TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018
PAGE 7
POLITICS
At Women’s March, concerns over inclusivity Some organizations boycotted this year’s Women’s March on Philadelphia due to alleged police checkpoints and searches. BY MEGHAN COSTA For The Temple News
O
n Saturday, thousands of protesters marched on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to commemorate the anniversary of last year’s Women’s March on Philadelphia, holding signs with messages of unity, like “Love Thy Neighbor.” Though individual attendees touted welcoming posters, some city residents and student organizations at Temple decided to boycott because they thought it would not be inclusive or safe for people of color and LGBTQ people. The march originally formed to protest President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Becky Cave, a junior psychology major and member of Socialist Students of Temple University, said the student organization did not participate in last year’s Women’s March because of its apparent alliance with Hillary Clinton, a candidate the group did not support. This year, the group decided to skip the march again, a decision that was only reinforced when the city announced in a press release that “all bags are subject to search” at the march. “The police searching bags hit the nail on the coffin when it came to our decision to boycott the march again,” Cave said. “The Temple student socialists felt the police presence could marginalize people of color or sex workers in attendance. Like last year, the Women’s March has failed to make it clear that the event is not just for white, Democratic women.” According to the Inquirer, rumors spread through Facebook posts claimed that the Philadelphia Police would be conducting random “stop-and-frisk” searches, and that Philly Women Rally, the nonprofit behind the marches, was allowing it. At last year’s march, the city did not announce in its press release that police would
MARCH | PAGE 12
TOP: LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS BOTTOM: JAMIE COTTRELL / THE TEMPLE NEWS Thousands of people made their way toward City Hall for the Women’s March on Philadelphia on Saturday. Several student organizations, like the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and the Socialist Students of Temple University, did not attend because of the city’s announcement that all bags were subject to search by police.
ON CAMPUS
Making Narcan available beyond campus safety To combat the city’s opioid epidemic, students and professors are carrying Narcan. BY ZARI TARAZONA For The Temple News
HANNAH BURNS / THE TEMPLE NEWS Joseph Alkus, a criminal justice instructor, holds Narcan, a medication that temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, in his office on Jan. 16. Alkus began carrying Narcan last semester.
Joseph Alkus noticed a pattern on a map of overdose deaths in Philadelphia from 2014 to 2015. He realized that some of the clusters of dots, which represent deaths, were around Main Campus and South Philadelphia. “Where I work and where I live, we have a higher percentage of people who are overdosing from opioid, heroin and fentanyl,” said Alkus, a criminal justice instructor, who lives in the Bella Vista section of South Philadelphia. To do his part to help combat the opioid epidemic in Philadelphia, Alkus decided to start carrying naloxone, known by its brand name Narcan, during Fall 2017. Narcan is a medication that temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. Other people in the Temple community have begun carrying the potentially lifesaving drug. Narcan can come in a pack of two doses, and a statewide standing order allows customers to buy it over the counter at pharmacies without a prescription. The Rite Aid at Broad Street and Susquehanna Avenue and the CVS at Broad Street and Girard Avenue offer Narcan, which can
be purchased at around $130 without insurance. Prevention Point, a nonprofit in Kensington that provides harm reduction services, offers a Narcan kit for $40. Even after using Narcan on someone experiencing an overdose, emergency medical care is still needed. The second dose can be given if a person shows signs of overdosing again after two to three minutes. Last year, city reports project that 1,200 people died of an overdose in Philadelphia, an increase from the 907 people who died in 2016, according to a report by the Mayor’s Task Force to Combat the Opioid Epidemic in Philadelphia. Jillian Bauer-Reese, a journalism professor, started carrying Narcan this semester after purchasing it at a CVS Pharmacy in Havertown, Pennsylvania, through the standing order. “I personally think that everybody should be carrying it,” Bauer-Reese said. Temple is in close proximity to heavily impacted neighborhoods like Kensington, in which the city shut down a halfmile stretch of land on Gurney Street, where people often used drugs, over the summer. Bauer-Reese visits the neighborhood frequently for reporting — another reason she carries Narcan. “We’re relatively close to a neighborhood that’s like the epicenter of the opioid crisis in Philadelphia,” Bauer-Reese said.
ROME | PAGE 8
POETRY | PAGE 8
RHETORIC | PAGE 9
EAGLES | PAGES 10-11
A student writes about the complexity of handling sexual misconduct while studying abroad in Italy.
Kai Davis, a 2016 alumna and former Babel poet, received a $15,000 grant from the Leeway Foundation for her poetry.
A class in the Klein College of Media and Communication is focused on understanding the rhetoric of hate speech.
On Sunday, students celebrated the Philadelphia Eagles’ NFC championship.
NARCAN | PAGE 9