Opening Up

Temple needs to embrace its characteristics as a public institution.

This school year, Temple has faced some setbacks, to say the least.

Beyond facing sizeable financial setbacks when Gov. Tom Corbett proposed to cut slightly more than 50 percent of the university’s commonwealth appropriation in March, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Temple Japan Campus and forced students studying there to return to Main Campus or find alternatives.

But The Temple News is still left wondering about less-publicized setbacks that seem to have been forgotten.

President Ann Weaver Hart has never acknowledged Temple for a DREAM and The Temple News’ request for vocal support regarding the rights for undocumented students at the university she oversees.

Continual calls made to the Philadelphia Police Department’s Public Affairs office regarding the two reported rapes by two Temple freshmen football players last November show possible advancements made in the case were never made public.

And while The Temple News appreciates Campus Safety Services’ continual effort to release TU Alerts and TU Advisories, we are still left puzzled as to why some crimes are not made known to the student body when they clearly could affect the mindset of students regarding how to conduct themselves to stay safe.

Moving forward into the next academic year, The Temple News asks the administration for one thing: an open dialogue.

Through TUportal this year, Temple asked for student suggestions on how to save money. Yet, the first thing anyone does when deciding where to cut – analyzing a full list of what he or she spends money on – is missing for students.

If Temple wants student input, it needs to be willing to share more information than the overarching budget made available to the public. Furthermore, when decisions are being made that directly affect students and faculty – such as cutting programs or departments – there needs to be more conversation.

As students, we are adults who know what will best help or hurt us. And as adults paying for an education, we have the right to have a say in more university decisions.

Sensibly, the university is happy to showcase the conversation the “Faces of Temple” are having about the proposed cuts to Harrisburg, Pa., to make its case for higher education, but The Temple News continually gets the notion that the conversation stops there.

This is most evidenced by this week’s report on what the General Activity Fee [“Officials decline to break down GAF allocations,” Page 1] goes toward. Stephanie Ives, the dean of students and associate vice president of student affairs, told The Temple News the university does “not release the specific dollar amounts,” nor does it plan to.

Temple prides itself on offering the middle class a quality education with a price tag much less than private institutions. As it fights to keep hold of its funding, it needs to embrace something more: As a public university, it is dealing with public matters.