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Video by Carmen Emmi and Sartaj Phanda

Reporting by Mari Saito

Tennis teams tackle the ITA tournament

The women’s tennis team ended the fall portion of its schedule with qualifying and opening-round losses in singles and doubles competitions.

The women’s tennis team competed in both singles and doubles competition in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association tournament in its final fall matches this past weekend at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., but came up short of coach Steve Mauro’s expectations.

“We were definitely expecting more out of this tournament,” Mauro said.

In singles competition, senior Anastasiia Rukavyshnykova lost her opening-round match against Maryland’s Lisa Miller in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.

The doubles team of juniors Lucie Pazderova and Theresa Stangl lost its qualifying match to juniors Catherine Keller and Isabell Raich of Marshall.

All three did win their respective consolation bracket matches to end the tournament and fall season on a high note.

“We were really in a tough region,” Mauro said. “There wasn’t much else we could do. All of the girls gave it their all. It was an eight-hour bus ride the day of the tournament. Maybe if we had come in a day earlier, we would have played better. I’m not sure. I’m not overly concerned. We have been juggling lineups since the loss of senior leader Elyse Steiner.”

Steiner tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the Cissey Leary Invitational back in September, forcing Mauro to put players in roles they may not have been used to.

“We played pretty well [considering the injury],” Mauro said. “We were testing out many combinations, and everyone worked really hard. We have a very talented group, and I expect really good things in the future.”

The spring season begins Jan. 23, 2010 at Dartmouth, and Mauro said he holds high expectations for the team. The women finished second in the Atlantic Ten Conference last year.

“Our main goal is to win the Atlantic 10,” Mauro said. “We finished second last year, and I feel really strongly that we can win the conference. We will be playing in some tournaments against major competition that will really help us in the long run.”

The addition of freshman May Johnson, a Top 20 player in the 18-and-under category in Australia, will aid the team in that quest.

“She is going to make a major impact,” Mauro said. “We can’t wait to get her on campus.”

Filip and Kacper Rams entered the competition undefeated in doubles competitions but lost, 9-8, to Virginia, in the second round.

Filip and Kacper Rams, a sophomore and freshman, respectively, on the men’s tennis team, headed into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals to face 20 of the Top 100 players in the country. They may have entered doubting how good they really are, but when they left, coach Steve Mauro said they knew they could compete with some of the best players in the country.

The brothers entered the tournament undefeated on the season in doubles competitions.

“They played very well so far, and I was really confident in what they could do,” Mauro said.

They put away the Longwood team of David Caruso and Nobu Tanaka easily in the first round of doubles, 8-3.

Then, on short rest, the Rams brothers took on the top team in the tournament – senior Houston Barrick and junior Sanam Singh from the University of Virginia. They lost a close match, 9-8, but were actually up in the set, 7-4, before the Cavaliers made a comeback.

“They were the talk of the tournament,” Mauro said after the match. “If they had won that match, they would have been ranked in the Top 10 in the country as doubles.”

Last week, Mauro said that Filip Rams had been nursing a groin injury, but he did not use that as an excuse.

“He said he was fully recovered,” Mauro said.

The brothers also competed in singles competitions in the tournament.

Kacper Rams entered as an unranked player and lost his opening-round match to junior Graham Knowlton of Maryland in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.

“He just wasn’t on,” Mauro said. “He didn’t have his backhand working.”

Filip Rams was the 21st-ranked player in the tournament and received a first-round bye. In his first match, he defeated junior Benjamin Chomette of Old Dominion in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

Filip, however, then fell to Virginia sophomore Drew Courtney, the No. 8 player in the tournament, 6-2, 7-6.

“Courtney was really on with his serve,” Mauro said. “On a different day, I feel Filip could have beaten him.”

The Owls wrap up their fall slate next weekend in Ithaca, N.Y., when they take on Cornell.

Ryan Rosengrant can be reached at ryan.rosengrant@temple.edu.

Freshmen nab spotlight on soccer’s Senior Day

Freshman forward Kate Yurkovic scored the only goal in the women’s soccer team’s 1-0 win. Freshman goalkeeper Gillian Kacsuta saved eight shots.

