Students’ persistence gains voters

Statistically in the United States, young people do not heavily flock to the polls on Election Day.
According to a 2004 Associated Press article, the last two presidential elections only garnered a one out of 10 voter turnout among people ages 18 to 25.

For the 2008 election, some groups around campus are trying to change that. There is a mass voter registration drive in place by Democrats, Republicans, non-partisans and even organizations with no political affiliations.

Some students believe these organizations disrupt their daily lives by soliciting passers-by to vote. With the Oct. 6 registration deadline approaching, the volume of requests may not subside.

Sophomore Jewish studies major Matan Silberstein is tired of being asked whether he has registered to vote.

“I wore a sign that said ‘I already registered to vote’ for a few weeks,” Silberstein said.
Stephanie Frank, a freshman at the Tyler School of Art, said she was asked five times in 10 minutes whether she registered to vote.

“I think it’s good that they’re pushing people, but it’s just really monotonous,” Frank said.

Freshman psychology major Jamillia Clinton agrees.

“It’s good that they want everybody to be able to vote, [but] it’s annoying,” she said.

Temple College Democrats is just one of the student-run organizations that are administering the registration drives on campus. The Service Employees International Union also manages voter registration as one of its efforts.

Some students have problems with a major lack of uniform by the respective groups on campus.
“All of these different groups with different interests are working to do registrations,” said Priya Kothapalli, a freshman biology major. “It’s hard for us to know which ones are actually official.”

Regardless of these issues, junior education and political science major Kevin Inacker from Campaign for Change continues to help register people to vote and believes it’s necessary.

“You can never ask too many times,” Inacker said. “In a group of 1,000 people, maybe 10 people [will] actually get registered to vote. We care about your voice being heard.”

Inacker said it is important to “tell students how [the election] applies to them.”

Meredith Zeitzer, an organizer for the Progressive Future nonpartisan movement, said she hopes for a high student-voter turnout.

“The youth vote is critical,” Zeitzer said. “There are just so many people that need to be spoken to.”
Zeitzer said having students conduct the voter registration helps them connect to other students who will be making an important decision.

“It’s about talking to the students and seeing where they’re coming from,” he said.

Progressive Future is not limited to Temple. There are students registered at other large schools in the area like the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and Penn State University. Other swing states around the country, such as New Mexico, Virginia and Florida, have also registered college students.
Becky Arden, a sophomore communications major, volunteers with Progressive Future and said she notices many students want to vote in Philadelphia.

“A lot of students are already registered at home. They change addresses and they want to have a vote where they are,” Arden said.

Sophomore education major Tom Golanoski is already registered in Pennsylvania and voted in the primary for the first time.

“I think it is a great tool for the public,” Golanoski said. “It gives us that little bit of power [that] we don’t have all the time.”

Allyson Dezii said she does not see voter registration drives as nuisances.

“I think it’s great that people are trying to get kids to register,” said Dezii, a freshman vocal performance major. “I’m not bothered by it. I registered the day I moved in.”
Freshman Maddie Akers said the same.

“It doesn’t bother me that much,” Akers said. “The more people they get to resister to vote, the better.”

Anthony May can be reached at anthony.may@temple.edu.

Editorial: Red Glare

Democrats have it pretty easy on Temple’s campus. They have a large constituency, and important figures in the party have dropped by this past year.

Republican students, on the other hand, are basically in no man’s land. Sen. John McCain’s camp has dropped the ball on campaigning in the city and especially at Temple.

It is an uphill battle getting Republican support in such a Democratic city, but the lack of trying isn’t a good message for the Republicans in the city, however few and far between they are.

As The Temple News reports this week, Temple College Republican’s President Brian McGovern said it is hard getting the word out that there is a Republican presence on campus.

How can a college group be expected to inform a campus when the national group will barely acknowledge the area in which Temple is located?

Yes, Philadelphia is full of Democrats, but campaigning is about getting voters to see a candidate’s platform and sway their opinion. There are 11 Obama campaign offices in Philadelphia, while there are only two McCain campaign offices. The first office is in the Northeast, where most of the city’s Republicans reside, and the second just opened this weekend at 10th and Arch streets.

