There was a time when being a Temple student was something to overcome. It was at some point under the Peter Liacouras presidency in the 1980s that the shift began.

Still, no time has it been clearer that Temple is distancing itself from its second tier status of the past than now, during the most active Homecoming Week in school history.

Last Friday at the National Constitution Center, Temple publicly announced it is in the midst of the largest capital drive North Broad has ever seen.

As reported in this edition of The Temple News, the university has raised $253 million since the private launch of a massive push to increase alumni donations came in July 2002. Temple is expecting nearly $100 million more by April 2009.

The school unveiled the most expansive advertising campaign any Owl has ever seen this semester, the $2.5 million ‘T’ Means More multimedia blitz that saw the Temple ‘T’ on billboards, buses and television. Regardless of its content, it’s tough for a Temple student to think anything but that our school is finally getting the due we know it deserves.

And the funny thing is, it’s working.

The 22-room Conwell Inn, sitting anonymously to many students at the intersection of Liacouras Walk and Berks Mall, has been steadily finding itself more desired since its opening six years ago, but it has never been busier than last week’s Homecoming.

“People have started booking at least six months in advance,” said Erik Parker, who has been at the inn for five years. And mostly, it is alumni who are filing in and out of there everyday.

Indeed, the success has been historic, though perhaps expected when compared with how lackluster alumni relations were before now. One of the most effective ways Temple has found to reconnect with alumni previously thought lost has been to develop reunion events specific to organizations, rather than graduating class. Temple hosted a much anticipated gathering for graduates of WRTI, Temple’s since-reformulated, former student radio station last week. Last year’s Homecoming Week hosted a similarly impactful reunion for former members of The Temple News. The crowd was thick and interest high.

People seem to love this school. And that was before the massive growth, success and promotion Temple has seen over the past decade.

If that isn’t enough, the football team, which has seen its share of struggles in recent years, got into the act this year. The Owls beat Northern Illinois on Saturday, a field goal with nine seconds left by redshirt sophomore Jake Brownell sailing through the uprights in front of 21,000 people. And even that was an improvement.

Just 17,000 were at last year’s homecoming upset over Bowling Green, where Coach Al Golden got his first win at Temple.

Our struggling football program, now that’s something to overcome.