Forty-seven seconds after the women’s soccer team passed the 85-minute mark of its game against Saint Louis Sunday, Owls’ freshman forward Kate Yurkovic scored the first – and only – goal of the game and her third of the season off an assist from freshman midfielder Jackie Krostek. Yurkovic’s game-winning score was the first of her collegiate career.

Coach David Jones said he sees the impact of these two young players as “very positive moving forward.”

With the 1-0 win, Temple ended its three-game losing streak. The Owls improve to 6-11-1 overall and 2-8 in the Atlantic Ten Conference. They are assured of finishing the season with a winning record of 5-3 at home this season even after dropping a 5-0 game on Oct. 23 to No. 25 Charlotte.

Tough defense by both teams characterized the game. Within the first 10 minutes of action, each team took three shots, two on goal, but neither came away with a score. By the 20-minute mark, the Billikens had doubled the Owls’ shots, eight to four, but only four of St. Louis’ shots were on goal compared to three-of-four for Temple.

At the end of the first half, St. Louis had attempted 11 shots, though only five were on goal. St. Louis senior midfielder Kristen Sapienza led the charge, taking five shots and playing the entire half, but she was unable to score on the Owls’ solid defense. Temple freshman goalkeeper Gillian Kacsuta notched five first-half saves to anchor the defensive effort.

The second half started off in similar fashion. The Owls did not attempt a shot for the first 15 minutes of the half. At the 85-minute mark, with the score still knotted at 0-0, it became apparent that regulation may not be enough time to decide an outcome in this A-10 matchup.

Then, Yurkovic scored, and the defense held.

“I thought we did a great job [defensively],” Jones said. “We haven’t had a shutout in a few weeks. I thought everybody really fought hard. We dug down, bunkered in and really got the job done keeping them off the scoreboard [St. Louis averages 1.31 goals per game on the season].”

Kacsuta recorded her second shutout this season and second of her short career. She set a new season and career high in saves with eight, while improving her personal record to 6-1-1 on the season.

While Kacsuta, Yurkovic and Krostek are wrapping up their first seasons with the team, defender/midfielder Carly Metzger celebrated Senior Day.

“Obviously, we only have one senior, and I think we’re going to miss Carly,” Jones said.

The Owls play at Saint Joseph’s on Halloween night to conclude the regular season.

Jones said the Owls entered the St. Louis game with a goal of winning their final two A-10 games.
“We did the first part of it today,” he added. “St. Joseph’s is a big battle, and we’re going to give it everything we’ve got to try and come out with a victory.”

Raymond Boyd can be reached at raymond.boyd@temple.edu.

Winning shot ‘settles’ the score

Sophomore forward/midfielder Bridget Settles scored the lone goal, her eighth of the season, in the field hockey team’s 1-0 win against La Salle.

A trend seems to be emerging on the field hockey team’s scoresheet, and its name is sophomore forward/midfielder Bridget Settles.

Settles scored the lone goal in the Owls’ 1-0 win against inner-city rival La Salle (7-11, 2-3). Senior captain and midfielder Charise Young shot a thunderous penalty corner toward Explorers junior goalkeeper Emma Ruth in the second half. Settles tipped the shot to the upper right corner of the net for her team-leading eighth goal of the season.

“Charise had a great shot, and I was lucky enough to be in the right spot to hit it home,” said Settles, who is the reigning Atlantic Ten Conference Player of the Week.

The Owls, who improved to 6-11 overall and 2-2 in the A-10, started the first half a little flat, with no penalty corners and only two shots, neither of which were on goal. Senior defenders Kate Stewart and Kristen Wanner led a Temple defense that only allowed one penalty corner and two shots on goal by La Salle’s offense.

“The defense played great, and it’s great to see the girls come together like this and win,” coach Amanda Janney said. “We made their goalie look good. We kept shooting at her rather than around her. We had to change that up.”

Temple dominated the second half. The Owls forced seven penalty corners, including the one that registered Settles’ goal. Senior forwards Mandi and Kasey Ruth made some smooth passes in the first half, and Mandi Ruth, Young and Settles each notched four shots, with Ruth taking two shots on goal. Ultimately, though, the Owls had to wait until the second half to score.

Junior goalkeeper Sarah Dalrymple picked up her third shutout along the way. She made five saves in the game, one of them a diving stick save off a La Salle penalty corner.

