokes and sprays of paint make any city more stimulating and colorful. Graffiti is no less artistic than the murals in Center City or the painted trash cans down South Street. It should be embraced and encouraged, not denounced. I don’t believe Philly would be the same without it. rbur@temple.edu
monica.mellon@temple.edu @MonicaMellon
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January 28, 1988: The nation’s first library devoted exclusively to subjects related to Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome, also known as AIDS, opened on Walnut Street near 12th. Many students, especially nursing students, began using the library for research. This week, a columnist wrote in disapproval of President Donald Trump’s firing of every member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. The columnist writes the termination of the council belittles the seriousness of HIV/AIDS.
letters@temple-news.com
NEWS PAGE 6
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
CRIME
Students skeptical about TU Alerts
CRIME
Suspect remains unidentified in racist poster incident Temple Police were unable to identify the person suspected of hanging racist posters around Main Campus in December, wrote Campus Safety Services Executive Director Charlie Leone in an email. “Although we have suspicion of a possible person responsible, we could not say with enough accuracy for identification,” Leone wrote. “We will continue to monitor our community for any hateful fliers.” University officials released security footage of the person suspected of hanging the fliers to students on Dec. 15. The person was on a red bicycle and wearing a helmet. Temple Police urge students to call 215-204-1234 if they find anything similar to these fliers around campus. “We will aggressively investigate any instance of hate, bias, intimidation,” Leone wrote. -Kelly Brennan
Many students turn to other resources due to perceived delays in the TU Alert system. BY JULIA BOYD Crime Beat Reporter A TU Alert was sent out to students Saturday night, reporting a shooting off-campus. This is one of the many alerts the Temple community receives each year, but many students express concerns about the TU Alert system’s consistency, timeliness and accuracy. Junior electrical engineering major Cheryse Greenidge has lived in on-campus residence halls since her freshman year. TU Alerts are sent to her phone, but she often wonders how effective they are for people living off-campus. Greenidge said she remembers receiving a TU Alert the day after several students were assaulted on Oxford Street near Broad in October 2016 in flash mob attacks. There were other times, including a protest along North Broad Street in February 2017, which she only found out about through Facebook. “There were incidents where I thought I would receive a TU Alert but didn’t,” Greenidge said. This type of uncertainty is a recurring theme among students; they rely on social media or other
mobile apps to learn about emergency situations nearby, rather than a TU Alert. The university has used TU Alerts to notify students and staff of emergencies on or around Main and Health Sciences campuses since 2007. Alerts aren’t sent out for every incident around Main Campus because Temple Police only wants to alert people if there is an unresolved danger, Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said. “Many times when we receive calls, it’s not a life-threatening situation,” Leone said. “Each call receives a police response, but in an emergency, an alert will be sent out to students.” Leone added that TU Alerts are usually “very accurate” in terms of location and expedient in getting a notification to students. Every member of the Temple community with a “temple. edu” email address receives a TU Alert. Students, faculty and staff can also subscribe to receive TU Alerts via text messages through TU Portal. Leone said there are four dispatchers who receive confirmation calls from on-scene officers to send an alert to students. The most common crime reported around campus is theft. “Overall it’s a pretty robust system,” Leone said. “It’s very
well established.” Still, students continue to use alternative resources as a source of emergency alerts, like the app Wildfire. It has been used to document events around Main Campus for more than a year, and students can submit posts or receive notifications about incidents they witnessed or heard about from other students. The incidents reported on the app are not “vetted” by police, Leone said. He added that if students are going to post in the Wildfire app, they should still notify the police to ensure they respond to emergencies. Junior nursing major Sarah Dawson still receives TU Alerts, but also uses Wildfire because she thinks it’s “more detailed.” “There was an incident where one of my friends had been burglarized,” Dawson said. “I thought I would receive a TU Alert, but I didn’t. Even if an event isn’t considered ‘lifethreatening,’ I’d like to receive an alert for it.” Other universities, like Pennsylvania State University, have intricate systems that alert students of emergencies. While it still sends out alerts, the university has a full website that allows students to search incidents by specifics like date and whether a situation was solved. It also lists the specifics of an incident, like descriptions of possible suspects
or particulars of a crime. Campus Safety Services’ website has a crime log that lists the type of crime, the date it occurred and the status of investigation. It includes all the crimes within Temple Police’s patrol zone. Leone said there are biweekly meetings with university officials to consider changes to the TU Alert system. Over time, they review the positives and negatives of the system and update the criteria where they see fit. He added there are backup plans for the possibility of the computer system crashing, like officers, information technology support and strategic communication officials being able to send out an alert. Though they have not discussed developing a website, Leone said that may be something to review in future meetings. Temple Police has discussed developing a mobile app to communicate with the Temple community, but has no updated plans in place. “Our goal right now is to hit right at the intersection of timeliness and accuracy,” Leone said. “We have to put [an alert] out knowing that there may be more information to follow.” julia.boyd@temple.edu @JuliaKBoyd
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SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Julia Maass, a senior tourism and hospitality management major, handles an espresso machine in Speakman Hall’s student-run Saxbys, which is scheduled to open Wednesday.
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SAXBYS students. “This experience for Julia will be very important as she prepares for her career in the hospitality industry,” Jordan said. “Similar to programs we have with other organizations, this management-in-training program with Saxbys will offer Julia and other students who work at the cafe an opportunity to gain real-world work experience and put into practice many of the things that are taught in our academic program.” “A lot of people in their careers may not get the opportunity to manage 60 people at once,” said Reed Longo, Saxbys’ Experiential Learning Program manager. “Julia’s getting that at 22, which is going to give her incredible career preparation.” The cafe will feature artwork by current and former Tyler School of Art students, including pieces by master’s of fine art candidate Destiny Palmer and 2009 studio art alumnus Mat Tomezsko. Longo said that he hopes the restaurant will quickly be able to find ways to support the local North Philadelphia
News Desk 215.204.7419 news@temple-news.com
community, but no specific plan has been released yet. Greg Galiffa, a Saxbys content manager, said this new store will allow much more space for students than its other on-campus store on Liacouras Walk near Polett. “It’s going to be a really great hub to invite those students who normally don’t come into Speakman to come in, hang out and enjoy the space,” Maass said. This marks the fourth Experiential Learning cafe that Saxbys has opened, with two locations at Drexel University and one at Millersville University. The company is set to expand the Experiential Learning Program to multiple universities along the East Coast. “Saxbys has been a presence on campus for such a long time and students know us,” Galiffa said. “And for us to build upon that partnerships, and bring in something that we successfully had at other universities, to bring it to Temple is such a milestone for us, and we’re really proud of it.” william.bleier@temple.edu @Will_Bleier
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
FEATURES TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
PAGE 7
FOR FIVE DECADES, A ‘CHRONICLER OF TEMPLE’ Zohrab “Zorro” Kazanjian, a former university photographer, died last month at 81 years old. BY EMILY SCOTT Features Editor
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hen Mike Sisak remembers Zohrab “Zorro” Kazanjian, he thinks about a 1969 Temple basketball game at Madison Square Garden. But Zorro wasn’t even at the game. The men’s basketball team was playing Boston College in the National Invitation Tournament. Zorro, who often photographed Temple sports, was unable to attend the game. He handed Sisak a Minolta film camera and asked him to fill in. Years later, Zorro joked that Sisak never gave it back. “Even when I saw him in 2015, he reminded me, ‘You know, I gave you that camera and I never recall receiving any money for it,’” said Sisak, a 1963 journalism alumnus and former editor-in-chief of The Temple News. Now, Sisak wants to donate the camera to Paley Library in Zorro’s name. Zorro, who studied education at Temple from 1957 to 1962, died last month at 81. He moved to the United States from Baghdad in the late 1950s to attend Temple. About a month before his graduation, Zorro was offered a job as a university photographer and never finished his degree. He worked at the university full time until the 1990s and then worked as a contracted photographer until 2013. During his tenure at the university, he took thousands of photos working for The Temple News and the university as a staff photographer. Sisak, who met Zorro while working for The Temple News, said he wishes that everything Zorro photographed during
DESIGN BY COURTNEY REDMON / THE TEMPLE NEWS PHOTOS COURTESY OF ZOHRAB KAZANJIAN / SPECIAL COLLECTIONS RESEARCH CENTER, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES, PHILADELPHIA, PA
ZORRO PAGE 8 STUDENT ORGANIZATION
Challah for Hunger takes on college food insecurity A student organization is selling bread to fundraise for an on-campus food pantry. BY AYOOLUWA ARIYO For The Temple News
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Members of Temple’s Challah for Hunger chapter braid challah dough in the Hillel at Temple University on Norris Street near 15th on Thursday.
