Ruth Birchett first began worrying about the long-term stability of her neighborhood when she was six years old. When tensions between the North Central community and Temple were high in 1959 due to the university’s plans to expand Main Campus, Birchett looked to her father with fear in her eyes.
“‘Daddy, what’s Temple?’” she recalls asking her father. “And he flung his hand toward Broad Street and he’s like, ‘Them in the city are trying to tear our houses down. They better take that mess ‘cross town on the West side of Broad Street,’ That’s what the elders referred to the east side of Broad Street as, ‘cross town right back then.”
The relationship between Temple and members of the North Central neighborhood has remained complicated in the 65 years since. Residents hope new university president John Fry will encourage Temple to respect and acknowledge them in the same way it does its students.
Fry officially began his tenure as Temple’s 15th president on Nov. 1 following a rocky search for a leader to fill the role. Former President Jason Wingard became Temple’s 13th president in 2021 after his predecessor Richard Englert stepped down following five years in the position. JoAnne Epps was selected as acting president in April 2023 after Wingard resigned amid a graduate worker’s strike and high student disapproval rates, The Temple News reported.
Epps served for just five months before she died suddenly after collapsing at a university event. Englert temporarily filled in as Temple’s president following Epps’ death while the Board of Trustees’ search committee sought a long-term replacement.
Residents hope Fry will bring stability and increased communication after years of uncertainty surrounding the position.
Birchett, like a growing number of local North Central residents, is frustrated with the influx of students in her neighborhood. As an elderly woman, she struggles to find parking and is bothered by the rats attracted to trash left behind by students.
Birchett hopes Fry will implement systems to improve the quality of life in the area near Temple.
“I walked on the sidewalk next to a trash can, and [a] rat, hearing my footsteps, jumped out of the trash can,” said Birchett, a long-time block captain in North Philly. “I mean, it’s so traumatizing that now I try to walk down Montgomery instead of Berks.”
William Harris, a registered community organization president for the 47th ward, is also frustrated with the amount of garbage in the area surrounding Main Campus. He believes this, along with loud partying in the neighborhood, creates tension between the community, students and the university.
Harris hopes Fry will ensure safety for both students and locals.
“The students are safe, the neighborhood is safe,” Harris said. “And I know that’s been one of the biggest black eyes for Temple in the past few years, and I heard it has even affected their attendance to a degree.”
Harris’ hunch about enrollment rates was shared by Wingard, who made a statement in 2023 about the link between campus safety and enrollment.
Temple’s enrollment declined 16.5% from 2017 to March 2023, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and a nationwide decline in college students and concerns about safety around Temple’s campus, Wingard wrote in the statement. But this year, Temple’s enrollment is on the rise. The Class of 2028 is 30% larger than its predecessor, according to a statement from the university.
Other community members agree with Harris’ concern about ensuring safety and urges Temple to increase their patrol for off-campus housing due to nefarious activity in his area. Ronald Brooks, a longtime North Central resident, lives on a corner off of Cecil B. Moore Avenue with frequent police activity.
He enjoys spending time on his front porch and takes pride in his block, but feels the amount of teenagers attracts police activity and interferes with his livelihood. Brooks also shares the sentiment that there needs to be increased communication between the university and North Central.
“[The university and community should] welcome the students, talk to the students and find out what the students want, not what [Temple] wants, because [Temple is] all about money,” Brooks said.
Harris calls on Temple’s Office of Community Affairs to connect more directly with their neighbors so they can effectively use the resources available to them.
“[Communication] connects itself with where they’re located,” Harris said. “Also to the community. And so this, stretching their arms out, the community tends to lack several social services, as well as opportunities for youth to be able to go to well-equipped facilities to participate in sports, participate in activities, participate in social programming.”
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