Good-bye from TSG president

Dear Temple University Students,

It has been a pleasure to serve as your Student Body President this year. This year had its successes and shortcomings but, overall, was a progressive year. Last year, many of you heard about the changes TSG made and the goals Owl VOICES wanted to achieve. We were elected with a platform that we stayed true to and dealt with the situations that came up throughout the academic year.

We worked on building the Senate, providing opportunities for students to get involved and bringing change to campus. We worked with administration and local officials and addressed the Yorktown concerns, including having a lawyer speak to students about their rights to stay in the area. We also provided off-campus housing and financial aid forums so that students could know what to look for when taking the first steps to moving off-campus and themselves from situations that occurred in Yorktown. We provided an outlet to have student concerns addressed, whether it was about the labor unions, financial aid, diversity, GenEd or more speakers at our monthly State of the Campus meetings, including the provost, the director of enrollment management, the director of GenEd, the chief financial officer and the president.

We were able to accomplish so much as a team. With the relationships we’ve established, we hope that TSG is in a direction to achieve more with support from the students and administration.

I say all of this knowing that many of you didn’t have a chance to get involved and see this take place. However, our initiatives go to show what a group of committed individuals can do to bring change when they are given an opportunity to do so. This election is your chance to get involved in the process. Elections are taking place today and tomorrow at uvote.temple.edu. I encourage you to get to know the candidates, find out who they are, what they’ve accomplished and what they want to bring about next year. Talk with your peers, and learn about these students. TUACTION! and TU Dream Team are vying for your votes because they are ready and willing to serve you and want to continue improving Temple University.

I am confident in their abilities for next year, and I have hope in what TSG can and will accomplish next year and in the future.

Sincerely,
Nadine F. Mompremier
Student Body President 2008-2009

TSG discusses big plans for the semester

Temple Student Government held its first State of the Campus address for this semester Monday, Jan. 26.

Despite the brevity of the meeting, TSG President Nadine Mompremier announced many upcoming events student government plans to hold.

The main event is “Just Cause” month, which is dedicated to philanthropy and service.

“It’s a time to show what students care about,” Mompremier said.

Mompremier and Vice President of External Affairs Nexus Cook asked the audience what people they would like to see speak at Temple. The audience suggested former president Bill Clinton, Oprah, various U.S. representatives and several music and film stars. They also expressed interest in hearing from representatives of Project H.O.M.E., an organization that blahblahblah and Back on my Feet, an organization which blah blah blah.

Mompremier also announced Vice President of Services Farzad Firoz’s plan to have a shuttle service to South Philadelphia to help students with their grocery shopping. The shuttle service would run twice-a-month on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings and take students to grocery stores or department stores near Columbus Boulevard, like Walmart and Target.

Cook announced her progress regarding town meetings with students and community members. She told the assembly that the meetings would “open dialogue between groups” and help figure out ways to live together. Cook started this initiative after the issues with Yorktown arose.

Town hall meetings will have representatives from the community as well as students to help address all the issues the two groups face. Cook wants to bring community leaders and council members to the meetings so both sides can ask questions and come up with strategies. Cook said the first of three she plans to hold this semester should be sometime in February.

TSG Senate President Jeff Dempsey ended the meeting with encouragements for all students to attend the Senate meeting on the first and third Mondays of each month.

Rebecca Hale can be reached at rebecca.hale@temple.edu.

TSG President: Do not vacate before Dec. 19

Hello,

My name is Nadine Mompremier, and I am the Temple University Student Body President for 2008-2009. Over the past few weeks, we have become aware of the housing situation in Yorktown with L&I’s enforcement of a city ordinance prohibiting student renters. We are working with Temple administration to keep up-to-date on this situation, assist affected students in understanding their rights and inform students of what they need to do in this situation.

Some of you have received a letter from L&I stating that you have until Dec. 19 to vacate your property. We ask that you do not panic and do not make plans to move out.

During this time, we want to provide you with some vital information and things to know.

• The letter that you receive from L&I needs to go to your landlord. Please make sure that it gets to him or her right away.

• L&I may still be conducting inspections of houses not previously entered. Please verify that they are official L&I employees before allowing them to enter your property.

• We expect that the landlords will try to challenge this law in court. What happens in court will affect when you need to move out. If the landlords are not successful in court, you will need to vacate your properties by Dec. 19. Do not vacate your property before that date, as you may risk losing any deposits you have with the landlord, as well as be responsible for rent for the remaining term on the lease.

• The university does have housing available for students who are forced out of their residences. We hope that it does not come to that, and we will work to your best interest so that students are not put in that situation.

• Capt. Eileen Bradley is serving as the liaison for students on this Yorktown situation. If you have not been in touch with her, please contact her at eileen.bradley@temple.edu or at (215) 669-4761. Among other things, Bradley wants to know who the student residents are in Yorktown so that any move or transition to university housing can be completed seamlessly. Bradley can also address any student concerns about this situation. You can also contact me at tsgpres@temple.edu or (917) 362-7500 to get a student’s perspective and see if we have any updates with administration.