Two out of three college students are food insecure, according to a March 2017 report by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab and the Association of Community College Trustees. The results of this study surprised Gadi Zimmerman. He first learned about it on social media from Sara Goldrick-Rab, a higher education professor who researches food insecurity among college students. If someone is food insecure, it means they have a lack of reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. “I knew that so many students were unaware of this issue and didn’t really know that this is an issue on college campuses,” said Zimmerman, a junior financial planning major. “It’s passionate for me because
these were my peers that were affected by this issue and no one was really talking about it, no one on campus at least.” Zimmerman is the president of Temple’s chapter of Challah for Hunger, which currently has 20 members. Challah for Hunger is a national organization with more than 80 chapters around the world, which all work toward social justice by currently focusing on food insecurity on college campuses. Each of their chapters bake and sell challah, a traditional Jewish bread. The profits will be used to fund a food pantry on Main Campus. Zimmerman decided to tackle food insecurity on campus after his sister-in-law, Carly Zimmerman, the CEO of the organization, encouraged him to get involved with the small chapter on Main Campus, run by Hillel at Temple, the Jewish student center on Norris Street near 15th. Carly Zimmerman became involved with the student organization as an undergradu-
CHALL AH PAGE 12
PHOTOGRAPHY | PAGE 8
FILM | PAGE 9
LIVE IN PHILLY | PAGE 10
MOVIES | PAGE 11
Amanda Lucidon, a former White House photographer, is displaying photos of Michelle Obama in Paley Library.
“Time and Dreams,” a documentary by 1975 alumnus Mort Jordan, was inducted into the National Film Registry last month.
World Cafe Live hosted the Lovesick Expo, which featured both traditional and unconventional wedding services.
Bill Arrowood, a 1995 radio, television and film alumnus, opened a cinema on South Street last month.
F E AT U R E S PAGE 8
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
ON CAMPUS
Photographer captures Michelle Obama’s ‘warmth’ A former White House photographer has her work on display in Paley Library until Jan. 22. BY VERONICA THOMAS For The Temple News As Michelle Obama’s personal photographer, Amanda Lucidon has traveled to more than 20 countries, including Italy, Cambodia and China, documenting candid moments of the First Lady’s “Let Girls Learn” initiative, an international program that supported education for adolescent girls in more than 50 countries. In Liberia, during a discussion with a group of high school students, Lucidon was so moved by Obama’s determination to understand the young girls’ struggles that she was almost brought to tears. As the students told moving stories of overcoming hardship to attend school, Lucidon didn’t want to ruin the intimate scene by using the flash setting on her camera. “I had all these challenges to overcome,” Lucidon said. “It was a very dark situation. There was no electricity in the schools, and there was hardly any light due to an incoming rainstorm. I needed to find the best angles and also keep my camera from shaking.” Lucidon, an official White House photographer from 2013 to 2017, recounts her memories of working in the White House in her new book “Chasing Light: Michelle Obama Through the Lens of a White House Photographer,” which includes 150 of her photographs of the former first lady. Ten of these photographs will be displayed in an exhibit on the first floor of Paley Library until Jan. 22. On the last day of the exhibit, Lucidon will host a Q&A and book signing. “There is no typical day at the White House as a photographer,” Lucidon said. “Slow days can quickly become a busy day. It can be a quick public event at the White House or a school visit, and then the next event we’re welcoming foreign dignitaries.” In 2008, Lucidon moved to Washington, D.C. to start her own photography company and work as a freelance photographer. Lucidon is one of few female photogra-
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ZORRO his nearly 60-year relationship with Temple were archived in the library. Zorro photographed most university athletes, including football and basketball players. He also photographed large university events. “Not to be corny, but the best
CACIE ROSARIO / THE TEMPLE NEWS Freshman neuroscience major Daniel Gilliam looks at photographs of former First Lady Michelle Obama in Paley Library. The photos were taken by Amanda Lucidon and are on display until Jan. 22.
phers to ever work in the White House. During the Obama administration, she was the only woman, and worked alongside Director and Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza. Impressed by Lucidon’s freelance work during the first inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, Souza reached out and recommended her for the position. “I met Pete Souza once at a National Geographic event, and to my surprise he called me up a couple years later and asked that I apply for the job as a White House photographer,” Lucidon said. “I was stunned then, and I’m still stunned now. And I’m so grateful that he offered me the opportunity.” Sara Wilson, Paley’s outreach and communications administrator, said she was
way to describe Zorro is in camera terms,” said Sisak, who is a former New York Times editor. “He was close up and personal and you never forgot him.” In addition to his work for The Temple News, Zorro was a photographer for the university’s former office of public information, Templar yearbook and Temple Athletics. Sisak said he thinks Zorro has
“very excited” when she received the email that Lucidon’s photographs were coming to Temple. “The idea was to bring the White House here to the people,” Wilson said. “There is such warmth in all of the photos and Amanda did such a great job in capturing Michelle’s personality in all of the photos. You feel like you’re there in the moment with her.” Set in thick black frames, many of the photographs depict the First Lady as she embraces or speaks with people from around the world. Monica Mohammed, a senior international business major and library assistant, said she likes how the photos illustrate the United States’ “global presence.” “What’s also inspiring is it shows people
taken more photographs of the Temple University community than anyone else. When they first met in the 1960s, he and Zorro immediately bonded because of their religious faith — both practiced Orthodox Christianity. They lived together in housing formerly standing on Broad Street near Norris. “It was beyond photography,” Sisak said. “It was a friendship.”
COURTESY / MIKE R. SISAK Zohrab “Zorro” Kazanjian watches Temple’s football team play Penn State on Sept. 17, 2011 at Lincoln Financial Field. Zorro, a former university photographer, died last month at 81 years old.
features@temple-news.com
that they can do more than they think they can and achieve what they put their minds to,” Mohammed said. “Michelle Obama is like an ambassador. Just to see her in different parts of the world is amazing. You don’t have to be a president to outreach and inspire.” Looking back at her four years spent next to the former First Lady, Lucidon describes the time as an “amazing experience.” “To be able to walk into a living and breathing museum every day was amazing,” Lucidon said. “My camera was literally my passport. The White House is so rich with history that it was an incredible opportunity to be in that space.” veronica.elizabeth.thomas@temple.edu
Sisak recalls seeing Zorro in 2013 in Mitten Hall at a 50th class reunion. For classmates he hadn’t seen in decades, Zorro brought 4-by-6-inch photo prints he wanted to share with his fellow alumni. “He wanted to walk around and say hello and give them the prints that he had made when they were students, athletes at Temple University,” Sisak said. “He never forgot the people he photographed.” “Zorro was the chronicler of Temple University,” Sisak added. The Special Collections Research Center has an estimated 175 photos by Zorro. In addition to his photography career, Zorro was a walk-on for the university’s track and field team and had a brief stint on the swim team, competing in the 200-yard breaststroke race. Vicken Kazanjian, Zorro’s son and a 2002 film and media arts alumnus, said because of his father, he grew up on the sidelines of several Temple sports games. His father also put a camera in his hand at a young age. One of the most iconic photographs Zorro took was of President John F. Kennedy, who came to Temple one week before he was elected president in 1960. “You look at the crowd in the background and it’s right in the middle of campus, kids are hanging out of windows,” Kazanjian said of the photograph. “In comparing it to today, everyone would have their phones out...but he was there for those historic moments.”