The McCain campaign’s lack of a voice in the area is a disheartening message to Temple’s Republicans and an admittance of defeat. The youth vote is of utmost importance this election year, but the McCain campaign is ignoring one of the largest groups of students in Philadelphia.

Republican students wanting to see their candidates in person have been forced to venture out to the suburbs where the McCain/Palin ticket is more welcome. McCain did make a surprise visit to Reading Terminal a few weeks ago, and Palin watched the presidential debate at the Irish Pub over the weekend, but those visits were highly controlled and semi-private.

A good campaign isn’t only about pandering supporters, but getting ideas out to voters who aren’t part of your constituency.

The Temple News isn’t expecting John McCain to chow down at the J&H cafeteria, but throw Republican students a bone and send a prominent party member up North Broad Street.

A lacking Republican presence

It’s not easy being Republican at Temple, let alone in Philadelphia.

“Our challenges originally were letting people know that we exist,” said Brian McGovern, president of the Temple College Republicans. “That’s still our challenge today, but we’re doing a lot better with it.”

Temple has had a strong Democratic presence on campus since the six weeks leading up to the Pennsylvania Primary in April. Campus visits from Sen. Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, cast a shadow over Sen. John McCain, who at the time was already the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

So far this semester, Temple has hosted big-name supporters of Sen. Barack Obama, including Private Practice star Kate Walsh and Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The Republican presence isn’t as easy to find.

“This isn’t just any college campus,” said McGovern, a senior political science major. “This is Temple University in one of the most Democratic cities in the United States.”

YOUNG INFLUENCE
Young people are more apt to have Democratic tendencies, especially those in college, said former Philadelphia Mayor John Street.

“Young people are just smart and more likely to be in tune with a more people-oriented message,” Street said. “Young people worry more about the poor [and] working-class issues and are not yet burdened with making a living.”

It’s important, then, for McGovern and the College Republicans to spread the messages of McCain and his running-mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

“We believe that if people knew about the Republican message and not what certain news outlets or what their friends say, they would see that our message does work for them,” McGovern said.

The College Republicans began a few years ago with a handful of students. Recently, the group runs out of vacant seats at its meetings, which average 30 to 50 students, McGovern said.

But it’s not the only political group on campus. The Temple College Democrats were the organizers of the recent Howard Dean visit, which attracted more than 100 students for a midday rally on Sept. 19.

“I think that we are a more liberal campus, so I think that there’s a warm and open reception to us and the things we do,” said Elizabeth Hanson, president of the College Democrats. “On [the Republicans’] side, their message may not feel as welcome all the time.”

McGovern said the relationship between the two groups was “shaky” a few years ago, but they now share a “decent friendship.”

“We want to be controversial, but we don’t want to be too controversial,” McGovern said. “We’re looking to keep the discourse civil on campus, and maintaining our relationships helps to keep it civil.”

Hanson, a junior political science major, agrees with McGovern and added that forming a good relationship now can help in their political futures.

“We know that even though we differ on most things, it’s better to learn to reach across the aisle now because how else would we do it in Washington?” she said.

DEMOCRATIC DOMINANCE
Philadelphia hasn’t had a Republican mayor since Bernard Samuel in 1952.

“Philadelphia is a blue-collar town dominated by unions, poor people and minorities,” Street said. “In all fairness, it’s hard for the Republicans to get the political traction in most neighborhoods.”

Street, who teaches a political science course at Temple on urban politics, succeeded Ed Rendell as mayor in December 1999. He said it’ll be a while until Philadelphia sees a Republican mayor.

“It will be tough for any Republican to win until the Democrats make a bad mistake,” Street said. “Times change. Political parties get fat and comfortable.”

But Street credits U.S. Rep. Bob Brady with staying on top of Philadelphia’s Democratic Party and said he does not see “any big opportunity for the Republicans in the near future.”

Voter registration numbers align with Street’s prediction. In a city just shy of 1.5 million people, 1,073,174 residents are registered to vote, according to the Philadelphia Board of Elections as of Sept. 22. Nearly 840,000 are registered Democrat while only 144,000 are registered Republican.

Michael Hagen, a professor in the political science department, said Republican mayoral candidates shouldn’t be written off the ballot just yet.