We do not want to become enemies with the community, and we want to make sure that we can resolve the problems so that all parties involved are satisfied. Both Temple and the residents of Yorktown are invested in the area and want to keep everyone happy. We hope that this situation is resolved soon.

Thank you,
Nadine Mompremier
Student Body President
Temple Student Government

Mompremier premieres as TSG president

At first, it wasn’t for her.

Before getting involved in campus activities, Temple Student Government President Nadine Mompremier planned to graduate in three years. College seemed more of a necessity than an interest.

“I originally did not like school,” Mompremier said. “My involvement [in TSG] and my friends are what kept me here at Temple.”

Last year, Temple students elected the Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. slate as the 2008-2009 leaders of TSG, led by the soft-spoken Mompremier.

What began as a stint on the homecoming committee in 2006 led to her role as last year’s vice president of student affairs, and now as president of the student body.

“I’ve been watching and learning since freshman year,” the senior law and business major said.
One main goal of TSG this year is to involve more students in the legislative process, Mompremier said. It’s important to get students’ voices heard to initiate change, she said.

“Our whole goal is to get more of the student input and student voice into the TSG meetings,” she said.

A notable change to TSG this year is the inaugural Senate, a group of 32 representatives from Temple’s nine schools and colleges. Non-members can bring up concerns to the Senate, who will follow up on the issue and even pass a bill to be presented to Temple administration.

“TSG is definitely going to be the voice of the students,” Mompremier said. “We came in with a vision, and we knew what we wanted to do. And now we’re leaving it up to the students to tell us what to do from here on out.”

Mompremier is joined on the executive board by Vice President of External Affairs Nexus Cook and Vice President of Services Farzad Firoz.

Cook, a senior psychology major, will be focusing on TSG’s commitment to the community and what the organization can do to expand itself.

Firoz, a senior finance major, will be responsible for researching special projects that could potentially be brought to Temple, Mompremier said.

“It’s definitely exciting to work with both of them,” she said. “The three of us together – I feel like we make a really great team.”

What Mompremier hopes will make them a great team is their dedication and willingness to interact with students. She quit her job so she can focus more of her attention toward the issues of Temple students.

“I’m available,” she said. “Just talk to me.”

Hailing from Brooklyn, Mompremier has embraced her home in North Philadelphia, which is why she wants to accomplish so much for Temple students.

“Since I came to Temple, I’ve fallen in love with the school,” she said. “I’m definitely passionate and I definitely know we can do more.”

Mompremier speaks like she’ll be the people’s president, promising to support student organizations by attending various events and “being the best me I can be.”

“One thing that has been instilled in the TSG environment … is helping to build future student leaders,” she said. She said she had been inspired by past presidents Raysean Hogan and Juan Galeano.

The decision of whether to run for student body president was difficult for Mompremier, but she has the confidence to represent the university’s 19,000 undergraduates.

“When I came to Temple, I did not plan to be the president,” she said, smiling. “For me, it was knowing that I could do more [by] learning from everyone else.”

Now sporting sentiments opposite those she had in her freshman year, Mompremier has some simple advice for incoming students.

“Don’t be afraid to open yourself up and learn something new every day,” she said. “Get it from Gandhi – be the change you want to see at Temple.”

Mompremier’s positive attitude toward the upcoming academic year is evident when she speaks, but she’s humble about her role in TSG.

“I’m definitely trying to leave a legacy, but it’s not my main goal,” she said. “It’s to reach those one or two students who said, ‘I could never do something.’ If I can just motivate those one or two students, that’d be a great accomplishment.”

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

TTN Audio: Mompremier ready to lead TSG

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Nadine Mompremier is entering her senior year at Temple as the student body president. The Temple News interviewed Mompremier about her hopes and goals for this coming year.

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Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. wins TSG election

Temple Student Government announced Friday that Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. won the annual executive elections.

Nadine Mompremier is next year’s president, Farzad Firoz is the next vice president of services, and Nexus Cook is the vice president of external affairs.

TSG was forced to have a run-off election because their new elections code states that the winning slate must have more than 50 percent of the total vote to win. Owl V.O.I.C.E.S came up short with only 43 percent in the regular election, held April 22 and 23.

Fewer people participated in the run-off elections but Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. still managed to get more than 50 percent of the vote. They received 464 votes to Temple Reloaded’s 365 votes. There were a total of 23 blank and other votes.

Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. told its Facebook group members on Friday that they had won the election.

“Now it’s time to keep pushing Temple Student Government in the right direction,” Cook wrote in the message.

Temple Reloaded thanked their supporters and offered their congratulations to Owl V.O.I.C.E.S. for running such a hard campaign in a Facebook message on Friday.

Next year’s executive board will be responsible for transitioning TSG from its old structure to the new. There will be a student body Senate and judicial branch. The executive board will be the face of TSG and will take the proposals of the Senate to administration.

The winners will be officially announced and sworn in Monday, May 5, at an undetermined location.

Rebecca Hale can be reached at rebecca.hale@temple.edu.