Bob Rovner, a 1965 business alumnus and 1968 law alumnus, met Zorro when Rovner was the business manager of The Temple News. Rovner also served as student body president in the 1960s and as a university trustee for the last 20 years, before recently retiring. He called Zorro a “fixture” in the Temple community. He remembers how Zorro would photograph big university events, like “The Hour of Pleasure,” which brought major figures like Eleanor Roosevelt, Jerry Lewis, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and Jimmy Hoffa to campus in the 1960s, Rovner said. “He would just take picture after picture,” Rovner said. “[During] our youth growing up...he memorialized that in pictures.” Kazanjian recalls that as a kid, Zorro would drag him and his brother to Temple when they were on summer vacation from school. When he and his family would enter buildings on Main Campus, the security guards would immediately recognize his father and say, “Hey Zorro, come on in.” “It would just be really cool to walk into any building on campus and he was just welcomed by everybody,” Kazanjian said. “He just knew everybody.” emily.ivy.scott@temple.edu @emilyivyscott
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
F E AT U R E S TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
PAGE 9
ALUMNI
Alumnus’ film nationally honored Last month, a 1975 film alumnus’ documentary was inducted into the National Film Registry. BY JULIE CHRISTIE Enterprise Editor Mort Jordan’s original plans for his documentary didn’t pan out the way he first envisioned. Before he started filming, the assistant for the documentary left. Then Temple recalled the cameras Jordan planned to use, which forced him to film with different equipment. As a result, his 1976 documentary, “Time and Dreams,” took longer than he originally planned. But Jordan said without those changes, it would have been a “far lesser movie.” Last month, the Library of Congress inducted “Time and Dreams” into the National Film Registry, a collection of films considered “of enduring importance to American culture” for their cultural, visual or historical importance, according to the Library of Congress website. Jordan, a 1975 film alumnus, created the film for his senior thesis. It documents the lives of people in Greene County, Alabama after a racial flip-flop in the 1970 elections. “I was floored, absolutely floored,” Jordan said of being selected by the Library of Congress. “To win this is such an honor. I think one of the most important things is the great access the public will have.” On the heels of the civil rights movement, the county’s Board of Education and City Council gained
a Black majority. Before the election, the county’s officials were predominantly white. Thomas Gilmore became the county’s first Black sheriff, and William McKinley Branch was elected the country’s first Black probate judge. In the mid-1970s, Jordan, who is white, went to Greene County to film the documentary. He said he found a community that was trying to come to terms with the change in power. He said “when it got down to one-on-one relationships, things were fine,” but he wanted to document the thoughts of white people who were adjusting to the new social dynamics. Jordan, who grew up in Alabama, lived in the county for a year, interviewing children and adults, both Black and white. The result was a documentary that “portrays Greene County, Alabama, as its people move toward understanding and cooperation in a time of social change,” according to the National Film Registry. “Time and Dreams” is one of 25 films selected this year — out of more than 5,000 nominees. Other selections this year include “Titanic” and “The Goonies.” “To get one film [in the registry] is really significant,” said Leonard Guercio, the manager of Temple’s Digital Cinema Lab, which helps film and media arts students apply for grants and learn about upcoming film festivals. “These films are picked by people who work in the industry. ... It’s not enough to pick big Hollywood movies, but independent films, family films.” Guercio submitted a recommen-
COURTESY / MORT JORDAN Mort Jordan, a 1975 film and media arts alumnus, had his 1976 film inducted into the National Film Registry last month. The film documented a racial flip-flop in a 1970 Alabama election.
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RECOVERY much that you know it’s an issue, but until it happens to you or somebody in your community, it kind of just distances itself from you,” Lamb said. “Having an experience with two students within such a short period of time definitely brought a different light and different weight to the Temple community.” Currently, the group mainly functions as a place for discussion. But one of the group’s early initiatives was to create a postcard compiling campus resources for addiction treatment. Jillian Bauer-Reese, a journalism professor and faculty adviser for the group, said because these resources are spread across Tuttleman Counseling Services, the Wellness Resource Center and other departments, it can be difficult for students to understand what services are available. Additionally, Bauer-Reese said when she has searched “addiction” on Tuttleman Counseling Services’ website, the site only returns a list of offcampus services. Under “Specialized Services,” Tuttleman lists the Collegiate Recovery Program and Unicovery, a student organization focused on subtance use and mental health dis-
orders. Unicovery disbanded about three years ago. “The first place [the Tuttleman website] sends you is 19th and Walnut to an Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meeting, which is essentially telling students who are in need of help that they have to leave campus to get it,” said Bauer-Reese, who is also a person in recovery. Bauer-Reese said one step the university can take is creating a single, comprehensive web page for campus recovery services. She also suggested that resident assistants and Allied Barton security guards be trained in administering Narcan, a nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses. “We need to be doing so much more as a university,” Bauer-Reese said. “We just had two students overdose, and I think there are a lot of other students who disappear midsemester and withdraw from classes.” One important resource students have on Main Campus, Lamb said, is the ability to obtain a prescription for Suboxone, a medication that helps relieve opiate cravings, from Tuttleman psychiatrists. For Lamb, both peer support and counseling services were important to his recovery. “I think it’s not beneficial to have one without the other,” Lamb said.
dation for “Time and Dreams” to be in the registry, among other student films in the school’s archive. The archive includes every senior thesis film made at Temple. Guercio said a committee within the 44-member National Film Preservation Board — made up of Oscarnominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, Ben Levin, a former film professor and producer John Ptak — championed the documentary. The National Film Preservation Board advises the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, in selecting films for the national directory. He added that even though “Time and Dreams” was made in 1976, the same issues are popping up in the media more than 40 years later. The day before Jordan’s documentary was announced as a winner, Republican candidate Roy Moore lost the Alabama special United States Senate election to Democrat Doug Jones. Multiple women accused Moore of sexual misconduct, and he also made homophobic comments. “The country’s doing the opposite of what I witnessed [in Greene County],” Jordan said. “There’s a divergence.” In the documentary, people he interviewed said they were coming together and reaching a better understanding of each other after the election. “When you look back over time, so many things have been lost,” he added. “People are losing touch with the past. That’s a big mistake.” After editing and producing the documentary at Temple, it was nominated in 1975 for a Student Academy Award and placed second. The year before, Jordan won a Student Academy Award for his documentary, “You See, I’ve Had a Life.” Jordan said his time in Temple’s film program “had such a profound effect” on how he looked at the world. “I had so many professors talking about...how we perceive the truth,” he said. The film program is nearing its 50th anniversary, and Jordan’s selection to the National Film Registry has the school celebrating, Guercio said. “Temple has long been known as a documentary school,” he added. “[It’s] been a force in film school for a long time.” julie.christie@temple.edu @ChristieJules
“The synergy of the two [creates] a better recovery.” While the group has yet to expand beyond its weekly meetings, Lamb said he hopes to host additional drug- and alcohol-free social events this semester for students in recovery. “A lot of people bond over drinking and drug use,” Bauer-Reese said. “So that’s like a barrier to [people in] recovery if they don’t have a community of students who are in recovery that they can hang out with.” Lamb added that a “lofty goal” of the group is to encourage the university to implement recovery housing, or housing designated for students living in recovery from substance use. In Spring 2017, Temple Student Government’s Parliament unanimously approved a binding resolution to explore the creation of on-campus recovery housing. As the group remains visible on Main Campus, Lamb said he thinks recovery issues will receive more attention. “Continued involvement from the recovery community on Temple’s campus [will] show that these services are needed and will be beneficial to students,” Lamb said.
“WHAT DID YOU DO DURING WINTER BREAK?”
ISHIKA TOOR Junior English
I went back to India to see my family. … It was so warm and so nice. And then I just come back, step out of [John F. Kennedy International Airport], and instant freeze. … I think all the international students sort of relate to me when we really miss our families, really miss the food, so it was nice to go back even if it was for a few days.