“I felt pretty good out there,” Dalrymple said. “I’m there to back up the defense, and they played great and made sure there wasn’t too much pressure.”

Janney and company have two games left, one on the road against first-place Saint Louis and one at Geasey Field versus last-place Richmond. As it stands now, Temple occupies the fourth and final A-10 playoff spot.

“We need the A-10 to play in our favor at this point, but we’ll stay confident and keep playing our game,” Janney said.

Christian Audesirk can be reached at christian.audesirk@temple.edu.

Revenge vs. Navy on mind

The Midshipmen defeated the Owls, 33-27, in overtime last season.

As promised, last weekend’s game was a shootout. The Owls put up a season-high 40 points and beat Toledo, 40-24, Saturday night in Ohio. The win gave the Owls their fifth straight win and improved their record to 4-0 in the Mid-American Conference. Temple travels to Navy this Saturday to face the Midshipmen, who are riding their own five-game winning streak. One team’s streak will end, while the other’s will increase to six consecutive wins. Here are three things to watch for from each team:

Temple
Here to talk about the past: The Owls return to Annapolis, Md., in hopes of exacting revenge for last year’s heartbreaking loss. Temple held a 27-7 lead in the fourth quarter but watched its lead vanish when sophomore running back Kee-ayre Griffin fumbled on a third-and-11 play and Navy returned the turnover for a touchdown. The Midshipmen eventually won the game in overtime to complete the shocking comeback. The loss cost the Owls a 6-6 finish to the season. A win this Saturday would be the Owls’ sixth victory of the season with four games remaining.

Picking up where he left off: After leaving Temple’s 27-13 Homecoming win against Army with a left shoulder injury, freshman running back Bernard Pierce returned last weekend and rushed for three touchdowns and 212 yards. He already has four 100-plus yard rushing games for his career. It’s safe to say that Pierce is not experiencing any lingering issues with his shoulder, a major relief for the Owls’ offense.

On the defensive: The Temple defense, which ranks 15th in the nation in turnovers, forced three more against Toledo’s top-ranked MAC offense. Navy does a good job protecting the ball and has only seven turnovers this season. If the Owls can force a few turnovers, they will have a strong advantage for their sixth straight victory.

Navy
Riding high: The Midshipmen welcome the Owls riding a five-game winning streak. Navy, which sits at 6-2, slipped past Wake Forest, 13-10, last Saturday. The Midshipmen’s only two losses came at the hands of No. 17 Ohio State and No. 16 Pittsburgh. Navy has a manageable schedule after the game against Temple, as the Midshipmen face teams that currently have a combined 15-13 record.

Ground control: Like their military brethren, Army, Navy likes to control the game by pounding the ball. In their win against Wake Forest, the Midshipmen did not throw a single pass. They ran the ball on all 64 offensive plays for 338 yards. The ground attack, which ranks fifth in the nation, is led by junior quarterback Ricky Dobbs, who averages 84 yards rushing a game and has 16 touchdowns in eight games.

Who will start at quarterback?: The Midshipmen were without their lead rusher Dobbs last weekend against Wake Forest. Dobbs, who missed the game because of a left knee injury, was replaced by sophomore quarterback Kriss Proctor, who rushed for 89 yards in his first collegiate start. It’s unknown who will start behind center against Temple, but expect minimal passing from the Navy offense regardless.

Pete Dorchak can be reached at pdorchak@temple.edu.

Defense drives success

The No. 1-ranked defense in the Mid-American Conference carries the football team.

Two weekends ago, after a 27-13 win against Army, football coach Al Golden said he hoped his son, A.J., “grows up to be like Jaiquawn Jarrett or [Dominique] Harris.”

“They’re incredibly bright and unselfish, tough kids,” Golden said. “I can’t say enough about them. We think we have very good safeties, and as good as they are, they’re even better people off the field. We’re blessed.”

The Owls’ defense is blessed on the field as well. Jarrett, a junior, leads the team with two interceptions, 44 total tackles (30 solo) and two fumble recoveries after topping the charts with 88 total tackles (53 solo) last season. He earned Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors after the Owls’ 24-19 win against Ball State back on Oct. 10.