“They haven’t been out of the running in every mayoral election,” Hagen said. “There have been reputable candidates who have done pretty well. Those who have had a chance of doing well have faced an unpopular incumbent.”

In 1999 and 2003, Street’s Republican opponent in the mayoral elections was Sam Katz.

“Katz ran a great campaign and was as liberal as most Democrats and he still lost,” Street said, adding that he thinks the Democrats’ biggest vulnerability is the mishandling of finances of the city.

McGovern questions how many Philadelphians are happy with the direction of the city under Democratic control.

“If the same problems are coming up again and again, it’s time to take a look at the problems and realize that maybe it’s time for the Republicans to come in and find a different way to change things,” he said.

PENNSYLVANIA PROMINENCE
On Saturday, the McCain campaign opened its second victory office in Philadelphia at 1008 Arch St. The original is located in Northeast Philadelphia at 3605 Cottman Ave.

“We have a presence in every region in the city,” said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the McCain campaign.

However, there are 11 Obama offices throughout the city, which Hagen said signifies that the Philadelphia vote will be a crucial component to winning the state on Election Day.

“The presence of the Obama campaign is an indication that Philadelphia can be extremely important,” Hagen said. “Senator Obama is pretty popular among residents of Philadelphia, so it’s an appealing target for the Obama campaign to get people out to vote.”

Street agreed, saying the Philadelphia vote has been important in recent elections, citing Sen. John Kerry’s winning Philadelphia in 2004 by 420,000 votes. Kerry won Pennsylvania with 51 percent of the vote.

“Democrats cannot win statewide elections without a big plurality coming out of Philadelphia,” Street said. “Turnout of Democrats in Philadelphia is crucial to Obama’s chance of winning the state.”

Visits to Philadelphia by McCain and Palin have been few and far between, but Lindsay said the campaign has not lost sight of the Delaware Valley.

“Senator McCain will continue to travel throughout every region of Pennsylvania, and we’ll continue to focus on the Philadelphia area, especially,” Lindsay said.

He added that McCain “has always appealed to independents, Democrats and the Republican base,” but Street said the senator should take caution when campaigning.

“He has very little chance of winning Philadelphia. His goal has to be to avoid getting trounced in Philadelphia so bad that he loses the state,” Street said. “He should be very careful to motivate his base without getting the strong Democratic areas all excited about the election.”

For McCain in Philadelphia, Street said, “the lower the overall turnout, the better.”

VOTING MATTERS
“I would love to see as many registered Republicans as there could be,” the College Republicans’ McGovern said. “But it’s really important to me for people to exercise their right to vote. People across the world don’t always have that right.”

Both the College Republicans and Democrats have been volunteering with their respective campaigns and trying to get Temple students energized about voting on Nov. 4. Students with clipboards stand on busy street corners asking passers-by if they’re registered to vote. The deadline to register in Pennsylvania is Monday, Oct. 6.

Hanson of the College Democrats said it’s not always easy for her group to rally students.

“I think we face challenges that any student organization faces – people balancing work, school and life,” Hanson said. “It’s finding a way to make [the campaign] relevant and exciting and urgent on campus.”

The groups are in the process of organizing a debate slated for Oct. 20. It’s an opportunity for members of both groups to discuss civilly the issues that matter to them – college students – and create a forum for discussion.

“There should be a place for everyone’s political ideals in a place of education,” McGovern said. “We provide that, and we’re going to continue to provide that.”

Chris Stover can be reached at stover@temple.edu.

Risky extras for area eateries

Eating on and around campus can be an adventure. The types of food available to the Temple community are endless.

With all the meal options available on campus, the Department of Public Health has to remain vigilant on making sure all establishments are clean.

Safety at eateries on and around campus vary based on health inspections. Several establishments were reported as having minimal to no inspection violations, while others had major infractions.

Ali’s Middle Eastern, located in the Anderson food pad, was cited for six critical violations at its last inspection. One violation cited was food being stored at improper temperatures.

According to healthinspections.com, cold foods must be stored below 41 degrees Fahrenheit in order to prevent bacteria growth. At Ali’s, raw eggs were recorded at 80 degrees and mayonnaise at 78 degrees. Other violations included soiled wipe cloths and fly infestations.