MASSIMO MARCHIANO Sophomore Media studies and production
[My family] took a trip together to the beach, which is kind of weird for this time of year, but it’s always a good time to go down there. I love the shore. I love to see different people. … While everyone loves Temple, you always need that time to get off. You always need that break.
XAVIER WASHINGTON Junior Strategic communication
One of the things I did was go to Houston, Texas, for the first time in my life. It was really shocking to say the least. You hear a lot about how Texas is very big, everything’s big in Texas, but you don’t actually believe it until you actually see how big the buildings are, the streets, the food, some of the people. … I wanted to go somewhere warm and somewhere I’d never been to before.
alleh.naqvi@temple.edu @alleh_naqvi
features@temple-news.com
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
JAMIE COTTRELL / THE TEMPLE NEWS World Cafe Live on Walnut Street near 30th hosted the Winter 2018 Lovesick Expo on Sunday. The show featured more than four dozen photographers, wedding planners, caterers and other vendors for engaged couples to meet and hire. Unlike traditional wedding shows, which feature only standard vendors, Lovesick showcased unconventional services like acupuncturists, beard stylists and burlesque dancers. Drag performers also staged a show at the event. Lovesick was created in 2010 by former DJ duo Tom Wright and Jon Holmes. After five years of touring nationwide, the company permanently settled in Philadelphia, said Tiffany Wright, Tom Wright’s wife. Michele Giles, 30, of Levittown, tried acupuncture for the first time at the show. “I’ve never been to a wedding show and I’m getting married so I thought this would be fun,” Giles said. Lennell Bridges, 33, and his fiancé, Sherie Perkins, of Norristown came to the show to check out the vendors, Perkins said. Bridges also received a beard trim from Groomed, one of the event’s vendors.
features@temple-news.com
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ALUMNI
Alumnus opens cinema focused on ‘quirky’ genres A 1995 film and media arts alumnus opened a cinema on South Street last month. BY PJ GUIPPONE For The Temple News When Bill Arrowood opened a movie theater last month, he felt the adult store next door gave people the wrong idea about his store on South Street. “I decided to run cartoons during the day to show that the cinema was for families and community,” said Arrowood, a 1995 radio, television and film alumnus. He is also the assistant director of the South Street Headhouse District, a neighborhood community organization. Now, he plays “Looney Tunes” to show patrons that his business is meant to be a fun space for all ages. One of the newest additions to South Street, across the street from the Theatre of Living Arts, is South Street Cinema on South Street near 4th. The cinema is owned and operated by Arrowood. The alumnus uses his more than 15 years of experience in the film industry to create a space for both moviegoers and filmmakers. Arrowood previously worked as a location scout for years on projects like “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” He opened the theater last month, and he keeps the prices of screenings low at a $5 suggested donation per person, with popcorn included. In his two and a half years living in the neighborhood, Arrowood has gained a lot of knowledge about the area and its history. He decided it would be the perfect place to focus on community arts.
“I like the idea of South Street because it has history and it’s weird and things happen here,” he said. “You can do something quirky and unique because it feels like it fits.” This is what Arrowood hopes to portray on screen at South Street Cinema, where he plays independent films and low-budget movies that he feels are best enjoyed in a group. “I sit [in the lobby], and it’s awesome to hear people laugh together,” Arrowood said. Wil Keiper works with the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival, which annually highlights artists making independent films. Keiper expressed the need for a movie experience like the one South Street Cinema provides. “There are no movie theaters in Philly that cater to genre films and we have had to work...to find alternative spaces to do screenings,” Keiper wrote in an email. “It is an intimate space where you can hang out before and after the show to discuss films. It’s a film lover’s paradise.” Once a month, Mondo Philly, an independent film society with a large collection of low-budget movies, comes to the theater to display films from their collection, like “Turkish Star Wars,” a 1982 Turkish science fantasy adventure film that used unauthorized footage from “Star Wars” and other films. Arrowood also shows “The Three Stooges” to pay homage to Larry Fine, who starred in the cult short comedy film and was born on South Street. He also hosts events where artists can showcase their work. Beginning this month, South Street
LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS Bill Arrowood, a 1995 radio, television and film alumnus, sits near the front window of South Street Cinema, a cinema he opened last month on South Street near 4th.
Cinema will host live comedy followed by screenings of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” a science comedy television series, every Sunday at 7 p.m. On Wednesdays, Arrowood will host “open screens,” which work as an open mic-style event for independent filmmakers searching for a space to share their films and get feedback from the intimate crowd. “It gives artists an opportunity to get together and talk to other
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artists or not talk and just get to look for other art and learn,” Arrowood said. Robert Perry, the owner of Tattooed Mom, a bar on South Street near 5th, said the South Street community has historically been a place for all artists to meet and share ideas. “We’re excited to welcome the South Street Cinema to the vibrant creative mix of independent creative businesses and fun entertainment destinations in the neighbor-
hood,” Perry wrote in an email. Arrowood hopes this space builds camaraderie and community with film lovers. “The real goal is to create an atmosphere on South Street that makes people remember that South Street is still a place where you will see unusual and cool things, so it will be relevant and engaging as a community,” he said. pj.guippone@temple.edu
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DACA
Painting majors show work in Tyler exhibit “Untitled Still Life,” an art exhibit featuring works by senior painting majors Samantha Herman and Gillian Mead, opened on Jan. 13 and will end on Saturday. The week-long exhibit will be held in the Student Lounge Gallery at the Tyler School of Art. There will be a closing reception at 6 p.m. on Friday. -Khanya Brann
Free cookies and coffee at Tyler galleries
have had to work as much as I did up to this point to support myself financially, because I had to pay for my own rent and living expenses during college,” Cho said. “It really impacted me.” The university does not keep track of DACA beneficiaries because students have no obligation to identify their status, said university spokesman Brandon Lausch. In order for Cho to protect his status and to gain citizenship in the U.S., he entered into a six-year contract with the U.S. Army through a military program called Military Accession Vital to the National Interest. MANVI allowed immigrants without a green card who either spoke a second critical language or had skills in medical fields, like dentistry and psychiatry, to enlist in the armed forces and acquire citizenship. Cho’s first language is Korean. Around 900 DACA beneficiaries were a part of this program. MANVI was suspended in June 2016, and did not accept any new applicants in 2017. This leaves Dreamers like Cho, who signed contracts through this program, uncertain of their future involvement with the military. Even though Cho completed the
entire interview process for MANVI during his senior year of high school, he still doesn’t know whether he will receive a deployment date. “I won’t know if I’m still eligible to go to the Army because even though I still have my contract in place, if my DACA status runs out I’ll be undocumented, and it threatens my legal status here in the U.S.,” Cho said. As his DACA status is set to expire within the next year, Cho will no longer be on the path to obtaining citizenship, and his Social Security number and working visa will disappear. “It’s emotionally discouraging, but I try not to think about the negative side,” Cho said. “I’m still waiting, and I still have hope the Army will pull through.” In order to serve in the armed forces, Cho needs to have legal status in the U.S., but with the repeal of DACA, his citizenship remains in limbo, unless a new immigration reform that protects the legal status of Dreamers is implemented by the March 2018 deadline. One of the only connections Cho still has to the military is through MANVI with monthly visits to an Army base in New Jersey, where he recites the U.S. Army Soldier’s Creed, a mantra all enlisted personnel are taught to recite during basic training, and goes through some physical train-
ing. “The problem is they are hanging by a short term hook,” said Jan C. Ting, an immigration and citizenship law professor. Trump announced in September 2017 that his administration is planning to create a new immigration bill that will grant amnesty to the DACA beneficiaries, but as a packaged deal, it must have increased security along the U.S.-Mexico border. “It’s a little unclear what’s going to happen,” Ting said. “But assuming enough Democrats agree to go along with these reforms, then it’s passed and there will be a clear path to legalize status for all the DACA beneficiaries, so that’s the prospect that’s on the horizon for Temple’s DACA beneficiaries and all others.” Cho said he hopes the Trump administration can accomplish immigration reform without rescinding DACA. “They could have found other ways of weeding out the bad influences in our country, instead of just like neglecting the other thousands of people who are actually doing well in our country,” Cho said. “They’re just cutting us off for good.” emily.trinh@temple.edu
The Tyler School of Art will host a gathering on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon to showcase the week’s exhibit openings in the Stella Elkins Tyler and Student Lounge galleries. Free coffee, tea and cookies will be served. The Stella Elkins Tyler and Student Lounge galleries are located on the lower level of the Tyler School of Art. -Veronica Thomas
Klein hosts reading of MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech Journalism professor Linn Washington and Department Chair David Mindich will host a reading of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in the Annenberg Hall atrium on Wednesday at noon. “As Professor Washington remarked when we were discussing the idea, more Americans are familiar with the parts of the speech that discuss the dream than the parts that discuss the nightmare,” Mindich wrote in an email. He added that the reading is a “great” way to honor King’s legacy. Students, faculty and staff from all colleges are encouraged to attend. The event is free and no registration is required. -Amanda Lien
Students meet up for Philly Women’s March The Social Work Student Collective, a student organization for social work majors, invites other students to join them in attending the Women’s March on Philadelphia on Sunday. The group will meet on Cecil B. Moore Avenue in front of Ritter Annex before taking the subway to Aviator Park, a green space near Logan Square, for the demonstration. The march will begin at 11 a.m. The event is free and no prior registration is required. Last year, the inaugural Women’s March on Philadelphia drew 50,000 people. According to the Facebook event page for the upcoming march, the participants “stand against those in our country and society who seek to divide us and stifle the diversity that makes our nation great.” -Emily Trinh
features@temple-news.com
COURTESY / KYUNGMIN CHO Kyungmin Cho, a sophomore accounting major, immigrated from South Korea to New Jersey when he was 8 years old. Cho, a Dreamer, is uncertain about his future path to citizenship with the program set to expire in March.