“I try to help the younger players [like sophomore cornerback Kevin Kroboth and junior Marquise Liverpool, who made the switch to defense this year] and bring them along because I’ve been around,” Jarrett said after the Nov. 17 game against Army. “As a defense, we just try to be as good as our weakest link. Our object is to go out and play defense no matter what happens and to come together as one. We’ve worked on just becoming a band of brothers, a brotherhood, and fighting for each other.”

The Owls rank 15th in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision in rushing defense and 16th in turnover margin. The defense has intercepted 10 passes and forced 12 fumbles, recovering eight of them. In the MAC, the Owls rank No. 1 in total defense and rushing defense and No. 3 in turnover margin and scoring defense. They allowed just 48 yards rushing on 23 attempts in last Saturday’s 40-24 win against Toledo, while also forcing three fumbles, one of which they recovered, and intercepting two passes.

“I think our defense is strong right now because they work well together. They have a good plan. They believe in each other. They’re coached well,” Golden said after the Army game. “We’re tackling well. We have some guys who can rush the passer. We play option teams fairly well. We put them in a couple bad situations, but I think the defense is marvelous, to be quite honest. I thought they did a tremendous job and made some really big plays. The defense comes in, and they get the ball back for us.”

So far this season, the most points the defense has allowed came in a 31-6 loss in the second game of the season to then-No. 5 Penn State.

“I just think we’re just playing more with an attitude in how we prepare for our games and how we go about learning about our opponent since then,” said Harris, who is a senior. “We fought hard all week for this. We’re taught to ‘flip the switch.’ That’s our motto. No matter what happens, we’re taught to put our heads down and go about our business.”

Harris also credited the defensive line’s play this season for the success on that side of the ball.

And it is one of the younger linemen, sophomore left end Adrian Robinson Jr., who has made the most impact up front. Robinson’s eight sacks rank first in the MAC and place him in a tie for eighth in the FBS.
“Our defense [and Adrian] play with a lot of poise and execution,” senior middle linebacker Alex Joseph said after the Army game. “Now, we’re used to the tactics of these types of teams, option teams.”

The Owls’ defense hopes to repeat its success versus Army against another option team, Navy, this Saturday. The Midshipmen defeated the Owls, 33-27, last year.

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Hanging onto playoff hopes

The men’s soccer team traded shutouts during the weekend, defeating St. Bonaventure, 1-0, while losing 1-0 to Duquesne. The Owls currently hold the sixth, and last, Atlantic Ten Conference playoff spot.

With an inconsistent performance over the weekend, senior midfielder J.T. Noone and the men’s soccer team made their pursuit of an Atlantic Ten Conference playoff berth that much harder.

Entering the weekend, the Owls had gone on the road for their first three conference games, defeating Saint Joseph’s and Massachusetts before losing to Rhode Island, 4-1, on Oct. 18. Considering the Owls only play four conference home games all year, this weekend was of the utmost importance, Temple coach David MacWilliams said.

“You’ve got to win your home games,” MacWilliams said. “When you don’t win your home games, those are the teams that find themselves out of the playoffs.”

On Friday, the Owls faced off against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies. Temple’s lone goal came off the foot of senior forward Augustin Coly, who took a pass from freshman midfielder Homero Rodriguez at the 56:23 mark and drilled the ball into the back of the net. Ultimately, that one goal was enough, as junior goalkeeper Bret Mollon recorded his fifth shutout of the season and secured a 1-0 victory.

“Bret’s played well this year,” MacWilliams said. “On Friday, he won the game for us.”

The success stopped there for the Owls. They returned to the Ambler Sports Complex on Sunday to face the Duquesne Dukes, a team fresh off a 4-0 victory against St. Joe’s.

After playing the Dukes to a standstill for the majority of the game, the Owls let their guard down in the final minute, and Duquesne freshman forward Joshua Patterson made them pay for it. Patterson took a pass from senior defenseman Alex Trujillo at the 89:43 mark and arched his shot over the outstretched arms of Mollon. The Dukes scored the lone goal of the game. The 1-0 loss left an extra sour taste in the mouths of the Owls, as the Dukes entered the game fighting for a playoff spot.

Noone said that while the loss was obviously a devastating one, the Owls did manage to do many things well, primarily on defense.