Jeff Moran, spokesman for the Office of Communications at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, said each establishment is inspected once a year. If inspectors find critical violations, they will return within 30 days for re-inspection. Critical violations are defined as posing a potential health risk.

“The establishment is responsible for paying for any subsequent inspections,” Moran said. “These re-inspections are unannounced.”

At Koja Grille, a restaurant at the Shops at Avenue North, inspectors observed employees with possible respiratory or gastrointestinal illness. Jae Sim, owner of the Japanese and Koren restaurant, said one employee was seen coughing, but he was not aware of any serious illness.

Sim said the department returned for a re-inspection three weeks ago and did not find any violations. These reports have not been released to the public.

“There are no problems here now,” Sim said.

Chris Thames, manager at the Draught Horse, said the restaurant did not have any critical violations during its last inspection. However, a recent report on healthinspections.com lists four violations, including food not being protected from contamination and mouse and small insect infestation.

Campus Grub, a lunch truck formerly located on the 1600 block of Broad Street, had numerous violations. During the department’s first visit in 2008, mouse droppings and dead roaches were found on the same shelves where food was stored.

The truck was cited for “heavily soiled and stained” wipe cloths and for its food equipment and floors being encrusted with dirt, mouse feces and dead roaches.

When inspectors returned six days later, there were no dead roaches. Instead, inspectors found live ones. Leaves and “unidentified debris” were also found in the deep fryer.

Campus Grub is no longer found on campus. Moran did not know if the truck is still in operation.

“If something poses an immediate threat to public health, the establishment will be asked to voluntarily shut down,” Moran said. “In most cases, they do.”

If establishments do not comply, the case is heard in court.

The majority of lunch trucks were pest-free. The shops between Paley and Anderson, with the exception of Ali’s, received safe reports, as well.

Feim Amzovski, owner of Fame’s Famous Pizza, said he works very hard to keep his establishment clean.

“I work seven days a week during the school season,” Amzovski said. “I power wash the store on the weekends.”

Andrea Hanratty can be reached at andrea.hanratty@temple.edu.

Healthy eating in the dorms

At the thought of a typical college student’s diet, visions of pizza, fast food and Ramen noodles usually come to mind. Temple has made an effort to break this stereotypical vision and promote healthier eating habits by revamping its dining services with $4.5 million in upgrades.

Temple’s extensive renovations to its dining services have increased meal selections and introduced healthier options for health-conscious students.

Jeffrey Browne, marketing director for Sodexo, said every dining venue on campus offers healthy items, some more than others.

“Students have a plethora of healthy options to choose from,” Browne said.

The newly renovated Johnson & Hardwick cafeteria features a 48-item salad bar and vegan and fruit stations to make it easier for students to exclude foods like ground beef and cheese whiz for healthier toppings such as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, rice and beans.

“They like the salad bar and vegan choices, as well as the atmosphere,” Browne said.

All Temple students are welcome to eat at J&H. Browne said the new dining hall has seen an increase in traffic from off-campus residents and commuters.

When they’re not eating in cafeteria, students can still eat healthy while enjoying food from their favorite vendors at the Valaida S. Walker Food Court in the Student Center.

There are the plenty of choices for healthy foods, like the salad bar and the Wrap Up station, but every stand has a few wholesome options. The American Dog offers vegetarian hot dogs and chili- and cheese-stuffed items. Dos Manos is a popular burrito and taco vendor that serves as a healthier alternative to the now-defunct Taco Bell.

Einstein Bros. Bagels also boasts plenty of “carb-conscious” selections. Besides whole-grain bagels and fat-free spreads, bagel lovers can enjoy freshly squeezed orange juice and fruit salad.

Although healthy foods can be pricey, Browne says there is not much discrepancy at Temple between the prices of nutritional fare and junk food.

For Temple, it’s all about providing choices and giving students the means to eat right.
“Students demand more options,” Browne said, “and we want to offer the widest variety of choices that we can.”

Jen Klimowicz can be reached at jenniferklimowicz0001@temple.edu.