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CHALLAH ate at the University of Pittsburgh in 2007. She helped a group of volunteers bake and sell challah and discuss issues related to food insecurity, like access to food for women and children during the genocide in Sudan. “I actually wasn’t a very good challah baker,” she said. “But I saw that food was a really good way to get people together to talk about these issues, and that’s what meant a lot to me, that people not only understand and care about these social justice issues, but they felt like they could do something about it.” Temple’s chapter of the organization has weekly meetings on Thursdays to discuss group promotion strategies. Every other Thursday during the semester, they bake challah at Hillel and sell it in the Student Center for $3. Chaviva Galapo, a sophomore legal studies major, is the baking coordinator of the organization, and she is mostly involved with teaching, supervising and helping the other members bake and sell challah. “During our off weeks when we’re not cooking, we discuss food insecurity and how we can change the culture on our campus from one in which [food insecurity] is never talked about, to one in which everyone feels comfortable and wants to help their fellow friends,” Galapo said.
Their baking ingredients are donated anonymously by a wholesale restaurant company in the Philadelphia region. Half of all the challah sale proceeds from Challah for Hunger are donated to MAZON, a world hunger relief organization. The other half is donated to a local organization of a chapter’s choice. Temple’s chapter donates to the university’s Student Emergency Aid Fund, which provides financial assistance to students in serious times of need. The fund is facilitated through the Office of Student Affairs and donations are earmarked for a food pantry on campus. Throughout the past year, Temple’s Challah for Hunger has raised more than $1,000 and donated $423 to the Student Emergency Aid Fund, Gadi Zimmerman said. “We really believe in the power of collective giving, so when 81 of our chapters donate to one non-profit that they agreed upon together and they’re able to give $75,000 in one year, that’s really significant,” Carly Zimmerman said. In its first years, Challah for Hunger focused nationally on combating food insecurity among women and children during the genocide in Sudan, which started in 2003. Their proceeds from selling challah went to hunger relief for women and children in the
country. During the past decade, the organization has changed its focus to raising awareness and funds for food insecurity among college students on their campuses. “It was really important for us to show, not only our students, but the wider community that hunger isn’t just something you see on TV, not just the person asking for money or food on the streets, but it could be someone who’s sitting in class next to you,” Carly Zimmerman said. Challah for Hunger at Temple has been in partnership with Temple Student Government to get more students involved this semester. Challah for Hunger will host an event with TSG on Feb. 19. It will be focused on food insecurity on college campuses. There will also be a monthlong fundraiser starting on Thursday through OwlCrowd, the university’s crowdfunding campaign. The funds will go toward a food pantry opening on Main Campus. “We hope that as [more] students understand that this is an issue, that the stigma around food insecurity will change and more people won’t feel shameful for being food insecure,” Gadi Zimmerman said. ayooluwa.ariyo@temple.edu
temple-news.com @thetemplenews
S P O RT S TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
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FOOTBALL
From grad assistant to the NFL headquarters Ameena Soliman began her NFL job shortly after the 2017 season. BY EVAN EASTERLING Sports Editor With Ameena Soliman’s new job, the length of her commute jumped from a 10-minute walk to a two-and-a-half-hour trek to New York City. She used to wake up early to go to Edberg-Olson Hall. She still wakes up early, but now to head to the NFL’s headquarters. Before the career change in December, Soliman, a 2017 finance and marketing alumna, spent seven of her eight undergraduate semesters working in the Temple football team’s recruiting operations department before working the 2017 season as a graduate assistant in operations and recruiting. Soliman was “pretty much doing everything that’s kind of involved with running a program aside from the actual football part,” she said. Then she went to night class and returned to Edberg-Olson Hall to complete any other remaining tasks — and did it all again the next day. When Soliman announced her new job at the NFL on Twitter and thanked the football program on Dec. 22, players and coaches responded with congratulatory messages. “She was a great ambassador for us, and certainly, recruiting is about relationships so we’re an extension of our head football coach and our coaching staff,” Director of Player Personnel Tom Pajic said. “That’s probably the part I’m going to miss the most
is just being around everybody,” Soliman said. “It’s a great group of people. … And I think regardless of the fact that some of them graduated and I’m not there anymore, I think I’ll still have a relationship with some of them moving forward.” Soliman grew up as a Philadelphia Eagles fan watching former quarterback Donovan McNabb, who amassed 92 wins, 32,873 passing yards, 216 touchdowns and 100 interceptions with the team from 1999-2009. Once she arrived at Temple, she knew she wanted to work with the football team, but she didn’t know in what capacity. After starting in Spring 2014, Soliman helped plan team activities like bowling trips as part of her operations duties. During the 2017 season, she helped show prospective players and their families around Lincoln Financial Field’s parking lot during the tailgates before home games and made the playlist for practices. Before the season, Temple held summer football camps at Chodoff Field that more than 2,000 players attended. Soliman sifted through data to help create lists for the coaching staff to use when recruiting, Pajic said. She also tutored at least 15-20 players during her time at Temple, she said. In Fall 2017, Soliman was enrolled as a master’s student in sports business. She had planned to stay longer to complete the two-year program. Soliman said she’ll likely restart her progress in the fall via online classes, but the opportunity at the NFL she had was too good to pass up, she said. Soliman works in player personnel monitoring daily roster
transactions, researching drafteligible prospects, working with the salary department and tracking where prospective coaching candidates interview. She interned in the same NFL department in Summer 2016, which helped her get the job, she said. Her colleagues from her internship contacted her during Temple’s season to inform her of an opening at the league office. One of the people whom Soliman works with at the NFL office is Dan Van Norton, who played for Temple from 2009-12. Van Norton met Soliman while he was an intern with MLB from 2014-15 and a group of students from the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management visited. They have stayed in touch since then. “For her to really just grow from being someone who’s helping out seasonally to being put into a position where she is a graduate assistant is really impressive, and it kind of is a tribute to her body of work,” Van Norton said. Temple wasn’t Soliman’s first-choice school, she said, but it wound up benefitting her because some of the other schools she was considering didn’t have football teams. She could not have sent an email asking how to get involved, like she did to former director of football operations Sean Padden in Fall 2013. “Overall, it was awesome,” Soliman said. “I loved it a lot more than I thought I would. ... Had I not come here, my life could have been completely different with where I’m at right now.” evan.easterling@temple.edu @Evan_Easterling
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Ameena Soliman, a 2017 finance and marketing alumna, spent the 2017 season as a graduate assistant in operations and recruiting at Temple. She now works at the NFL office in New York City.