“At times, we knocked the ball well,” Noone said. “I think we defended well. We just let our guard down for a minute, and in this league, you get punished for that.”

In the end, though, the Owls simply could not find the back of the net on offense. MacWilliams attributed that to one fairly simple reason.

“We didn’t get enough runners in the box,” MacWilliams said. “We can control the ball, and when the winger serves it, we need to have runners in the box.”

With the weekend split, the Owls find themselves with nine points in the A-10 standings, good for sixth in the conference. The top six teams make the playoffs, but there are still games to be played, and the Owls have put themselves in a situation that allows for little error.

“The split doesn’t help us,” MacWilliams said. “[The loss to Duquesne] is a very disappointing loss.”

The Cherry and White have a tough week coming up, as the team travels across town to face the La Salle Explorers before heading north to face the conference-leading Fordham Rams.

“All the A-10 games are tough,” MacWilliams said. “Those are only winnable games if we put our all into it.”

“Fordham is a big one for us. They’re doing well in the league,” Noone added. “La Salle, too. I think they’re a good team, so this’ll be a tough week for us.”

Kyle Gauss can be reached at kyle.gauss@temple.edu.

Rolling on the rink

Temple’s club roller hockey team defeated perennial powerhouse Neumann University, 4-2.

The few parents, close friends and girlfriends aware of Temple’s roller hockey team witnessed a team searching for support score a 4-2 upset victory against perennial powerhouse Neumann University Sunday.

“I thought, ‘There’s no such thing as college roller hockey,’” senior president Mike Peterson said before he joined the team his sophomore year. “This isn’t a well-known sport. I laughed at first when I heard there was an actual league from my friend’s little brother. And that’s the problem. There are so many good players at Temple, but we have a hard time getting our name out there. A lot of people have the same reaction as me.”

The club team, which was founded in 2001, is completely student-run, from fundraising to reserving practice space. The players support both A and B teams, which carry a combined 27 players on the roster.

The Owls faced a Neumann team Sunday that won a Division II National Championship in 2006 and made it to the finals in 2003, 2004 and 2005. With its first victory against Neumann in team history, Temple claimed its third win in the four games it played during the weekend. Teams play multiple regular-season games then to save students time and travel. Four or five games are played throughout four weekends in a semester.

“This was a team we needed to beat,” senior captain Victor Novelli said. “We know where we stand now. West Chester lost yesterday, and these are two of the best teams in the country. This gives us a good idea of where we match-up with the competition.”

Temple jumped out to an early lead with three goals in the first period. By the third period, Neumann had manufactured two late goals to close the gap. But then, sophomore Ben Hovne, whom the team called up from the B squad just for this game, made it 4-2 and put a stop to Neumann’s momentum.

“[Neumann] just had way too many penalties, and our goalie played great. It was just a big team effort,” Novelli said.

The team has qualified for nationals once since its inception. The March Madness-style competition takes place in four divisions and features champions from seven regional conferences, as well as teams that meet certain criteria to decide the national champion.

But even if the team makes it back to nationals, players said support is still hard to come by.

Sophomore treasurer and goalie John Mehler said players are trying to “reach out to a fan base” by starting a Facebook page, which had more than 80 members its first week. The team also posts fliers around campus, supports a Web site in addition to the university’s club-team Web site and would like to see all club teams unite to set up tables along the Bell Tower or Liacouras Walk to try to stir interest. For right now, word of mouth seems to be the best way to attract fans and players.

“Everybody figures a college is going to have an ice hockey team, a soccer team, a football team, et cetera,” co-head coach and Temple graduate Jamie Babcock said. “But with roller hockey, people just play for fun and don’t think of it as a serious sport and realize how involved and widespread it is, and that should change.”

Tom Rowan Jr. can be reached at thomas.rowan@temple.edu.

Amid dissent, Wilders delivers speech on campus

The controversial politico was met with protests and opposition when he addressed a packed lecture hall in Anderson Hall.

Students crowded in front of Anderson Hall last week to protest a presentation – almost canceled due to the controversy it brought – delivered by Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

Wilders, whose controversial views resulted in a ban from the United Kingdom, traveled to Temple to discuss his opinion on radical Islam, calling it “more an ideology than a religion.”