Editorial: Blow Smoke

Pennsylvania’s 14 state schools banned smoking on all campus property on Sept. 11 in accordance with the Clean Indoor Air Act. The act prohibits smokers from lighting up not just in dorm and class buildings, but also any outdoor space, as “the entire campus is our educational space”

Temple is a Commonwealth school, and although it receives public funding, it is not owned by the state, and is therefore exempt from the Clean Indoor Air Act.

Smokers argue that they have a right to smoke in a public space. Non-smokers feel they should be able to enjoy a smoke-free campus. The trouble with the Clean Indoor Air Act is that both sides have valid points, and both pay tuition. It’s hard to justify an act that infringes on the personal choices of the students who pay to attend those 14 colleges.

The argument over whether the act is appropriate is sure to be a long one, but there is a separate issue to consider. Should Temple join the Clean Indoor Air Act?
In short, no.

At its most basic level, the Clean Indoor Air Act bans smoking in public educational facilities. It is up to each school to determine which spaces meet those qualifications. Temple’s Main Campus has ill-defined boundaries – if any at all. There is no organized way to determine what is campus property and what is not.

In cases like the Edge at Avenue North, some floors are privately owned, and others belong to Temple. If Temple were to become part of the Clean Indoor Air Act, there would be no way to regulate smoking in the Edge. The same can be said for 1700 N. Broad St., a Temple-owned building situated next to Wendy’s fast food restaurant. A campus-wide smoking ban would wrongfully affect Wendy’s patrons.
Regulating smoking on college campuses needs to be a step-by-step process. In Temple’s case, the most logical choice is to enforce its current smoking policies.

Every classroom building has an ashtray in front imploring students to put out their cigarettes before coming within 20 feet of the entrance. When the weather gets bad, smokers will pile up under the overhangs in front of entrances to finish their cigarettes. No one is there to administer the 20-feet rule.

The next step is to put more ashtrays around campus. There aren’t enough to accommodate all the smokers, and the existing ones fill up quickly. Having more ashtrays would free up the building entrances and help Main Campus look cleaner.

The Clean Indoor Air Act is a nice idea in theory to make public areas cleaner, but the requirements are too vague. The goal of college campuses should be to create a healthy educational environment without interfering on students’ rights and choices.

When enforced, Temple’s current policy is the most sensible approach to campus smoking.

Smoking ban should be enacted here

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education has banned smoking on all 14 of its university campuses.

The other colleges and universities within the state should follow suit.

Smoking cigarettes on campus infringes on an individual’s freedom to live and learn in a healthy environment. Allowing smokers to suck on their cancer sticks and blow toxic smoke clouds into the fresh air corrupts each student’s pursuit of happiness.

One day prior to the Pennsylvania legislature’s statewide ban on smoking, PSSHE Chancellor John Cavanaugh mocked the ban and prohibited butts anywhere on campuses’ grounds, including outdoors at the state-owned universities. Outdoor smoking was banned because some professors hold their classes outside in addition to various university-sponsored events.

“I’m a med student, so I know secondhand smoking kills more people than cardiovascular disease,” said Bimal Patel, a senior nursing major. “People who are smoking should know they are causing drastic effects on their lungs.”

According to the American Lung Association, secondhand smoke is responsible for approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700 to 69,600 heart disease deaths in adult non-smokers in the United States each year.

This epidemic isn’t specific to indoor contact either. According to a study published in the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association by Stanford University researchers, a non-smoker is likely to be exposed “to substantial levels of contaminated air for brief periods of time,” only a few feet downwind from a lit cigarette.

As a nonsmoker, I cannot comprehend the value of filling my fragile lungs with clouds of cancer-causing agents.

“I don’t like it. I don’t want to smoke. It’s a bad decision I made and I should have never started,” said senior actuarial science major Meghan Sweeney.

Some smoke cigarettes as a catalyst for stress relief. That’s idiotic.

First, the relief is so temporary that one cigarette might not do the trick. That’s why there’s more than one in a pack, so smokers are forced to buy more.

Second, the stress cancer will cause 30 years from now is worse than any test or bill could fuel.
Lastly, and most importantly, cigarettes don’t harm just the body. The detrimental effects extend to the man, woman or child walking, standing or sitting nearby. The chain reaction that follows is uncontrollable and irresponsible to the consumer.