GOLF
Brothers hit course in Florida Incoming freshman Conor McGrath and sophomore Liam McGrath practiced in Vero Beach, Florida, during winter break. BY ANDREW MASTERSON Golf Beat Reporter For college golfers in the Northeast, outdoor practice is not an option during winters. But that’s not the case for sophomore Liam McGrath and his younger brother Conor, who is a high school senior at Academy of the New Church in Montgomery County and will join the team next season. For “as long as they can remember,” Liam McGrath said, he and his brother have spent their winter breaks with family in Florida, where they are members of Grand Harbor Golf Club in Vero Beach. Their grandparents also have a membership at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach. “I didn’t really get into golf until I was 13,” Liam McGrath said. “Ever since then, whether it be Christmas or spring break, we would be out there practicing as much as we can.” The brothers split their time between the two clubs in the winter, but they also take time to relax. When the brothers are not on the range, they spend their time either fishing or shooting skeet. “One of the best things about our stay is that golf isn’t 24/7,” Conor McGrath said. “Our parents never forced us to practice growing up, and that allowed us to fall in love with the game.”
The brothers’ schedules vary, but on golf-heavy days they tend to stick to a routine. This consists of an early-morning round with the family, lunch and then a few hours on the range if needed. Liam McGrath is in his first season as a member of Temple’s golf team after transferring from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. He made two starts in Fall 2017, including when he tied for 26th at the Georgetown Intercollegiate on Oct. 16 and 17 with rounds of 76, 75 and 78. He also tied for 99th at the Stockton Pacific Invite from Oct. 26-28 with scores of 76, 79 and 76. Liam McGrath found himself disappointed with his start. “My mistakes were just too big, and that stems from immaturity,” he said. “I need to just take a step back when I am playing and gain as much experience as I can get. My swing is very tempo-based, and I worked a ton on that during the break.” Conor McGrath, who signed his National Letter of Intent to Temple in November, relaxed during his trip to Florida after a summer and fall spent building a strong golf resume. “This year I definitely started to ramp things up as the collegiate golf search began,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, Florida is a huge part, but competing home at Huntingdon Valley [Country Club] was where it all began.” Senior kinesiology major Matt Beck has been friends with the McGrath brothers since 2015. He was along for the ride in many of Conor McGrath’s strong finishes at home.
Beck, in his fifth year as a caddie at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, has been on the bag for both brothers at tournaments in the Delaware Valley. Beck was Conor McGrath’s caddie at the 103rd Junior Boys Championship Qualifier in June. Conor McGrath shot a 6-under-par 66, good enough for the tournament’s No. 2 seed. He attributes much of his success in bringing home the 2017 Huntingdon Valley Club championship to Beck’s guidance. “He’s always over our house and is one of our best friends,” Conor McGrath said. “We were such good friends, and it showed on the course. There was no chance I would be able to go as far as I did without him.” “There’s a special bond that’s formed when you go out and compete,” Beck said. “Four hours together, you can learn a lot about each other.” Though Beck couldn’t attend this year, the McGrath brothers bonded on their trip, which encouraged Liam McGrath to “keep grinding along” and to “try to become the smartest player” he can, he said. “Having Liam as a brother and a competitor all of my life has really pushed me to be better,” Conor McGrath said. “We are best friends and, at the end of the day, we are brothers. Family is everything, and spending breaks in Florida together has helped us grow as people and ultimately golfers.” andrew.masterson@temple.edu @AndyJMasterson
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Coach and player added to Temple Basketball Ring of Honor Former men’s basketball coach James Usilton Sr. and former player Ollie Johnson, both of whom are Temple Athletics Hall of Fame members, earned induction to the Temple Basketball Ring of Honor during halftime of Temple’s 75-72 overtime loss against Memphis at the Liacouras Center on Saturday. Usilton, who coached Temple from 1926-39, won the 1938 National Invitation Tournament championship. He won 205 games to his 79 losses. Usilton’s win percentage is the best among Temple coaches and his win total is fourth in program history. Johnson played from 1969-72 and led Temple in rebounding as a junior and senior. He averaged a double-double for his career. Only five other Owls have achieved that feat. Temple made the NCAA Tournament during Johnson’s senior 1971-72 campaign, when he averaged 16.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. During his four-year career, he averaged 10.1 rebounds, which ranks fifth in program history. The Portland Trail Blazers selected Johnson in the second round of the 1972 NBA draft. From 1972-82 with Portland, the New Orleans Jazz, Kansas City Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers, Johnson played 690 games, scored 5,341 career points and shot 49.6 percent from the field. -Evan Easterling
sports@temple-news.com @TTN_Sports
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CLUB ICE HOCKEY
Squad’s oldest player serving as ‘good role model’ Jasen Ferguson has played in 22 games this season. BY JOE EDINGER Club Ice Hockey Beat Reporter When Jasen Ferguson showed up to the second set of three tryouts for the club hockey team before this season, he didn’t even have shoulder pads. “It was something for everybody to laugh at [and] some of his stuff was older,” senior defenseman and captain Ryan Dumbach said. His equipment appeared older because he is the oldest player on the team at age 29. Ferguson, a junior defenseman, is in his first season with the team after transferring to Temple from Bucks County Community College, where he earned an associate’s degree in engineering in Fall 2016. He is now studying mechanical engineering at Temple. Ferguson decided to try out for the club team because he wanted to play against his younger brother Mitchell Ferguson, who is a junior forward for Millersville University. Temple opened its season with a 4-3 overtime win against Millersville on Sept. 8. “I figured I’d go try out and if I made the team at least that far, I’d be able to play against my younger brother, which I don’t think I’ve ever done other than men’s league stuff,” Jasen Ferguson said. “It was really cool to play against him,” said Mitchell Ferguson, who scored against the Owls. “But...I think we were both just focused on the game.”
Mitchell Ferguson, 26, is in his first year on Millersville’s team. Knowing that his brother made the Owls, Mitchell Ferguson “was happy to not be the oldest guy in the league.” Jasen Ferguson is by far the Owls’ oldest player, but he doesn’t believe his age has distracted from the team’s main goal — to “win hockey games.” “It’s not terribly too different,” Jasen Ferguson said. “But I guess some of the locker room chatter has changed. Some of the things I’ve gotta look up the definitions of these days.” Teammates like to tease Jasen Ferguson about his age, Dumbach said. But the 29-year-old takes it well and cracks some jokes of his own. “It’s definitely a different mix,” Dumbach said. “He’s a lot more mature. I think the thing that stands out is he’s very focused. He’s a hard worker. I think there’s a lot to learn from him.” The Ferguson family is originally from the Toronto area. About 20 years ago, when Jasen Ferguson was 9 years old, his family moved to the United States because of his father’s job. After high school, Jasen Ferguson entered the workforce as an automotive technician and then worked in construction. He decided to enroll at Temple because he can pay in-state tuition. Jasen Ferguson’s hockey career started at a very early age. He started skating at 2 years old and started playing organized hockey at 5. He began playing so long ago
LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS Junior defenseman Jasen Ferguson practices at the Flyers Skate Zone in Northeast Philadelphia on Jan. 10.
he doesn’t remember the exact reason he was drawn to the sport. “Being Canadian, I guess that’s kind of the thing to do,” he said. On the ice, Jasen Ferguson plays the role of a defensive defenseman. So far in 22 games, he has four points with a goal and three assists. Jasen Ferguson said his role includes “trying to slow things down,” and he describes his play-
ing style as “methodical.” “I try to be a stay-at-home defenseman when possible and take my chances when I can,” he said. “I try to be on the defensive side of things just so I’m not letting anything up.” “He’s one of our more dependent defensemen,” Dumbach said. “He’s good at shutting down the other team. I think he knows his role and understands his role and
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INCONSISTENCY
JAMIE COTRELL / THE TEMPLE NEWS Memphis’ players celebrate their 75-72 overtime win on Saturday at the Liacouras Center.