Prior to the event, tensions were high – marked by police presence, strict rules prohibiting backpacks and an air of hostility amid the crowd outside the building.

“I’ve been verbally assaulted,” said Erik Jacobs, a freshman journalism and political science major actively supporting the event, after handing out flyers promoting free speech on campus.
Others said the event posed a threat to the security of Temple’s Muslim students.

“The reason All Sides is protesting this event is because we see it as decreasing the peace on Temple’s campus,” sophomore Jewish studies major and All Sides President Bryan Mann said. All Sides is a peace-oriented student organization that protested the presentation.

After waiting outside for several minutes, students in the audience were patted down and ushered into the lecture hall. After a brief introduction by TU Purpose, the group that hosted the event with funding from the David Horowitz Freedom Center after the College Republicans dropped their sponsorship, Wilders took moments to appear in front of the lecture hall.

After the front two rows were cleared for security purposes, Wilders approached the microphone to a mixture of claps and boos.

He then proceeded to show his film Fitna to the audience, a 15-minute documentary about Islam and its presence in Europe.

The film itself is a collection of intensely violent images accompanied by verses from the Quran, which Wilders described as “an evil book.” It argues that the spread of Islam to Europe and the rest of the world is dangerous and needs to be stopped.

Some attendees expressed disapproval of the way Wilders presented the film.

“You can take any religion and take pictures of violence and things blowing up and put them together and get people angry,” Mena El-Turky, a senior business law and political science major, said.
The presentation then turned into a speech, which Wilders opened with a joke, thanking the United States police for allowing him into their country.

Wilders focused on what he perceived as the threat of Islam becoming too strong of a force in Europe.
“Europe is in the process of becoming Eurabia,” he said. “Islam has attempted to conquer Europe before.”

Despite his predominately anti-Islam views, Wilders acknowledged that not all Muslims are extremists.
“The majority of Muslims in Western Society are law-abiding people who want to live peaceful lives,” he said.

The audience responded to Wilders views intermittently with booing, clapping and gasping.
“Our Western culture is far better than the Islamist culture,” Wilders said during the middle of his speech, prompting a particularly mixed and intense reaction.

When he insisted that constitutions be based on Judeo-Christian values, one student laughed loudly and walked out, met with applause by the audience.

The atmosphere remained civil until the question-and-answer session, which some students used as an opportunity to express their dissent.

The question-and-answer session quickly became heated, ending after remarks accusing Wilders of being one of the same fascists who he’d visually compared Islamists to in his documentary.
Most Temple students opposed Wilders’ views immediately following the event.

“I think the most hypocritical part of his argument was that he was fighting intolerance, but he’s fighting intolerance with intolerance,” Amanda Young, a junior English major, said. “I don’t understand what kind of reaction Temple Purpose expected.”

TU Purpose was founded this year to “attempt to bring social cohesion to the campus through awareness,” said President Alvaro Watson, a senior social work major. “We wanted this to be an overall educational experience for everyone.”

Watson said he hoped Wilders’ speech would be an opportunity for Temple students to learn something from what he had to say, even if they did not agree with it.

“We provide an open forum for conventional and more importantly, unconventional views,” he said. “We are not forcing Mr. Wilders’ words down anyone’s throat.”

He said the night was an overall success, despite the unruly behavior of a few individuals.
“We should be proud as Temple students that we were able to be part of this.”

Abe Rosenthal can be reached at abraham.rosenthal@temple.edu.

Union alleges TUHS overcharges patients

In a recently distributed flyer, PASNAP makes gutsy claims against TUHS.

Amid heated contract negotiations between Temple University Health System and the union representing the Temple nurses and professional staff, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals is claiming Temple has distorted priorities.

“Support Temple’s dedicated caregivers,” read a flyer recently distributed by PASNAP, accusing TUHS of overcharging patients.

According to recent reports filed by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, the average charge per medical procedure for the Temple University Hospital is considerably higher than other area hospitals.

“If you look at [the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council’s Web site], it has a page by page list of diagnoses, and it has the average charge. On the page that says abnormal heartbeat, the average charges on this at the different hospitals range from a low of [around $10,000] to a high of [$98,328] which is Jeanes, closely followed by Temple at [$96,222].