Don’t smoke on campus. It’s bad for your health, it’s bad for my health and we could save lives without it.

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

Nas talks education, controversy, hip-hop

[Click here to view a slideshow of Stephen Zook's exclusive interview with Nas, along with a slideshow.]

New York rapper Nas has never shied away from controversy in his almost two-decade career.
Even so, the artist, whose real name is Nasir Jones, has little patience for controversy for the sake of selling albums.

“If you’re just faking the funk, if you’re just starting trouble with people just for attention and you got no goal, it’s going to end before it started,” Nas said. “People will catch onto it.”

Nas’ latest untitled album has stirred up plenty of its own trouble. Nas originally called the album N—-r, but left it untitled after criticism around the title. Rev. Jesse Jackson and the NAACP both criticized Nas for the album title, while some artists, including Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and Common, supported it.

Nas said he eventually changed the title because he didn’t want the negativity to overwhelm his album’s content.

“I don’t like to feel that somebody is trying to pick out one thing about me and make it negative,” Nas said. “Unfortunately, you have a lot of people who are threatened by people like me, whether they rap or not. I don’t give them any power by saying I’m just selling the n—-r word.”

“If the title isn’t there, the album cover becomes even more powerful,” Nas said, referring to the untitled album’s cover. The cover shows Nas shirtless with flagellation scars in the shape of an “N” on his back.

The counter-culture music Nas makes goes along with his life story. He grew up in the Queensbridge housing projects in Queens, N.Y. After dropping out of middle school, Nas educated himself, studying ancient religious texts and early hip-hop music. The irony of college students paying to see a middle-school dropout is not lost on Nas.

“You wonder what your teachers would say now,” Nas said. “You wonder what people — ‘cause they saw me on the corner — I wonder what they think now.”

Even so, Nas said he still appreciates the value of education and hopes to complete his own some day.
“In education, there’s a lot that’s wrong with the way the system works, but at the same time, it’s very important,” Nas said.

“This is a whole new world for me,” he said when asked what he would study. “Literature is one [major]. And of course, history. I like to think of myself as a historian.”

Nas’ interests show through in his music as well. His songs deal with issues in hip hop music, race relations and other controversial topics.

“The stuff that I listen to the most is not the most radio played,” Nas said. “Radio is important too, but you can’t let everything be about the radio. I like to make music where I’m not always working for the charts.”

“I still do have fun, even though it comes out serious,” he added. “The records that I tend to keep on the album are the ones that are not much about fun.”

Even though his music deals with heavy topics, Nas said the music doesn’t have to be contemplative.
“You can be flying down the highway doing 90 [mph], listening to something like ‘Testify.’ It’s all about how you are feeling.”

Stephen Zook can be reached at stephen.zook@temple.edu.

Police not just saving students

Do you ever hear news – like that of officer Patrick McDonald’s being brutally shot to death a few short blocks from Main Campus – and feel as though Temple is some strange oasis in the middle of a war zone?

I do sometimes. And I love Philadelphia. I was born and raised here. It’s not that I grew up in North Philly specifically, but I still have this strange attachment to all parts of the city. In fact, I’ve even developed an affinity for North Philly – North Central, Yorktown, Girard, you name it – because it feels like home now.

What I can’t come to terms with, though, is all of the violence. It seems as if people shoot each other every few days, and I don’t understand it. I’ve always thought of the area surrounding Temple as a community, despite its rough-and-tumble streets. But each day, it gets more and more difficult to believe it.

In response to the shooting of McDonald, a resident of the area near Dauphin and Colorado streets was quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer as saying, “The cops don’t protect us. They protect the students. Let one of them students put their hands on us, the cops wouldn’t do anything. Let something happen to one of those students and the cops would kick our behinds.”

Police are on the streets for a reason, and that is to protect the welfare of everyone, regardless of age, race, status or creed. I don’t buy that police are here just to protect students. That is absurd.
Who knows, maybe coming from a family of a few police officers has created for me this romantic notion of what they’re all about, but I doubt it.