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makings of a tournament team — athleticism and strong backcourt play. Despite sitting below .500, the Owls have solid victories on their NCAA Tournament resume against Southern Methodist and the University of South Carolina. Temple currently ranks first in strength of schedule in Division I. Two of the teams Temple beat on its way to win the Charleston Classic — Auburn University and Clemson — have done the Owls favors. Clemson has only lost one game and Auburn is undefeated since then. Each team ranks in the Top 25 of the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. But Temple has been a victim of self-inflicted mistakes and inconsistent play. A late game-winning shot cost Temple for the second time this month in a 75-72 loss to Memphis on Sunday at the Liacouras Center. The Owls played well down the stretch and hit tough shots toward the end of regulation to force overtime, but the Tigers just made one more clutch play. The first game-winning shot came against Cincinnati on Jan. 4. A field-goal drought in the last five minutes of that game and coach Fran Dunphy earning a technical foul for smacking a water bottle onto the court led to that loss. “We can’t keep letting games come down to the last shot,” junior guard Shizz Alston Jr. said. Temple’s inconsistent play also led to a five-game losing streak — the longest since the 2013-14 season. The way the season has seesawed feels eerily similar to the 2016-17 season. Like last season, the Owls won an earlyseason tournament, sat on an above .500 record, received votes in top-25 polls and then sputtered into losing streaks. If Temple wants to bounce back, it needs consistent scoring production from its big three of Alston, sophomore guard Quinton Rose and senior forward Obi Enechionyia. When the Owls opened up the season 6-2,
plays pretty well.” Dumbach said because Jasen Ferguson is a first-year player, he sometimes is grouped with other first- or second-year players. “I think he’s been a good role model for everybody,” Dumbach said. joseph.edinger@temple.edu @JoeEd81
the trio combined to average 47.2 points per game — nearly 70 percent of the team average. While the team has won two of its past nine games, the group is averaging 33.4 points per game. Alston, who opened up the first eight games of the season shooting 53.5 percent from 3-point range, found a rhythm against Memphis after shooting a combined 1-for8 from deep in his previous two outings. He poured in 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting on 3-pointers in the loss. So what worked for him against the Tigers to get out of a brief slump? “I’ve just been shooting in the gym,” Alston said. “[Freshman guard] Nate [Pierre-Louis] is one of the guys who gets in the gym a lot. So I just got in the gym with him the other day. ... I expect to go through a little slump, but I tried to bounce back today.” Speaking of the freshman guard, PierreLouis has carved himself a role in Dunphy’s rotation. He made his first career start on Saturday in place of Rose, who showed up a few minutes late for shootaround, and took full advantage of the opportunity on both ends of the floor. Pierre-Louis scored a career-high 23 points by getting to the rack with ease and knocking down three 3-pointers. When the Owls’ big three struggles to produce, they need a significant boost from their bench, even though there’s no go-to sixth man. With Pierre-Louis’ performance and play as of late, could he give the Owls that extra boost? “We can’t count on Nate having that kind of performance that he had today,” Dunphy said. “He was spectacular. Some of those threes he made in the second half single-handedly brought us back.” “It had us in position to win the game, but we didn’t finish it like we could’ve,” he added. For the remainder of the season, will Temple be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? Only time will tell. And time for Temple to turn things around is running out. thomas.ignudo@temple.edu @TomIgnudo
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S P O RT S TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
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GYMNASTICS
After record-laden 2017, there’s still ‘a lot to prove’ Temple hopes to be one of 36 NCAA tournament qualifiers. BY KEVIN SCHAEFFER For The Temple News
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Freshman all-around Tori Edwards prepares to do a back handspring on the balance beam during practice on Saturday at Pearson Hall.
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PIERRE-LOUIS position to win the game, but we didn’t finish it like we could’ve.” “He has no fear,” Dunphy added. “He thinks he can do anything and everything.” Pierre-Louis didn’t debut until the Owls’ fifth game, a 76-60 win against the University of South Carolina at Madison Square Garden. He has played in all but two games since. After averaging 11.2 minutes per game off the bench, Pierre-Louis made the first start of his career against Memphis and played a season-high 36 minutes. He had provided bench scor-
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NCAA Monday. After their matchup with Houston, the Owls will face Connecticut (15-0, 5-0 The American), which is ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and RPI, on Sunday at McGonigle Hall. Temple has played in either the Women’s National Invitation Tournament or the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons, including last season’s NCAA Tournament appearance. Temple ended the 2014-15 season with an overtime loss in the WNIT semifinals. It lost in the WNIT quarterfinals the next season before it lost, 71-70, against the University of Oregon in the NCAA Tournament on March 18. Since becoming the coach for the 2008-09 season, Cardoza has only missed qualifying for those tournaments in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. If Temple were to make the NCAA Tournament this season, the program would record backto-back appearances for the first time since its run of eight straight showings from 2003-11. Former coach Dawn Staley led five of those
Before heading off to the Little Boston Invitational on Jan. 6 to open its season, Temple held one final intrasquad meet on Dec. 22. Both gymnasts’ families and judges attended the meet to replicate the atmosphere of a regular-season competition. “The team came out excited for the meet, really wanting to see how they’d perform in front of judges for the first time of the season,” coach Umme SalimBeasley said. “We had a great day, and it just showed us what I already knew. They performed the way I knew they could, and we’re ready for a great season ahead of us.” At the end of the season, 36 teams will be picked to compete in the NCAA tournament based on their regional qualifying scores. Salim-Beasley wants Temple to be one of those teams. Temple entered its second meet of the season, Sunday’s Gold Out tri-meet against the College of William & Mary and Towson University, ranked No. 13 by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/ Women. The ranking is the Owls’ highest in program history. Temple (4-1) scored an overall team score of 191.575 to beat
ing early in the conference season. He had back-to-back 11-point games against Tulane and Houston on Dec. 28 and 30. Pierre-Louis scored 13 points on Jan. 7 against Central Florida. The Owls’ starters combined to shoot 7-for-30 from the field and score 14 points in the team’s 21-point loss. Pierre-Louis started Saturday’s game in place of sophomore guard Quinton Rose, who arrived late to morning shootaround and leads Temple with 14.7 points per game. Dunphy said he would “not necessarily” insert Pierre-Louis into the starting lineup for Wednesday’s home matchup against Tulsa and other future games.
He did whatever he could on Saturday to help the Owls try to win back-to-back games for the first time since their victories on Dec. 6 and 9 against the University of Wisconsin and St. Joseph’s. Memphis went on a 13-0 second-half run while Temple went scoreless for six minutes, 52 seconds. Pierre-Louis countered with a 9-0 run of his own in a span of 1:53. The 6-foot-4-inch guard collected one of his three offensive rebounds and hit a putback layup to give Temple a brief lead. Pierre-Louis stayed on the floor in overtime. He scored six of Temple’s 11 points by hitting two 3-pointers.