“And Hahnemann comes in at [$83,593],” Jerry Silberman, staff representative for Temple nurses, said. “And they are the highest on them. The average statewide charge is [$32,586]. So Temple’s charge is 300 percent of the average charge for the state. And they are out of [about 54] hospitals that are listed here, the two that charge the most are Temple and Jeanes, which is Temple.”

Interim CEO of TUH Sandy Gomberg said the accusation is wrong.

“It speaks once again to their uninformed position about health care finances in general,” she said.
Gomberg said the charges that appear in the reports are “like the sticker price when you buy from a car dealer. Nobody really pays the sticker price.”

Contracts for the various services and procedures, Gomberg said, are negotiated with the individual’s insurer, and the price paid is the result of that contract.

“The most important thing I want to reinforce is about uninsured patients. So first, anybody who comes here who needs any kind of care gets that care, regardless of their ability to pay,” she said.

“We have financial counselors who work privately with those patients [without the ability to pay] to help enroll them in medical assistance or other programs in order to help them get the coverage they need,” Gomberg said. “Now, not everybody is eligible for that medical assistance coverage, so for people without insurance, what we [ask them to pay] is based on a sliding scale, the cost of their care and of their ability to pay based on the federal poverty guidelines. They are not based on charges.”

The only other area hospital whose charges were comparable to TUH’s was the for-profit Hahnemann University Hospital.

“We’re a not-for-profit hospital,” Gomberg said. “So at the end of the year, any surplus that we have on the bottom line gets reinvested back into the organization so we can recruit new physicians, buy new equipment, upgrade or maintain the building of the hospital. All the things we need to do to keep improving patient care.”

PASNAP’s flyer, however, addressed Temple’s “distorted priorities.”

“Well, basically, the hospital was preparing for a strike, which did not happen. Temple spent, in our best estimate, based on our experience, Temple probably spent $6 [million] to $10 million preparing for a strike, hiring scabs, hiring replacements in all the categories, having approximately 1,000 people here in town,” Silberman said. “Now, all our demands would not have cost $10 million. If they met every single proposal that we [had] on the table, at that time, it wouldn’t have cost them $10 million.”

Gomberg said strike preparedness and negotiation terms were not financially related.

“From a preparedness standpoint, we are obligated and feel very strongly about our responsibility to provide uninterrupted patient care if the union decides to walk out and go on a strike,” she said. “We will do what ever it takes to provide the right staff to take care of the patients. Right now, because we don’t have a contract, there remains a strike risk. We’ll be ready if the union gives us another strike notice.”

Silberman emphasized that the heart of PASNAP’s concerns remain non-economic. The language in the contract that Temple currently has on the bargaining table, she said, limits the nurses’ ability to advocate for their patients and fails to address poor working conditions.

“They tell us across the table, ‘You don’t have anything to say about the quality of care we provide, it’s not your place to address those issues.’ Well, I’m sorry but it’s not only a nurse’s place and responsibility as a professional, but it’s our responsibility as a union to fight for our members’ better working conditions, which means better patient care,” Silberman said. “You can’t divide those two things. The working conditions of the nurse is the quality of care that the patient receives.”

Silberman pointed to money wasted on corporate management, explaining that several of the hospitals in TUHS have closed since creating the existing management structure.

“Do you need a separate tier of million-dollar executives to manage two hospitals? It doesn’t make any sense to us,” he added. “That’s what we think are distorted priorities.”

But Gomberg said TUH’s priorities revolve around providing quality patient care and a quality education to medical students.

“Our top priority is the delivery of quality and safe patient care to all of those who come here seeking care, so obviously, the nurses and technical staff are very important to making sure our patients get the best care,” Gomberg said. “We also have a strong academic mission, because we’re training the next generation of physicians, so what we’re all about is patient care, and our mission begins and ends with patient care, and certainly our employees, specifically the nurses and the allied health professionals are very important to making sure we provide great care to those patients.”

“[There] are non-economic proposals,” Silberman said. “They don’t cost the hospital anything. They are issues which are really blocking us and keeping us from getting to the serious discussion of finance.”

Valerie Rubinsky can be reached at valerie.rubinsky@temple.edu.

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