Don’t get me wrong, I would wager that police are perhaps a bit more vigilant when they see a few students walking down the street in North Philly. After all, 32 percent of students at Temple are from out-of-state, and the other 68 percent from Pennsylvania, according to the most recent student profile. Think about yourself and five of your friends. I would guess that the majority of you aren’t from Philadelphia.

So by default, Temple students are less likely to understand the dynamic of the neighborhood in which they’re living. Why shouldn’t police be slightly more vigilant on their behalf? I’m not saying residents don’t deserve the same attention – they absolutely do. I am saying that they are probably less likely to walk into a situation unknowingly and find themselves in a mess they aren’t sure how to get out of.
Being raised in North Philadelphia or many other parts of the city requires a certain toughness, or at least more street smarts than suburban or rural Pennsylvania.

I’ve been told time and time again by police from Campus Safety Services that the Temple Police act like an extra district for the Philadelphia Police Department in an area that desperately needs it. Campus Police have responded to shootings that have nothing at all to do with the students. Why would they bother with this if police are only there to serve students?

To me, the answer is crystal clear – because they aren’t. Whether it’s an officer from the 22nd District, a highway patrol officer or a Temple Police officer, they’re on the streets for a reason, and that is to protect the common good.

Morgan Zalot can be reached at morgan.zalot@temple.edu.

A-10 schedule starts with ties for women’s soccer team

Much like the football team, the women’s soccer team has struggled to score as of late, putting only 10 balls in the back of the net in its 10 games this season.

Unlike the football team, however, the women can say they are off to a good start in the conference portion of their schedule.

With two ties this weekend against Xavier and Massachusetts, the Owls (2-5-3 overall) technically stand undefeated in the Atlantic Ten Conference at 0-0-2.

“Last year, we started off real strong in the non-conference portion of our schedule, but we didn’t finish,” coach David Jones said. “This year in non-conference, we did things a little differently. We moved some people, some young players, around to different positions. This game [against UMass] was the best game we have played, definitely.”

After opening A-10 play on the road against Xavier and coming away with a 2-2 tie, the Owls faced a UMass team on Sunday that they had not played since 2006.

That game ended in a 1-0 victory for the Minutewomen.

This time neither team scored.

“Sometimes it’s nice playing an opponent you’re not familiar with because then all you have to worry about is what to do on your own team,” senior defender Cori Gallagher said. “It was a bit of a challenge, but I think this game [against UMass] was the most consistently organized game we’ve played all year. To play like we did against two quality teams in the first weekend of A-10 play is just unbelievable.”

To build on that start and avoid last year’s 1-8-2 record against A-10 opponents that landed the team one spot above the conference basement, the Owls’ offense will have to find some life. Currently 12th in the conference in goals scored per game, the offense has only attempted 104 shots through 10 games.

That leaves the team tied for 12th in that category, too. Only 14 teams make up the A-10.

“The offense just needs more opportunities,” Jones said. “It needs smarter opportunities. We need to get the ball in the box more often to generate more chances for goals. I think some people need to be a little more selfish, too.”

One of the team’s – and offense’s- bright spots so far has been freshman forward Niki Conn. Conn, who was named A-10 Soccer Rookie of the Week for the week of Sept. 15, leads the team with four goals.

“Our offense is working toward scoring more goals,” sophomore midfielder Sara Scheid said. “We have a deep bench and one of our freshman players [Conn] is a complete asset. We’re working on getting into the box.”

Luckily for the Owls, their two goalkeepers, sophomore Kara Williams and freshman Courtney Douglas, have combined to save 62 would-be goals, good for a tie for first place in the A-10 with the University of Rhode Island.

“Our defense has been putting all the parts together,” Gallagher said. “It’s not just the four of us in the back. It’s everyone on the team.”

The defense will need to continue to pull the weight, as Temple will face Philadelphia-rival St. Joseph’s on Sunday before traveling to Charlotte and St. Louis the following weekend. The 49ers and Billikens were picked to finish No.1 and No. 3, respectively, in an A-10 preseason coaches’ poll.

“We just have to keep plugging away and approach each weekend as a separate piece to a puzzle,” Jones said.

Gallagher seconded Jones’ opinion.

“This is definitely the portion of the season that means the most,” she said. “We have to build off this weekend and step up and reach our goal of making it to the A-10s. It started this weekend.”

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

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