Top 10 features stories of 2017

Students reacted to the inauguration of President Donald Trump, expressed interest in recovery dorms and raised money for a student who lost her home in a fire.

Former president of the Muslim Students Association and 2017 film and media arts alumnus Ibrahim Souadda uses the Interfaith Prayer room during noon prayer. | ELENA IWATA / THE TEMPLE NEWS
  1. “Finding space to live out their faith” by Jenny RobertsMuslim students on Main Campus have become resourceful in finding places to pray during the day. Supervising Editor Jenny Roberts interviewed several Muslim students about their need for more spaces on Main Campus to pray five times a day.
  2. “Temple hires acclaimed pianist Sara Davis Buechner” by Grace ShallowMore than 50 years after Sara Davis Buechner first heard music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, she’s now a professional pianist who has performed at hundreds of concert halls around the world. She became a piano professor at the Boyer College of Music and Dance and spoke to Managing Editor Grace Shallow about her childhood in Baltimore and her transition from a man to a woman.
  3. “Students uncertain of future due to travel ban” by Emily ScottSibia Ranjbar, who was studying biotechnology at Temple last year, felt uncertain of her future in the United States after the Trump administration’s announcement last January of a travel ban on seven countries, including her native Iran. Last year, there were 55 students and 10 professors at Temple with non-immigrant visas, which were affected by the travel ban. Ranjbar expressed her worries about her future status in the U.S. if her green card wasn’t approved under the Trump administration.
  4. “Students react to inauguration day on, off campus” by Grace ShallowAfter the polarizing 2016 presidential election, students and faculty held events surrounding the inauguration of President Donald Trump on Jan. 20. On Main Campus, members of the Temple community attended inauguration watch parties and discussions. Students also attended both the Women’s March on Washington — which had more than 500,000 people in attendance — as well as the Women’s March on Philadelphia.
  5. “Handling sexual assaults with an ocean between us” by Erin MoranTemple University Japan, Temple’s only four-year university abroad, has no sexual assault resources of its own. From Tokyo, The Temple News reporter Erin Moran interviewed a student at TUJ who reported her sexual assault to the university and was told they hadn’t handled a sexual assault case in years. TUJ passed the case on to Andrea Seiss, the Title IX coordinator on Main Campus. The student had to deal with the added inconvenience of a 14-hour time difference while reporting her assault.
  6. “Moving forward from Bill Cosby” by Angela GervasiAfter comedian and former university trustee Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case was declared a mistrial in June, The Temple News reporter Angela Gervasi interviewed alumni about Cosby’s influence on the university. A 1992 alumnus recalled weekly showings of The Cosby Show in the basement of Johnson & Hardwick halls. Although Cosby was removed from the Board of Trustees, he still holds an honorary degree from the university.
  7. “Edie Windsor remembered as champion for equality” by Angela GervasiIn September, 1950 College of Liberal Arts alumna Edie Windsor passed away at 88 years old. Windsor, an LGBTQ rights activist, helped strike down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, which paved the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015. The law refused to recognize same-sex marriage at a federal level. The Temple News reporter Angela Gervasi spoke to Windsor’s friends and former colleagues about their relationships with her.
  8. “Lack of recovery dorms on campus” by Meghan CostaNearby schools, including Rutgers University and Drexel University, offer recovery housing options for students with substance use disorder. This housing can include 12-step meetings, live-in recovery support staff and counseling services. Currently, Temple doesn’t offer a residence for students specifically in recovery, but some students believe the university should. The Temple News reporter Meghan Costa spoke to alumni about their struggles navigating recovery on Main Campus and a student at Drexel who lived at The Haven, a national collegiate recovery residence that opened a branch on Drexel’s campus in 2012.
  9. “‘Looking around at all your memories’” by Carr HenryAiyana Mobley, a 2017 psychology alumna, lost her North Philadelphia home in a fire in February. Although her family members escaped the fire unscathed, Mobley said it was difficult to lose so many memories, like old family photographs of graduations and proms. In the weeks after she lost her family home, Mobley worked to rebuild her family life with nearly $10,000 in GoFundMe donations.
  10. “Resources, support make ‘a world of difference’ for students struggling with eating disorders” by Erin MoranTuttleman Counseling Services’ eating disorders unit is made up of five therapists who offer individual counseling sessions. The unit also offers an Eating and Body Image Concerns Group at Tuttleman on Wednesday afternoons. Sarah Madaus, a junior journalism major, spoke to The Temple News reporter Erin Moran about her eating disorder and the difficulties she faced when she came to Temple and tried to navigate Tuttleman’s services.

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