squads. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme’s latest NCAA Tournament projection includes two teams from The American, Connecticut and South Florida (14-4, 4-1 The American), which beat the Owls, 89-73, on Wednesday and is ranked No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Temple is ranked No. 158 in the RPI with losses to top-50 ranked Rutgers University, University of South Carolina, Villanova and South Florida, plus a loss to No. 52 Central Florida (11-7, 3-2 The American). All of those teams are in Creme’s latest NCAA bracket except for Central Florida. Temple earned a top-100 RPI win against Harvard University on Dec. 2, when the Owls held the Crimson to an 8-for-38 performance from 3-point range. Rebounding and 3-point defense have been strengths for Temple. The Owls’ opponents only shoot 28 percent from 3-point range. Temple has held three teams — Wagner College, Hampton University and St. Joseph’s — to less than 15 percent. Senior guard Tanaya Atkinson leads The American in both
rebounding and scoring per game, and freshman forward Mia Davis is fourth in the league in rebounding. The Owls grab the third most offensive rebounds per game in the conference. Temple is into the heat of its American Athletic Conference schedule. Its final nonconference game is at home on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. against Penn. Because South Florida, Central Florida and Connecticut are in The American, Temple will get to play them twice. Tuesday will be the Owls’ only matchup against Houston. If Temple cannot put itself into position to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, it would have to win The American’s postseason tournament to earn the conference’s automatic qualification. Connecticut hasn’t lost a game in The American since its formation for the 2013-14 season. The American Athletic Conference tournament will be held from March 3-6 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. evan.easterling@temple.edu @Evan_Easterling
William & Mary, but Towson won the meet with a score of 194.725. After the Gold Out, Temple’s average team score is 193.225, which ranks outside of the top 25. To start the season, Temple broke its season-opening score record at the Little Boston Invitational against the University of New Hampshire, Towson and the University of Maryland. Temple beat New Hampshire for the first time in team history and beat Maryland for the first time since 1995. Temple scored a 194.875 to break the record it set last season against Penn State, Bowling Green State University and Brigham Young University. The score of 194.875 would have been the Owls’ third-highest score in all of last season. Temple had a record-breaking 2017 campaign, setting the top 10 highest team scores in program history. Sophomore all-around Jaylene Everett posted personal career-high scores in both the vault and the floor exercise at the Little Boston Invitational. She scored a 9.8 on the floor exercise and a 9.825 in the vault. “They were focused from start to finish and did a great job of hitting their routines to the best of their ability,” Salim-Beasley said. “Although we saw some areas where we can improve, each of them did a fantastic job. The energy only continued to
“I’m ready for anything coach has to give me,” Pierre-Louis said. “I’m a confident player. I work really hard. To be honest, I just love the challenge and I love to compete.” “He was spectacular,” Dunphy said. “Some of those threes he made in the second half, he singlehandedly brought us back.” Pierre-Louis uses time outside of practice to refine his 3-point shooting ability, and Alston worked out with him before Saturday’s game. Through the first eight games of the season, Alston shot 53.5 percent from 3-point range. In the next eight, he shot 23.1 percent. On Saturday, he made five of
build from the first routine to the last. We made sure to maintain the team’s mindset of completing the meet to its full potential in order to see it through.” The strength of the underclassmen has Salim-Beasley hopeful for an NCAA bid. Last season, sophomore all-around Daisy Todd was the only Owl to compete at the NCAA Regionals, where she finished tied for 24th out of 42 competitors on the bar. The addition of eight freshmen, in what Salim-Beasley has called her most talented recruiting class, has made an immediate impact. Six of the eight debuted at the Little Boston Invitational. Freshman all-around Tori Edwards placed second overall in the floor exercise, and Madison Rennix tied for ninth on the floor exercise. Edwards followed her floor performance at the Little Boston meet with a 9.8 against Towson and William & Mary to place second on the team. Freshman all-around Monica Servidio and Edwards tied for fifth on vault. Freshman all-around Jordyn Oster’s 9.725 balance beam score placed fifth overall. “We were a little uneasy to start, but now we are getting fit in with the team and getting comfortable,” Edwards said. “We have a lot to prove this year as a team, and I think we’re going to.” kevinschaeffer@temple.edu @_kevinschaeffer
his eight attempts. He credits some of his success to doing extra work with PierreLouis. “When he first got here, he wasn’t known as a shooter, but last couple of weeks he’s been knocking down shots,” Alston said. “Coach gave him a chance, and he made some big shots.” “He’s in the gym constantly,” Dunphy said. “He’s the hardest worker we have, and it’s a pleasure to watch.” evan.easterling@temple.edu @Evan_Easterling
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior guard Tanaya Atkinson makes a jump shot during the Owls’ 80-72 loss against South Florida on Jan. 10.
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SPORTS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018
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MEN’S BASKETBALL
A tale of two teams: Good wins and bad losses The assistant sports editor writes about Temple’s up-anddown season.
T
JAMIE COTTRELL / THE TEMPLE NEWS Redshirt-senior guard Josh Brown reacts to a last-second 3-point shot Memphis made during its 75-72 win in overtime on Saturday at the Liacouras Center.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
emple’s season has been like the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One team beats Southern Methodist, stopping its 33-game home winning streak with a game-winning shot by redshirtsenior guard Josh Brown with 1.2 seconds left. The other loses games to less talented and less athletic teams like George Washington University and La Salle. Long story short, TOM IGNUDO ASSISTANT SPORTS the Owls (8-9, 1-5 EDITOR American Athletic Conference) have looked like an NCAA Tournament team at times during their up-anddown season. Other times, they have looked like a languid bunch — turning over the ball and taking poor shots. After winning the Charleston Classic final, 67-60, against Clemson University on Nov. 19, many national pundits said Temple could be the surprise team in The American to reach the NCAA Tournament behind ranked teams Wichita State and Cincinnati. But was the early season hype unwarranted? Did analysts jump the gun? Not necessarily. Temple has the
INCONSISTENCY PAGE 14
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Strong AAC opponents to visit McGonigle Houston and UConn, which are top-50 Ratings Percentage Index teams, will face Temple this week. BY EVAN EASTERLING Sports Editor After starting with a 7-2 record, Temple hasn’t won back-to-back games since its threegame winning streak from Nov. 29 to Dec. 7. Temple (9-7, 1-3 American Athletic Conference) has lost four of its past five games, most recently falling to Cincinnati, 80-72, on Saturday in Ohio. Each of the four teams that have beaten Temple shot 49 percent or better from the field. Cincinnati shot 52.6 percent and scored 50 points in the paint. “Losing is part of it, but I know we’re going to lose games,” coach Tonya Cardoza told The Temple News after Saturday’s game. “I’m more concerned because I want us to be getting better every game, but we’re stunted. We’re not getting better, and we’re not making the changes we need to be making defensively.” Thirteen games remain for Temple, including Tuesday’s against conference opponent Houston at McGonigle Hall. The Cougars (14-5, 3-2 The American) are No. 48 in the Ratings Percentage Index and one of three teams in The American in the top 50 of the RPI as of
NCAA PAGE 15
SYDNEY SCHAEFER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Freshman guard Nate Pierre-Louis dunks on a fastbreak during Temple’s 75-72 overtime loss to Memphis on Saturday at the Liacouras Center.
Freshman gives team a ‘boost’ Nate Pierre-Louis scored a careerhigh 23 points in his first start on Saturday. BY EVAN EASTERLING Sports Editor In the midst of a five-game losing streak entering Wednesday’s road game against Southern Methodist, Temple called a players-only meeting. During the congregation before the Owls’ 66-64 win against the Mus-
tangs (12-6, 2-3 American Athletic Conference), junior guard Shizz Alston Jr. told his teammates to think of their best memories playing basketball — whether they be at high school, college or another level of competition — and conjure them to play inspired basketball. Freshman guard Nate Pierre-Louis carried that lesson to Saturday against Memphis (12-6, 3-2 The American). He scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed three steals. But despite his efforts, Temple (8-9, 1-5 The American)
lost, 75-72, at the Liacouras Center. The Owls lost their second game of the month at the buzzer just days after redshirt-senior guard Josh Brown hit a game-winning shot with 1.2 seconds left against Southern Methodist, which had won 33 games in a row at home. Temple has lost six of its past seven games. Pierre-Louis’ play, however, is cause for optimism. “It gave us a huge boost [Saturday],” coach Fran Dunphy said. “It had us in
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FOOTBALL | PAGE 13
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The 2017 team set the program’s top 10 team scores of all time. This year’s team is out for more accolades and a NCAA tournament berth.
Jasen Ferguson, a 29-year-old defenseman, tried out for the club hockey team in Fall 2017 for a chance to play against his brother.
A former graduate assistant began working for the NFL less than a week after the Owls’ season ended.
Sophomore Liam McGrath and his brother Conor McGrath, an incoming freshman, practiced in Florida during the winter break.