Once Again

Yeah, we’ve been there before.

Starting new classes. Meeting new people. Beginning a new chapter of your life.

Whether you’re a freshman, transfer, commuter or resident, the message is the same for all – Welcome.
Everyone is new at some point. Take a look at Temple’s administration. Most of the administrators at the highest levels have only been in their respective positions for no more than a few years. Like President Ann Weaver Hart and her No. 2, Provost Lisa Staiano-Coico – consider them a junior and a sophomore, respectively.

You may feel as if you’re being thrown into a different culture, and your ethnocentrism derived from Anywhere, USA may make you feel claustrophobic among the 24,000 students on campus. To ease the pain, here are a few things to know before beginning your college career at Temple.

Philadelphia has been called a “city of neighborhoods,” and you don’t have to take too many steps off campus to find yourself in one. Many students are ignorant of the roots and traditions of these communities. Rather than challenge them, embrace them.

You may have heard that Temple is diverse. It’s been said so tirelessly that it sounds cliché. But Temple has the credentials to back it up.

The Princeton Review recently ranked Temple No. 5 on its list of the most diverse student populations in the country in 2008’s The Best 368 Colleges. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, because surely, you’re not alone.

Get to know your neighbors. Get to know your classmates. Get to know your professors. In high school, it was known as “kissing up.” Now, it’s known as “networking.”

There are no laxatives in the food prepared by Temple Dining Services and its contracted company, Sodexo, as reported by The Temple News. So pack on that freshman 15 (or 30). Then work it off at the IBC Student Recreation Center.

OWLnet is a horrible and outdated system. It will cause you many frustrations when you are registering for classes or checking your grades. We’ve lived with it throughout our entire careers at Temple, and we expect you will, too.

We at The Temple News often take a hard look at the policies and actions of Temple faculty and administrators. We care about the university and its paying customers, the students. We’re not afraid to be critical because we want the best educational and social experience we can get.

By no means are we experts on educational planning or policy formation. But we know what matters to students because we are students ourselves.

Remember, we were in your shoes once. And by now, we think we’ve finally got a handle on this whole college thing.